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By Manos Angelakis
Gambero Rosso, Tre Biccheri 2009 Tasting
It is not often that one can taste that many award-winning wines in one day. That occurred at the March 6th, Gambero Rosso, 2009 Tre Bicchieri, wine tasting. The Gambero Rosso Magazine’s yearly wine selections are considered the Italian food & wine bible.
The tasting was open to the trade and press during the afternoon, and after 5 pm, was also open to the public. Most of these wines are very young, many tannic and astringent; with bottle age, they will develop into great wines but in their present form, unless they are created in the “international style” that a number of Italian producers are starting to embrace, they do not taste particularly good.
The following wines caught my attention:
Corte Sant’ Alda, 2004 Valpolicella Superiore Mithas. A mouth filling wine with spicy Mediterranean softness. Too young, needs a few years in cellar. Nevertheless, it will develop into a lovely meat eater’s drink.
Ercole Velonosi, 2005 Rosso Piceno Superiore Roggio del Filare. A lovely red
with personality and pleasing aromas of black forest fruit, carob, and violets followed by licorice, leather, black pepper, and vanilla. Tannic but balanced, with a full body.
Travaglini, 2004 Gattinara, Tre Vigne. Cinzia Travaglini presented a lovely Nebbiolo from Alto Piemonte. Fine, full-bodied, with intense flavors of cherry, raspberry, and spice. There’s a nice truffle-y undertone as it goes into the finish, which is nicely integrated with tannins that have mellowed over time. Ready to drink now.
From Sicily’s Donnafugata, 2005 Contessa Entellina Milleunanotte. Made from the indigenous Nero d'Avola grape, it has spent two years in oak and one in bottle before release. Delicious, concentrated, beefy character, with red cherry and overripe black fruit. Medium tannins, long length with flavors of walnuts and dates.
From Friuli Venezia Giulia, 2006 Vistorta Merlot, by Conte Brandolini d’ Adda. Smooth, elegant, medium-bodied wine, soft with smooth deep cherry fruit nose enlivened by hints of plums, cigarbox, and spices. Very long, luscious blackberry finish.
G. B. Bertani. 2001 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. Bertani is one of my favorite Italian wineries, making impressive reds from the Veneto. Ripe fruit, cacao, truffle, leather and ripe prunes, harmonious tannins and ends in a long, intense finish.
From Sardinia’s Tenute Sella & Mosca. 2003 Alghero Marchese di Villamarina. Marchese di Villamarina has always been one of Sardinia's most representative wines. Despite the difficulties of the vintage, it is one of the better wines from the 2003 harvest. This wine is still very young but its aromas are inviting, clean, and dominated by fruit.
From Brezza & Figli. 2004 Barolo Sarmassa. The Sarmassa vineyard is located within the commune of Barolo in Piemonte. It is a powerful wine that offers terrific aromas of cherry, rose petal, spice, tobacco and mocha with multiple layers of currant, earth and oak. The finish is long and framed by firm, velvety tannins.
There were a number of whites in the tasting, but from the ones that I tried I only liked two, both from Sergio Mottura, Poggio della Costa and Latour a Civitella. Both are made from Grechetto grapes, the first is made from grapes from a single vineyard (Poggio della Costa) and the other is made from the best grapes of five grechetto vineyards. While the Poggio della Costa wine is vinified and matured in stainless steel on their own lees, the Latour a Civitella is fermented and matured in large oak casks in “Tufo” caves. Both are well balanced, fresh and fruity but the one that matures in the oak, has a characteristic, rather intense woodsy vanilla on the nose, the other one has a cleaner, mellow and sharper flowery and fruity finish.
During the year I have tasted many Italian red wines that I thought were as good, if not better, than a number of the wines being awarded the Tre Biccheri designation, and I’m surprised that they have not been included in the list (#57, 2009).
Eviva! (Alternate Greek expression, instead of Is Igeian - to your health)
© April 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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