CORTI BROTHERS – Grocer, wine merchant and Sacramento institution that delivers a newsletter to read and reread

By Larry Dietz –

I love good writing as much as I love good food – maybe more, since good writing doesn’t have calories, prep time, or clean-up.

Mixing good writing and food is truly a recipe for enjoyment, and that brings me to one of the few pieces of mail I read and reread. Corti Brothers, the deli/grocer and wine merchant in Sacramento, sends out a newsletter a few times a year. Corti Brothers is the market at which Larry Levine bought the Mangalitsa pork he writes about in “Perfect Yellow Fin Tuna or Unique Mangalitsa Pig” on another page of this online food magazine.

Darrell Corti, who has a legendary sense of taste and nose for wine, writes the newsletter. The late L.A. Times food columnist David Shaw loved wine and admired those who made it and those who knew more than he did and could teach him. David told me Darrell Corti could not only identify one first-growth Bordeaux from another, blindfolded, but also could give you the year. Bordeaux and burgundies are the wine equivalent of a hanging curve to a wine expert, so wine fanciers have challenged Corti with more obscure wines, which he identified with equal aplomb while blindfolded.

When Darrell Corti recommends a particular Vermouth, as he does in the Summer 2011 issue of the newsletter, I pay attention. His description of the Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino is equal parts history of the drink, description of what makes that producer’s version great, and a recipe – in this case for a Negroni “Sbagliato” – the “incorrect” Negroni.

The newsletter is not just about alcohol. The Summer 2011 issue includes capers, popcorn (!), pickles, relishes, peppercorns (not the usual suspects), and garlic. Garlic! Garlic to me is the mound found in the produce department at a supermarket, or if buying upscale, organic garlic at Whole Foods. Did I know you can order 13 varieties from Corti Brothers, from Vekak, Czech Republic to the “very aromatic, not too hot” Ukrainian Blue? I know it now.

The Corti newsletter serves a grander purpose that just vicarious reading pleasure. Corti Brothers is the only place I’ve found that always carries the Spanish white vinegar, Unio Moscatel, which the newsletter describes as: “The base is the dry wine of this variety, acetified, then blended with some of the fortified sweet wine of the same variety. This means that the vinegar has a lovely Muscat character, and fruitiness is enhanced by the addition of the sweet wine. This is a vinegar which truly is addictive. Once you enjoy a salad dressed with Moscatel vinegar, you rarely change.” Amen.

You can subscribe to the Corti Brothers newsletter by calling (916) 736-3800, or visit the website at www.cortibros.biz.