Venue: Hotel Louis C. Jacob in Hamburg, Germany

Before the tasting begins we are served 1999 Giulio Ferrari from magnums as an aperitif. This sparkling wine from the Trentino Region is based on Chardonnay. The wine is superbly balanced. It is rich, bright gold and has a creamy vibrancy on the palate. Exceptionally satisfying.

The 1999 vintage in Tuscany is not considered top-notch, so I am curious to see how these famous wines developed over the last decade.

The group of tasters assembled is relatively small – about 30. Both Piero and Ludovico Antinori are there.

“We are happy to have both brothers together,” says Anton, our host from the Ariane Abayan wine importing company. He goes on to add: “This tasting is for fun – no need to make comments just a few ohs and ahs will suffice.”

We taste the wines blind.

Venue: Treiso, Piedmont

Producers of particular note:
Cá del Baio – 40 year old vineyards and a lovely young spokesperson/daughter.
2006 Barbaresco Asili Cá del Baio – The wine has a silky entry that expands to an attractive knubbly sensation. The palate echoes the nose: fresh, high-toned.  The fruit is a subtle amalgam of ripe plums and bitter cherries. There is an upright elegance about this wine.
2006 Barbaresco Valgrande Cá del Baio – Fresh, firm, uplifting nose. Again an excellent compatibility between nose and palate. Rich within its narrow band of flavors.
Varaldo – I have tasted wines from this estate often in the last 10 years and always found them satisfying. They are wines that give pleasure.
2006 Barbaresco Sorì Loreto Varaldo – Bruised plum flavor. On the nose a soft, ripe plum element riding a wave of bright acidity. Very fruity (within this context): plums, ripe bitter-cherries. The finish is dry with a plum-skin astringency.
2006 Bricco Libero Varaldo A deeper plum/ruby color, with an old rose rim.  On the nose, Nebbiolo silk sensations, with fine wood tannins. On the palate, full, spicy, with a hint of plum-skin astringency on the long finish. “Sleek as a seal” I wrote in my notes.
“In 10 to 15 years,” says Rino Varaldo, owner of the estate. “It will be perfect.”
When asked about the name of Bricco Libero, Rino says: “We bought the land from a man whose last name was Libero.  He was a very calm person. He had a strong character but he still managed to be nice.  So we decided to name the wine after him.”
The older Barbaresco vintages were tasted at a dinner held at the La Ciau del Tornavento restaurant in Treiso.

Brand: Rugiada di Erbaluce

Winery: Cà Nova

Vintage: 2007

Appellation: DOC, COLLINE NOVARESI BIANCO

Varietal: 100% ERBALUCE

Winemaker: Gianluca Scaglione

Alcohol %: 12,5%

Average Price: € 8

Tasting notes: From the Northern part of Piedmont – “Alto Piemonte” – , the native grape “Erbaluce” takes its home. Very bright and light yellow on the eye, this wine shows fragrant and fresh fruits scents, with a typical perfume of quince. Then floral perfumes come out. The taste is definitely correspondent with the eye and the nose: dry and fresh, smooth and silky at the same time. Delicate and light.

Drink now through 2010.

Aging: 6 months in stainless steel, plus 3 months in the bottle before delivering.

Food Pairing Suggestions: enjoy that as aperitif, or pair it with young cheese, lake fish, white meat.

General rating: 4 tastevins.

Categories: “classic”.

The Italian sparkling wine zone of Franciacorta is located in Lombardy. The wines there are made with the same grape varieties (mainly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) and the same production method as those used in France’s Champagne region.  Satèn is the word used to indicate a Crémant wine (this means a sparkling wine that has a lower pressure in the bottle and thus a creamier mousse).

One of my favorite producers is Villa.  I recently had the opportunity to taste 10 vintages of Villa Satèn.  Here are my notes.  My personal favorite of the vintages is 1998.

Milanese businessman Guido Serio bought San Fabiano estate in 1983. The vineyards are located in the historic Chianti Classico commune of Castellina, while the manor house and the cellar, which are part of the 10-century-old medieval hamlet, stand right on the south-western border of Chianti Classico denomination. The estate is essentially an agricultural enterprise, with grain fields, vineyards, olive groves and woods dispersed on 165 hectares. The vineyards currently occupy 42 hectares, 28 of which are planted around San Fabiano hamlet and the rest are in the locality of Cellole near Castellina.

Since the purchase of the estate Guido Serio made a considerable investment both in vine growing and wine making. The property had an old vinification cellar – it was promptly expanded and new modern equipment installed in mid 1980s. A vast new aging cellar was built in 2003. In between these years all vineyards were gradually renewed. Small replanting is still carried out each year, so the majority of today’s vines are aged 5 to 15 years. Franco Campanelli is a full time in-house winemaker, while Carlo Ferrini, a famed Tuscan enologist, followed the estate since 1984 and continues to work as a consultant.