Once we located the uninspiring hanger complex of the tasting, we made haste for our late afternoon meeting with Werner (Elena Walch). Despite the fact it was merely the end of day two of the six day tasting, the characteristically chipper Werner announced that he had done most of his important work already. I presumed we must be the pinnacle of his busy time. The 2009 vintage in Alto Adige is regarded as very good to excellent and there was a quiet confidence as we taste through the whites.
The Riesling Castel Ringberg ’09 showed well, ultra clean & tight with lovely, true varietal aromatics, Gewurztraminer Kastelaz ’09 intense Turkish delight nose with great palate length topped off by new release of Beyond The Clouds 2008. Chardonnay blended with four aromatic grapes, after 10 months in new oak it displays pineapple & pear fruit, creamy acidity with a full mouthfeel, very long & textural. With the reds Pinot Nero was the star with the Merlot & Lagrein coming a joint second. Ludwig Pinot Noir 2007 barrique fermented in mixed age wood, complex and fully charged Pinot with the new “Selezione” level Pinot Nero 2008 close on it’s heals with a bacon & herb nose and a little green savouriness. Armin will be over for the Alto Adige tasting on 6th May.
Time to leave and fight our way (through the ridiculous grid –lock traffic) to meet Marjan Simcic in Verona at a beautiful restaurant near the fish market. Rock Star / Winemaker Marjan and the owner are very well acquainted and we were looked after brilliantly with delicate, full flavoured food, fantastically fresh and not at all heavy. It was only once he started pulling out choice magnums from the cellar I regretted my decision to drive. The fat lady started to sing so we headed to our hotel on the shore of Lake Garda, a very beautiful spot indeed, if only we had some time to enjoy it. We made a plan to breakfast and be on the road early to give us a good chance to start our meeting packed Friday on time. Italian driving and VinItaly traffic made us 15 minutes late & pressured the entire day, despite our best efforts to catch up.
First port of call was with Alessandro (De Stefani) and we cracked into his Prossecco Frizzante to say “Buongiorno” to our taste buds. 2009 he described as a “super” vintage in Veneto, hot and dry in August & September with harvest two weeks later than usual leading to very ripe grapes being brought in. The wines we tasted were from tank or cask, with 2009 whites to be bottled in June; Neb deftly secured us a further 200 bottles of Pinot Grigio 2008 to keep us going until the 2009 is bottled and shipped. This is the one of the first vintages to benefit from the replanting programme to double the density of vines in the vineyard, a dramatic measure to further increase quality, stressing the vines to get the maximum out of them. With the sparkling wines there is also innovation with a new method “Metodo Zero” where the grape juice undergoes its first fermentation in a pressurised tank at zero degrees Fahrenheit (17.77 degrees Celsius, so, cool) which maintains fresh fruit flavours.
The Pinot Grigio 2009 displays a sweet green pea nose and a light gold colour, well textured from six months on its less, with a hint of lemon and honey. The red Stefen 1624 ’05 (the first vintage was 2003) is 100% Marzemino with a hugely complex herbal nose, full bodied, rich & complex. The pinnacle of his sparkling wine was Tombola di Pin 2001 made in the Champagne method (55% Chardonnay & 45% Pinot Noir); nutty, complex & rich, pale gold in colour with an intense nose.
A couple of speculative tastings took a little time and we high tailed it over to the Piedmont pavilion. Size wise there are 12 enormous buildings, broken down by region with one full of olive oil, food and the tantalisingly named “Coffee Experience” which beckoned us both but to no avail. A tasting area the size of Luxembourg, (nearly) which makes ExCel look like a garden shed.
Next up the wonderful Romina (Tacchino) with her new wines, Gavi di Gavi 2009 showing great refinement and a level more finesse than the 2008; textured with delicate honey notes, very, very pale in colour but mouth filling with good length. Barbera del Monferrato 2009 (Cask sample) showed bright dark red fruit, med/full bodied, well balanced. Tasting the 2008 side by side showed the 2009 to be superior, albeit needing a little time to fully come together.
Sportoletti (Fabio) was next to find, once we had orientated our map towards Umbria. Recent vintages according to Fabio; 2007 has very concentrated flavours due to lack of rain fall, 2008 was generally a good, typical year and 2009 was warm with the vintage starting early on 22nd August. Assisi Grechetto 2009 after only 20 days in bottle was very pale lemon with green flecks and lots of fresh acidity, not surprisingly. Villa Fidelia Bianco 2007 (60% Grechetto 40% Chardonnay) after 4/5 months in mixed age wood, light gold in colour with lime & butter on the nose, concentrated pineapple & vanilla on palate with whopping length. Assisi Rosso 2008 high acid with firm, dry tannins mouthfilling and still young. Villa Fidelia Rosso IGT 2005 is a Bordeaux blend and punchy with it! Solid tannins med/full bodied with good length. Starting to show development and open up (just!) but will go for years. Same wine 2006 voluptuous and perfumed, open & fleshy, much more ready to drink than the ’05. Unlike virtually every other producer, they only make the four wines and we ship them all. They also make a delicious olive oil, which we dutifully & happily tasted.
Moving further south in Italy and our meetings became more relaxed, with Aldo (Conti Zecca) welcoming me like a long lost friend and Neb like a long lost son. Sun is not is short supply in Puglia and the wines shine because of it, with lovely ripe fruit across the board. Stand out wines for me were the Primitvo IGT Salento 2008 big, full bodied, rich dark fruits – blackberry & damson, licorice, tar & meat juice, soft & integrated tannins. Terra DOC Leverano Riserva 2005 just a shade behind, more aromatic and smoky, Nero IGT Salento 2006 full bodied & deep coloured with ripe dark flavours, firm tannins and very long.
By this point my taste buds were starting to flag and rebel against the acid attrition from all the young wines we had tasted. No respite as we moved north again back to Veneto in another pavilion. A short hike later we were over with Federica (Ca’ Rugate) tasting her Metodo Classico, seriously good sparkling wines. The Ca’ Rugate stand was hugely busy, standing room only. Luckily we were ushered to a table that was vacated to order, we felt like Made Men from Goodfellas. Monte Fiorentine Single Vineyard Garganega Soave Classico 2009 (Tank sample – to be bottled at end of May) showed great texture & mouthfeel despite its infant status, delicate and tight. Rio Albo Valpolicella (Tank sample, about to be bottled) cru Beaujolais in style, red cherry & cedar on the nose. Campo Levei Single Vineyard Valpolicella Superiore 2008 full bodied with dark chocolate, tapenade & meat juice on palate, leading into the Amarone della Valpolicella 2007 full bodied modern style (less dry tannins more fruit) dark sweetie fruits with a whack of alcohol. I think taste bud exhaustion made my brain score the next two sweet wines so high as they came as a delicious and luscious treat – having said that La Perlara 2007 did wine Three Glasses in the Gambero Rosso Guide this year. La Perlara Recioto di Soave 2007 “orange zest & honey, wonderful!” was all I could manage to describe it, L’Eremita Recioto della Valpolicella 2008 black cherry preserved in dark, bitter chocolate, delicate kirsch high notes. A very coherent and well made range of wines that set the standard in Veneto.
Our last port of call (having rescheduled Angelini till the following day) was Alessandro (Fattoria Montellori) in Tuscany. His take on the 2009 vintage was that it was very good for them and he has produced “wonderful wines”. Chianti 2008 good red fruits, nice fresh acidity and tannins. Moro 2006 medium bodied with great balance and weight and a smoky Tuscan character; Dicatum 2006 full bodied, more aromatic and with solid tannins & spicy, meaty flavours. All wines showing well and Alessandro says Moro ages well for 5-8 years and Dicatum 10-20. Time to retire and work out how to get to our evening tasting, no, really! After ten hours of tasting what better way to spend an evening than to go and sample a few more wines.
Leaving our car entrusted to the very smiley Luca, we walked the 2 kms to Marjan Simcic’s hotel, past stationary, gridlocked traffic wondering how the evening would pan out. Again Marjan was our connection to a splendid evening, this time in a beautiful Palazzo somewhere in the heart of Verona, a showcase for high quality wines from top end producers accompanied by equally delicious food. The Slovenian Simcic wines showed very well and their evolution since our Spring Tasting in February was marked. Pinot Grigio 2009 fresh and full of life with Valerija very happy with 2009 as a vintage. The Pinot Noir Reserve 2007 is an amazing wine and has grown into itself; starting to drink beautifully, refined and not showy, it will clearly age well, one I found I kept coming back to. Marjan introduced us to Paulo Conterno and we tasted his range of young Barolos. At this point my entire mouth felt as though it was morphing into an oak panelled drawing room, with the heavily oaked, full bodied, high alcohol, acidic young wine paralysing my remaining taste bud, I had to call it a day. In lieu of a cleansing ale, I had to rely on oysters and champagne to sooth my overworked mouth and brain.
After too few hours sleep we were back to the familiar hangers heading to Tuscany where Francesco (Tenementi Angelini) had a surprise waiting for us. The familiar labels were nowhere to be found with a raft of new, darker, more modern labels attached to the bottles. The only visual improvement to my mind is the Verdicchio Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore 2009, Salterio. Francesco apologised to us and described the evolution of the Angelini image as being in a state of “permanent transition”. 2009 vintage for them was marked by a heat spike in the last two weeks of August, which led to the wines being riper & richer than usual; apparently this was not problematic in terms of alcohol.
Tutto Bene Bianco 2009 had just been bottled (under cork again) and now contains 10% Vermentino (40% Trebbiano & 50% Chardonnay). More delicate and aromatic at this stage with the chardonnay very much in the background. Renaio Chardonnay 2009, Tre Rose was very pale with green hints, good acidity and of medium body, a great quality wine. There is still good stocks of 2008 so this wine will have aged & developed by the time we receive it. Busillis Viognier 2009, Tre Rose positively revelled in the late heat, showing lovely ripe stone fruit coupled with good balance. Tutto Bene Rosso 2008 was bright & fresh, spicy and aromatic with bacon fat, meaty influences and firm tannins. Rosso 2008 & Brunello di Montalcino Val Di Suga 2005 both showed a full, ripe fruit profile, going from medium to full bodied with savoury, salami, rich fruit notes and firm tannins. Single Vineyard Vigna Spuntali Brunello, Val di Suga 2004 had good balance, elegance and freshness with a decent fruit profile and grippy tannins.
My top five new vintage and favourite wines from VinItaly 2010 are as follows, in the order we tasted them;
- Beyond the Clouds 2008, Elena Walch, Alto Adige
- Vina Fidelia Rosso 2006, Sportoletti, Umbria
- Primivito IGT 2008, Conti Zecca, Puglia
- Recioto di Soave La Perlara 2007, Ca’ Rugate, Veneto
- Moro 2006, Montellori, Tuscany
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