Today’s wine is the brainchild of Mario Falcetti (oenologist and agronomist, former Contadi Castaldi, Terra Moretti group), and it has the distinction of being produced by a winery I like to call “unconventional”. Falcetti, the manager of the Quadra winery since 2008, has a reputation for taking things into his own hands and revolutionizing both management philosophy and winemaking techniques.
Among the many excellent Brunellos I have tasted over the years, there’s one that has positively impressed me for its authentic “slow” style and respect for tradition. Its name is Brunello di Montalcino Gorelli 2012 Le Potazzine.
After that glowing introduction, I guess I should regale you with the brief story of a young winery, owned by Giuseppe Gorelli and his wife Gigliola Giannetti, who now run a winemaking business along with their daughters Viola and Sofia, while still being respectful of the Brunello di Montalcino tradition.
From the land known as the birthplace of Nero d’Avola comes Cerasuolo di Vittoria by Planeta.
Planeta is a winery that, over the past 25 years, has dedicated itself to spreading the fame of Sicilian wines worldwide. Production is spread over five different territories of the largest island in the Mediterranean, under the careful oversight of Alessio, Francesca and Santi Planeta: their forward-thinking, yet at the same time careful activity has allowed them to “churn” extremely high-quality wines out of all their cellars.
The prototype of an exceptional year for the whole Barolo district is the cru Brunate – Le Coste vintage 2005 by Giuseppe Rinaldi.
I had the opportunity to taste it, much to my delight, during the latest “Barolo Brunello” held at Montalcino.
I almost immediately realized that a single glass of this wine encompasses the science and the essence of this land’s own Nebbiolo.
The Giuseppe Rinaldi estate is, in fact, one of the representatives of classic Barolo, belonging to the traditional school and eschewing more modern techniques.
Today I’d like to tell you about an authentic urban vineyard and his best and most prestigious wine: Fiorano Rosso by Tenuta di Fiorano, a farm located inside the Rome municipal area in the natural park of Appia Antica, only a few miles as the crow flies from Ciampino airport. And yet, in spite of its proximity to the hustle and bustle of the capital, this large property of 200 hectares – of which 6 are employed for growing vines – almost seems to reside in a dreamlike world, far from the noise and the chaos.
Today’s featured wine of the week “magically” takes us to a land that really deserves a closer look: I’d like to tell you about the area immediately south of Lake Garda, the biggest lake in Italy and a popular tourist destination. There, straddling the nearby regions of Lombardy and Veneto, lies the Lugana Doc wine cultivation territory.
Elegance, intense aroma and a noticeable mineral component: there are the three qualities possessed by Classic Method (the same Champenois) Trentodoc sparkling wine, produced by the 45 companies adhering to Trento Doc Institute. This is far from a given, but Trentino people are gifted with precision, rigor and foresight, and that goes doubly so for vintners.
Irpinia is, without a doubt, a great land for red wine (but also for white wines). Also known as the province of Avellino, north of Naples, it’s the home of Aglianico, its most important red vine and the source of the most structured wines on the market. Such grapes are particularly suited for cultivation in the Taurasi Docg territory, which employs them in order to produce an excellent southern Italian red wine: the Taurasi, which some oenological critics have described as “Barolo of the South”.
The first Brunello di Montalcino I’m going to present on this blog is one I’ve already tasted on two different occasions, months apart, and both times I was left simply astounded. The first time was last February, as part of “Benvenuto Brunello”, a preview of the new vintages of this extraordinary wine that takes place each year in Montalcino. I assume by now you’ve all heard of Montalcino, the historic town in the Siena province known worldwide precisely for its excellent red wine of Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin.
Barolo (along with Brunello di Montalcino) is undoubtedly the most famous Italian red wine in the world, a well-deserved reputation that has consolidated over the past 20 years of oenological history, mainly thanks to several top quality bottles made possible by the efforts of growers who have made rigor and dedication to land and vine their only creed.