uncorked No Comments November 1st, 2016 Italy, Italy Tour Visit Post

Rocca di Frassinello: read about Maremma’s finest wine

Renzo Piano has no trouble putting a spell on my thoughts. A moment of reflection brings two words; Tuscan orange and green, colours of the winery at Rocca di Frassinello, Genoa-born Renzo’s architectural invention.

Approaching Rocca di Frassinello winery on Uncorked and Cultivated’s Tuscany Wine Tour 2016

Our Italy wine tours take guests through the depths of Tuscany, offering introduction-only visits to wineries, some open to the public. If you’d like to find out more about this exclusive guided experience for lovers of wine and food, you can call me direct on +61 427 705 391 or email denisew@uncorkedandcultivated.com.au.

There it is; sliced, carved and integrated into a 60 hectare Maremma vineyard landscape 50 km north on the Gavorrano coast of the Tuscan town of Grosetto. Planting from 1996 to 2004 has included the staple local grape sangiovese transported from owner’s Paolo Panerai Chianti Classico Castellina property of foundation plants. Added is cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah, and recently vermentino, now the goto white drink of all Tuscany.

However Rocca were not the first growing grapes here on the old tin mining, grazing and once malaria-ridden country. The Etruscians were pre-Roman, as recent small necropolis excavations have revealed. But maybe not growing sangiovese then? One day we will know.

Etruscian Urn-Necropolis of San Germano

Rocca through its winemakers, and grape whisperers have trodden lightly with the mix. This is about respect for local sangiovese, a tough variety, hard to get excellent responses, is given a high priority to grow best, show its naturally grippy tannin to ripen to the top of that expected. Work hard, ripen. So as in all Tuscany it is a late finisher, cranky but fulfilling to get there, causing some lost bunches along the way. That’s cool if a few end up on the ground.

Colleague & Rocca Winemaker Massimo Cassegrande

What would you drink from Rocca?

Well sangiovese and international variety blends with increasing levels of oak time, fruit strips and time investment. This is in common with a Bordeaux Chateau approach of scaling price and perceived quality – Rocca is a half share venture with Domaines Rothschild in Pauillac. That’s the labelling. All wines are DOC Maremma Toscana.

Entry stage is the unwooded (cement tank aged, an increasing trend) Poggio alla Guardia 2014; 50% cabernet sauvignon, 30% sangiovese, 20% merlot, nice and rounded, fruity, soft, easy, drink early and don’t concentrate too hard; that’s the intention. Smash it down.

The Ornello 2013 is drinking and softening very well; created from 2006 to take advantage of what the syrah grown here can provide for your drink. Try 40% sangiovese, 20% cabernet, 20% merlot, 20% syrah to make a successful rounded wine; look for the chocolate such is the great ripeness.

Le Sughere di Frassinello 2013 is the deputy wine to the top property wine. Think 50% sangiovese, 25% cabernet, 25% merlot; a terrific wine to handle some aging time though long is not needed; cedary, red-fruited, silky tannins and long on taste. Shaped by some master sangiovese blenders here.

Le Sughere di Frassinello 2013

Rocca di Frassinello 2013 is on song now, very deep colour alongside its brothers, so expect little change unless age kicks in 3-5 years time. It is well composed; layered, cherry fruit, from 65% sangiovese, 25% cabernet, 10% merlot, some leafiness, refreshing is the brightness of the fruit, just outstanding, nicely wound tannin from 18 months in barrel; just a super Maremma wine. Needs you to drink one.

Rocca di Frassinello 2013

Tuscany is a battleground for grand wines called Super Tuscans since the 90s. By old definition all the past wines just reviewed are Super Tuscan as sangiovese-international variety blends. So Super Super Tuscan is a greater category now.

One perverse result is Baffonero 2013; a creation since 2007 made totally of merlot, grown extremely and heavily emphasised in detailed winemaking which could be repeated from Bordeaux’s hyper-expensive Pomerol merlots. The leader in Tuscany is Ornellaia’s Massetto, so here is Rocca’s contender.

Baffonero 2013

Baffonero is very dense, deliberately concentrated by its viticulture, extreme, layers of fruits, coffee and cacao, new oak sweetness, powdery tannins, many but soft and round. That’s a deep play on merlot.

No doubt the Etruscians did not make merlot, just early versions of sangiovese which lasted a few days.

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uncorked No Comments February 21st, 2016 General, Italy, Sicily Tour Visit Post

Benanti: now Etna drinks

Uncorked guests just love the Etna grape story. How the Benanti family with roots in Lombardy migrated to Sicily by royal decree, to Catania really, assisting the economic output of eastern Sicily.

By the 1800s native red vines were well established, named in Sicilian dialect but with no relatives in Piedmont to nebbiolo, barbera or dolcetto which inhabit the homeland slopes there. But the wines have similarities.

Travellers come in contact, in a warming manner, with the major variety, nerello mascalese, Etna hero and gem of a variety. It is lithe, with some pinot noir textures, having pale and some browning colours as with the varieties in Piedmont, then a broadening mouth appeal.

Nerello mascalese

I asked about the origins of nerello mascalese. Host Antonio Benanti says “it has origins in the old town of Mascali nearby, nerello means pale black in Sicilian dialect, and as it is trained by the albarello system introduced by the Greeks, it is an ancient Etna native. We really never know its exact origin”.

Albarello is a form of bush or free standing vine, where the vine supports itself. In old times the vines were randomly planted looking like unkept bushes while today the albarello vine is a tall, upright, row-planted and cleverly-grown shrub whose growing shoots are renewed annually.

Our guests stroll between Benanti’s 100 year-old bush nerello on the 470 m hillside Monte Serra vigneti or vineyards, venturing into the 30 year-old single staked modern section at Viagrande, the company’s now historic wine home.

Monte Serra- 100 yo bush vines

And of course a smoking Mount Etna supervises the annual growing crop with a periodic black spray of lava ash. And the rain washes it off. The soil is very mineralised.

The original winery or palmento, is one of numerous ancient designer facilities scattered over Sicily. Lava stone wineries became as a cultural and business interest since the late 1700s.

The rejuvenation of the Mount Etna vineyard sites has seen a purchasing of these derelect palmentos for incorporation in the new wineries as historic parts, with use for wine making illegal (unsanitary) or uneconomic to re-build. But they make great aging cellars or show pieces.

I have visited similar wineries at Passopisciaro and Tenuta de Fessina.

The old vineyards were mixed in plantings and now on trend as a “field blend”. The locals say that their grandfathers must have known what is best for the final wine as nerello mascalese dominated though 20 per cent is nerello cappuccio, and 1-2 per cent the local white variety minnella. Minnella is no longer used.

Here is the lovely lithe general blend Benanti Nerello Mascalese 2012 Etna Rosso DOC, AUD 65, pale-medium colour, Etna terroir nose, volcanic origin, supple and enjoying, long flavour and oak well covered.

Benanti Nerello Mascalese 2012

Second wine in the pair is Benanti Nerello Cappuccio 2012 Etna Rosso DOC, AUD 65, very pale, usually unoaked to keep the softness, and very much akin to the light or soft reds of other regions; or also allowed to be blended with nerello mascalese in the field blend.

Benanti Nerello Cappuccio 2012

Uncorked guests taste the magnificence of the volcanic nerellos under the puffs of Etna’s occasional smoke. And view the vista of Etna up closer below!

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uncorked No Comments November 9th, 2015 Italy, Sicily Tour Visit Post, Wine Region Review

La Nave on Mt Etna

The latest addition to my Mount Etna wineosphere is the brilliant white wine from the winery Santa Maria La Nave: grown on the northern slopes of the mountain.

This exciting part of Sicily continues to capture and allure international writers and sommeliers. It has to be the elevation that these local indigeneous varieties enjoy. There is freshness and a joy in the mouth. Don’t miss it!

The darling white variety of recent tastes is carricante, and no Etnan white is more famous from New York to Buenos Aires than Benanti’s Pietramarina (2011) (USD 47) – grown at 1000 m in the vicinity of Milo, above Zafferana on Etna’s east side.

Benanti Pietramarina Carricante 2011

Other native whites like minnella are interplanted with the century-old, pre-phylloxera red vineyards. I have eaten it in Benanti’s Monte Serra vineyard, where it is harvested separately.

And Frank Cornelissen in Solicchiata uses grecanico dorato, carricante and coda di volpe in his Tartarci vineyard 1000 m pre-phylloxera blend of Munjebel Vigne Alte 2013 (USD 40). That is how the vines were planted long ago.

But my most impressive encounter is with Sonia Spardo Mulone and Riccardo Mulone’s rejuvenated plantings of grecanico dorato planted at 1100 m, by far the highest elevation for vine growing on the mountain, these on the northern-western side in Contrada Nave.

This Santa Maria La Nave Millesulmare 2014 Sicilia DOC is special in colour: it has luminosity in the glass, masses of quartz-green glints, excellent lustre of a wine with pearl shell gloss; it “winks” at you.

Santa Maria La Nave Millesulmare 2014 Sicilia DOC

The taste works a treat; and the aromas are not overt, just muted citrus and lemon rind; subtle, no more.

The citrus meet on the palate, and the sensation you find is one of linearity of acidity that goes on for ever. Note the acid succulence, respond to the salivary senses and detect the peak when the lemon essence and lemon grass acid flavours start fading. Should take ten seconds.

These vines have been around for some time but Riccardo is yet to tell me how long.

Now they are being curated and carefully propagated by massal extension, using the old process of burying one unpruned cane of an old vine into the next vine space to start re-growth. Some call the process layering.

So the vineyard must have gaps from vines which have died; now they are being replaced using a very meticulous plan.

These Etna whites have shrill acidity, and slim body, generally irrespective of the variety. They are naturally minerally, merely responding to their terroir.

Another I enjoy is Planeta’s Eruzione 1614 Carricante 2014 Sicilia DOC (USD 33); a more expressive white from the use of aromatic yeast and 5% riesling, the latter another cold climate variety noted for its light body.

Planeta, a bigger Sicilian operator and regionally-aware of the greater microclimates in the Island, is a very active participant in Mount Etna viniculture. Sciara Nuova, 870 m on the northern side in Castiglione di Sicilia is the Eruzione source.

Planeta Eruzione 1614 2014

Then I recently tasted Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Buonora Carricante 2014 Sicilia DOC (USD 23); back to the muted style of the Millesulmare grecanico, gleaming green, absolutely razor acidity and a delicious texture of the green mint acid taste style; also from Castiglione di Sicilia of vines planted in 2000.

Tascante Buonora Carricante 2014

Peter Scudamore-Smith MW visited Sonia Spado Mulone and Riccardo Malone in Milan to interview for this project; and served this Grecanico Dorato 2014 at the opening evening dinner of Uncorked and Cultivated Sicily Wine and Food Tour 2015 in Taormina. Uncorked and Cultivated Sicily Wine and Food Tour guests tasted Benanti carricante at Viagrande, Tasca d’Almerita carricante at Regaleali, and Planeta carricante at Lago Arancio in Sambuca di Sicilia.

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uncorked No Comments November 1st, 2015 General, Italy, Trento

Ferrari: flash fizz

Visitors to Italy often find themselves trapped in the well-worn sangiovese-strewn hills of Eastern Tuscany. But the Chianti wines are a product of a warm growing climate. What about cool?

I recently ventured to discover the real heart that makes the classy end of Italian sparkling wine throb. The precondition of making metodo classico – Italian speak for bollicini made the same way as their cousins do in Champagne, is a cool or cold growing environment. There is much to be excited around visiting the bubbles-making region of Trento, Italy’s northern-most.

First it has to pass the cool test. No problem there.

Now this vintage, 2015, those people in Champagne finished their harvest before the Trentians. Although Champagne is the most northerly-orientated of France’s cool regions, and reaches to 270 metres, the Trento harvest at 500m starts later. Some feat. Must be good for the bubbles base wines.

Ferrari’s most commonly encountered wine is Ferrari Brut. It has no year designation, a normal feature of gulpable bubbles. This is decidedly fresh when made for the market containing 2 year-old chardonnays.

Ferrari Trento DOC Brut

Within a few minutes of meeting Ferrari’s soft-spoken chief winemaker Marcello Lunelli I was hearing graciously how this region supplies long cellar-aged, hence long-lived sparklers.

You see it’s all in the taste-that shrill acidity which sits in your mouth, ensures your first and last sensation is the tartness we call minerality. Or the acid gives a linear expression down the length of your tongue.

Ferrari Perle 2008, all chardonnay, is the goto wine to seek this minerality; zippy, citrussy, and the name sounds so charming-diamonds, glitter-in-the glass, low on sugar (4 grams) so the acid pirouettes in one swallow. It’s good. And it smells of honey sweet and white flowers: the good folks at Ferrari call it the honey aroma of the tiglio tree.

Ferrari Perle Trento DOC 2008

Trento is an ancient Roman town wedged between the two imposing side of the Dolomites Mountains; rugged and ugly monsters, clinging to the flood-sluiced banks of the Adige River. The vines clamber on the rocky slopes and terraces, barely planted on the narrow alluvial plains reserved for vegetables and apple crops.

Giulio Ferrari established the company in 1902 by planting chardonnay in the valley. He sold it to Trento wine merchant Bruno Lunelli in 1952 when without an heir. Subsequently Bruno bought an iconic chardonnay vineyard in 1964, releasing a hallmark wine only in seasons when the conditions smile, the first being 1972.

The current Giulio is 2004 is good, will age well until 2018; delicious, single vineyard fizz, lightly honied, high on minerality, nice gas and even nicer crisp tones of acidity. The wine the founder would drink.

For me the 1987 Giulio Ferrari, Reserve of the founder, Extra Brut (2.5 grams) smiled as I unpacked a bottle for my cellar; it was disgorged in 2011, living on its moribund yeast for 27 years.

Giulio Ferrari Trento DOC 1987

WHERE TO STAY IN TRENTO: Grand Hotel Trento, Piazza Dante, 20; +39 0461 27100; grandhoteltrento.com; a lovely old world style hotel, great breakfasts.

EAT IN TRENTO: Osteria Le Due Spade, via Don Arcangelo Rizzi, 11,; +39 0461 234343; leduespade.com ; established 1545, well-known and respected, has a top sommelier, inventive plates by Massimiliano Peterlana.

Peter Scudamore-Smith MW visited Ferrari Trento privately as Uncorked and Cultivated tours and travels.

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