Drinking Italy part 1 Northern Italy
Posted - May 15 2008
By Daenna Van Mulligen
 

Verona Italy - the Arena

They walk a little slow, they drive a little fast, they arrive a little late but oh dio mio they make good wine. 
Si-si, the Italians.
Tasting my way through countless wines during a recent trip to Italy didn’t tire me out so much as fire up my engines for more. Part of the beauty of traveling to Italy is that you’re able to taste so many wines and so many different varietals (that you’ve never even heard of). But as a journalist it’s also extremely hard to write about all the wonderful wines you’ve tasted that your readers cannot. So I’ve rounded up a fine selection – all available locally – to illustrate what I love about Italian wine. 

What do I appreciate the most about Italy? The simple culture of wine. We carry the weight of virtual hysteria when it comes to wine in our own culture - are we ordering the right one, will our guests think we have no taste, will the sommelier shun us if we order that wine, are we spending enough or too much? Italians drink wine to round out their meal – its part of everyday life. What a refreshing and natural concept.

I knew I would be staying in and around Verona, so I figured - how much Prosecco could I consume? I was certain I'd be drinking Prosecco until I exploded – whether from sheer volume of liquid or from a build-up of tiny spumante bubbles. As it tuned out I didn’t drink nearly as much as I thought (unless you count the amount I consumed in the local favorite aperitif, “spritz with Aperol") instead, with the help of the Vinitaly wine festival, I tasted my way through the country.
To prevent confusion I’ll take you on a three part liquid tour region by region – the north part 1, the south part 2 and central Italy part 3.



Northeast – the Veneto
Prosecco is a favoured white grape here where it’s made into my frothy dream drink. The kingdom where Prosecco is queen is Valdobbiadene - although Prosecco can be made in other regions and similar gently sparkling wines are made from other varietals - including red grapes.
As a wine, Prosecco is finally taking off at a slow trot as more of them are becoming available and accepted locally. My favorites are Cantina Breganze – their apple-y Vespaiolo or regular "Extra Dry" Prosecco will charm you. Newly arrived on the shelves this month Cantina Breganze has introduced their Prosecco/Marzimino – pretty in pink and refreshing as heck. And the Col de Salici Prosecco de Valdobbiadene in its elegant bottle is harder to find but is also a delicious option.
Another consumer favourite - the highly recognizable Mionetto products are readily available and kick in at about $15-$30. Mionetto’s options are endless, from their Il Prosecco, sweeter brunch-perfect Il Moscato, Sergio MO Extra Dry or the delicious MO Rose.
But happily there are many more products than that
including the uber-popular Valdo Prosecco Marco Oro
which is suitable, any time of the day.
Canella - a family owned (an extremely warm and attractive group of siblings) producer makes a beautiful and creamy Prosecco di Conegliano which is available locally in private wine stores. But I've never met a summer sipper who hasn't loved the Canella Bellini in a bottle made with Prosecco and natural white peaches. It's beautiful peachy colour and low alcohol make it a perfect aperitif or breakfast wine.
 

Amarone – the extreme opposite of the light, low alcohol and refreshing bubbly known as Prosecco would be the intense, bold and boozy style of Amarone.
Amarone is made by partially drying the grapes in a method called
appassimento. But whereas a recioto-style wine (also made by appassimento) is made sweet, Amarone is fermented dry. The dried grapes produce a glycerin feel to the Amarone wines which are texturally appealing but also give the perception of fruit sweetness. The grape varieties in Amarone are primarily Corvina and to a lesser extent Rondinella and Molinara. One of the most recognizable names is Masi Agricola which produces a range of dense Amarones including a Classico, a Costasera and Alighieri in Veneto they have expended to make similar wines in Argentina using Corvina and Malbec - Masi Corbec. But as a smaller producer - and therefore harder to find, the delicious Speri Amarone "Sant Urbano" (about $70) and  the Speri Valpolicella "La Roverina" (about $26) are worth tracking down and can be found in limited amounts in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.


a sampling of local Montasio  and other cheeses, honey and walnuts in Colli Orientali del Friuli

Extreme Northeast
Friuli
Colli Orientali del Friuli
I spent three days touring around the small prawn shaped
region of Colli Orientali del Friuli (eastern Friuli) that shares its a border with Slovenia.
It was a wonderful side-trip filled with warm
hospitality and enthusiasm from the locals who made sure we we enjoyed their wines paired with the regional
favorites; polenta (in many forms) and the wonderful
local cheese called Montasio.
                                                                        map of Colli Orientali del Friuli

We also stopped at Midolini - a local producer of balsamico where we sampled their sweet-unctuous 30year old version and Domenis a local grappa distillery where we burned through some of their 40-50 and 60 percent firewater.

 

As for the wines…names I’d never heard of appeared in my glass; Schioppettino, Ribolla Gialla and Pignolo….
Of these three, sadly, I have tasted nothing locally available to share with you but I was able to track down other well-known regional varietals like Refosco...
 
The Livon Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso has wonderful
rustic aromas - saddle leather, dark cherries, peppery spice,
raisins, violets and coffee grounds notes.
Medium-bodied and smooth... read review here

In Colli many of the wineries were very modern, recently built or rebuilt and the quality was reflected in the wine.
Wineries like Petrucco, Valchiaro, Aquila del Torre, La Sclusa and perhaps my favorite - Comelli proved to us that tradition and innovation truly do go hand in hand. The aromatic white Tocai Friulano (soon to be merely Friulano?) and the simple red Refosco are two local Colli heroes that I enjoyed while there and with fond memories I tracked down a lovely local option for you. The Schiopetto Tocai Friulano is golden-hued with clean terroir-driven minerality, apricots, lemon zest, orange rind and fresh floral notes... read review here
 

Ramandolo

The tiny 60 hectare appellation of Ramandolo just received
its DOCG zone status in 2001 – one of the latest in Italy to
do so followed last year by the only other DOCG in Colli Orientali del Friuli (also for a sweet recioto wine) - Picolit.

During a brief visit in Ramandolo we lunched in a stunning hilltop Villa and drank the sweet, late harvested then dried grape wines of Toblâr, Maurizio Zaccomer and Marinig.
These sweet, golden wines are best served with
hors d’oeuvres – blue cheese, Parmesan chunks, the local Montasio cheese or pate, smoked fish, salumi with figs and local honey with hazelnuts.
Although Ramandolo is a region, it is also the nickname
for the Verduzzo Gialla (yellow Verduzzo) grape that
the wines of Ramandolo are made from.

pictures along right are all wines from Colli Orientali del Friuli

the city of Cividale in Friuli


 

North-Northeast
Trentino - Alto Adige
A beautiful, mountainous region that sits above the Veneto and shares its northern border with Austria - a location which is
mirrored in its architecture and in the freshness of its
cooler-climate wines.
During the Vinitaly wine festival I tasted the wines from Mezzacorona. Some of my favourite wines from this producer that are available across Canada are the red Teroldego Rotaliano Riserva the Pinot Grigio Riserva and the sparkling, fruity/floral and and creamy Teroldego Rotaliano Riserva (private wine stores - about $20+).

North Central


the tasting bar at Antica Fratta in the Lombardy Pavilion straight out of Wallpaper magazine...

Lombardy
Having only visited its main city of Milan many years ago, I look forward to visiting Lombardy again, this time as a wine region. Not only to gorge myself on the local Taleggio cheese but to drink the “Champagne of Italy” - Franciacorta.
The region “Franciacorta” is made up of about 200 growers
(still and sparkling wines) and about 1500 hectares of planted
vineyard – it is located east of Milan and sits just above the
city of Brescia. Franciacorta sparkling wines received their
DOCG status in 1995 and the guidelines for being considered a

Franciacorta DOCG are strict. The sparkling wines must be made in the traditional method using the grape varietals of Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay. And similar to Champagne, Franciacorta has; Vintage, Brut, Demi-Sec, Sec and Rosé, Franciacorta has those plus, Satén - an extremely appealing name for a creamy blanc de blancs. During Vinitaly, I spent a couple of hours one day losing myself in these sparkling wines – too few of which are found here in Canada. The most beautifully labeled were those from Antica Fratta. In fact they were so beautifully designed they deserve to be in Wallpaper Magazine. We also tasted those from Ferghettina, La Gallinaccia, Mirabella and many more.
Locally – imported by Empson Canada is Bellavista (see right) - your best bet the Cuvee Brut DOCG, found in private wine stores is fresh, elegant and creamy and costs about $50.

And on the southern slopes of the Retiche Alps against the Swiss
border are the terraced vineyards of Valtellina.
These south facing slopes rise to 800m above sea level and
are home to the grapes in the historical Cantina Balgera wines.
I met Paolo Balgera early on during my trip to Italy - he was also a judge for the Vinitaly International Wine Competition. Paolo, like his father, followed in the footsteps of his great, great, great grandfather and is now the eonologist continuing the tradition of making wines at Cantina Balgera.
Unfortunately none of his wines are available in Canada, but I was able to bring home one bottle of his delicious Balgera Valtellina Sforatzo DOC wine made from Nebbiolo grapes that are air dried on special racks in the appassimento style like Amarone. The literal translation for Sforzato is - to force, in this case it means forced to dry producing an intense and powerful wine with sweet, rich fruit and dried fruit aromas, with flavours of peppery spice, licorice and sweet raisins.

Northwest
Piedmont
Here lays the king – Barolo.
Made from Nebbiolo these wines are sought world-wide by lovers, collectors and investors. The similarities drawn to the velvety and somewhat ethereal Pinot Noir are not unfounded in my books. Perhaps that is why I crave them both and why I'm so disappointed when they don’t live up to my expectations.
But there are producers that always seem to – despite the vintages - make great wine. Many of these producers are well known and available in Canada, although rarely in large quantities.
But with over 50 other DOCs and DOCGs in Piedmont you mustn’t forget Barbera. Specifically those wines made from the Barbera grape in the DOCGs of Asti, Alba and Monferrato.
Or Dolcetto, from a number of pockets of vineyards and sub-regions (including Asti and Alba) around Piedmont.
Asti is both a commune and a town in Piedmont about 55km east of Turin.
Of course internationally Asti is more recognized for its sweet, sparkling wines - Asti Spumante DOCG and Moscato d’Asti DOCG which are good but far different from the reds.
Alba sits south of Asti but above Barolo.

Some favourite wines that I tasted from Piedmont during Vinitaly were: (all are available in limited quantities in Canada)

Bongiovanni Barolo "Pernanno" (2000 vintage about $90 in BC), the Conterno Fantino Barolo "Sori Ginestra" (2003 about $110 in BC), the Einaudi Barolo "Costa Grimaldi" (2004 about $100 in BC but a small re-release of the 1999 vintage are coming soon), the Marcarini Barbera d'Alba "Ciabot Camerano" (2006 is about $25. in BC) and the Marcarini Barolo "La Serra" and the Barolo"Brunate" (both 2004 vintages, each about $70 in BC).

                                                          Michele Chiarlo at Vinitaly

While at Vinitaly I was reacquainted with the gentleman known as Michele Chiarlo whose lovely wines are also available here in Canada. In February Michele was in Vancouver where he held a small tasting of his wines...read article here

But one wine was new to me - his Montald Albarossa
from Monferato, a new cross between Nebbiolo and Barbera.
It was a lovely wine with grapey aromas, earth, coffee and chocolate with sweet fruit and a lush palate. The vines for the "new" Albarossa are now 10 years old and I look forward to tasting this wine again when the vines are 20 years old.
(Not available in Canada yet.)
 

                                                                  Michele Chiarlo Montald Albarossa

And, although I met Pierluigi Chiarle from Bava,
I was never able to taste his wines during the
wine festival. It was only when I returned to Vancouver
that I tasted the Bava "Libera" Barbera d'Asti -
a ruby-hued Barbera hinting at brick with sweet,
earthy cherry aromas, dark floral and dried
fruit notes with a touch of orange peel...

read review here
 

But we can't forget the white wines can we.

One of my favorite white wines from Piedmont is from the internationally renowned Castello Banfi from Tuscany,
although this refreshing white is made under Banfi's
sister winery Vigne Regali.
The "Principessa Gavia" - is a classic Italian DOCG white made from 100% Cortese that's a wonderful food wine. Clean and fresh showing soft white fruit, citrus blossoms and honeyed aromas with almond skin...

Read the review

Coming Next: Drinking Italy part 2