Best of Italy Wine Class

It's that time again, as I'm putting together a very special Best of Italy wine class in my hometown of Chicago. I've selected ten very special wines that will give everyone attending a great overview of today's Italian wine landscape. We will taste various styles of wine, from Franciacorta, the great sparkling wine of Lombardia to Barolo, Brunello and Amarone.

Among the specific wines to be tasted in this class on Friday, Oct. 21 will be:

2005 Bellavista Gran Cuvée Franciacorta

2009 Edi Keber Collio

2006 Silvio Nardi "Manachiara" Brunello di Montalcino

2007 Speri Amarone della Valpolicella Classico "Vigneto Sant'Urbano"

2007 Marcarini Barolo "Brunate"

The class will be held at Perman Wine Selections, 802 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago at 6:30 on Fiday, Oct. 21. Craig Perman operates this beautiful small wine retail shop in the West Loop, providing an excellent selection of artisan estate wines from around the world. 

Note that many of the wines in this special class will be bottles that I have acquired over the past year from several trips to Italy. Some of the wines will be from the shelves of Perman Wine Selections as well. 

Seating is quite limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. There will also be some food served with the wines. This is a very special event that will cover the amazing Italian wine industry! The price is $55 per person.

If you would like to enroll in this class, please email me at thomas2022@comcast.net for information on how to sign up. This will fill early, so don't delay!

Singular Wines from Anakena

Impressive new releases from Chile that I've tasted recently include two wines from the Single Vineyard line from Anakena Winery. Located in the Rapel Valley, the winery has vineyards in several areas of the country, including Cachapoal, Leyda and Colchagua Valleys.

There are several lines of Anakena wines from the basic Varietal wines to the premium Ona wines, small lot bottlings that include Pinot Noir, Syrah and blends including Riesling/Viognier/Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere/Syrah.

Here are notes on two bottlings from the Single Vineyard series- both are suggested retail price of $14 on US retail shelves:

2010 Anakena Sauvignon Blanc Single Vineyard "Yunco Plot" (Casablanca Valley)
Located west of Santiago, Casablanca Valley is a cool climate zone not far from the Pacific Ocean; first planted in the 1980s, it is an ideal spot for varieties such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. Pleasing varietal aromas of spearmint, gooseberry and freshly cut hay. Medium-bodied, this has an elegant entry on the palate along with good acidity and subtle herbal notes in the finish. This is a nicely made cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc. Enjoy over the next year with shellfish or lighter chicken dishes.

2010 Anakena Carmenere Single Vineyard "Malva Plot" (D.O. Peumo)
The Peumo appellation is located in the western reaches of the Cachapoal Valley in western central Chile. Bright purple with inviting aromas of black raspberry, mocha, nutmeg and vanilla. Medium-bodied with very good concentration. Fresh and quite tasty, this is a delicious wine with well-defined varietal character, good acidity, round tannins and a distinct spiciness in the finish with notes of black pepper and cumin. Very appealing now and over the next 1-2 years. Very good value.

A few additional words on this wine. If you like Malbec from Argentina, with its spicy, peppery qualities, you'll love this wine. At $14, this delivers a lot of character and pleasure and is better than most examples of Malbec at this price. If I was purchasing wine for a steak house, I'd buy multiple cases of this wine, pour it by the glass and then watch the patrons enjoy themselves, especially as they order a second glass. It's that good! (This would also make for a wonderful everyday red for many consumers - pair it with barbecued ribs, pork chops, steaks or roasts.)

 

Morellino di Scansano US Events

The Morellino di Scansano Consorzio will be presenting its first ever American tour with events in Chicago and New York on October 17 and 19. In each city, there will be a seminar about these wines (I will be moderating this in Chicago on the 17th) followed by a walk-around tasting.

Morelllino di Scansano is a Tuscan red that is somewhat of a secret to many Italian wine lovers. The wine is produced primarily from the Sangiovese grape, which is named Morellino (or "little cherry") in this area in southwestern Tuscany. The vineyards are close to the sea, meaning the local climate and soils are quite different from the inland wine zones of the region, such as Montalcino or Chianti. It is interesting to taste the wines of Scansano, not only for their excellent quality, but also to understand a different style of Sangiovese in Tuscany. This promises to be quite an educational experience!

The Chicago event is on Monday, October 17 and will be held at the Sax Hotel, 333 N. Dearborn. The seminar will be from 11:00 to 12:30 with the walk-around tasting from 1:00-6:00. To register for the event, please visit: http://morellinochicago.eventbrite.com


The New York event will be held on Wednesday, October 19 at the Metropolitan Pavillion at 125 W. 18th Street. This will be one of the seminars that day as part of the VinItaly US tour, which will also have a stop in Washington, D.C. on October 19.

Other seminars in New York that day will include one on social media as well as a study of Soave and Etna, two wine zones with volcanic soils (this promises to be quite fascinating!). A grand tasting will follow the seminars. (Note: there will be only one seminar - on Soave - in Washington, D.C., followed by a grand tasting.

To RSVP for the NYC events: http://vinitalyustour.eventbrite.com
For the Washington event:  http://vinitalyustourdc.eventbrite.com

For more information on the VinItaly US events: www.vinitalytour.com

Simply Italian Returns

I wanted to let my readers know about one of the finest Italian wine events of the year. It's the Simply Italian tour and the official invitation is just out.

The event this year will focus on wines from several regions of Italy, including Veneto, Piedmont and Tuscany. There will also be a special focus on the great sparkling wines of Franciacorta (I'll be moderating the seminar in Chicago) as well as the wines from the Grandi Marchi producers, a group of some of Italy's finest wine estates, including Antinori, Donnafugata, Gaja, Mastroberardino and Pio Cesare, to name only a few.

The tour will begin in Chicago on Monday, October 24 and then move to San Francisco on October 26 and wrap up in Las Vegas on the 27th. There will be a walk-around tasting in each city.

I've been involved with this event for several years and can tell you quite honestly that this is one of the most informative happenings for Italian wines you'll ever experience. The event is for wine trade and media only. To RSVP, email events@balzac.com

A Rosso by any other name

Montalcino View (Photo ©Tom Hyland)

Thee has been a lot of commotion in Montalcino during 2011, as certain individuals want to change the makeup of Rosso di Montalcino by allowing grapes other than Sangiovese in the blend. Rosso di Montalcino, just like Brunello di Montalcino, by definition, must contain only Sangiovese - there are no exceptions.

However, these individuals want to change the regulations allowing grapes such as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon to be a small part (as much as 15% under one proposal) of the blend for Rosso di Montalcino. A vote was held on this matter in Montalcino on September 7 and the proposal was overwhelmingly defeated, with only 31% of the vote favoring this change. Many wine journalists and bloggers in Italy and throughout the world have commented on this, most notably Franco Ziliani in Italy at his blog vinoalvino along with Jeremy Parzen in America (here is the link to one of several posts on this subject) and Wojciech Bonkowski in Poland). Each of these gentlemen along with other noted Italian wine authorities such as Nicolas Belfrage from England, Juancho Asenjo from Spain and Kerin O'Keefe, an American wine journalist living in Italy, have all commented on the need to keep Rosso di Montalcino as 100% Sangiovese. I am in agreement with this opinion.

I wanted to share a few quotes from two vintners in Montalcino about what these wines represent. I wrote an article on Montalcino in 2005 for Drinks magazine in the US; going over my notes recently, I found some interesting remarks. The first is from Rudy Burrati, winemaker at Banfi, one of the most successful estates in Montalcino. 

"The characteristics that we seek include the optimal tannic structure that is typical of Montalcino, freshness and fruitiness, and the "typicity" of Sangiovese grown in Montalcino, reflecting the characteristics of the weather, soil, and other elements."

Burrati was speaking about Brunello di Montalcino here, but it is clear that he was also referring to Rosso di Montalcino as well, at least as far as freshness and fruitiness and typicity.

The second quote is from Lamberto Frescobaldi, who produces a Rosso and Brunello under the Castelgiocondo label. I asked him if he thought Brunello might become a more approachable and forward wine over the next few years. Here is his reply:

"I don't think Brunello will ever become more forward or approachable. I do however think that wine lovers are becoming more knowledgable and open to appreciate a wine as difficult as Brunello."

These are his thoughts about Brunello; I did not ask him about Rosso. 

So here you have remarks from two important producers in Montalcino, emphasizing "typicity" as well as maintaining a style of wines that are not forward and approachable. So why the need to change things? Well with Rosso, adding a small percentage of Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon would definitely alter the style of the wine, arguably making it more appealing to a wider audience that understands the international style of wine much easier than they do a specific approach.

Consumers look to Rosso di Montalcino as a substitute for a Brunello; this is either for price ($25 for a Rosso versus $50-$70 or more for a Brunello) or for drinkability - a Rosso di Montalcino is released much earlier than a Brunello and is softer in tannins and more drinkable sooner (the current releases of Rosso di Montalcino are either 2008 or 2009, while the 2006 vintage is what is currently available for Brunello).

Whatever the reason, a consumer should expect a Rosso di Montalcino to offer that thumbprint of Montalcino - which means the characteristics of only Sangiovese. If they want to buy a blended Tuscan red, they have dozens, if not hundreds of choices, some made by these same producers in Montalcino, who can bottle a Sant'Antimo Rosso DOC or else an IGT Toscana Rosso.

The bottom line for me is this. There are thousands of red wines from dozens of countries around the world. Yes, the world is a smaller place and when it comes to wine, that too often means a style of wine that is easy for everyone to understand. So producers take the easy way out. Do that and you lose uniqueness, a sense of place.

While the majority of producers oppose the change in regulations for Rosso di Montalcino, it is a sign of the times that this matter was even presented in the first place. It is understandable however, as it's clear that the vintners as a whole have done a poor job developing and marketing the Sant'Antimo category. They realize that few consumers know what Sant'Antimo means, but everyone understands Montalcino. So they take a shortcut and try and morph Rosso di Montalcino into something it's not.

Montalcino - Rosso or Brunello - must continue to have an historical identity. That means only a single variety - Sangiovese.