After a career in some of the United States’ top Italian dining rooms, sommelier Jeff Porter has traded in the restaurant for the road. One of the country’s leading experts in Italian fine wine, this year Porter combined his love of all things Italian with his wanderlust to create “Sip Trip,” a web-based series that journeys through Italy to explore the wine, terroir, and producers through its culture—view a trailer of the upcoming show here. La Cucina Italiana caught up with Porter in Rome, where he was editing season one of the series.
How would you describe Sip Trip?
We have a lot of food and wine content, but the show is really about human connection. I wanted to create a culture show wrapped around beverage, but also show people that if they have a little courage and are willing to explore, they can get into fun, interesting situations.
Did you gain any new insights into Italy’s wine scene?
Younger generations of winemakers spoke about their respect for tradition and wanting to do better than their parents for the environment, and about maintaining the identity of their land without being cloistered in their land. They gave me hope for their understanding that it is a long horizon and it that takes time to get better.
Jeff Porter (ph. @drinkeatlove)
What kinds of trends did you see?
The food is louder—more concentrated in color and flavor aromatics—and younger generations of cooks and people in agriculture are honing in more on where they are, getting more site specific. They are retracing their roots, not in an ironic way, but in a way that looks past their grandparents to understand what they have.
Can you give us an example?
We visited Sicily, which is just a crossroads of flavors, foods, and cultures. There are so many flavors that are unique and specific. I knew they were working with ancient grains but had never tasted the different varieties to understand their tastes and their uses. It was really neat to learn how one grain is better for bread and another one for pasta. And, when you eat it, you immediately get the flavor difference—they are just a little louder than what we have.
What was one of the most memorable meals you had during the shoot?
In the city of Asti, it was polenta with a beautiful poached egg and white truffles shaved on top. The polenta had a bit of cheese and butter in it and the egg seeped into the polenta so it was like this beautiful porridge. We had Barbera and Nebbiolo with that. It was the most revelatory thing I ate on the trip.