Italian Portfolio Tasting in London by Winetraders

A mix and match of Italian wines by Wintraders UK, with some gems to be noted at the end of the afternoon. Here they are.

Corte Sant'Alda

Amarone della Valpolicella 2016.

A balanced wine with good minerality for an Amarone.

RRP £57. Score 92.

Recioto della Valpolicella, 2019

Balanced and long.

RRP £32. Score 92.

Inama

Soave Classico 2021

Zesty, fresh. RRP £37. Score 90

La Vedetta

Barbaresco 2020

Balanced and complex, long, potential for evolution.

RRP £ 34. Score 93.

Barbaresco Cà Grossa 2019

Great structure, will reach its apex in a few years.

RRP £45. Score 94

Cabutto

Barolo Riserva del Fondatore, 2016

Superb structure, balance and length. Give it a few more years.

RRP £61. Score 93

Walter Massa

Colli tortonesi Barbera Bigolla 2010

Round, balanced and long, a mature wine, perhaps the best today. RRP £ 52. Score 95

Montefili

Toscana IGT Anfiteatro 2016

Complex, long still a bit abrupt, and will benefit from time in the bottle.

RRP £67. Score 90

Vike Vike

Cannonau Ghirlanda Fittiloghe 2020

20yo vines, still fresh, structured, long. A little patience required.

RRP £ 28. Score 89

Cannonau di Sardegna Ghirada Gurguruò 2020

30yo vines, an imposing wine, balanced and long.

RRP £43 Score 94

Barbagia rosso Ghirlanda Istevene 2020

100yo vines (!) a harmonious wine that lacks nothing.

RRP £ 57. Score 95

Soddu

Cannonau Brulleri Ghirada Bruncu Boeli Ris 2020

Round complex and long

RRP £31. Score 95

Sardinian wines carried the day!

Meet the Producer: La Spinetta, Piedmont, Italy

Wonderful master class organized by Enotria&Coe at the London Wine Fair 2022 to illustrate the wines of La Spinetta, on of the best producers in their portfolio.

La Spinetta started out producing moscato and it became so famous people would ask for a "spinetta" when ordering the famous piedmontese wine.

In 1995 they began using the "Gallina" vineyard to produce nebbiolo

Now all production is organic, back to tradition. Still uses horses to plow some of the fields like the family's grandfather used to do when he worked in Argentina in the 1950s.

Use green harvesting (prune up to 75% of bunches) to keep quality high

In 1980s most producers sold grapes to large companies, only a few began their own productions. In this they learned from the lessons of Burgundy.

Low yield of 4-6k bottles per hectare. 3k? Check

Giorgio Rivetti, featured in the Barolo Boys film, together with others, like Scavino, Sandrone, tried to make Barolo more likable, pleasant to more people and sooner, rather than the difficult wine requiring long aging of earlier times.

The iconic rhino on the label comes from a creation of German artist Dürer, who drew it without ever having seen a real rhino. For Giorgio Rivetti this was a symbol of how imagination can lead to results beyond expectations. It is in this vein that he started making Timorasso, a unique white variety in Piedmont.

Dürer: Rhinoceros

The lion which is present on other labels is a symbol of royalty, as Barolo is considered "the king of wines and the wine of kings" after its early association with Vittorio Emanuele II, the founder of the modern Italian unitary state.

Tasting notes

Timorasso Colli Tortonesi 2020, timorasso 100%

Made from grapes picked from 25-year-old vines.

De-stemming and soft pressing, then fermentation in steel and rest on lees for eight months. Fresh and citrusy with lots of minerality, exalted by the absence of any oak. Mod length. The vineyard is in Tortona, hence the name. Spinetta suggests this wine can age a lot, up to 15 years, because of its acidity. Low yield, no more than 3,000 bottles per hectare (max allowed is 8,000).

Score 90

Barolo Campè 2018, nebbiolo 100%

Made from grapes picked from 70-year-old vines!

Maceration and fermentation in vats for 10 days, then malolactic in French oak, 20% new. Finally 24 months of aging before a further nine months in bottle. Intense aromas welcome the start of the tasting, and compex red fruit flavors make for a structured,  complex and long wine. Perfect balance, everything is in its right place, a harmonious wine.

Score 94

Barbaresco Bordini 2019, nebbiolo 100%

Old vines, average age 40 years.

Maceration and fermentation in vats for 14 days, malo in French oak then 16 months of aging.

An intense and powerful wine with prominent tannins, could use more time in the bottle.

Score 88

Barbaresco Valeirano 2017, nebbiolo 100%

Made from grapes picked from 55-year-old vines.

Complexity and power, yet a velvety elegance are the features of this wine. Still young, it will be perfect in 15 years, or longer. Small yield, less than one bottle per plant of vine.

Score 92

Barbaresco Valeirano 2007, nebbiolo 100%

Made from grapes picked from 55-year-old vines.

Back ten years from the previous wine and we have a perfectly mature vintage. Yeet it could wait a bit longer but it is marvelously ready now.

Score 96

Barolo Campè 2008

Made from grapes picked from 70-year-old vines!

An old master with nothing to prove, but past its prime, it would have been better to drink this a few years back.

Score 90

Giorgio Rivetti

Meet the producer: Fontanafredda, Piedmont, Italy

Fontanafredda was originally owned by Italy's first king, Vittorio Emanuele II, no less, and it was founded in 1858, three years before Italy was unified under his leadership. One reason why Barolo is often referred to as "the wine of kings" as well as "the king of wines". Much has changed since then, Italy is a republic, but the name stuck.

Today the new owner is Oscar Farinetti, the famous founder of Eataly, and Fontanafredda is more than a vineyard, it is a community. At one point over 300 families shared their lives there, and had their school, their church. A large enterprise, that in 2018 became the largest organic producer in Piedmont.

It is open to the public 365 days a year, book your tasting session in advance!

Today's speaker at a masterclass organized by Enotria&Coe at the London Wine Fair 2022, is Roberto Bruno. Originally from Piedmont, he joined Fontanafredda in 1991 and is now Managing Director. Here is a selection of my tasting notes.

Gavi DOCG del Comune di Gavi (organic) 2021
Cortese 100%

Soft pressing and no skin contact. Low temperature fermentation (18°C, 85% in steel and 15% in barrique). A very fresh wine, to be drunk chilled during a warm Summer evening with simple and delicate food.

Score 84

Langhe DOC Nebbiolo Grappolo Intero 2020

Nebbiolo 100%

Obtained by fermenting part pressed must and part whole grape bunches, as harvested from the vine.

Fermentation in steel at 28°C for 10-12 days.

A fairly hard wine that may find its balance with further aging in the bottle.

Score 82

Barolo DOCG Serralunga d'Alba 2018

Nebbiolo 100%

Traditional fermentation, 15 days of skin contact.

Also a hard wine, definitely too young now.

Score 84

The name of Vittorio Emanuele II's mistress, Rosa, denotes a top of the range wine at Fontanafredda. We were lucky to have a chance for a vertical tasting.

Barolo DOCG Fontanafredda Vigna La Rosa 2016

Nebbiolo 100%

Grapes are delivered to the cella destemmed but not crushed and fermentation begins with indigenous yeasts at 28 to 30 °C.

Fruit and tannins are well amalgamated. A balanced, structured wine that is ready now but can easily evolve a few more years.

Score 92

Barolo DOCG Fontanafredda Vigna La Rosa 2011

Nebbiolo 100%

Ready now.

Score 92

Barolo DOCG Fontanafredda Vigna La Rosa 1998

Nebbiolo 100%

Fantastic wine, with all the elements of balance, complexity and length to deserve to be called harmonious.

Mature now, don't wait any longer, in fact it was probably at its peak a few years ago.

Score 94.

Nebbiolo Day in London by Hunt and Speller

In company of the great Alessandro Masnaghetti

Another great tasting of nebbiolo organized magnificently by Hunt and Speller of London in the Royal Horticultural Society, a habitual venue for sommelier in the capital.

Nebbiolo is synonym of Piemonte (Piedmont) of course and of Barolo and Barbaresco, the two iconic wines of the region. But it is more that than. It is grown in adjacent regions and it is vinified in a variety of ways. 

I even found a sparkling wine, produced with the traditional method and light pressing of the grapes, for a final rosé result.

The highlight of the day were the three masterclasses, see some notes below.

The most curious novelty, for me at least, was a sparkling wine made with lightly pressed nebbiolo by  Casina Bric.  Il Nebbiolo d'Alba spumante dates back to 1970, and is the 3rd "spumante" DOC awarded in Italy, though the vineyard goes back to napoleonic times. Delicate aromas and med body. Score 85

Masterclass N. 1: Barbaresco, with Alessandro Masnaghetti

The life of Barbaresco turns around the Tanaro river. On the left bank sandy soil, it is more difficult to grow nebbiolo. On the right bank clay, results in a more tannic and structured wine.

DOC received in 1967 for about 200 hectares, the area grew to 500 hectares by the 1990s and it is now close to 800.

Four "comuni": Barbaresco, Neive, Alba and Treiso, each with its own distinctive features.

Younger soil on steep slopes, less sedimentation, richer in nutrition for the vines. "Evolved" soil on smoother slopes, more sedimentation results  in accumulation of more nutrition.

Generally rounder, more elegant products compared to Barolo. (Barolo producers may not agree.)

1. Poderi Colla Roncaglie 2018

Light garnet color, lively tannins. Moderate balance but lacks somewhat in structure. I can feel the alcohol, a more traditional winemaking?

Score 82

2. Pio Cesare, Il Bricco 2018

Full garnet color, oaky nose and palate. Complex and long and well balanced. Stereotypical smooth and full bodied barbaresco.

Score 90

3. Giuseppe Cortese, Rabajà 2018

Deep garnet, full body,  round and smooth. Very long. A masterpiece. Ready now, hard to say how much it could still improve.

Score 94

4. Albino Rocca, Ronchi 2018

Full, round wine, ripe fruit and long finish. Also ready now, no reason to wait.

Score 94

5. Cantina del Pino, Orvello 2018

Ruby color with garnet highlights. Still a bit rough but a very structured wine with promising evolution. For lovers of traditional nebbiolo with no concessions to modern smoother taste.

Score 95

6. Adriano Marco e Vittorio basarin, 2018

Amazingly complex and round wine, full of nuances, very long finish

Score 96

Masterclass N. 2: Valtellina, Alto Piemonte and Roero with Walter Speller

Nebbiolo as a grape has been documented since the XVI century, and has been a protagonist in northern Italy for longer. However it has not been possible to find its parent grapes as they probably died out over time.

Most people focus on the tannins of Barolo, but this is not entirely fair: one should pay more attention to BALANCE!

1. Arpepe, Rosso di Valtellina 2020

Tingling, fresh, lively, mod balance and length.

Score 85.

2. Dirupi, Gess 2017 Valtellina Superiore Grumello Riserva

Smooth and balanced, mod long.

Score88

3. Nino Negri, Sfursat Carlo Negri 2018 Sforzato di Valtellina

Round, long. Called the "son of the wind" because it is picked in early October and then dries 100 days in boxes in a "fruttaio". No control of temperature or humidity. Then pressed in December when below zero. And blended with grapes taken from the vines, so it is actually two separate harvests mixed together. A mix of amarone and late harvest / icewine style.

Score 92

4. Cantine Garrone, Prünent 2019 Valli Ossolane Nebbiolo Superiore

Powerful, balanced and long.

Score 94.

5. Antoniotti Odilio 2018 Bramaterra

Dark garnet, fermented in 120-years-old cement tanks! No temperature control.

Full bodied, majestic wine.

Score 95

6. Le Pianelle 2016 Bramaterra

Dark garnet, a balanced wine with complexity and a long finish.

Score 92

7. Travaglini 2016 Gattinara Riserva

North Piedmont, cooler areas and windy. Unique bottle, dates back to 1958. Apparently Charles V loved this wine...  Touch of bitter, great length. nebbiolo is called "spanna" in this part of Piedmont.

Score 95

8. Hilberg Pasquero SUl MOnte 2016 Nebbiolo d'Alba

Needs time to round the tannins, a powerful structured wine with huge potential.

Score 93

Alessandro Masnaghetti

Masterclass N. 3: Barolo, with Alessandro Masnaghetti

1. Diego Morra, Monvigliero 2018

Fresh and harsh, needs a long time to mature.

Score 83

2. Ceretto, Brunate 2018

Still needs time but I can feel a huge potential once the rough edges and rounded out a bit. Typical Brunate according to Masnaghetti, with a touch of unmistakable and pleasant bitterness. A powerful wine.

Score 90

3. G.D. Vajra, Bricco delle Viole 2018

Round and still with good potential.

Score 92

4. Rocche di Castiglione, Brovia 2018

Smooth, long and with powerful tannins, needs time.

Score 94

5. G. Fenocchio, Villero 2018

Grande vino, it screams for more time to evolve but it is already amazingly powerful, round and long now.

Score 96

6. Diego Conterno, Ginestra 2018

Score 94

7. Ettore Germano, Prapo 2018

Great balance, harmony!

Score 98

8. Grimaldi Bruna, Badarina 2018

Perfect balance velvet complexity and and incredible length.

Score 98 

Film review: The Barolo Boys (2014) by Paolo Casalis and Tiziano Gaia, ****

The story of a group of Barolo producers, friends, colleagues and competitors at the same time, who broke with tradition to find their own call.

Barolo was mostly cheap, unknown and unloved until the early 1980s. It was a difficult wine, harsh, unfriendly, tannic, and it required a very long time to age and become more pleasant.

A bunch of producers, led by Gaia and Altare among others, decided to change that: they started reducing yields by green harvesting (removing some bunches before they ripen, so as to leave fewer but better bunches on the vine) and using new and small oak barrels.

The result was amazing, Barolo became well known, expensive and very much loved. But not everyone was happy...

 

Tasting Piemonte

Some impressions from a tasting in London. Mostly 2011 to 2014, many Barolo and a few Barbaresco. 

Tendency is a return to traditional wine making approach, American excessive globalized taste of too much wood no longer in fashion though many still like it. 

Chinese buying land in Piedmont, even if follow rules and traditions it is not the same because locals...take the money and run. Now it becomes strictly business, passion is lost. Some Chinese buyers buzzing around at tasting today. 

Overall, UK Rrp for single vineyard Barolo start at 50 gbp and up. Barbaresco 35. nebbiolo generico da 15, Dolcetto 10.

2010 e 2013 ottime annate, solo il 2016 supererà, grandi attese. 2011 e 2015 buone, 12 e 14 difficili. 

Migliori produttori di oggi sono Conterno e Scavino.

Conterno ci ha anche aperto un 2008 (RRP 58 GBP) e un 2010 (fuori di testa a 122 GBP), entrambi in via di maturazione ma ancora giovani.

Scavino grande gamma, Bric del Fiasc si conferma, ma non c'era rocche dell'Annunziata perché 2014 non lo hanno prodotto. Il "Novantesimo", blend del 2011 per 90° anniversario fondazione della casa, non vale RRP 212!! Ci ha aperto un 2006 Cannubi, e un 2006 Carobric, quasi pronti, il Cannubi vale i 64 GBP. Il nebbiolo langhe base di Scavino a 17 GBP è un affare.

Fratelli Brovia buon lavoro, il brolo villero 2013 a 65 GBP è caro ma molto armonioso.

Voerzio troppo caro, RRP oltre i 180 GBP!!

Buono il Monvigliero di Verduno 2011 a RRP 54 GBP

Ottimi i Barbaresco 2014 di Piero Busso sui 40 GBP. Barbaresco can be much better value than Barolo.

Mature Barolo tasting, at Eurowines

We met today at Eurowines in Brussels for a blind tasting of mature Barolo. 

Thank you to Eric Daive, owner of Eurowines, for his hospitality in his first class shop in the Woluwe borough of Brussels. Do visit him for a wide choice of wine and spirits and friendly advice.

These bottles had been patiently waiting in the cellar for decades, slowly developing tertiary flavors, and today it was their day.

We tasted the wines blind, one by one, and scored them using the AIS system. Just so as not to make it too easy, two of the nine bottles were similarly aged Barbaresco, another noble wine from Piedmont made with the same grapes but in a different terroir. And two of the seven bottles of Barolos were identical: same producer, wine, vintage.

Overall, the Barolos were at, or very close to, their peak. A couple of them would have scored higher five years ago, but deciding when to open a bottle of Barolo is not an exact science. This tasting confirmed the incredible aging potential of this wine.

Or one could say of the nebbiolo variety: we added to the tasting a single bottle of Barbaresco, as a sort of control group. Sometimes considered the junior wine in the nebbiolo family of wines, this Barbaresco proved to be capable to take on all the Barolos and prevail.

The average score of today's wine was quite high, with five wines out of nine scoring above 90. This was perhaps not surprising given the high reputation of the lineup.

Only one of us correctly guessed which was the lone bottle of Barbaresco and none of us could tell which two bottles were the identical Scavino Barolo 94. The two bottles turned out to be very different indeed, even though they had been stored together for almost 20 years.

We paired the wines with a few Italian gastronomic specialties: Parmigiano cheese (aged 70 months!, none of us had ever tasted one this age), prosciutto and salami. Structured food for a structured wine. The delicacies provided by our sponsor Primitiae Italiae were a good complement for our tasting.

Preserved mushrooms, eggplant, olives, dried tomatoes and others, which matched well with the tannic Barolo and Barbaresco. You can read about their project and suggested recipes, as well as contact them to order their products on their website.

The Tasting Results

Individual wine notes, scores (average for the group), rank in our tasting and approximate market price (retail in late 2017 based on winesearcher.com data):

1. Barolo Vigna Enrico VI, Az. Cordero Montezemolo, 1996.  Top label by Montezemolo, it was a bit disappointing. Past its prime. Score 79. Ranking today: 9/9. Price: Eur 100.

2. Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata, Az. Scavino, 1990. A great wine at its peak, full bodied, perfectly balanced and long. Score 89. Ranking today: 5/9. Price: Eur 350.

3. Barolo Bric del Fiasc, Az. Scavino, 1994. Another great one. Past its prime but still a balanced and long wine. Score 91. Ranking today: 4/9. Price: Eur 85.

4. Barolo Bric del Fiasc, Az. Scavino, 1994 (identical to n. 3).  Surprisingly better than identical bottle n. 3. A top bottle tonight. Perfect balance and very long. A harmonious wine. Score 94.. This bottle scored higher than the identical n.3 Ranking today: 2/9. Price: Eur 85.

5. Barolo Serralunga, Az. Manzone, 2000. A very good bottle, just short of excellence. A few years past its prime. Score 87. Ranking today: 6/9 ex aequo. Price: Eur 60.

6. Barolo Bussia Az. Prunotto, 1990. Another bottle that scored a bit below its original (very high) expectations. Score 85. Ranking today: 8/9. Price: Eur 120.

7. Barolo Campè Az. La Spinetta, 2000 .  Excellent bottle, full bodied, round and long. Score 92. Ranking today: 3/9. Price: Eur 100.

8. Barbaresco Valeirano Az. La Spinetta, 2004. Only one of us tasters tonight guessed correctly that this was the lone bottle of Barbaresco of the night. An exceptional, harmonious bottle, at its peak.  Score 95. Ranking today: 1/9. Price: Eur 105. The surprise winner today!

9. Barolo Vigna Elena  Az. Cogno, 2000.  A very good bottle at its peak. Ripe fruits still at forefront. Full body and long. Score 87. Ranking today: 6/9 ex aequo. Price: Eur 75.

The lineup unveiled at the end of our tasting

Facts about Barolo

King of Italian wines, wine of Italian kings: beginnings in 1850s, same as Bordeaux, under initiative of Count Cavour and King Vittorio Emanuele II, before unification of Italy.

Area: 11 towns (comuni) in southern Piedmont. Barolo, Castiglione Falletto, La Morra, Serralunga d’Alba, Monforte d’Alba are the mains ones + 6 others.

Geology: mostly clay, with chalk an sand. Continental climate.

Grape: Nebbiolo 100%. Same as for Barbaresco, generic Nebbiolo, and a few others.

Etymology: from nebbia (fog) because grapes ripen late when the region experiences much fog. Also grapes covered with pruina, a grey fungus coating late in season.

Production: 700+ vineyards for close to 2,000 hectares, ca. 11-13 million bottles, +50% in last 20 years. About 4% of all Piedmont wine, which is ca. 5% of all Italian wine.

Max yield/hectare: 8 tons (5600 liters) . In case name of vineyard is mentioned: 7.2 tons.

Alcohol content: 12.5% to 15%.

Aging: min. 38 months, of which 18 in French or Slavonia oak barrels. Chestnut no longer used, too bitter. Riserva: 62 months, 18 in oak. New trend: aging in small oak barrels, smoothens indigenous tannins and acidity. Both styles of Barolo are in use today and the debate is still open as to which is best. In the end it is a matter of personal taste and luckily we consumers can have both!

Price: retail for new wine in the market from ca. 35 euro to over 1,000 (Gaja, Conterno).

Color: garnet red.

Aromas and flavor: complex secondary (fermentation): ripe plums, cherries. Powerful tertiary (aging): chocolate, liquorices, leather, tobacco.

Evolution: potential in the bottle of well over 25 years for the best wines.

Pairing: red meat, game, pasta/risotto with hearty sauces to contrast tannin. Cured cold cuts. Aged cheeses. Structured food to match structure of wine. At its peak of maturity it can be enjoyed by itself.

Final remarks: Barolo is a powerful yet elegant wine, with infinite complexity and long aging potential. It requires all of our attention to buy, to age in our cellar and to find a proper pairing, not least because it does not come cheap. 

Comuni where Barolo is produced. (C) Diwinetaste.com