Light Meets Hearty: Schiava Paired with Ham and Lentil Soup

Nestled in the northeastern part of Italy, the Alto Adige produces some of Italy’s most underappreciated wines.  It’s a beautiful, serene environment with the Alpine backdrop looming over the sun-drenched valleys.  The Alto Adige, also known as Sudtirol due to its Germanic influences, provides a bicultural experience between Italian and German that is experienced in both the language, food and wines of the region.   

What I can appreciate about the wines being produced in the Alto Adige is the purity found in the wines.  Many of the wines of the region are produced as single varietals, and the winemakers make efforts to let the grapes shine and to lend that sense of place. 

The merger of two historic cooperatives that took place in 2001 to form Cantina Bozen shapes the view of how cooperatives can produce world-class wine.  With over 200 small local wine growing families all contributing to growing quality grapes to demonstrate the capabilities of the land surrounding Bolzano is what makes these wines so special.  While following strict guidelines and criteria, these producers are able to band together and share the treasures of the land where they may not normally be able to do so on their own. 

Cantina Bolzano / Kellerei Bozen

Grapes of the Alto Adige 

Today’s feature is on the indigenous grape, Schiava, and Pinot Nero, both common grapes found in the wines of the Alto Adige.  Schiava, also called Vernatsch in German, along with Lagrein that I’ve previously featured from Cantina Bolzano, produces red wines that are lighter in body. For those of you that enjoy red wines in the summer, but don’t want wines with a heavier body, Schiava is a great option.  It’s nice to give it a slight chill as well.  Schiava produces wines that show freshness with bright red fruits.  They tend to be delicate with low tannin, but that carries moderate acidity.  They carry floral aromas, violets, and almonds are common notes.   

Pinot Nero, which is also the same as Pinot Noir, is also called Blauburgunder in the area.  This is a grape that needs higher altitudes and in the cooler climate of the Alto Adigeit doesn't allow the wines to turn jammy.  These wines are approachable in their youth and show notes of red fruits including cherry and strawberry.  You will also get some earthiness and hints of spice no herbs. They are medium-bodied with bright acidity and elegant tannins. 

The Wines of Cantina Bolzano 

The two wines I tried from Kellerei Bozen was a Schiava and Lagrein blend as well as a Pinot Nero.  I paired the Schiava as you'll see with a ham and lentil soup.  The Pinot Nero I brought along with me on my cruise with my family to the Caribbean a couple months back. 

The 2023 Kellerei Bozen/Cantina Bolzano “Huck am Bach” St. Magdalena‘s Alto Adige DOC is made up of 90% Schiava and 10% Lagrein grown in gravelly soils of a 5-hectare vineyard in the Santa Magdalena zone.

Santa Maddalena hills and the city of Bolzano - Copyright: Vini Alto Adige/Tiberio Sorvillo

This wine is aged in large oak vats. Lightly ruby in color, rather transparent in the glass. Aromas of ripe black cherries with hints of violet.  On the palate it's a lighter to medium bodied wine showing nice red fruits (cherry) with juicy acidity.  It's rather soft and smooth on the palate with a lasting finish.  ABV 13%, SRP $22-23. 

The 2023 Kellerei Bozen/Cantina Bolzano Pinot Nero Alto Adige DOC grown in the slopes of Renton and Oberleitach.  It’s fermented in stainless steel and about 40% is spent in oak for a short time. The Pinot Nero was pale ruby in color and rather translucent.  Light-bodied and easy drinking, the wine was smooth and balanced with dark fruit, especilly blackberries that stood out. ABV 13%, SRP $25.

Pairing Schiava with Ham and Lentil soup  

I try to make soup more often in the cold winter months and when thinking up what to pair with the Schiava I thought a ham and lentil soup would be ideal.  I had just prepared a ham, so I used the leftover trimmings in preparation of the soup.  Ham and lentil soup is so easy to prepare while so filling.   

I started out sautéing carrots and celery for about 5 minutes.  You can add onion, but no one except myself is a fan.  Once softened, I added about 4 cups of both water and chicken broth along with some spices to include garlic powder, a bay leaf, pepper, and paprika.  Once brought to a boil I added the ham bone and simmered for about an hour.  After the soup was simmered, I removed the ham bone and chopped it up into pieces and added it back to the soup.  Voila!   

Schiava is commonly paired in the Alto Adige with speck, a smoked ham, so possibly that is the reason it went so well with this soup.  The red fruit helped cut through the richness of the ham and complemented the earthiness of the lentils.  In the Alto Adige, they also pair Schiava with canaderli, which are bread dumplings I've shared once before when I paired them with Muller Thurgau. I tried these once when I was visiting Trento.  

This pairing reminded me that Alto Adige wines are very much food friendly.  With Cantina Bolzano’s authentic expression of terroir, it proves that memorable pairings can come from simple foods and honest wines. 

Copyright: Vini Alto Adige/Florian Andergassen

You can find other wines from the Alto Adige on Wine.com to try.  I may receive compensation for any wines purchased through the affiliate link in support of Vino Travels. 

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*These wines were provided as a sample, but opinions are always my own. 

 

An evening in Boston with the wines of Oltrepo Pavese

Before the end of the year I wanted to highlight the Lombardy wine region and share a wine dinner I attended a couple months back in Boston sponsored by the Oltrepo Pavese Consorzio and wine friend Susannah of Vigneto Communications.  You may remember me highlighting some wines from the Oltrepo in Lombardy awhile back, which I will also rehighlight at the bottom of this article.  It was a splendid evening in the North End of Boston, the Italian section of Boston, at Forcella with great food and wine pairings, great conversation and a reminder of interesting and diverse this region really is.

Susannah (Vigneto Communicatiaons), myself, Carlo (Consorzio), David (Cooking Chat) and Alison (Artisan Wine Group)

The Oltrepo Pavese, pronounced ol-tray-po pah-vay-say, sits in the southern part of the Lombardy about 25 miles outside of Milan. It’s uniquely shaped within Lombardy looking like a cluster of grapes.  The vineyards cover 32,000 acres across 7 denominations with the flagship DOCG, and only DOCG, being the Oltrepo Pavese Metodo Classico Pinot Nero DOCG.   The Oltrepo receives a Mediterranean climate from the nearby influence of the Ligurian Sea and has more of a continental climate with the Po Valley.  Due to these factors, and others, there is a large diversity in the styles of wines produced in the Oltrepo.

Whether you have heard of the Oltrepo or not you may be surprised to learn that this wine area actually accounts for 65% of the wine production within Lombardy.  So much of the Oltrepo has changed over the years.  In 1884 the Oltrepo had 224 native vines with 59 grapes.  Today this area has 10 native vines with a much more limited amount of grapes.  It’s primary grapes grown and what it is known for are Barbara, Riseling, Croatina and especially Pinot Nero.  The Oltrepo Pavese is actually 3^rd in the world, besides Champagne and Burgundy France, for the production of their Pinot Noir.  Other grapes also produced within the Oltrepo Pavese include Uva Rara, Pinot Bianco, Cortese Bianco, Vespolina, Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Malvasia and Mueller Thurgau.

There are 4 valleys in the Oltrepo from west to east including Valle Straffora, Valle Coppa, Valle Scuropasso and Valle Versa.  Pinot Nero is frequently grown in the Valle Scuropasso.  Barbera you will find mostly within Valle Straffora and Valle Coppa.  Riesling does well in the calcareous soils of Valle Coppa.  Croatina is found in the central valleys eastward. 

We opened the evening with the lovely Ca’ di Frara T4 Brut Nature.  The 2022 Bruno Verdi Pinot Grigio was surprising as I never would’ve pinned that wine if tasted blind, although I’m far from an expert.  The texture and fruit profile in the wine reminded me of a Riesling.

Although I didn’t take specific notes on these wines during my dinner with the Consorzio I have to say that some of the pairings that we had complemented one another very well.  The star pairing was the La Travaglina Rugiade Oltrepo Pavese Riesling DOC paired with a cacio e pepe dish.  

Also, the Castello di Luzzano Sommossa Bonarda Frizzante with the pasta Bolognese surprisingly paired nicely with a slight frizzante.

Have you enjoyed wines from the Oltrepo?

Here are some of my previous articles on other wines of the Oltrepo Pavese.

•  Interesting Diversity in the Oltrepo Pavese
  

You can find Oltrepo Pavese wines at Wine.com. 

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*I may receive commissions if any wines are purchased directly from the above site to support the operations of Vino Travels.  

 

Sparkling Wines from the Alta Langa with Borgo Maragliano

After a couple week hiatus due to wonderful family vacation on a Disney cruise of the western Caribbean, I'm ready to share a recent tasting I had a couple months back including sparkling wines from Borgo Maragliano.  This winery is located in the sparkling wine area of ​​​​Piedmont in northwestern Italy known as the Alta Langa.  They are based in Loazzolo, close to Asti.  We tasted through 6 sparkling wines  mostly based on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and one from the Riesling grape.  Let's explore!

The winery – Borgo Maragliano

The husband and wife owners, Carlo and Silvia Galliano, run Borgo Maragliano along with 2 of their 3 sons.   Carlo is also the winemaker and his wife handles the hospitality portion of their business.  They own about 108 acres in the Alta Langa, which is close to the seaside and therefore has the Ligurian Sea influence and winds over their vineyards.  The winery is situated at about 1,475 feet on steep Langhe hills with the vineyards at about 2,000 feet above sea level.  Their focus is on 4 grapes in particular, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling and Moscato.  The Moscato grape Carlo shared is the king grape of this particular area in the Alta Langa.  

Galliano family

The Alta Langa is an area of ​​southern Piedmont known for producing sparkling wines made in the traditional method style, known as the traditional method, with the second fermentation taking place in the bottle.  This is the way in which Borgo Maragliano produces their wines.  Canelli, a municipality in the Asti province of Piedmont, was the first in Italy to use this popular methodology and experiment with it.  Specifically the producers, Carlo Gancia and Conterno, were influential in the beginnings of using the classic style method. 

Carlo explained how they use selected yeasts from France and  use organic practices in their vineyards.  Their soil is meager and poor that gives great acidity to their wines allowing them to stay fresh and be ageworthy.  He discussed what he calls the “pedoclima” as a major factor in the influences of their wines.  This pedoclima is a combination of their altitude, soils and climate.  They have large diurnal temperature swings of 23-24 degrees.

The wines

I'll share the wines I tasted in order of my personal preference.  Most of these wines are named after members of the family.  I didn't find the bubbles to be too bright and bubbly, which for me was great since I'm not a huge sparkling wine fan. 

The 2018 Borgo Maragliano Dogma Blanc de Noirs Bruit Nature Millesime is made from 100% Pinot Noir.  The wine matured for 48 months on the yeast.  They explained this vineyard as a difficult one and Carlo chose the name “dogma” as a strong word to represent the passion and determination to make these wines.  Aromas of butter and vanilla along with some stone fruit.  This wine was rounder on the palate and fuller bodied than the others with a touch of salinity on the finish. SRP $72

The 2018 Borgo Maragliano Giuseppe Galliano Brut Nature Millesime was the first sparkling wine they made in 1987 that is dedicated to Carlo's father.  They started making 1,400 bottles with the 1^st vintage and today make about 8,000-9,000 bottles.  Made from 80% Pinot Noir for body and 20% Chardonnay for elegance from 35 year old vines.  This wine spends 4 years in the bottle and has 0% sugar.  Yeasty aromas with a slight toastiness.  It's dry on the palate with lemon pith and salinity on the finish. SRP $55

The 2019 Borgo Maragliano Giovanni Galliano Brut Rosé Millesime is a rosé made from 100% Pinot Noir.  This wine is named after the great grandfather and one of their sons of him.   The juice contact with the skins lasted about 2-4 hours creating a soft pale pink wine in the glass.  This wine spends 14 months on the lees and had a fine perlage.  A fruity red fruit based nose mostly of strawberries and raspberries with a touch of strawberries delicately showing up on the palate. SRP $57

The Borgo Maragliano Germana Beltrame Brut Nature S.A. IV Editione is named after Carlo's mamma.  Made from 100% Chardonnay from single vineyards across 6 vintages between 2013 and 2018.  This is their only non-vintage cuvee.  Fresh apples with a slight buttery aroma with soft bubbles on the palate. SRP $69

The 2019 Borgo Maragliano Federico Galiano Blanc de Blancs Brut Alta Langa DOCG is made from 100% Riesling, a clone of the Rheingau.  This is named after another of the sons.  The soils of these vineyards are about 85-90% limestone, which Carlo described as these wines showing an intensive mandarin nose and producing a wine that is clean and direct.  This wine did have intense aromas of petrol and pear.  The bubbles were small and quickly dissipated. SRP $72

The 2019 Borgo Maragliano Francesco Galliano Blanc de Blancs Brut Alta Langa DOCG is made from 100% Chardonnay named after their 2^nd child.  The grapes come from a single vineyard planted in 1983.  The soils contains 40% limestone, a white soil that absorbs the water.  This wine spends 34 months maturing on the yeasts.  This wine showed notes of grapefruit pith showing a slight bitterness along with yellow flowers. SRP $50

Have you tried the sparkling wines of the Alta Langa?

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*This wine was provided as a sample, but opinions are always my own.

Happy International Rosé Day with Perlino Prosecco Rosato DOC

On the fourth Friday of June annually is International Rosé Day to celebrate rosé from all around the world. Around a year ago at this time I wrote a piece about the newer Prosecco Rosato DOC wines to hit the market with the 2019 vintage for the Rosautoctono movement. I’ve recently had an opportunity to sample some more and it makes me wonder what took so long for these wines to become a thing. With as much Prosecco that is in in demand on the market and with the growing interest for rosé wines, rosé based Prosecco seems like a no brainer to me.  

Prosecco under the Prosecco DOC designation could never be produced in a pink, or rosato, style at least branded under the Prosecco DOC rules and regulations. The idea was broached in 2019, 10 years after the original Prosecco DOC was founded, and on August 11, 2020 the Prosecco DOC Rosato Millesimato was established with the newest wines hitting the market that in October in 2020. 

The wines produced under the Prosecco DOC designation come from 4 provinces in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, or FVG, including Trieste, Udine, Gorizia and Pordenone. They also are grown within 5 provinces in the Veneto region including Venice, Treviso, Belluno, Padua and Vicenza.  

As with all designations come the laws that a winery must follow in order to be bottled and carry the designation on the label. With the Prosecco DOC Rosato wines they must be made of at least 85-90% Glera and 10-15% Pinot Noir/Pinot Nero. In order to carry the Millesimato on the label, which represents the actual vintage that the wine was produced from, the wine has to have used 85% of the grapes from that particular vintage.

 

As with all Prosecco these wines are produced with a secondary natural fermentation called the Martinotti or Charmat method. The wine must undergo this fermentation for a minimum of 60 days.  

Last night I sampled the 2020 Perlino Prosecco Rosato DOC Millesimato Extra Dry. This wine is made of 90% Glera with 10% Pinot Nero. I’m including the sugar levels found in Prosecco sourced from the Prosecco DOC Consorzio. Extra Dry may not be what you think as it actually has higher level between 12-17 grams of sugar per liter. This wine was pale salmon in color. When I poured the wine in the glass I felt like I was standing in a strawberry patch. It was refreshing on the palette with juicy strawberry notes and mouthwatering acidity. A perfect end to the day! ABV 11% 

Have you tried to Prosecco Rosato DOC and what are your thoughts? 

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*This wine was provided as a sample, but opinions are always my own.