Looking up at Bolla

During my most recent trip to Verona, I visited Bolla at their headquarters in Pedemonte in the heart of the Valpolicella Classico zone. I imagine that everyone - Italian wine lover or not - must know this name and has probably tasted at least one of their moderately priced Veronese wines (Soave, Valpolicella or Bardolino) at some point. 

Chances are you don't give much thought to Bolla, at least if you consider yourself a "serious" wine drinker. I must admit that I rarely consider their products when writing about Italian wines. So it was nice that I had the chance to make this recent visit with a group of journalists to taste the latest releases.

I've found that it's best to go into these tastings with an open mind, which is exactly what I did. And you know what? I found myself liking these wines; the Bolla products are clean, well made and balanced. Are they great wines? Of course not, but they're not trying to make great wines. What Bolla is doing is producing everyday wines at reasonable prices for a large spectrum of the wine market and they're doing it very well.

Unless you've never tasted wine in your life, you must surely know that Bolla makes Soave. Indeed this association is so strong that during the 1980s in America, people thought "Soave Bolla" was one word. Millions of cases were sold and it was one of the first Italian wine phenomenons in this country. Soave took a hit for many years, but Bolla has continued to stick with their bread and butter. The 2010 Classico - emblazoned with a "retro" label from the 1970s (nice touch) - is a clean, fresh version with typical honeydew melon fruit. It's got good, but not overwhelmingly high acidity. For $9, you get your money's worth.

A step up is the Soave Classico named "Tufaie" (too-fye). This blend of 90% Garganega with 10% Trebbiano di Soave is a selection of some of the best grapes the winery receives from their growers. There is a little touch of honey in the aromas - this coming from the Trebbiano - that adds to the complexity and overall pleasure of this wine. Medium-bodied, it has good acidity and a nice texture on the palate along with more persistence in the finish. At $13, this is a very nice bottle of Soave Classico.

As for the value reds, the "Le Poiane" Valpolicella Classico Superiore is worth your attention. As you can see from the label, this is a ripasso wine, meaning this is a Valpolicella that is fermented at some point with the musts of Amarone, which increases color as well as spice. Ripasso, being much less expensive than Amarone, which has a strict production process, has become very popular in America these days, as it's richer than a Valpolicella normale, giving meaning to its description as a "baby Amarone." I don't really buy into that belief, but it does offer more than a typical Valpolicella. 

This Bolla version has red plum and morel cherry fruit, very good acidity and distinct notes of black spice in the finish. It's a cleanly made wine with good Ripasso character and while it's not terribly complex, it is nicely balanced and in reality, a fine introduction to what Ripasso is all about. For $15, this is a well made wine (the 2009 was the vintage I tried at the winery).

Bolla is credited with creating the first Amarone back in the early 1950s and they've always made a typical bottling. I tasted the 2008 Amarone and it's a nice representation of this wine, with red and brown spice notes on the nose and in the finish along with red cherry and currant fruit, good concentration and medium-weight tannins. At $42, this is a fair price for a nicely made Amarone such as this, though I'd like a bit more depth of fruit overall along with better persistence in the finish.

Bolla is now owned by Gruppo Italiano Vini (G.I.V.), a company that owns more than a dozen wineries throughout Italy from north to south. They have continued the everyday work that goes on here, the emphasis of which is producing everyday white and red Veronese wines. My hope is that they can introduce a few special projects, perhaps focusing on some limited releases, perhaps for restaurants only. We all know what Bolla can do - it would be fascinating to see what they can realize.

The wines are Bolla are imported into the United States by Banfi Vinters.

For Love of Italian Wine

Next week, courtesy of the Italian Trade Commission, I will be attending Vino2011, arguably the finest Italian wine event held in the United States. This the third time this event has been held in New York City; I attended last year's event and was quite impressed with the organization of so many excellent tastings and seminars that explored the vast world of Italian wine.

This year, I have the good fortune of being a panel speaker for a special seminar entitled "Where Have all the Medals Gone?", in which my fellow panelists and I will discuss the importance of medals and points regarding today's wine buying decisions. This should prove to be a fascinating seminar, especially in regards to the uniqueness of Italian wines, especially those made from indigenous varieties.

I'll also be attending several seminars, including ones about Friuli, moderated by Tom Maresca, one of the country's leading writers on Italian wines, as well as the rediscovery of Soave and the overlooked but wonderful Sagrantino di Montefalco. Other seminars include one on award winning wines from Tuscany, moderated by Master of Wine Ronn Weigand and one on the distinctive reds of Puglia, moderated by Bill Marsano, an Italian wine specialist and former James Beard award winning writer.

There will be several other seminars devoted to the future of Italian wines as well as special theme dinners and perhaps best of all, a grand tasting on the final day with several hundred Italian producers in attendance pouring their latest releases. I'm looking forward to a great four days in New York City!

This is a trade event - information can be found on the Vino2011 website.

The many personalities of Soave

Garganega grapes with Castello di Soave in the background

I was invited on a press trip to Soave just a few weeks ago, one of six invitations I received for events in Italy during the same time frame! (Don't these people ever talk to each other?). I had already committed to another event in Piemonte and just wasn't able to work this Soave trip into my schedule, which was a shame as Soave is one of my favorite Italian wines and I've come to know several producers there quite well and was looking forward to seeing them again. It's also a lovely area, just 30 minutes east of Verona in the Veneto region and it's castle is one of the most distinctive and beautiful in all of Italy.

Anyway, I asked the Soave Consorzio if they could ship a few bottles of wine to my hotel in Piemonte at that time - if I couldn't make it to Soave, maybe Soave could make it to me! I thought they might send a half-dozen bottles, but they outdid theselves and sent along 21! Needless to say, I had a lot of friends during my stay in Piemonte!

While Soave has always been a known commodity to consumers in America - thanks in part to its easy to remember and easily pronounceable name - the wine has rarely been thought of as something truly special. It is true that the majority of Soave produced in the zone is meant for consumption within the first 2-3 years and unfortunately that doesn't mean much in our society, which rewards big and powerful wines the can age for 5-7 years and longer (despite the fact that many consumers prefer to drink wine in its youth anyway!).

To miss out on Soave normale would be a shame, especially the bottlings from producers such as Pieropan, Castello di Soave and Pra. These are made primarily from the Garganega grape, with up to 20 or 30% Trebbiano in the blend. The best regular bottlings of Soave are a delight, with aromas of honeydew melon and yellow flowers, with a subtle nuttniess. Crisp, well-balanced and usually made without any oak aging, these are wonderful partners for foods ranging from risotto primavera to lighter seafood.

While these wines are a delight and also priced very reasonably ($14-$16 on American retail shelves), there are some excellent single vineyard or selezione bottlings that truly are among Italy's finest whites wines. There are a few dozen producers in the area, such as Ca'Rugate; Coffele; Inama; Monte Tondo; La Capuccina and Gini as well as the others mentioned above, to name only a few, that have been working to expand the breadth and width of Soave's possibilities. These special bottlings display more complex aromatics, are richer on the palate with excellent persistence and offer distinct minerality in the finish, a quality witnessed in Italy's most famous white wines, from Friuli in the north to Campania in the south.

Chiara Coffele of Coffele Winery, Soave

(Photo ©Tom Hyland)

Some of these wines are even aged and/or fermented in oak, which may come as a surprise. I certainly am not a big fan of oak in white wines, but when you taste a deeply concentrated Soave such as "Monte Alto" from Ca'Rugate, "La Rocca" from Pieropan or "Foscarin Slavinus" from Monte Tondo, you realize how far-ranging Soave can be in its presentation. These wines are beautifully styled with amazing complexity, while staying true to the character of the Garganega grape and the local terroir. And yes, these wines can age - anywhere from 5-10 years.

So think of Soave not just as a simple quaffer for lighter meals, but as one of Italy's most singular and rewarding white wines! Best of all, think of it as one of the best wines to pair with a wide variety of foods, as some of the finest examples can even stand up to veal, roast pork and lighter game.

Here are brief notes on a few of the best examples of Soave I tasted just a few weeks ago:

2008 Filippi "Castelcerino" Soave Classico
Made using grapes grown according to strict biodynamic methods, this is very rich with a distinct minerality and a lengthy finish with excellent persistence. This seems perfectly styled for grilled shellfish. Here is a wine that could change your perception of Soave!

2007 La Mandolare "Monte Sella" Soave Classico
This wine just bursts with fruit - Anjou pear and pineapple - and is quite rich throughout. Beautiful ripeness and aromatics, this is a real pleasure on its own or with food.

2008 Gini "La Frosca" Soave Classico
Gini should be on everyone's short list of great Soave producers; this "regular" bottling is quintessential Soave with its pear and honeydew melon aromas along with notes of yellow flowers and chamomile. Medium-full with a rich finish with mineral notes, this is beautifully made and delicious!

2009 Cambrago "I Cerceni" Soave Classico
This is a selezione made from grapes grown in volcanic soil. Classic Soave aromatics, very good persistence and acidity and pleasing notes of chamomile. Very well made.

2007 Monte Tondo "Foscarin Slavinus" Soave Supriore Classico (DOCG)
Bright yellow with golden tints, sporting pear, melon and lilac aromas, this is ripe, nutty and quite complex with excellent fruit concentration. This is another stylized bottling that is far removed from the simple sipping wine too often associated with Soave. The wines from this producer are always interesting and very well made. They are also routinely excellent.

Gems from VINO 2010

Thoughts on four exciting days in New York, including notes on dozens of excellent new Tuscan releases (red and white), some beautiful bottlings from Friuli and two offerings of Vermentino to die for!

Emilia Nardi, Tenute Silvio Nardi, Brunello di Montalcino

(Photo ©Tom Hyland)

I spent four wonderful days in New York City last week, tasting hundreds of new Italian releaaes, meeting vintners from around the country and making many new friends from all over the United States. The occasion was VINO 2010 - the second annual - which is billed as the largest Italian wine event held outside of Italy.

There were many highlights - I’ll touch upon a few in this post and go into greater detail in the next few posts during the upcoming weeks. One of the tastings was an anteprima of new releases from three famous Tuscan zones: Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino. Given the sheer number of wines available for sampling over several days, I had to focus on a few specifics, so I didn’t try as many of these wines as I could have, but I did find some excellent examples. From Chianti Classico, there was a delightful 2008 Carpineto, a wine made to be drunk and nor laid away for 5 years – how nice!

Clif and Donna Weaver, owners of Le Miccine, a small gem of an estate in Gaiole in Chianti, showed their 2007 normale and Riserva Chianti Classico bottlngs at the Friday Grand Tasting. The regular bottling had lovely red cherry fruit, subtle oak and very good acidity while the “Don Alberto” Riserva offers textbook flavors and the structure to age for 7-10 years. If you don’t already know this estate’s wines, now would be a great time to acquaint yourself with these bottlings.

I also loved the 2007 normale Chianti Classico bottlings of Badia a Coltibuono, Lilliano and Bibbiano, all made in a traditional style in large oak. In fact, I'm finding more Tuscan producers shifting toward more restrained use of oak, a welcome sign. There are many that still work with barriques, but even these producers seem to be relaxing a bit on the spice and vanilla flavors of new barrels. Let’s hope this trend of favoring fruit over wood continues in Tuscany!

It’s always exciting to try new releases of Brunello di Montalcino; this year the featured wines are the 2005 Brunello and the 2004 Brunello Riserva. 2005 is not garnering a lot of attention, given the fact that 2004 was an excellent vintage and 2006 is shaping up to be a promising year as well. However, I found the bottlings of 2005 Brunellos to be nicely balanced with very good acidity, balanced tannins and good to very good fruit persistence. Some bottlings are a bit tight as of now, while others are a bit lean, while some are soft and quite approachable. Among my favorites here were the offerings from Il Poggione (no surprise here!), Lisini (beautifully structured), Col d’Orcia, Uccelliera, Canalicchio di Sopra, the Campogivanni from San Felice, and the very elegant and beautifully styled Silvio Nardi “Vigna Manachiara”, one of this zone’s most consistent bottlings. I also liked two wines I tried for the first time, the “Vigna delle Raunate” from Mocali and the Tassi. The Mocali, from a 25 year-old vineyard, is aged for three years in large and mid-size oak and has a generous mid-palate and stylish acidity; this will drink well for 10-12 years. The Tassi is a bit less concentrated, but is extremely well balanced and is a wine of great finesse and elegance. Fabio Tassi produced the first Brunello under his own label with the 2004 vintage; he is off to an impressive start!

Fabio Tassi, an impressive new Brunello producer

(Photo ©Tom Hyland)

As for the 2004 Brunello Riserva, these are everything I had hoped they would be. There are some critics of 2004 Brunello who believe that the year was not as great as expected. While this may not be as long-lived a vintage as 2001, I do think this was a very special year – perhaps great – and the best proof of that comes with these Riserva bottlings. Wine after wine offered great concentration and structure for 15-20 years of aging, which is what I expect from this wine. Among the finest I sampled were the more modern-styled Banfi “Poggio al’Oro” and Caparzo (their first Riserva since 2001) along with the Il Poggione “Vigna Paganelli” and the Fuligni. The Il Poggione is deeply concentrated and a bit tight at present, but should be wonderful in 15 years or so, while the Fuligni is an amazing wine! Combining its beautiful perfumes, excellent concentration, lively acidity, subtle oak and elegant tannins, this is a textbook Brunello di Montalcino. If I had to give someone one wine from 2004 that I believed represented the vintage as well as any (as well as being a classic wine), it would be the 2004 Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva.

As for other notable wines, I thoroughly enjoyed the bottlings of Vernaccia di San Gimignano from Panizzi. Too often this Tuscan white is either much too plain or else laden with strong wood overtones by a vintner who wants to make more out of this wine than he or she should. The regular 2008 bottling from Panizzi has beautiful varietal character (pine and apple aromas), zippy acidity and a wonderful freshness, while the 2006 Riserva bottling is richer on the palate and carries its wood aging quite nicely, depsite the fact that the wine was fermented in barriques.

I also had the chance to catch up with the always charismatic Maria Elisabetta Fagiuoli of Montenidoli, another great Vernaccia producer. From talking with her and tasting her wines, you get the feeling that she’ll continue to do what she’s been doing until the big winemaker in the sky call for her, which we can only hope will be another 20-30 years from now at least! He regular bottling “Fiore” from the 2007 vintage is quite rich for an entry level Vernaccia, while her special releases speak to what can be achieved with this variety. My favorite wine from her is the “Carato” from 2005, a barrique-aged Vernaccia with lovely texture and deep concentration. Her wines – just like Maria herself – only improve with age!

A few other highlights included fresh, tasty examples of Soave from La Cappuccina (2009) and Cantina di Soave (2008 Classico). These wines represent the delighful, non-complicated side of Soave and are so easy to drink! I also enjoyed some beautiful bottlings of Prosecco, including the “Vigneto Giardino” from Adami that is much richer than most examples of this wine, along with two excellent offerings of Cartizze (a sub-zone of Prosecco that many consider to be the finest), from Mionetto (beautifully perfumed) and Bortolomiol (not as aromatic, but fuller on the palate).

I also concentrated on Friuli and discovered several wines I thought well balanced and very flavorful, including the 2008 Friulano and 2006 Refosco from Tenuta di Blasig; the 2008 Sauvignon from Colutta; the 2008 Sauvignon from I Feudi di Romans and the 2008 Friiulano from Petrussa.

Elisabetta Bortolotto Sarcinelli, Tenuta di Blasig, Isonzo DOC, Friuli

(Photo ©Tom Hyland)

I’ll discuss red wines in greater detail in the next few posts, but for now, notes on three reds I loved last week. The first is 2008 Celestina Fé Morellino di Scansano, styled in a traditional way in large oak – beautiful strawberry and red currant fruit here with silky tannins. Secondly, the 2006 Guado al Melo Bolgheri Superiore is a notable wine from this famous Tuscan coastal zone; one that has marvelous depth of fruit, excellent complexity and the structure to age for 10-12 years. Lastly, the new bottling of Syrah from Alberto Longo in Puglia labeled 4.7.7 – the dates of his dauther’s birth (2007). Lots of juicy mulberry and plum fruit with bitter chocolate notes – this is delicious!

Finally, I wanted to point out two bottlings of Vermentino from the 2008 vintage from Cantine Lunae in Liguria. The Grey label is simply delicious, bursting with lemon and dried pear flavors and a bit of saltiness from the nearby sea, while the Black label is richer with notes of acacia and apple peel in the aromas. Both are aged solely in stainless steel – no need to mess with the amazing aromatics with wood – and have vibrant acidity. The Black label received the Tre Bicchieri rating from Gambero Rosso in their 2010 edition and is fairly priced at $30; you might just enjoy the Grey label as much or even better, especially at $18, an amazing value!