I attended one of my local wine shops, Lucia's Bodega, wine tasting that was celebrating their “3rd
Anniversary Bash”. I sampled about 6 Italian wines and two stood
out to me on two different sides of the price spectrum that I'll
cover, but I also appreciated the quality of the following:
Montupoli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Illuminati Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Riserva DOCG
Banfi Col-di-Sasso Toscano
Property of Wine Folly, www.winefolly.com
The first one I wanted to cover that I
picked up for $12.50 a bottle was the 2011 Seratina Primitivo from
Puglia. Puglia is located in south eastern Italy that runs down the
heel of the boot. You will see it on the map provided by Wine
Folly. The Primitivo grape was discovered to be associated with
the US's grape, Zinfandel. Not white zin! This is one of the top
red grapes of Puglia and is primarily produced out of this region.
This wine had a higher alcohol content of 14%, but I enjoyed it's
soft tannins combined with the ripe fruit producing a medium to full
body with a lasting finish. If you seek out this grape you should be
able to find some good deals!
The other wine I really enjoyed was
around $50 a bottle, but was impressive. The wine was from the
Tenute
Folonari estate that was a 2008 Cabreo Il Borgo Red Toscana super
tuscan wine made up of 70% sangiovese and 30% cabernet sauvignon. If
you haven't figured it out I'm a big fan of sangiovese along with
nebbiolo and I alway seem to enjoy these wines the most, but I'm one
to try everything and that's why I like exploring Italy's hundreds of
grape varieties.
Center of Greve
This wine comes from Greve, which is
one of the primary communes/towns in the Chianti Classico region of
Tuscany. It's right outside Florence and if you are in the area you
must go there. It's a charming town with a beautiful square
surrounded by restaurants and shops. I stayed at an agriturismo
(like a B&B) Patrizia
Falciani surrounded by the vineyards of Le
Masse di Greve when I had gone.
My next blog I have a winemaker I'd
like you to meet of the 2nd biggest winery in the Chianti
Classico region of Italy. I had a great interview and meeting with
him and can't wait to share it!
One of the best meetings I had while in
Piedmont was my private tour of the Ascheri winery in Bra, Italy. I
was fortunate enough to have it organized for me through
Martignetti's due to my work with the distributor. I entered behind
the gates that day located right in the city center and it opened up
to this square which contained the Ascheri's operations. The owner,
Matteo, pleasantly greeted me at the door and gave me a brief
introduction of the Ascheri winery. This winery has been in the
Ascheri family for 6 generations. They produce about 240,000
bottles. Matteo then introduced me to the winemaker, Giuliano Bedino, whom
then took me on a tour of the winery.
At that point, which was the second
week of October, they had just finished picking the week prior and
were cleaning out the tanks of the skins. The decision to pick the
grapes is decided by Giuliano, Matteo and occasionally an outside
expert. They have 20 people on hand at all times to be ready for
harvest. We moved on to where all the barrels were with the names on
the outside like Fontanelle (where they grow their Barbara grapes)
and Sorano (Giuliano's favorite area for the nebbiolo grapes that
make up their Barolo).
Visiting the wine cellars is always one
of my favorite parts. I love seeing rows and rows of wines stocked,
some covered in dust, that have been aging and sitting for years or
decades. So much history in one place. The Ascheri wine cellar was
beautiful surrounding a huge tree displayed as art to represent what
used to exist in that space. Following, I toured the bottling
facility that bottles 3,000 wine bottles an hour. Seems like a tons
of bottles, huh? The reason for processing at that rate is because
it avoids oxidation of the wine.
Winemaker - Giuliano
We finished with Giuliano in the
tasting room to sample the fantastic wines that Matteo, Giuliano and
their team worked hard to produce. I sampled everything from their
dolcetto, barbera, arneis to nebbiolo including a couple barolos.
There is nothing like topping off a tasting with a dessert wine as
well and I sampled their Moscato d'Asti, which Giuliano signed for me
to take home. I love collecting the bottles that I have had signed
by winemakers or owners or those that I have taken back from Italy so
that I can use them in designing my bar in my basement.
I have so many more stories and great
pictures to share from my travels so I hope you are enjoying the
journey! As always I love to hear of your Italian travels and great
wines you have tasted and people you have met so don't be shy.
I thought it would be fun to compare
one grape, Arneis, but in two different styles, a still white wine
and a dessert style. Both of these wines are from the winery,
Azienda Agricola Malvira, located in the Roero, a town in the
northwestern region of Italy in Piedmont. Two brothers, Massimo and
Roberto Damonte, run the vineyard and winery that they took over from
their father Giuseppe that began production in the 1950's. Their
winery produces about 380,000 bottles a year on about 103 acres.
The white wine I tasted was a 2012
Malvira Roero Arneis. This is their Arneis that comes from multiple
vineyard sites, where some of the other Arneis are single vineyard.
It's made of 100% Arneis and is fermented in stainless steel for 4-8
months. It was a light wine with acidity up front, but aromatic
fruit in the middle.
The other wine was a dessert style, Malvira
Renesium Arneis, that is sourced from their Trinita vineyard and is
made up of 90% arneis and 10% other aromatic grapes. The difference
between this and the other is that the grapes for the dessert wine
were affected with botrytis, also having a form called noble rot,
which is a beneficial fungus that grows on the grapes. It takes
place drier conditions take place after wet weather. Botrytis starts
to remove the water within the grapes, therefore making them more
concentrated. In addition, this wine was aged for 2 years in french
oak. It had that nice honeysuckle taste that is typical of botrytis
affected grapes.
Drinking this Arneis reminded me of the
time that I had a private tour set up through Martignetti's to meet
with the owner, Matteo Ascheri, of the Ascheri winery in Bra,
Piedmont. I think that is a great place to pick up next time so stay
tuned of some great pictures and my meeting with Matteo and his
winemaker Giuliano.
The white wine I tasted was a 2012
Malvira Roero Arneis. This is their Arneis that comes from multiple
vineyard sites, where some of the other Arneis are single vineyard.
It's made of 100% Arneis and is fermented in stainless steel for 4-8
months. It was a light wine with acidity up front, but aromatic
fruit in the middle. 
The other wine was a dessert style, Malvira
Renesium Arneis, that is sourced from their Trinita vineyard and is
made up of 90% arneis and 10% other aromatic grapes. The difference
between this and the other is that the grapes for the dessert wine
were affected with botrytis, also having a form called noble rot,
which is a beneficial fungus that grows on the grapes. It takes
place drier conditions take place after wet weather. Botrytis starts
to remove the water within the grapes, therefore making them more
concentrated. In addition, this wine was aged for 2 years in french
oak. It had that nice honeysuckle taste that is typical of botrytis
affected grapes.
