ITALY - Issuu

from Farthinghoe Fine Wine 2021 Wine Catalogue

SOUTHERN FRANCE

North Eastern Italy

This region has a huge array of wine styles, grape varieties and topography. It spans from the Po Valley’s bland and over-produced/industrial Trebbiano that gave Italy’s wine such a bad name in the ‘70s and ‘80s to Alto Adige/Sudtirol’s steep wine terraces in the Dolomites where the viticulture follows the language: 70% German. In between these two extremes you find the rich red wines east of Lake Garda: Valpolicella and Amarone.

The wines of Veneto are perhaps the most famous, with Italy’s Soave as the country’s most widely recognised white wine. The best are alluring, not overly-complicated wines with a ‘soave’ mouth-feel. It’s all in the name. Garganega is the grape used here sometimes blended with Trebbiano. The best examples come from the volcanic hill soils in or near the Classico region. Further west on the way to Lake Garda from Venice you reach the Valpolicella region where the Corvina grape is blended among others.

The ‘Ripasso’ style became prominent in the 1980s with various large producers like Masi’s Campofiorin becoming popular. Here Valpolicella is fermented on pressed/used grape skins of the Amarone, creating a mid-way point between Valpolicella and Amarone in style. In a warmer climate alcohol and richness aren’t hard to achieve, and elegant finessed wines appear more popular, these wines are more admired than regularly purchased – but good examples are wonderful.

Our own I Campi produces a great array of excellence. For late release and highly priced and reviewed Amarone look out for Dal Forno and Quintarelli for the big-ticket wines. Though like all good Amarone, they require cellaring and patience

In amongst these traditional styles are wines marked simply by their IGT status as they use ‘international’ aka ‘originally French’ grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and Carmenere. San Leonardo – a northern, mountainous sibling of Sassicaia – is a Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT. Giacomo Tachis (the expert winemaker behind Sassicaia) consulted there from 1985-1999. The wine gets excellent scores and is an elegant and mountainous Bordeaux blend which releases to great acclaim most years.

The region is well worth a visit. Follow Lake Garda and the Adige River up through Trentino, Alto Adige and into Austria in the summer months for wonderful hiking, food and wine tasting. The Dolomites has it all in terms of mountaineering with Alpine air and food to match.

Tom Meade

VINOUS 95

POINTS

SAN LEONARDO

TENUTA SAN LEONARDO 2015

DRINK 2025 - 2043

6x75 £270

A beautiful ruby colour in the glass. There’s more red than blackfruit here despite the warm vintage. There’s a real purity of fruit with prominent fresh tobacco leaf. There’s a balanced acidity and long fruit driven finish, the purity can’t be overstated: cherry fruit and wild strawberry. As with all young San Leonardo wines it will put on weight in bottle so expect this to keep developing. Excellent from the great 2015 vintage and a mere 13% abv. Perfect.

MEET THE GROWER Tenuta San Leonardo

We are extremely pleased to work with Tenuta San Leonardo, which is currently headed by Marchesi Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga. Like most great European wines, San Leonardo begins with the church. A Trentino monastery dedicated to San Leonardo, patron saint of prisoners, made wine here under the noble de Gresti family. The family bought the estate from the church in 1724 and it remains with their ancestors today. Marchesi Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga (Anselmo’s father) and Giacomo Tachis brought the estate into the modern era, utilising classic Bordeaux varieties.

Tachis was the winemaking genius behind Sassicaia, Solaia and Tignanello. Carlo found his calling in the modern oenology schools of Switzerland and as a cellarhand at Tenuta San Guido, home of Sassicaia, in the 1960s. Tachis consulted at the estate between 1985 and 1999 before handing over to another famous Tuscan, Carlo Ferrini. The style of the estate has remained constant, the main focus on elegance. The estate has practised organic viticulture for the last seven years. Anselmo takes inspiration from the biodynamic movement though avoids some of the more unusual practices - like planting a horn of animal dung in the soil. Anselmo noted the effect the conversion had made upon the wine quality and vine health, not to mention the vineyard’s biodiversity since the conversion. The blend is always 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Carmenere and 10% Merlot. The wine is aged in 20-25% new French oak barrels and 700 litre tonneau for four years prior to release.

CLASSIC GRAPE VARIETALS

Corvina, Glera (Prosecco) and Garganega

SOIL TYPE

Calcerous and volcanic

FAVOURITE PRODUCERS

Quintarelli, Dal Forno, Masi, i Campi and San Leonardo

AREA UNDER VINE

8,100 ha

(Valpolicella)

Piedmont

A region surrounded on three sides by mountains, a mere five-hour drive from Burgundy, Piedmont shares a similar template: many small vineyards each offering up subtle differences. As in Burgundy, the grower is key. Unlike Burgundy, the complete hillside is used to grow grapes so a north-eastern aspect may favour the Dolcetto grape, whilst a south-south-eastern can favour Nebbiolo. Altitude also makes it mark, with Nebbiolo ungrowable above 500m, and wonderful hazelnuts often filling the valley floor. The area is brimming with exceptional wines, amazing food, and of course “tartufo” - truffles.

Piedmont is a province that has practiced viticulture for millennia. As such there are small biodynamic producers, like the late Stefano Bellotti in Gavi, who led Italy’s organic and biodynamic movement, reviving almost extinct grapes like the obscure, age-worthy Dolcetto Nibio. Dolcetto is usually a variety drunk at lunch time – simple and enjoyable. In Gavi in the south-east one finds the Cortese di Gavi which produces elegant and refined whites suitable for all occasions. Across Piedmont one finds Barbera, which makes ‘big’ wines: acidic, juicy and ripe – a 1998 Barbera d’Asti (Scarpa, ‘La Bogliona’) I drunk in London summer 2019 was mature but in good shape. Not all are designed for such a long life, however, and most are quickly consumed. The better-thought of growing areas for Barbera can label the wines as Barbera d’- Asti or Alba or de Montferrato.

Nebbiolo is the ethereal, intriguing, foremost grape variety in Piedmont, from which the most expensive wines are made. Two areas of Barolo and Barbaresco above all produce the best examples. These two regions are among the world’s greatest, however only a few producers here have their wine regularly traded. Great news for wine-lovers as mature or maturing cases occasionally can be found (if any will part from them!) at not much more than annual release prices. So, a convincing investment market doesn’t exist yet but given the quality of wine made here and the Burgundy-style small holdings it’s not impossible that along with the Rhône something might take off. Following the superb 2016 vintage the region is gaining traction, but top producers release at high-ish prices removing any huge investment gains.

The 2016 vintage is game-changing. You’ll want to buy some, and you can hardly go wrong.

—WALTER SPELLER

The top names in Barolo and Barbaresco are numerous – Bartolo Mascarello, Luca Sandrone, Roberto Voerzio, Luigi Pira, Bruno Giacosa, Aldo Conterno, E. Pira, Angelo Gaja, Elio Grasso, Sottimano and Luca Roagna, among many others. They mark the pinnacle of Nebbiolo production.

Northeast of Turin lies the lesser-known regions of Gattinara DOCG and five other DOCs, with Ghemme the next best. The Nebbiolo here is called Spanna, in the local dialect, but while in Barolo one finds over 80 producers, here there are only a handful. Travaglini is the foremost producer here along with Antoniolo and quality is on the rise and there’s certainly excellent and age-worthy value wines. We stock Travaglini and I was lucky enough to find some 2010 Riserva on an Italian skiing holiday just before lockdown: £35 in the hotel restaurant!

Tom Meade

MEET THE GROWER

Osvaldo Viberti

LA MORRA

This 10-ha Estate began making wine in 1992 and alongside wine, there is a thriving hazelnut orchard – Ferrero Rocher are buyers! Osvaldo is charming, thoughtful, and modest. His wines are really lovely, expressive, and so enjoyable, offering great value. We’ve bought and sold all of Osvalso’s wonderful 2010 Cannubis - but have no fear - we have refilled our boots with the fantastic 2016 vintages.

We’ve chosen his two remarkably different singlevineyard Baroli – his Serralunga d’Alba from Meriame MGA, and the Serra dei Turchi MGA in La Morra, which ovelooks his house and winery. In 2016 the Serralunga is the earlier drinking of the two from more limestone soil. We love Osvaldo’s quality to price ratio and are sure you will too. He isn’t widely known outside Italy… yet! We found him through local introduction, and his glorious wines are priced accordingly. “Punching” you might say. If you’d like to enjoy a delicious Barolo, from a little-known producer, at a sensible price, this is what discovering gems is all about!

BAROLO, SERRA DEI TURCHI

OSVALDO VIBERTI 2016

DRINK 2023 - 2034

6x75 £155

1x150 £59

1x300 £119

Osvaldo ages this in 15 hl oak casks, for nearly 24 months in great vintages like this. A touch deeper ruby in the glass compared to the Serralunga d’Alba with similar maturity; on the nose, there’s a deeper, denser character – not better, simply different. On the palate, the tannins are firmer, the fruit a touch riper and darker – more licorice and refined chocolates (more Charbonnels than Quality Street!), yet with that lovely rose petal perfume, with a backbone of acidity to bring everything together. One can sense that South-facing aspect and slightly heavier soil – the beauty of terroir.

BAROLO, SERRALUNGA D’ALBA

OSVALDO VIBERTI 2015

DRINK 2021 - 2031

6x75 £155

1x150 £59

1x300 £119

Bright medium ruby in the glass suggesting it’s close to approaching its early drinking phase; the limestone vineyards have a clear effect on the wine: the perfume on the nose is enchanting – very pretty rose petal and a tiny hint of tar and herbs; the palate is beautifully balanced - good fruit intensity yet in no way heavy, with a freshness of acidity to give energy and a gilding of tannins to complete the circle of balance. Start to drink very soon for another ten years or so….perfect while the Serra dei Turchi matures a little further.

MEET THE GROWER Castello di Neive

BARBARESCO

This fabulous estate was bought in 1964 by Italo Stupino and his family. It traces its wine lineage back to 1862 when, as home to the Count of Castelborgo, their red wine won a gold medal in London. We were completely blown away by the attention to detail in the restoration of the castle and cellars which certainly translated in what we found in the wines.

Having prized some older vintages for our own tastings and musings, we find their Barbarescos age incredibly well. Minimal use of sulphur (a plus for the head!), low yields, and excellent vineyards, including their monopole of Santo Stefano, offer up a very compelling range. So much so, in fact, that we found ourselves still sitting in the Castello tasting room at 8.15pm - and late for dinner - but regaled by classical music and munching on their award-winning hazelnuts from their orchard. Santo Stefano is one of the best known bottlings of the late, great Bruno Giacosa who bought selection of Italo’s grapes in a 50-year working partnership: the 1978 and 1982 are particularly sought after. With such pedigree of the vineyard established we are delighted to bring Castello di Neive’s wines to the UK and look forward to sharing them with you.

BARBERA D’ALBA, SANTO STEFANO

CASTELLO DI NEIVE 2015

DRINK 2017 – 2026

6x75 £85

Perhaps the best Barbera we tried on our trip to Italy and most likely because it hails from Italo’s superb Santo Stefano vineyard - renowned as one of Barbaresco’s best and wholly owned by Italo since the 1960s. You wouldn’t know this is 15% alcohol. It is so rounded, has such depth of fruit flavour, poise and power yet at the same time subtle - slowly revealing different fruit and spice flavours. It has a lasting acidity. The end of my tasting note was a speechless “Wow!”, while Julian’s was “very delicious drinking”. If you want to try Barbera for the first time or as an old favourite – treat yourself to this.

CLASSIC GRAPE VARIETALS

Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto. White: Cortese and Moscato.

SOIL TYPE

Calcareous marl

FAVOURITE PRODUCERS

Gaja, Bruno Giacosa, E. Pira, Sandrone and Conterno.

AREA UNDER VINE 1,700 ha (Barolo) 640 ha (Barbaresco)

BARBARESCO, SANTO STEFANO

CASTELLO DI NEIVE 2015

DRINK 2021-2033

6x75 £196

The cherry and red fruits abound and intertwine gracefully with a touch of menthol and balsamic. So fragrant with beautiful fruit expression on the nose and the palate does not disappoint. Culminates in a long, persistent, and quite lovely finish.

RECIPE

Risotto

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp olive oil • 1 small onion, finely diced • 350g risotto rice • 170g butter, diced • 200ml white wine

• 1-1.5 litres hot vegetable stock • 200g fresh parmesan or vegetarian parmesan-style cheese, grated

METHOD

1. Add the oil to a large pan with the onion and cook on a medium heat for around five minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the rice and a spoon of butter and stir, toasting the rice for three to four minutes. Add the white wine and continue stirring until it has been absorbed into the rice.

2. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring regularly and allowing the rice to absorb each lot before adding the next ladle. This should take about 12 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the butter and the cheese, mixing well until it has all come together. Cover with a lid and allow the flavours to meld for a few minutes, and then serve.

4. Buon appetito!

TRAVEL TIPS

Welcome to Piedmont

If you are in Gattinara – which itself isn’t a particularly glamourous town – or the surrounding area be sure to taste the local speciality: locally grown risotto rice (Vercelli is just down the road) cooked with parmesan, onion, garlic and a whole bottle of Gattinara. We had this at a charming family trattoria and hotel, Locando Villa Cavalleri.

If you are staying in Barolo, Hotel Reva just outside Monforté D’Alba is a wonderfully relaxing place with excellent food too. We were too busy tasting wine but there is even a golf course!

Repubblica di Perno is an excellent little bistro in Perno, south of Castiglione Falletto and east of Bussia.

If you are nearer Barbaresco or in the Langhe hills east of Alba, then dinner in La Ciau del Tornavento is a must with a wine list so long that it took hours to determine what to drink!

Tom Meade

Notable places

LOCANDO VILLA CAVALLERI

di Salvadego Lorenzo, corso Valsesia, 157 Gattinara (VC) 13045 - Italia

locandavillacavalleri.it

REPUBBLICA DI PERNO

12065 Perno, Province of Cuneo, Italy

www.repubblicadiperno.it

HOTEL RÉVA

Località S. Sebastiano, 68, 12065 Monforte D’alba CN, Italy

www.revamonforte.it

LA CIAU DEL TORNAVENTO

Piazza Leopoldo Baracco, 7, 12050 Treiso CN, Italy

www.laciaudeltornavento.it

Tuscany

Tuscany is one of the key wine regions, but at the highest level it is a relative newcomer, known as much for its holidays and its chianti in the raffia-wrapped flasks, aptly named fiascos, as the high-quality wines of Brunello di Montalcino. Fortunately, over the last 20 years or so the consistent quality of the winemaking has matched the phenomenal potential of the land. The traditional areas of Chianti, Brunello and Montepulciano based their success around the native Sangiovese, while newcomers have supplemented that with French varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to create well known Super Tuscans.

The key regions are slap bang in the middle of Tuscany. Between Florence and Siena is the Chianti region, offering both bright, juicy cherry-scented wines that are sensational value for midweek drinking, or more serious, ageworthy bottles often seeing longer oak ageing and qualifying to be known as riserva. The region is split into village-based sub regions, centred around the Classico region at the heart.

Further south, past Siena, the hilltop town of Montalcino is arguably the king of traditional Tuscan winemaking based on the Sangiovese Grosso, a thicker skinned and more intensely flavoured strand of Sangiovese. The grape is known locally as Brunello so Brunello di Montalcino literally translated is Sangiovese from Montalcino. It is perhaps the most beautiful area you can hope to visit, the rolling hills of the north replaced by large and more rugged hills and mountains, reflected in the wines. Sharing a similar flavour profile as Chianti, Brunellos are denser, darker and longer lived, with the best of them being able to age effortlessly for upwards of 25 years. The vines are found outside of the city walls, lower down the slopes. To the south, the wines are darker, riper and more intense, while those to the north, in the shadow of the town, are often brighter, refined and ethereal. To find balance and consistency, most producers own various plots of land to enable them to blend from different areas and make a more complete style of wine that is of Brunello rather than of a particular vineyard. Recently though, and Canalcchio di Sopra is a great example of the site selection, we are seeing a real developement in the winemaking based on the nuances of the terroir and specific vineyards.

When it comes to Super Tuscans, it largely means any wine made in Tuscany that doesn’t fit with traditional laws or regions. Many are focused on the Chianti region away from the coast, but perhaps the best known are further west, on the coast of Tuscany as well as the southern extremes of the region near Grosseto. The first was Sassicaia, made by nobleman Marchese Mario Incisa della Rochetta to replicate his favourite Clarets when he realised the soil on his estate was very similar to that found in Bordeaux. He started making the wine for his own use but realised the first commercial vintage in 1968. As the wines didn’t fit existing traditions they had to be classified as the lowest possible appellation - Vina da Tavola. Others followed such as Tignanello, Ornellaia, Masseto, Cepparello and Flaccianello. They have since been reclassified mostly as IGT, or in some cases, even DOCG. The wines do not have a style that can be easily summarised based on their home village such as Barolo or Brunello di Montalcino, so it is important to get to know your favourites. They may not have the long traditions of the classical regions, but they have certainly got the world’s attention in 50 years. Super Tuscans have proved to be some of the best and most consistent investment wines over the last 10 years.

Malcolm Willatts