Diary of a Sommelier /Student - Alta Piemonte in 90 Minutes or Less

I'm a sommelier, but I still consider myself a student.  In fact, at the end of my oral exam, right after I heard the good news that I passed, my examiner, Vincenzo Ricciardi said - Karen...study...
So I do, every chance I get I try new wines...wines new to me.  Vinitaly in Verona was no exception.  I had 90 minutes of free time.  Time just for me, so I headed towards the Piemonte Pavillion.
Piemonte -Piedmont - the Mecca for any Italian wine lover, and a must for an AIS sommelier to have an idea of what was going on in this northern part of Italy. It took me about 5 minutes to get from the Campania Pavillion to Piemonte, located practically at the opposite side of the Fair.
When I entered, I was overwhelmed...where do I go, which wines should I taste?  I pulled out my celll phone..Pico, help...I explained my situation, and asked advice of Pico (aka Michele), my architect friend, restauranteer and mega wine enthusiast...
Tranquilla, he replied...head for Alta Piemonte.
Not sure which cantina to hit, I decided to pay a visit to the Consorzio Tutela Nebbioli Alto Piemonte...a stand with wines from various wineries from that area. It was there where I introduced myself to AIS sommelier Massimo Baglione,  of the Vercelli and Valsesia delegation...in fact he was in charge of the sommeliers in Valsesia...

Massimo Baglione

He would also be my guide for the next 90 minutes or so..
First...I needed to understand where I was...the territory.  We would be hopping back and forth from both sides of the Sesia River. Tasting wines from terrain terrain that was full of diversity...soil filled with marine sediments and volcanic terrain. Soil that was compact and brittle in some places to those that were loose, full of gravel in others. Terrain that was high in acidity...so what would that show me in a glass?

Baglione handed me a map and our tour began with Coste della Sesia DOC...two glasses at a time, one from each side of the river, pointing out changes in terrain which would relate to subtle differences in color and to the palate.  Here Nebbiolo is king, but other grapes allowed for this DOC include Uva Rara, Vespolina, Croatina, and Barbera...

A quick glance of my 90 minute tour...hold on tight...

On the Novarese side of the river, Colline Novaresi D.O.C. Vigna MötZiflon 2007 from Az. Agricola Francesco Brigatti.  A blend of Nebbiolo, Uva Rara, and Vespolina.

A quick hop to the other side...to Gattinara county for 100% Nebbiolo with Paride Iaretti's Coste della Sesia Nebbiolo Velut Luna 2009.  

Staying on the west side of the river, we moved to Lessona to try Coste della Sesia Rosso Ca’ du Leria 2008 by Massimo Clerico.  Another blend, Nebbiolo, Croatina,Vespolina, and Uva Rara.  By this time, I was getting used to being up North, so to speak.  My nose and palate was used to heavier reds from Campania...the Aglianicos, Taurasis.  Here, though, lighter fruit aromas, not less intense though. Flavorful.

And just when I was getting used to the blends, Baglione went back to a 100 % Nebbiolo with Vignetti Valle Roncati's Colline Novaresi DOC Vigna di Sotto.

Then the 2008 offering from Centovigno of their Castellegno 2008.  Legno...wood. And here I noticed an interesting black pepper smell that I hadn't noticed before.

Bramatera DOC...

Blends of .Nebbiolo, Croatina, Bonarda and Vespolina in Bramaterra DOC 2006 La Ronda di Lodovico Barboni...



Let's move on...only 90 minutes.

Lessona DOC...Guidelines call for at least 85 % Nebbiolo.  Other grapes which can be used are Vespolina and Uva Rara.  Ages at least 22 months, at least 12 of those months in wood...

Tenuta Sella's combintion of Nebbiolo and Vespolina for their Lessona 2007 DOC.  Intense color, Nice palate thanks to the high acidity in the soil, and the salty sea deposits.   I read the notes on this wine, it ages 24 months in Slavonian oak.  May explain the spicy peppery notes that I was noticing...

Once again, Massimo Clerico, but this time with Lessona DOC 2005...


A quick taste of Boca DOC...

Conti's -Il Rosso delle Donne Boca 2006...

Ready for Ghemme DOCG.?

Bring it on...

Tiziano Mazzoni's Ghemme DOCG 2008...100% Nebbiolo straight from the right side of the river.  Interesting kick at the end...

38 months in the barrel for this Nebbiolo/Vespolina baby...Torraccia del Piantavigna's Ghemme 2007...

the 2007 from Vigna Ronco Maso

Ca' Nova's 2005

Rovellotti's 2005 and

finishing off in Ghemme with an excellent esempio of the territory, of this wine...  Az. Agrocola Mirù's 2004...


Baglione asked me how it was going...what did I think of Alta Piemonte...so far so good, but I'm a Campania girl...I wanted something a little more... a little more...no lo so...

Time for Gattinara DOCG,  allora..


Bring it on...
Now I was entering into a territory, a DOCG a little more familiar..the regulations call for 90% Nebbiolo, at least 24 months in wood. .. It was here, in Gattinara, where I began to appreciate these northern reds...the aromas, flavors.  It was here where Piemonte came alive for me.  The grande vini ...years and years of potential ahead.  Where Nebbiolo became my grape...at least for the remainder of my 90 minutes in Piemonte...

Azienda Agricola Antoniolo Gattinara DOCG 2007...

Azienda Vitivinicola Travaglini Gattinara DOCG 2007

Anzivino Gattinara DOCG 2006...

Az. Agricola Caligaris Luca Gattinara DOCG 2006...


My phone started to ring...broke the rhythm of my degustazione...so I ignored it...
My time that I had alloed myself was almost up...Baglione continued to pour...

Az. Agricola Patriarca Franco with their 2007

a riserva from Travagliani...2006...intense fruit...is it almost time to go?

Well, not before trying Mauro Franchino's 2005...

and then...Paride Iarettis' Gattinara DOCG Riserva 2004...amazing aromas and all...

A text message reminded me it was time to go...90 minutes in Alta Piemonte was over.

My thoughts?...Very different from the reds that I'm used to.  The southern Italian wines...full of intense mature red fruits...Deep dark red ruby coloring.  However, I spent 90 minutes exploring, tasting, discovering a region that was unfamiliar to me, but one that I'm glad I could add to my diary...

Thanks, Pico...

Diary of a Sommelier Student- The Reds with Mastroberardino Winery

It was nearly two years ago that I had my first verticale...a vertical wine tasting during Vitigno Italia in Naples, Italy.  I was invited by Mastroberardino Winery.  My blog was fairly new, I had just started my I level AIS Sommelier course...heck, I didn't even know what a vertical wine tasting was.  :-)  But I had the chance to taste a wide range of their Taurasi's dating as far back as 1968!
A lot has changed since then.  Over the past two years, I have had the chance to spend time with Mastroberadino on numerous occasions, walking the vineyards, tasting their wines, questioning, learning, and growing.  I have also completed my sommelier course.  So it seemed fitting that one of my first serious sit down tastings  as a sommelier would be spent with my Aglianico, my Piedirosso, and my Taurasi with Mastroberardino during Vinitaly last March.

My hosts were winemaker Massimo Di Renzo and agronomist Antonio Dente. The first glass...a colorful, profumatic rose' -Lacrimarosa Campania IGT Rosato 2011.

100 % Aglianico.  Rosa...pink ish ...just like we Americans like it, I was told by Di Renzo, with a smile.  A product of a light delicate pressing and then vinified white in stainless steel.

We continued...Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Rosso DOC 2011. Here we have a wine which is 100% Piedirosso from the volcanic soils around Mt Vesuvius.  A  Lacryma with a promise...full...flavorful...young.  Young but already expressing the territory, the terrain...the minerality found in that part of Campania.

A new glass...a new wine.  The latest vintage of their base Aglianico Campania IGT 2010.  Produced from various vineyards...spends close to 10 months in barriques then 6 months in the bottle before release.  My nose to the glass noted that comforting familiar aroma of mature red fruit such as plums and cherries.  Taste...Lightly tannic which is fine by me...telling me that I can enjoy this wine now...but I can also let it age in my small cantina.

Ready to continue? I was asked, noting that Dente had changed my glass again and was ready to serve me a wine that I was waiting for; Redimore Irpinia Aglianico DOC 2010. He reminded me that this wine was made from vineyards that we had walked together several months earlier in Mirabella Eclano (Av).  Vineyards that shared space with Radici Resort Golf Course...Morabianca Restaurant.  I couldn't help but be reminded of the sunny days spent there as I placed my nose into the glass.  This was one of my Aglianicos, planted in Mirabella back in 2004...a cutting from a clone from an Aglianico vineyard which dates back at least 140 years! cuttings that were grafted into Piedirosso  vines that were on the property in 2007 and 2008.

Next it was time for a young Radici.  The black labeled Taurasi DOCG 2007 from vineyards in Montemarano and Mirabella.  Mastrobeardino waited an extra year before releasing this Tuarasi, in fact, I had tasted it a back in January during Anteprima Taurasi 2008.  2 years in oak...2 years in the bottle to produce a Taurasi that they felt their market would appreciate with its smoothness, its light tannins, its deep aromas.

The tasting continued...we were no longer in Verona...we were walking the vineyards, so to speak...tasting the territory, exploring the vintages...Taurasi Riseva DOCG 2005 brought me back to Mirabella Eclano, to a harvest year that called for an early harvest.

We stayed in Mirabella to taste Historia Taurasi DOCG 2005 and 2006.  A mini verticale to note the differences between the two harvest years...2006, Dente shared, was a difficult year. Much more rain which meant that the grapes matured later.  The result:  my glass of 2006 was fresher and fruitier than the 2005.  It was also less concentrated.  That is the beauty of a side by side tasting of different vintages.

New glasses to finish off the tasting:  Radici Taurasi Riserva DOCG 1999, 1998, and Taurasi 1997. A chance to observe how this wine changes with time.   How Taurasi is a wine that evolves...deepens...relaxes with age. Ruby red colors start to darken, change.  Fruit aromas began to concentrate...Tannins that were aggressive years earlier have calmed down.

This is what tasting the older vintages should teach you.

Teach you...because though two years have passed.  Though I have done countless tastings, vineyard visits, and verticals.  Though I am a sommelier, I am still a student who strongly believes that every glass is an opportunity to learn.

And who knows?  Who will evolve more two years from now...Historia 2005...or me?

Two Glasses, Two Islands, One Winemaker

Winemaker Vincenzo Mercurio

To reach Antiche Cantine Migliaccio, you first need to take a ferry from Formia, Terracina, Anzio or Naples.  Then a private boat. You need to get to the Island of Ponza, a small gorgeous island in the province of Latina in the region of Lazio.  Once there,  head for Punto Fieno, a part of the island that is not so easy to get to, Vincenzo Mercurio tells me.  Vincenzo Mercurio, winemaker for this small young winery, introduced me to the cantina but not in Ponza,  in Verona during Vinitaly. There aren't many producers on this tiny island, he tells me.  And as he  poured me a glass of Fiena di Ponza Rosato 2011, he spoke about the enormous challenges of reaching the winery and of tending the vineyards. By foot or donkey only.  All to tend once abandoned vineyards that have been given a new life by Emanuele Vittorio and his wife Luciana Sabino.   Vineyards that are at least 100 years old.  In my glass I had the second vintage of this rose', straight from the stainless steel vat.  

One of the first things I noticed was the color.  Piedirosso, Guarnaccia Rossa, and Aglianico give this wine a beautiful light pink color.  I closed my eyes and placed my nose in the glass.  I could almost feel an island breeze. I noticed light floral aromas.  Taste?  La primavera, spring in a glass.  The Mediterranean...minerality...full flavor.  A flavor inviting me to visit Ponza. Visit Antiche Cantine Migliaccio.  Take that ferry/private boat.  Experience a 40 minute hike through terraced vineyards with breathtaking views of the sea..

There was another island in a glass that Mercurio wanted me to try. Sardenia and Cantine Poderosa.  Ah, I remember this winery, I mentioned.  I remembered the story of this organic/bio dynamic cantina and their  pride in their Sardinian roots and  traditions.  Vincenzo smiled.  He had something that I hadn't tried before.  Arzu Rosato Vino Della Luce 2009.

This copper colored rosè is a mix of different grapes from an antique style vineyard. Mercurio poured me  a glass of indigenous Sardinian grapes...a mixture, a fusion of what could be Cannonau or Cagnulari, or Monica...or all of the above.  He poured me a glass of tradition, a glass of territory.  And while we waited for this rosè to evolve, open up in our glasses, Mercurio served me a plate of Sardenia, to stick with the theme, to stick with tradition.  Unleavened bread or pane carasau then a little smoked ricotta cheese.

Then it was back to my glass of Arzu. Back to my rosè which didn't believe it was one.  A rosè that spent nearly 3 years in this bottle before being poured out for me.  Back to the intense aromas, flavors, back to tradition.  Back to Sardinia-if only for a moment.

And almost as soon as it began, it was over.  My island hopping with winemaker Vincenzo Mercurio.  My taste of two Italian islands in two glasses. I looked over the brouchures.  I wondered how it would feel to visit these wineries up close...walk the vineyards...taste the wines there instead of in a booth in a crowded pavillion in Verona....

Oh, Vincenzo.....

A Taste of Vignaviva at Vinitaly

Wine maker Gennaro Reale

Last week was a busy one for Gruppo Vignaviva. It was  wine week in Veneto, and Gruppo Vignaviva, the brain child of winemakers Fortunato Sebastiano and Gennaro Reale.   Veneto gave them the perfect opportunity to showcase over a dozen of their wineries at Vinitaly, Vivit, ViniVeri, and VinNatur. Wineries from different territories who all shared a common belief.  Great wine begins with a great grape.  And if that grape is grown organically, even better.  Nearly all of Gruppo Vignaviva's wineries are certified organic.  Those who aren't are seriously considering it.
I made an appointment with a busy Gennaro Reale for 1230 ish  on Tuesday the 27th.  He had just arrived at Vinitaly after spending the morning nearby checking in on some Vignaviva's other wineries at ViniVeri just a half hour away.

We met in the Campania Pavillion and  headed straight to Irpinia...to a brand new winery called Vigne Guadagno. 

 This was their first Vinitaly so Reale shared with me samples that the winery had brought with them straight from the stainless steel vats.  Their wines aren't ready to be bottled yet, he told me.  They need more time. Like a Fiano di Avellino 2011 from vineyards in Montefredane.  Vineyards that Reale felt would give this wine beautiful aromas and freshness.

Greco di Tufo 2011 from vineyards chosen for a fusion of freshness and minerality...Chianche and Tufo.  Falanghina Irpinia DOC 2011 spends a few hours with the grapeskins during maceration.  Two to three months maturing on the lees to produce an elegant wine.  We then tasted a very young Aglianico 2011 from vineyards in Montemarano and Paternopoli.  An Aglianico that sees only stainless steel, no wood.  A wine that Reale hopes will communicate what the vine and the wine has to say...

From this young winery, we moved on to winery with a few more harvests under its belt...Calafè.  Their first harvest was back in 2006.    Our first glass Reale poured me was a Greco di Tufo DOCG 2009. Product of a late harvest and 12 - 18 months maturing on the lees.  Product of owner Benito Petrillo belief in aging his wines for a long period before putting them on the market. So it was interesting to taste Calafè's Greco di Tufo DOCG 2006 immediately after.  To note and discuss differneces and similarities.  A naso di Riesling, Reale told me, meaning that he smelled aromas typical of Reisling.

 I didn't remember tasting a Taurasi from this winery during the premiere of the 2008 vintage a couple of months back.   That's because it's still maturing, Reale told me.  So he poured a glass of the their newly released 2006.  A glass of intense ruby red wine from vineyards in Paternopoli, Montemarano and Castelfranci.  A Taurasi that spends extra time in wood...2 years.  Big oak barrels, not small barriques.

Time to move on...

Since we had passed on to the reds, Reale decided to take me to taste Terre Irpine.  Aglianico Irpinia 2008 from vineyards in Castelfranci.  I was learning to note and appreciate how Irpinia's Aglianico can soften nicely with a long maturation period, and without time spent in wooden barrels.

Terre Irpine uses barrels only for their Taurasi, so we tried a few.Primo della Corte 2007...an Aglianico which could be considered a little Taurasi thanks to 12 months in barriques.  We let our wines do what they want to do, Reale tells me.   Well, I was curious as to what their Taurasi DOCG 2006 wanted to do.  I believe this wine, and their Taurasi Riserva 2005 wanted to share with me a array of spectacular aromas, deep dark colors.  With a profound, dry,  asciutto taste...

I believe that this wine, along with all the wines I tasted that mid afternoon wanted to share their territories, their stories.  

I believe I needed another appointment with Reale, but not in Verona. 

In Campania...in the wineries...in the vineyards...

Italian Version

The Whites - Vinitaly with Mastroberardino

It was easy to make myself comfortable, make myself at home in the colorful corner of their stand in pavillion 6, E 3.  I found a seat alongside drawings by Piero Mastroberardino hanging on the wall.  I found a seat at a table alongside Mastroberdino's oenologist Massimo Di Renzo and agronomist Antonio Dente.  They were willing to spend some time with me that morning to talk about their whites...I was ready ready to listen, and taste.  I was curious about the new vintage and really eager to try some of the older ones.  So we began with vintage year 2011, in the bottle for just a short period before the fair.  Lacryma Christi Del Vesuvio Bianco DOC, Falanghina Sannio DOC, Fiano di Avellino DOCG, and Greco Di Tufo DOCG.  All young wines with promise. We paused a moment to talk about the harvest year.  A good one for reds, I was told.  But they are very happy with ther whites as well.  I was told that the philosophy of the winery is not only to produce great wines, but to make their wines distinct... meaning a Greco di Tufo has to look, smell and taste like a Greco di Tufo.  A Fiano like a Fiano.  In addition, their crus need to stand out as crus.  Distinct from their classic line.  So we tasted...

Morabianca Falanghina Irpinia DOC 2011. Another Falanghina, but distinctive from the one I tried earlier.  The grapes here are from their vineyards in Mirabella Eclano (Av) with vines that are around 8 years old, so just entering into a phase where they will produce consistent grapes. The climatic conditions (in respect to Benevento) allow for a longer maturation period.  Here the harvest was held in mid October, nearly a month earlier than the Falanghina from Benevento.  Radici Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2011 with vineyards in St. Stefano, and not in Lapio as their Classic line Fiano. This Fiano, as well as the earlier one we tried shared aromas such as fruit, and toasted nuts. With the cru, I was able to go a little deeper when I placed my nose in the glass, floral aromas, a light light touch of honey.
Then it was time for Nova Serra Greco di Tufo DOCG 2011 from their vineyards in Montefusco.  Tasting this white as well as the others, I noticed and respected the differences in each wine.  That was probably the point.Point well taken.

Then it was time to move along, to taste some of the earlier vintages.  To examine how the colors, aromas, and taste mature...to identify differences in the vintages.  See how they are progressing.  We tried the following from their Vintage line - wines that were bottled that particular year, but held on to by Mastroberardino.  Fiano di Avellino 2006 and 2002, and their Greco di Tufo 2006. We tried More Maiorum Fiano di Avellino. Thier Fiano from their vineyards in Lapio which spend 6 months in French oak. 2008, 2002, and 1999.  So we sat, reflected, I took notes.  I remember clearly watching Di Renzo and Dente as they tasted.  Deep in thought as the tried each glass. I was curious what was going through their minds...the various harvests?  Earlier tastings?  Challenges and victories in the vineyards? In the cantina?  Almost as if they were watching one of their children grow up. Mature.

Silence.  And then a What are you doing tomorrow?  Would you like to try the reds?

Ok, I answered.  Ci vediamo domani...