Christian Moreau at Caviste

Rather like the the first cuckoo of the spring or the changing of leaf colour in the autumn, the spring tastings of the new wines are a marker of the time of year.   Caviste’s Burgundy festival is an opportunity to taste the latest offerings, in this case from the 2008 vintage.   Eight growers, nearly all there in person, showed 37 wines in the comfort of the splendid games room at Ashe Park.  I say comfort because Caviste had taken the wise step of cancelling the marquee and sheltering from the unseasonably cold spell indoors.

In contrast to the enormous trade tasting at Lord’s which I attended in January, at this smaller sample it was the whites which really stood out. Bruno Colin’s St Aubin is an excellent value white, 100% Chardonnay like all the rest.  The Premier Cru La Charmois, at £140 per 6 bottles (all prices per 6 bottles duty paid), shows the continuing value of this appellation.  Vincent Bouzereau’s wines also shone: simple, unoaked Bourgogne Blanc shows lovely, lively and quite complex fruit with a bit of minerality at a very reasonable £78 per 6 bottles. The village level Meursault has a great balance between freshness and richness (£145), while the two Premier Cru, Les Gouttes d’Or (amazing concentration, the density of fruit currently only showing in the after taste) and Charmes, both £225 are correspondingly grander.

But the highlight of the day was undoubtedly meeting Christian Moreau himself and of course tasting his great wines from Chablis.  The family firm which carries his name is now run by his son, Fabian, but Christian genially presides over the wines as though they were his own grandchildren.  His seems a happy lot. After many years of putting his name on the map, he can simultaneously take pride in the wine which continues to be of the highest quality and have the relaxed look of a man who knows that somebody else is reliably doing the hard work.

Having tasted the 2007s at the London Chablis trade tasting earlier in the year, this was a chance to check out the 2008s.  Both are very good vintages in the whites, 2008 if anything even better than 2007, certainly more approachable and so can be drunk earlier.  Four quality and price levels:

• ‘basic’ (but floral and mildly mineral) Chablis, £80 (all prices per 6 bottles duty paid)
• more restrained, dense fruit in Premier Cru Vaillons, oak aged, needs time, £118
• lemon and lime fruit, great minerality and length in Grand Cru Valmur, 40% vinified in oak barrels of which only 2% is new, £195
• similarly Grand Cru Les Clos, more rounded, oak more evident, £195
• and from the historic heart of Les Clos, Grand Cru Clos de Hospises, rich, exotic, floral and fruit notes on the nose, gorgeous fruit, so complex, £260

And yes, there were some reds, but not that many.  The wine to drink now is Lignier- Michelot’s Gevrey Chambertin with wonderful accessible fruit (Cuvée Bertin, £178).  And then there was the chance to taste the otherwise unreachable. Although it seems a shame to reduce the already tiny numbers of bottles of Grand Cru wines by tasting them years before they hit their prime, few are going to turn down the opportunity to try Clos de la Roche (Lignier-Michelot, superb texture, sweet ripe fruit, £450) or indeed the white, Lequin-Colin, Batard Montrachet (very closed but with an amazing rich texture, £615).   The 2008s are well and truly launched.

Multi-faceted Vajra

Planning a week’s tasting in a region is a mixture of thorough preparation, chance meetings and recommendations, and sheer persistence.  And there is the question of whether to visit wineries which you already know and whose wines are available in the UK as opposed to those you can only taste in situ.  Our final day in the Langhe region of Piemonte had  a large gap in the final afternoon but after a few phone calls, we arranged a visit to G.D.Vajra (pronounced VAI-ra), a very well established name, located above the village of Barolo since 1972.  All the planning had paid dividends as this was also the only time in the week that we had to drive from our morning tastings in Barbaresco, well to the east of our base in Alba, to a visit at the opposite end of the region, via a very good if hurried lunch and a near disaster at a self service petrol station.

Vajra’s substantial winery has a workmanlike feel about it, with the exception of the charming stained glass windows which throw a slightly surreal glow over proceedings.  But this is clearly a place of work, of focus on the goal of a quality across a largish range of wines.   For whites they have a Chardonnay from the Luigi Baudana company which they are now directing and a surprise package in Pétracine, the Riesling which they have been making since 1986.  They also have quite a serious Dolcetto from the two vineyards, Coste and Fossati, which can be aged for up to 10 years, a denser more structured wine with nice cherry and almond notes.

The use of barriques is interesting here.  Usually expensive new  wood is dedicated to the most important wines but here the new wood is matched up with the forceful Barbera grape and it is only when the wood has mellowed that it is used on the prized Nebbiolo.  This means that you get the mild oxidising effect of small barrels for Nebbiolo but without the vanilla and toast aromas of new barriques.  Very clever.

Barbera comes in two shapes, normale 2007 and riserva.  The former comes from the younger vineyards and a part of it is matured in new oak for six to eight months.  It has a gorgeous, fruity nose which covers the new wood – it needs to express itself, like an  adolescent, says our host Sabrina. The Barbera riserva (or superiore) 2007 comes from 50 year old vines from the famous Bricco delle viole vineyard, the source also of one of the cru Barolo.  However, the law being what it is, you can only put the vineyard name on the back label of Barbera, whereas of course it is allowed to be on the main label of the Barolo!  This wine is aged in large traditional barrels and tonneaux for 18 months. It has a super concentrated nose of dark fruit and some oak ageing, wonderfully ripe, sweet fruit on the palate and is extremely long.  An outstanding wine which makes the case for great Barbera.

After Barbera comes Nebbiolo of course, though in this case we could have gone next to that other native, Freisa, of which more anon.  With the addition of Luigi Baudana wines, Vajra now has four Nebbiolo wines, the simpler Langhe Nebbiolo 2008 (quite a complex perfumed nose, no wood, quite tannic) and three Barolo.  Grapes from three vineyards, La volta, Fossati and Coste di Vergne go into Barolo Albe 2005.  These are relatively young vines, 20-25 year olds, though the wine making is very traditional – maceration of the skins in the young wine for 30 days followed by three years in traditional large botti.  The label reflects the youthfulness of the vines rather than the traditional winemaking and seems a very loud statement next to the traditional main label. You can see the density of the ‘legs’ in this glass – 14.5˚ of alcohol and lots of extract.  This is a good Barolo – structured, perfumed, with spicy notes, beautiful.

The final two Barolo are from the respective houses of Vajra and Baudana.  Barolo Bricco delle viole 2005, that vineyard again, is the flagship wine getting the full 40 days of maceration and 40 months in large traditional barrels.  It is rich and delicate simultaneously, already beautifully knit together, with layers of fruit, spice, balsam and further spice on the nose.   By contrast the Baudana offering, Barolo Serralunga d’Alba 2005 has a much more obvious use of oak ageing (balsam, cloves), quite velvety in the mouth but still tough and tannic, typical of the Serralunga area.

Having tasted the heights of Barolo we are definitely on the descent from the tasting mountain, but there are various points of interest as we return.  First off is Kyè 2006 (a play on words on chi è, who’s this?), made from the local grape, Freisa.  Vajra are one of ten producers of this wine, though there is still, not the more conventional light, sparkling red wine.  Sabrina says its a wine for the autumn, perfumed and tannic (it must be something in Piemontese soil that produces this combination), good acidity, could last 10 years.  Then there is a version of Pinot Noir, called PN Q497, 2006, though our bottle had been open a while and perhaps wasn’t a fair test (slightly odd caramelly notes).  Of course there is also Moscato d’Asti, all 5.5˚ of it, but delicious none the less. And finally – thirteenth in line – our first taste of Barolo Chinato, a digestivo, which is Barolo infused with herbs and beefed up with added alcohol.  This had lovely bitter notes, a complex cocktail of herbs and counterbalancing sweetness.

This comprehensive tasting was a fitting climax to our week.  As we drove back to Alba we enjoyed for a final time the great views across the ridges of the Langhe, this time around La Morra bathed in spring sunshine.

Many thanks to Sabrina and all at Vajra.  The wines are available in the UK via Liberty Wines, eg Caviste.

Ca’ del Baio – rapporto qualità prezzo buonissimo!

This winery is appropriately enough near ‘three stars’ (Trestelle), itself a sort of mid point between the three Barbaresco communes – Treiso, Neive and, of course, Barbaresco itself.  But the three stars could also refer to the three daughters of the family or indeed to the excellent quality of the wine in relation to price. 

The winery covers all the bases – four Barbaresco, one other Nebbiolo wine, a Dolcetto, two Barbera and then, somewhat surprisingly, three white wines.  Paola, who showed us around, gives the simple explanation that this is because of her father’s love of white wine, in an area basically given over to reds.   We are in the last gasp of the Moscato d’Asti zone so one of them is of course Moscato.  The other two are different takes on Chardonnay. 

The family story runs like a thread through the

wines.  ‘Moscato Trefie’ is a reference to the three daughters.  Paola and Valentina work here and Federika makes patisserie – for which of course the delicious, slightly sparkling wine, sweetish but with a herby tinge, is a perfect accompaniment.  The two Chardonnays are unoaked (Luna d’agosto 2009, with a bit of native Cortese in it) and oaked, Sermine 2009, extremely good value at €5 and €8.50 respectively. 

For the Barbaresco a range of oak is used.   The simpler Langhe Nebbiolo is matured in the traditional large oak barrels, Barbaresco Marcarini and Asili see a divide between large barrel and barrique treatment, while Barbaresco Pora is raised in tonneaux – a sort of half-way house in terms of size.  Is there a profound wine making reason for this?  No, it’s because there isn’t much of it. 

In many ways, Ca’ del Baio is a near perfect winery to follow for the wine lover.  It’s got that real family feel, they seem relaxed about their success; there are no airs and graces, just a great range of wines at good prices.  The Langhe Nebbiolo 2008, Bric del Baio, spends 12 months in large barrels, has a lovely perfumed nose and good fruit. Elegant every day drinking at €8 – if you live in Italy of course.  Equally good and good value are the prize winning Barbaresco:

• Valgrande 2006, which gets the traditional treatment of two years in the large botti.  Still very young and slightly rustic but full of fruit.
• Asili 2006: from a hillside which gets the sun all day, 10% matured in barriques for a little added richness, great nose of fragrant red fruit, a little bit of spice, typical high tannins and acidity which will carry it into a glorious maturity (here’s hoping for the rest of us).  Tre bicchieri in the Gambero Rosso 2010.  All this for €20 at the winery. 
• Pora 2005: quite restrained on the nose, does not have the opulence of the 2006s but still good. 

Thank you to Paola and Valentina for a great visit. Sadly the wine is not available in the UK.  Thanks also for the recommendation for the fabulous La Ciau del tornamento, super sophisticated restaurant in  Treiso with food and a view da morire!    And I learn from the web site, a 30, 000 bottle cellar … fortunately we only had time for one excellent course and left refreshed and with wallets intact. 

Vinitaly 2: mainly bubbles

As Janet and I had been in Piemonte but not got to the Gavi area, we made beeline for the home of the Cortese grape at the wine fair.   As I wrote in the previous post, Vinitaly allows you taste some of the real specialities (and peculiarities) of Italy – and that includes some little known sparkling wines.  Here the focus will be on two little known sparklers, from Gavi and Franciacorta areas.

Generally, Gavi has a reputation a bit like Soave – rather a basic, mass produced white wine, popular in the past with Italian restaurants, with a few good exceptions which only wine buffs know about.  La Scolca, or Soldati La Scolca to give it its full name, have always held out for quality and especially for the steep rise in interest which bottle ageing brings to good Gavi.  The company has just celebrated 90 years so it clearly has done some things right.

All of La Scolca’s whites are made exclusively from the native Cortese grape.  The entry level Gavi 2009 is a fresh, moderately fruity wine, well made without being very attention seeking.  Gavi di Gavi 2009 must come  from the commune of Gavi but is not itself a big jump up in quality.  But this wine is much more persistent in its flavour.  By contrast the selection Gavi di Gavi D’Antan 2000 is a revelation.  First of all it is made from the best grapes in good years only, secondly it has the benefits of a decade of ageing.  It has a pronounced nose of pears and melon fruit, then a strong lime streak.  In the mouth it is a quite a  big, structured wine, with great persistence.  The company has these older bottles to sell, in this case at €35.  You can suddenly taste what all the fuss is about.

La Scolca have also made a speciality of sparkling versions of Gavi.  The great majority of Italian sparklers are tank fermented which is a cheaper process and preserves the freshness of the fruit for wines for drinking young. By contrast La Scolca’s wines are all metodo classico, ie second fermentation in the bottle, like Champagne, and all are from individual vintages. The Metodo Classico 2006 has a honeyed nose with good fruit and fairly modest yeast notes.  It  has a noticeable bitter finish – highly prized in Italian food and wine but not to everyone’s taste.  The Metodo Classico riserva 2002 is a pale straw colour with a green tint and has really benefitted from its seven years on the yeast in the bottle – a much more complex nose, lovely yeasty, patisserie notes followed by plenty of delicious fruit.  Better again is the D’Antan riserva 1998, which has spent a full eleven years on the yeasts of the secondary fermentation in its bottle.     The nose is yet more sophisticated and the wine is beautifully smooth in the mouth – a real treat.

Brief aside – all wine bottles are difficult to photograph successfully because of the light reflecting off the bottle. But this bulbous shape takes the biscuit.   Every single one of my general ‘whole bottle’ shots has my reflection in it – just to prove I was there! Low angle next time.

Finally we tasted the rosé.   True to their own, this is basically white Cortese grapes but with a 5% component of the skins only of Pinot Noir for colour. 

This starts out as a pale salmon pink and ages to this rather lovely apricot.  D’Antan rosato 1998 shows the influence of even this tiny addition of Pinot Noir with some more (now very rounded out) raspberry fruit, altogether a class act.

Just over one hundred miles North East, the other side of Milan is the Franciacorta area.  I was cheered to read in Tom Hyland’s Vinitaly blog that one of the reasons he gives for going to this wine fair is Franciacorta.  Where else can you try these quality sparklers, so prized in knowledgeable Italian circles, so unknown elsewhere? Basically the wine comes from a zone in Lombardy, near Brescia, is made from the same grapes as Champagne, by the same method, and costs much the same price.  But the style is rather different, no doubt because of the geology plus the warmer weather.  There is a market out there for a Champagne style wine but with richer, more mature fruit, but cracking it will be a huge challenge.  In the meantime it is one to search out.

This time we tasted wines from just two growers, the first of whom makes just one wine.  Santus is a new venture between two agronomists who pay tribute to their vine/wine consultant, Alessio Dorigo, who they charmingly describe as rigoroso spumantista!  With their ‘precision bubble maker’ the two of them have done a great job in producing something really rather distinctive, in comparison with the fresh, subtle but fruity, sparkling wines, typical of the zone.  A key difference is their practice of keeping the grapes on the vines for 10 days or so after full maturity.  10% of the wine has been aged in old barriques and all the wine is kept in its bottles on the lees for 21 months.  This produces a wine strawy yellow in colour with a rich, extracted palate and a dry finish.  A very promising debut and we look forward to the rosé which will appear in the future.

We then enjoyed the wines of Bredasole, a more typical Franciacorta company with five sparkling wines.  These are classic Franciacorta – around two years in the bottles during the second fermentation producing nice yeasty flavours above ripe fruit (Brut 2007).  By contrast the Satèn (2007) style is  made from white grapes only (in this case 100% Chardonnay) and has slightly less pressure.  It has a delicate nose, and lovely subtle fruit.  The most ‘serious’ of the five, is Nature 2006, which is a blend of Chardonnay (50%), Pinot Nero (30%) and Pinot Blanc (20%), spends an impressive three years in bottles in the second fermentation stage and has no balancing sugar/alcohol added at the end.  The yeast notes are beautiful and pronounced as is the excellent fruit.  Two party pieces follow – a rosé and a medium dry version.  The former – Rosé 2007 - is the palest apricot pink, the product of the freshly pressed grape juice being held with the Pinot Noir skins for just 2-3 hours.  Nice raspberry fruit, entirely dry finish.  By contrast Demì starts out life as a rather more acidic base wine but with higher dosage, so more sugar added to offset the acidity.  In the mouth the sweetness-acidity balance is good, definitely sweet but not at all sickly.  Would be excellent with patisserie.  This is a really good range at decent prices – but sadly not available in the UK.

And finally, a part of the Piemontese wine scene that is massively undervalued, the lovely, quite sweet, sparkling Moscato. It’s a classic which gets little attention because it’s not ‘important’, ie at least one of expensive, fashionable, or in need of long ageing. But it is straightforwardly delicious, full of flavour (it actually tastes of grapes, how strange is that) and low in alcohol.   Perfect for tea time (how English!), for picnics, for celebrations, for desserts.

Fiorenzo Nada – small is beautiful

This smallish family firm produces six wines, all red, with a total production from six hectares of 40,000 bottles a year.  As Danilo explained, there are just three of them in the firm, so the up side is that you get to do a bit of everything.  He had worked previously as a sommelier in the Gordon Ramsey restaurant in Claridges.  The down side of the family firm is that at some times of year, no one can have a day off. 

There are three entry level wines (Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo of course) and three top wines, two Barbaresco cru and one blend, called Seifile, 80%  old vine Barbera and 20% Nebbiolo. 

The Dolcetto 2008 is all that you expect of a young wine, aged for a short period in stainless steel vats, and then released to charm the drinker with its fresh red fruit  and lovely cherry nose. 

By contrast, the two Barbaresco come from named vineyards and are aged in different ways.  Barbaresco Manzola 2006 comes from a sandier area and is the more traditional of the two, being aged for two years in large oak botti.  It has a very perfumed, refined nose of mint and red fruit. It’s still a young wine with some rough edges but has many years ahead of it. 

For this visit I had made the classic mistake of not having recharged the camera batteries which died suddenly on me.  So these pictures were taken on an Iphone – which seems particularly good at capturing the colours of red wine.  Here we have youngish Barbaresco, with its pale ruby red and hint of orange at the edges. 

The second cru is Barbaresco Rombone 2006, the vineyard which surrounds the winery and which is more limestone and clay than sand.  Along with ageing for one year in large botti and a further year in barriques, this produces a more austere wine, though still highly accessible with good fruit.  It has a more powerful nose than its compatriot and perhaps a yet longer life – if you can avoid drinking it, of course.  It is one of the features of Barbaresco, in comparison to Barolo, that the wines are drinkable earlier. 

It is always a particular pleasure to visit the smaller, family wineries and many thanks to Danilo.  The wines are attractive priced at the winery and available in the UK from the Real Wine Company, Stoke Poges. 

 

Albino Rocca – where the quality shows

  There is a very assured feel about the entire operation at Albino Rocca in the village of Barbaresco itself.  The vineyards have been build up to an impressive 23 hectares and the usual excellent job has been done in  hiding the winery under the house.   There is also the obligatory beautiful view of the hills of Barbaresco and the town of Neive.

Within the winery the equipment is very up-to-date and the longer term wines rest in beautiful large botti.  Our guide was Monica Rocca who expertly showed us round and introduced a good sample of their twelve wines.  

As we had tasted so few whites from south of the Tanaro river (ie in Barolo or Barbaresco), we started here with white.  La Rocca Bianco, 2008, is made of Cortese grapes, the mainstay of the Gavi zone, further east in Piemonte.  In colour it is an attractive mid straw yellow on it way toward gold and has a very good nose of vanilla and some quite tropical fruit.  It is fermented and aged in French barriques, rather like white Burgundy, whose style it follows rather successfully.  On the palate it is not quite knit together but it will be very good.  It’s a rarity in that there is so much demand for the reds of Barbaresco, it takes determination to grow Cortese.  They also have Chardonnay and Moscato. 

The first of the important reds we taste is Gepin (dialect for Giuseppe), Barbera d’Alba 2007, made from 50 year old vines. It is aged for 14 months, half in botti grandi and half in barriques in their second and third year of use.  The aim of preserving the fruit is well executed but this is much more sophisticated than most Barbera you taste – it has clearly been handled very, very  well.  (Compare at a similar quality level the much denser style of Bruno Giacosa.)

In this area, in the end, there is always Nebbiolo.  The first of two, Nebbiolo d’Alba 2008 is made from the younger  vines, though there is a range from 10 and 60 years.  Maceration is limited to four days to produce easily approachable wines to be drunk young, with the smell of fruit to the fore.  A rather less traditional label for this wine completes the picture. 

The climax of the visit is the chance to taste one of the three Barbaresco cru which Albino Rocca produces, Vigneto Brich Ronchi 2007.  (The others are smaller parcels, including one which is a riserva from this vineyard.)  This was a very good year in Piemonte and it shows in this wine, which is aged for two years in wood, 80% in botti grandi and the rest in barrique. The 2007 already has a well developed and integrated nose, red fruit above all,  lovely perfume typical of Nebbiolo, already very drinkable with soft tannins for the style and medium acidity.   Sold with a suitably golden label which emphasises the gentle rolling hills and the vines of Barbaresco. 

With thanks to Monica Rocca.  The wines used to be imported in the UK by Justerini & Brooks but there is currently no UK stockist.  

Hilberg-Pasquero: ‘bio-ergo-dinamica’

Annette Hilberg arrived in the Roero area from Germany 26 years ago and now seems very settled.  She  and her husband were about to set off for a tasting of old vintages of Barbera at the end of a long day. She was clearly excited about this, which is great to see in those in the trade.  The pleasantly chaotic cantina has spectacular views over the land to which this small winery is very committed.  Although not technically ‘biodynamic’, they style themselves ‘bio-ergo-dynamica’, putting the ‘work’ into biodynamic you might say.  And this work has been put to good effect – these wines are highly individual, notable for their fully ripe fruit and great clarity. Their Nebbiolo d’Alba has regularly received the highest recognition in national awards. 

But because we showed interest in local styles, we started in Vareij 2008, made from Brachetto grapes (80%) and Barbera.  It could be called Birbet (see Malvira’),  but people would expect it to be sweet.  It is markedly aromatic, full of ripe fruit (and so tastes sweet), with medium acid and tannin. The small proportion of Barbera grapes is to give the wine better balance through that grape’s acidity. The wine is apparently much appreciated in Northern Europe. 

The more typical reds come in two styles.  Barbera d’Alba 2008 was perhaps not quite up to expectation so it was declassified but it still yields wonderfully rounded fruit, very drinkable indeed.  Meanwhile Barbera d’Alba superiore 2007 has a very complex nose, slightly caramel, then rich ripe fruit with tamed acidity which takes a while to assert itself in the mouth.  We tasted this after the Nebbiolo discussed below because of its greater forcefulness. 

Nebbiolo Langhe 2007 is made in a  traditional style with ageing in large casks.  It has a very sweet, perfumed nose, alpine strawberries, very very delicious.  Annette adds that it will be excellent in three to four years.  By contrast Nebbiolo d’Alba 2007 gets the full 24 months in barrique treatment.  Aromas of vanilla and spices are accompanied by bright red fruit, the trademark Hilberg roundedness in the mouth and more tannin.  

This German-Italian co-operation is clearly very fruitful, with more than a little help from the phases of the moon and loving attention to the land and cellar. 

Thanks to Annette Hilberg – and I hope the tasting of old vintages lived up to expectation! 

Monchiero Carbone – when two families are better than one

Just down the road from Malvirà in Canale itself is Monchiero Carbone which is the product of the two named families joining forces in the present husband and wife team.  Again,  the winery is hidden from view, here underground, below the courtyard of a traditional dwelling.  Parts of the cellar are very old, going back a couple of hundred years, and you can still see the steep steps down which the large barrels used to be rolled.  The treatment these days is rather more gentle and controlled.  

They produce a good Arneis called Recit 2009 (‘little king’ in dialect), which is complex and long, with a slightly vegetal edge and an Arneis cru, Cecu d’la Biunda 2009 (the family name for one of the grandfathers).  This grows in very sandy soil – like a beach – and has a strongly mineral character.  It is said to age for five to ten years which I am sure it would. 

We also tasted three reds with one bonus wine to follow …. Mon Birone, the hill on which the vines grow, is the winery’s  Barbera d’Alba 2007.  It is made from low yields and three weeks of maceration ensure a deep colour and plenty of fruit, followed by a year and a half in barriques from Burgundy.  This hot year has produced a slightly caramelly effect over the deep red fruit, plus a hint of treacle.  As in the Langhe, the most sought after wines are from the Nebbiolo grape and there are again two levels, starting with the Roero DOCG Srü 2007.  Again slightly pruney fruit, but properly fragrant, with elegant tannins.  The sandy soils produce wines which are much more quickly approachable than those of the Langhe. 

The top wine is Printi 2006, Roero riserva DOCG, which is aged for three years, two of which are in oak.  The result of growing on soils a bit closer to those of the Langhe and traditional wine making is a wine of greater substance, more tannins and greater longevity.  Deeper red fruit, some leather and balsamic notes, rich, still highly tannic and good acidity.  And all this for €18. 

The longevity of these wines was shown by a taste of a bottle of a 1990 which had been opened the day before for some Japanese journalists.  This was then a Roero superiore but is the predecessor of today’s Srü. Though slightly oxidised, it had kept its freshness and had developed mushroomy notes, with lovely soft tannins.  It had certainly kept its colour well as the photos shows (1990 on the left). 

Many thanks to Lucrezia and her winemaking husband Francesco for this visit.  There are many good things going on in the Roero. 

Spring sunshine at Malvirà

There are some days when everything is just perfect – the spring sunshine, the countryside emerging from a long hard winter, the place, the people.  Our visit to Malvirà was one of those days.  As with quite a few wineries in Piemonte, the building could be just a rather larger house from the outside.  But it does have a fabulous view and, below, most of  a new winery in construction beneath the apparent domesticity. 

To reach the town of Canale you leave Alba and with it the world famous  red wines of the Langhe.  The soil changes to a lighter, sandier, composition and it is immediately noticeable that the agriculture is more mixed. There are vines but there is also fruit (especially peaches), animals, ordinary fields, light industry.  This is the Roero, home of the important Piemontese white, Arneis, more Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolchetto and  some other interesting local varieties.  And after the almost uniformly ‘red’ diet of the Langhe, it is refreshing to have excellent whites to taste. 

But before we get to the wines, we have to celebrate the weather and the arrival of spring. 

 

Malvirà shares a hillside with the beautiful hotel, Villa Tibaldi, very smart indeed and with a great restaurant. 

Tasting on the terrace in the spring sunshine in congenial company is either exactly the thing to do (after all wine is supposed to be pleasurable!) or very unprofessional.  There is much more to be written about this subject in another post.  But I like to think that you can continue to have some level of objectivity if you concentrate hard to evaluate the wines even in a setting like this.  But then I would think that – it’s in my interest.

Malvirà exploits the sandy soils of the Roero for the four good whites which we tasted.  Favorita 2009 -Favorita being the same grape as the much more widely known Vermentino – is delicately floral, with quite exotic fruit including a hint of citrus, medium in weight and with good acidity. A good aperitivo.  The standard Arneis 2009, 13˚, has lovely aromas of white fleshed fruit and is slightly nutty with a bitter element, so typical of Italian whites.  The grape has been documented in the area since 1400.   This example initially tasted quite low in acidity but that was probably more due to the fullness of the wine with its thirteen degrees of alcohol.  Yet more structured is the Arneis from the single vineyard Trinità (2008).  10% of this has done time in French oak with additional richness from stirring the lees.   In the mouth the wine is fuller, with more tropical fruit, rounded, very good indeed.  Finally in the whites we tasted Treuve 2005, 14˚, the three grapes being rather more international in character, Sauvignon Blanc (40%), Chardonnay (40%), Arneis (20%).  This has aged well, with a powerful nose of exotic fruit and butter, very rounded, very stylish, impossible to place because of the three grapes used together.

At Malvirà we were very ably hosted by Mollie (marketing) and Evan (right), who came to work with grapes but was currently painting parts of the new winery – such is life.  Evan is English – you can just about see the Majestic logo on his shirt – and talked us through the wine making process.  We also got the chance to meet owner Roberto over part of lunch.  They genuinely seem a very happy crew. 

Over lunch we tasted the reds in quick succession.  San Michele 2006, Barbera d’Alba, spends 20 months in barriques, one third of which are new.  It has a good  perfumed fruit, a mid weight Barbera with the characteristic good acidity. Langhe Nebbiolo 2006 is aged for a total of three years and has the characteristic cherry perfume.  We noted the paleness of the wine – apparently Nebbiolo is even paler than usual in good years such as this.  There is nothing pale however about Renesio, Roero riserva DOC 2005.   This Nebbiolo spends two years in wood and another two in bottles before being released.  Despite its riserva status, it’s very drinkable, with that characteristic  combination of cherry and oak-related aromas. 

We finished with a local speciality, a version of the lightly alcoholic sweet wine, typically made from Moscato grapes but here from the red grape, Brachetto.  It is sold as Birbet, characteristic of the Acqui area, and very attractive it is too with its gorgeous colour, bright red fruit, sweetness, very slightly almondy and under 6˚ of alcohol. 

Many thanks to Mollie and Evan for their hospitality and time.  The standard Arneis is available from Waitrose – which of course is where I came across it first.  Malvirà is one to follow, even when the sun doesn’t shine. 

It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it!  Lunch at Villa Tibaldi.

Elvio Cogno – a family winery in good health

This estate was created in 1990 when Elvio Cogno decided to set up in his own name, having previously been part of an important partnership.  It is now run by Walter Fissore and his wife Nadia  (Elvio’s daughter) who showed us around this beautiful farm house (cascina) which serves as winery and home. It has great views of the town of Novello and of the surrounding countryside on all sides.  It is very unusual in that they have an undivided piece of land around the winery of 11 hectares. 

We were treated – and I mean treated – to a very generous tasting of the entire range, including a very rare white made with a local variety. 

Langhe Bianco Anas-Cetta 2009, just bottled but not yet labelled.  The grape variety, Nascetta, is yet another interesting Italian grape variety on the verge of being lost.  Here is it make a semi-aromatic white wine of real personality, stirred on the lees for 6 months, with a good structure, with both fruit and floral notes, quite exotic but would also be good with food.  Can age.  Let’s hope we hear more of Nascetta in the future.

Dolcetto Vigna Mandorlo 2008: Nadia recounts how demanding this grape is in the vineyard and the winery.  Despite always  being overshadowed by the demanding Nebbiolo and even Barbera, it has delicate thin-skinned bunches which get burned on hot sites, go mouldy if it rains and drop their grapes at the slightest provocation. In the winery it needs lots of aeration.  This example shows it at its best: lovely fruity nose, highly drinkable, not a wine of great substance but delicious.  

Space is at a premium in the fermentation room so the Cogno have installed these unusual but very practical square vessels. 

 

Barbera d’Alba 2007: matured in the pretty neutral large botti, which preserves the wonderful fruit of Barbera while smoothing out some of the rough edges of very young wine.  Great depth of flavour of cherries and cherry stones.  Very good indeed. 

Montegrilli 2007 Langhe DOC: a slightly unusual blend of 50% Barbera and 50% Nebbiolo which are actually harvested and vinified together.  This calls for clever judgement as there can be a couple of weeks between the optimum moments for the two grape varieties, though I suppose it also has the advantage of spreading out the periods when the business of crushing grapes and making wine is at its most demanding. A successful  marriage of the fruitiness of Barbera and the potential elegance of Nebbiolo.

Barbaresco 2006: the Cogno rent some vineyards in nearby Barbaresco (Neive) to produce 3,000 bottles of this very elegant Nebbiolo. 

Barolo Cascina Nuova 2005:   the first of a series of their Barolo, very perfumed, elegant, and with a good grip. Good value too at €26.  It’s interesting to see that, as everywhere else, with good practice in the vineyard Barolo has crept up to 14˚ of alcohol.   The ‘green pruning’ whereby you reduce the number of bunches a vine is carrying means that the remaining bunches ripen fully and give the possibility of elegant and substantial wines, such as this. 

While we taste, Nadia answer my question, saying that the Piemontese word for the little stone or brick huts you seen in the vineyards is ‘ciabot’ (pron. cha-bot), a sort of glorified garden hut for tools, shelter and perhaps even a little bed for that siesta.   There must be an Italian word for them but it’s the local word which everyone uses. 

Barolo Ravera 2005, 14.5˚: Ravera is the name of the vineyard and this is the first of three cru wines, ie from single vineyards.  This has an amazing nose of mint, balsamic and floral notes, with high acidity and tannin, made to last and to develop, but perfectly drinkable now.  2005 was one of a series of good years here, as long as you were lucky and missed the hail.  Delicious and long. 

Barolo Vigna Elena 2004: This fun label – drawn by daughter Elena when she was three – is evidence that the next generation may major in graphic design rather than wine.  But the wine is exceptional, made separately only in the best years and from a vineyard planted with Nebbiolo Rosé, a type of the classic grape.  It’s a semi-riserva, being released after five years, three of which are in large botti. It has a beautiful nose, elegant, supple and long, pulled along by a proper streak of acidity, the tannins less noticeable. Excellent; got 5* in a Decanter tasting.

and finally:

Barolo Bricco Pernice 2005: another very good Barolo, but one that needs time on account of its more obvious tannins.  Has great potential. 

Thanks to Nadia and Walter (who was just off to the meeting of the consortium, to which Sig. Ratti had just been elected as president – see later post).  These excellent wines are currently looking for a UK importer.