Bel-Air’s Rocco Restaurant Rolls Out the Barrels

Wine literally flows from the walls at Rocco in Bel-Air’s Glen Centre. Owner Rocco Somazzi has the usual bottles and more at his bar, but, following an Italian tradition, he also serves wines straight from the barrel--half a dozen of which are mounted directly into the walls.

It’s not easy to find wineries that will supply unbottled wine, so Somazzi only has two of his six barrels filled for the moment--Giessinger 1997 Zinfandel ($10 per glass) and Giessinger 1997 Merlot ($10 per glass)--both from Fillmore-based Giessinger Winery, run by Edouard Giessinger, a UCLA laser physics professor whose family has a 150-year history of winemaking in the south of France. These young wines are as yet unfiltered and unstabilized, still in the process of maturing, with unusually intense and earthy aromas and spicy flavors.

Giessinger’s 1996 Zinfandel, tasted from the bottle, is a much smoother, easier-to-drink wine, but it lacks some of the unique flavors, not to mention the novelty, of the straight-from-the-barrel sample. Giessinger expects the 1997 to be his best bottle yet, and this is the only place it can be ordered, other than the winery itself.

Somazzi considers Rocco not only a ristorante but also an enoteca, which in Italy is like a wine library. “It’s a place to go to drink and talk, to learn about wine,” he explains with a soft accent. And tasting something as different as these barrel wines gets people to thinking about and discussing wine, which is just what Somazzi wants.

He believes that “wine starts a second life in the barrels--it is still living, still evolving,” which is why he prefers drinking it in this form.

Somazzi wanders from table to table, explaining his unusual wine list, and offering samples of the barrel wines for interested customers.

These wines are not for everyone: They’re very high in alcohol--16.5% compared to a typical 13.5%--and their powerful flavors can overwhelm mild foods. But these barrel wines make a good match with the stronger, more assertive dishes on Rocco’s Mediterranean-fusion menu, from cured meats and lamb to cheese.

Somazzi hopes to soon add Barbera and Sangiovese to his barrel selection, and with six barrels mounted in the wall, he’ll keep looking for others.

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Rocco, 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel Air; (310) 475-9807.