I've already raved in this space about Helen Johannesen's ability to turn people onto unexpected wines. Her Helen's wine shop, cleverly placed within Jon & Vinny's two Los Angeles Italian restaurants, is chic and well-curated. Her wine selections are spot-on.
One wine that Johannesen raves about, calling it “absolutely gorgeous,” is a 100 percent frappato from Sicilian producer Manenti, overseen by husband-wife team Marita and Guglielmo Manenti in Vittoria. The couple has made wines at the vineyard since 2006, but Johannesen says that bringing in noted winemaker Salvo Foti, who has been called “The Godfather of Sicilian wine,” helped Manenti achieve greatness with its frappato.
White Lightning Pizza from Jon & Vinny's.
“Sometimes frappato can have too much cloying cranberry or be too shrill or need Nero to balance it out," Johannesen says. The Manenti frappato, however, is “100% grace with good acidity and longevity.”
These are traits that appeal to Johannesen in her role not only as a partner in Jon & Vinny's and Helen's, but as the woman who chooses the wines to pair with chef Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo's pasta and pizza creations. Their wine + pasta + pizza formula is hugely successful, more so given the light, airy, contemporary design that attracts Hollywood jetsetters and neighborhood Angelenos alike.
In her hunt for fresh yet balanced wines, Johannesen says that she and her teaj have been tasting Sicilian wines made with indigenous grapes. "We’ve had different expressions of frappato and Nero D’Avola and it’s been amazing educationally. We've trend blends and single varietals from Sicily. I don’t think I like Nero d’Avola on its own and when Frappato hits it hits so, so beautifully,” she says.
As for the Manenti, she added it to her wine club this winter and received raves from her subscribers. She says, in her New York-by-way-of-LA patois, that the frappato “would be good with the antipasti vibe on a Sicilian table” and that the wines of Sicily and the Moorish influence make it a good pairing seafood with couscous and African spices. “I would love to drink it with prosciutto and figs or with arancini. It has that kind of synergy. It’s not Nerello Mascalese but this frappato drinks like it has that kind of weight and elegance.”