Another year comes to a wrap. It has been a great year of wine from around the world with of course our love for Italian wines. Time to say goodbye to 2018 and welcome 2019 with open arms, open minds and an open glass. As I continue to take you on our journey around Italy I also plan to show some highlights from other wine regions outside of Italy to broaden our horizons. I'd appreciate if you could take this quick survey so that I can hear from my readers and find out what you'd like to read more about in 2019.
Here are the top 5 Italian wine blogs of 2018. I hope they were your favorites too!
Thank you all for your support and sharing your passion for Italian wine. Happy New Year and Buon Anno! As always I love to hear from my readers so please leave comments or send me an email at any time! Share with your friends too!
Over the last two weeks I've attended a couple live online chats with the family of the Montefioralle Winery located in a division of Greve-in-Chianti in Tuscany called Montefioralle. I've been to Greve a number of times and it's not too far outside of Florence. I believe there is a SITA bus you can take from the bus station in Florence, but my preference when visiting the countryside is to rent a car and have the freedom to stop wherever you want. There is so much to see and so many picturesque photo opportunities that you won't want to miss along the way. The primary wine road to take through wine country there is the SS222 also known as the Chiantigiana. Greve-in-Chianti will be one of your first main communes that you'll reach.
The family members that shared their history of Montefioralle were Fernando Sieni, the father, and his son, Lorenzo, and daughter, Alessia. They were so dedicated to sharing their story with us that they did the video live from their vacation in Puglia with their kids playing in the background.
It's an important year for the Montefioralle winery as they are celebrating 50 harvests this October. The winery was founded by Fernando's father back in 1964. He rented the property and land from the church which he then planted the vineyards on. Fernando finally purchased it from the winery in the mid 90's. Both Fernando's parents were born in Montefioralle. Montefioralle was founded by German monks. Lorenzo mentioned that they found documents that actually mention that the priests of Montefioralle used to make wine in their vineyards all the way back to the 14th century. The winery has come a long way from their 1st harvest of 500 liters to today producing about 10,000-12,000 bottles annually.Some of their procedures have changed over time where they used to use wooden barrels for fermentation where now they use cement vats. Fernando was the one whom started green harvesting at the winery where they discard some of the grape bunches to increase the quality of the grapes. His father was never in agreement of this as he thought it was always a waste of the grapes, until he really understood the reasoning behind it to produce higher quality wines. They are currently taking part in green harvesting as we speak. Lorenzo and Alessia's nephew, Sebastiano, whom is 12 has taken a liking to being in the winery and takes part in these activities including harvest.
The family shared that they have faced some difficult harvests like any winery including 2002 due to heavy rains where there
many diseases evolved and the grape bunches had to be harvested by hand. 2014 was another difficult vintage where they lost over 40% of
their production. As Lorenzo described though that a great winemaker
is one whom can produce great wines in the bad years as opposed to the good. Although, their best vintage recommendations for their wines include 1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2016. So far the 2018 vintage is shaping up like 2013 where it's been wet, but also sunny and not so hot followed by cool nights. Alessia actually shared something that I found very touching and shows you the passion behind their winemaking philosophy and how they view wine more than just a product. It's a way of life. When asked her favorite vintage she stated that “Every wine has it’s own history and
individuality and they allow that to transpire”. Fernando compared it to not being able to choose a favorite child and it's the same with wine.
The wines have always been produced organically, but in 2015 they started the process to be certified with the first vintage coming out as certified organic possibly in 2018 or 2019. So what grapes do they produce? They primarily produce sangiovese along with canaiolo and colorino for red grapes and trebbiano and malvasia for white grapes used in the production of their vin santo. In the 80’s Fernando wanted to plant international varieties
including cabernet sauvignon and merlot that they use in their IGT designated wines.
I received 3 of their wines including their 2015 Montefioralle Chianti Classico, the 2014 Montefioralle Chianti Classico Riserva and their Vin Santo. Their chianti classico wines are produced with over 90% sangiovese, the noble grape of Tuscany, that is known for tannin and high acid. The rest of the grapes added include canaiolo for approachability and a smoother wine as well as colorino for color since sangiovese is a light colored grape. Not all wineries use canaiolo and colorino as canaiolo is difficult to grow and reach ripeness where the colorino is produced in small quantities.
2015 Montefioralle Chianti Classico- This wine was aged a year in barrels. This vintage had a very hot summer resulting in a wine full of ripe, rich cherries. An approachable wine with rather balanced acidity and supple tannins. Notes of tobacco and cedar all typical to sangiovese and part of the reason why I love it. Lorenzo suggested aging the wine about 5-6 years and in good
vintages this can be doubled. ABV 14.5% (typically 13-13.5%) SRP
$14
2014 Montefioralle Chianti Classico Riserva – A difficult vintage due to climate. They produced 1,000 bottles that year as opposed to their normal 3,000. Their riserva wines are produced from vines that are 30+ years old. This wine is aged 2 years in barrel. A wine with complex aromas including cherry with some herbal and chocolate notes. Lorenzo recommended that this wine can age about 10-12 years on average and more than double in good vintages. ABV 14.5% SRP $30
I have yet to try the 2014 Montefioralle Vin Santo since I wanted to pair it with cantucci, or biscotti, as I have enjoyed in Tuscany. I will let you know once I've had a chance to try it. SRP $30 at a half liter bottle. The nice about these wines is that Montefioralle has it arranged where they can ship directly as they are partnered with importers and mine came rather quickly.
What I loved about meeting the Sieni family virtually was that everything they do is for their passion for wine. They don't tailor their wines for the consumer market as some wineries do. It's more about quality and not the quantity and I could feel their passion and sense of family and history throughout the conversation.
* Most pictures copyright of Montefioralle Winery.
When we think of
drinking Italian wine how do we not think about Italian food and what
we can pair with it. After all, they say “what grows together
goes together”. I attended a wine and cheese pairing event hosted
by Gordon's Wine & Spirits in Waltham and the event was led by
local wine, cheese and food expert, Adam Centamore.
Myself & Adam Centamore
Adam is of
Sicilian heritage and holds a Masters in Gastronomy. He also
authored his first book that was published in September 2015 called
“Tasting Wine & Cheese: An Insider's Guide to Mastering thePrinciples of Pairing”. In addition to his academic background he
has worked in the industry managing the well-known cheese specialty
shop, Formaggio's Kitchen, and currently is a wine purveyor at the
wine shop, Bin Ends, in addition to teaching wine and food lovers
like myself.
Adam's passion was
evident through his presentation of the wine and cheese pairings of
the night with his relaxed, easy going, comical personality that took
the snobbery out of understanding food and wine. The first tasting
of the night was a wine from the Alto Adige region of Italy. This
region is tucked in the north eastern part of Italy. The wine
selection was from the known producer, St. Michael-Eppan and was
their 2014 Pinot Grigio. Personally, I found this pinot grigio to be
too light bodied for my personal preference, but the cheese pairing
went together well with it. Adam chose a tronchetto al capra. This
is a 100% goats cheese from the north western region of Piedmont.
The cheese was topped with sicilian oranges in syrup. Yum!
Even though that
was the only Italian wine and cheese pairing of the night I found
Adam's book to provide a number of great suggestions to pair with a
variety of Italian wines. You'll find sparkling wines including
moscato, lambrusco and prosecco. For white wines Adam features the
grapes pinot grigio, trebbiano and verdicchio. Categorized under the
red wines you'll discover grapes including barbera, frappato,
nebbiolo and sangiovese. Lastly, for those that love dessert wines,
you'll find brachetto and vin santo. Are some of these grapes new to
you? It's a perfect way to start learning about them and double the
enjoyment by seeking out the cheese accompaniments. I've enjoyed a
lot of pleasures with these pairings and by playing around with these
tastings it helps demonstrate how an Italian wine can change by
sampling it alone and how the nuances change when combined with the
right suggestion.
I would like to
provide a wine and cheese sample in each of the different styles of
wine mentioned above with recommended cheeses from Adam's book to
give you a feel for some of the regional delights from a variety of
regions within Italy.
Sparkling Wine – Prosecco
Prosecco is the
top imported sparkling wine from Italy hailing from the Veneto region
and it's a wine made up of the glera grape. Prosecco comes in
different styles from sweeter versions to dry styles. Adam
recommends a a hard, sharper cheese like parmigiano reggiano from the
Lombardy region which is opposite the softness in the bubbles of the
prosecco, but put them together and watch the changes unfold.
White wine – Verdicchio
Verdicchio is a
white grape primarily found in the Marche region in central Italy
that typically has higher acidity and citrus characteristics. Adam
recommends cheese with “semi-firm texture and nutty flavors” and
suggests a cow's cheese from the way northwestern part of Italy in
the Aosta Valley.
Red wine – Frappato
This grape
originates on the island of Sicily and produces lighter bodied style
red wines, but you may find it blended with other grapes of the
island. Adams recommends a delightful pairing with ricotta salata,
which is a sheep's milk from Sicily. His suggestion is to cut
strawberries topped with sugar and a splash of frappato, refrigerate
overnight and then add on top of the ricotta salata. Sounds like a
combination to die for.
Dessert wine – Vin Santo
The wine enjoyed
after many Tuscany dinners, vin santo, is a blend of dried trebbiano
and malvasia grapes that are then aged in oak barrels. I've always
enjoyed the typical dessert of Tuscany, which is vin santo with
biscotti, but Adam recommends ricotta topped with citrus blossom
honey where the honey compliments the flavors of the wine and the
citrus blossom draws out the vanilla of the oak in the vin santo.
Can we say a perfect ending?
These are all just
samples, but shows you how much fun you can have experimenting with
Italian grapes from all over Italy and finding some Italian cheeses
for pure satisfaction.
*I receive a small proceed of any books purchased through this link. It not only supports Adam in providing his expertise and knowledge, but myself in continuing to operate this website at no cost to my readers. It's greatly appreciated!
You can find my monthly column, Italy Uncorked,
in the Bostoniano magazine, Boston's Italian American voice where
you'll find this and many other articles.
Every week a fellow wine blogger,
Katarina of Grapevine Adventures,
features different wineries, sommeliers, winemakers etc with an
opportunity to chat live and ask questions, plus learn a lot about a
particular winery and area. I attend whenever possible and a little
while back she featured a winery in Tuscany that is growing
tempranillo, a spanish grape. I'm always intrigued when wineries
experiment with grapes that either faced extinction or aren't typical
for an area to see what works and what doesn't based on the terroir
of a particular area.
The winery is Pietro
Beconcini located in San Miniato, located between Pisa and
Florence closer to the coast. It's also located along the Via
Francigena, where the pilgrims went from north of Spain to Rome. San
Miniato is also the place of the truffles. So they always think of
the gastronomic side and what wines can be produced to match the food
of the area.
We met virtually with Eva and Leaonardo
the winemaker whom is 4th generation. The winery has been
within the family since the 1950's when the grandfather was a
sharecropper on the land that was then owned by the Marchesi Ridolfi
family. It was an agricultural estate that later became solely
focused on winemaking in the 90's when Leonardo's father transitioned
the land over. Today the wineries total bottle production is
100,000. which is considered a small to medium sized winery.
Eva & Leonardo Beconcini
The soil of Pietro Beconcini in San
Miniato is made up of seashells and clay. Lots of calcium and
minerals are within the soil leading to wines that are fresh and that
provide structure and saltiness.
Soils of fossil shells and clay
The grapes that are produced at Pietro
Beconcini are malvasia nera, cieliegiolo, sangiovese, canaoilo and
the unique tempranillo. Leonardo's father first started out
producing chianti in the old fashioned straw fiascos. When Leonardo
took over as winemaker he selected the best vines and vineyard and
started replanting ungrafted vines, meaning they survived the
terrible phylloxera disease that hit most of Europe's vines
destroying them in the 70's. There were 100 year old vines mixed in
with others. He did research and micro-vinifciation on some of the
vines and that is when he discovered it was tempranillo growing in
2004, very unusual for Italy.
Leonardo Beconcini, winemaker
One of the changes from the 90’s that
Leonardo changed was the types of barrels used. Previously they used
small wooden barrels and now their wine is stored in big wooden
slavonian oak barrels. Their reason for doing so is to go back to
tradition. Small barrels change the style of the wine. With
slavonian oak the impact of wood isn’t aggressive to the wine.
I haven't had the opportunity to try
any of their wines, but the wines they walked us through were:
Reciso Rosso Toscano IGT –
Comes from the verb, recidere, which means to cut, for the efforts
of the amount of grapes they cut from their vineyards. Made of 100%
sangiovese. This is their best sangiovese from the old vineyards.
This wine can last 20 years or more.
Vigna alle Nicchie Tempranillo
IGT - Meaning vines in the shells this wine is made fully from
the tempranillo grape. Leonardo thinks this wine can be aged for 30
years, but they yet have the experience with it since they started
only in 2004. The grapes comes from quite a small vineyard. Before
pressing the grapes they dry them for 4 weeks where the grapes lose
30% of the water and produces a more concentrated wine. 15.5%
alcohol. Recommended to serve with wild boar or wild white meat or
pheasant. Also, duck with pepperoni or orange juice cooked for
hours so it's well integrated with the meat. Maybe also just pasta
with ragu and vegetables.
Pietro Beconcini Chianti
Riserva DOCG– Produced in large oak barrels from 65 year old
vines.
Fresco di Nero Rose –
This is a rose, or rosato, made of tempranillo. The juice is only
macerated with the skins for 3 days. Recommended pairings include
salmon and tuna or egg with white truffle on top. They also use a
lot of cold cuts because of the fatiness and acidity pairs well with
the rosato.
Their dessert wine that
is harvested at the beginning of September. They then hang the
grapes to dry for some months. about 5-6 months. The juice is then
stored in chestnut or oak casks where they leave 1/3 of the barrel
for oxygen to never be opened again until it's time to bottle around
5-6 years later. The grapes make up malvasia bianca, colombano and
malvasia nera. Pairings with vin santo include blue cheese or
gorgonzola, stilton. Liver pate is a tradition of the area. If
you're a cigar lover this will be a pairing for you.
*All pictures used with permission of Pietro Beconcini
