“Friends and wine improve with age.”…. an Italian proverb: Amici e vini sono meglio vecchi.
Wines,
like people, develop through their youth; some showing exceptional promise and
those developing into a period of earned assuredness. As years pass, they
acquire grace but then, eventually, frailty too. Even with the best of care, all wines expire.
To be able to taste a wine along its life’s journey is like sharing the
experience of a wine’s lifetime in one afternoon. So being invited, along with other reviewers,
to participate in a tasting of (mostly) the Sangiovese wines of Col d’Orcia… well
it was not something I needed to think about.
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| Getting Ready For The Tasting |
Literally,
Col d’Orcia means: “The hill overlooking the Orcia River.” It is in Tuscany, where grapes were grown by
the Etruscans before the Greeks and the Romans.
The main grape in Tuscany is Sangiovese, or as the locals call it,
“Sangioveto”. It’s the grape you’re
familiar with; the dominant grape in Chianti wine. But the Sangiovese of Brunello di Montalcino
is never blended, (it is in purezza”)
and that is the issue; the passion and the love of this challenging grape.
Vines must be managed to limit yield. Left on their own, they will be over
productive producing grapes with a poor sugar to acid balance, light color,
high acidity and less alcohol likely to result in wine that will oxidize
prematurely due to lower concentrations of tannins and anthrocyanins.
Sangiovese is a thin skinned grape prone to rot on the vine. And the juice must
be skillfully vinfied for it is fraught with issue. Chianti, for example, may
be blended with Canaiolo and a percentage also of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or
Syrah. Previous to 2006, white wine grapes Malvasia and Trebbiano were allowed.
Blending allows for better color and easier creation of body in the finished
product. Some winemakers in Brunello deal with these issues by extending the maceration
period from 7-12 days to 3-4 weeks to give the Sangiovese must more time to
leech phenols out of the grape skins. They employ malolactic fermentation,
providing a more rounded mouthfeel. Whatever
the choice, or combination of them, when you taste a well-made Brunello di
Montalcino, you can be certain the wine maker is highly skilled.
So you’re not
reading Wine
Mizer to become an oenologist.
Suffice to say then that three things will happen when you allow yourself to
taste a Col D’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino. (1) You will be tasting pure 100%
Sangiovese. (2) You will physically
experience what this grape does by itself; on its own. You can’t claim to know
grapes’ characteristics without tasting them unblended. Then, after the
experience, go about your preferences, wiser as you will be. (3) You will be tasting Sangiovese from the
Brunello di Montalcino awarded DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) status in 1980 in
recognition of the region’s unique terroir.
It is recognized by most as the best area anywhere to grow Sangiovese.
Meeting
at Eataly in Chicago, Count Francesco Marone Cinzano, owner of the Col d’Orcia,
arranged for us to taste several of his wines paired against the excellent
preparations of Eataly’s chefs. We began with a salad of roasted beets,
seedling farm plums, Ricotta Salata, aged Balsamic and Pistachio. This was
paired against a Col d’Orcia Spezieri
(2014) and a Col d’Orcia Rosso Di
Montalcino (2013).
I would not reflexively think to pair a
salad against a red. But Spezieri is a young, fruity wine and picked up the
essence of the plum so well it seemed a natural. The Rosso di Montalcino was a natural
progression. Tuscany is well known for
its olive oil and grain production but the philosophy of Italy in general is
that wine is a natural accompaniment to food. And the acidity of Sangiovese
makes it a perfect meal partner. It is,
as they say, food friendly. I would say, symbiotic: the wine making the food
better and the food returning the favor.
Spezieri
is unaged and a blend of Sangiovese and its relative grape Ciliegiolo. Ciliegiolo is a natural blending companion to
unaged Sangiovese. The aromatic, low-acid grape adds color and softness to the
blend. In fact, the name itself comes
from an Italian word meaning cherry and the wines produced from this grape
impart both that aroma and taste. Slightly chilled, Spezieri is excellent
for everyday meal pairing: light, fruity and easy drinking. With an ARP of $9,
it’s also affordable as such. Rosso di Montalcino is pure Sangiovese, but still
young. From Col d’Orcia’s estates it is produced from vines that deliver
fresher and fruitier grapes. Released one year after harvest, it shows the
typical structure of Sangiovese while still retaining a freshness and
fruitiness of young wine. I was impressed, especially by these young wines of
Col d’Orcia, because young Sangiovese can easily yield a glass laced with
tannin, even astringently so. But I found each of these wines smooth; tannins
detectable, but managed and controlled. (ARP $17).
We
then moved on to the Col d’Orcia
Brunello D’Montalcino (a vertical tasting of 2011 and 1997). These are
wines of pure Sangiovese joy (for me) offering expressions of cherry, earth,
violet, plum, ripe berry, rosemary, fig, licorice and notes of leather. Brunello
has the longest aging requirements in Italy and these wines are meant for
aging. They need it, but they also reward patience as do few other wines. Darker in color than Barolo, tannins are high,
but not quite as high as in Barolo.
Nonetheless, drunk early, the wines can be powerfully tannic. With time
in the bottle, the mico-elements blend together and tannins smooth. Delayed
gratification rewards you in the glass with complex, deep wine offering
additional notes of fig, carob, aged balsamic and expresso, black tea and cedar
with a hint of dried oregano. Considering the required aging of these wines before
release and their structure and complexity, with ARPs of $43 and $77
respectively, I consider them bargains.
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| Count Francesco Marone Cinzano (r) Holding What He Knew Was My Favorite Wine. Is It Possible to Have More Than One Favorite? |
The
reservas of Brunello di Montalcino are required to undergo aging of six years
before release. Aging benefits these wines but comes with tradeoffs of price
too. We tasted a 2001, 2004 and 2006 Cold’Orcia Poggio Al Vento Riserva Brunello Di Montalcino. ARPs for these
wines average $95, a sum I should point out is considerably less than (to my
palate) several less worthy Cabernet Sauvignons. Grapes for these wines are from a select
vineyard of sandy, limestone soil (such limestone content and drainage is
essential to producing top quality Sangiovese grapes). 48 months aging in large French and Slovenian
oak barrels and 2 more years in bottle before release, it is produced only in
the best vintage years and in limited quantity.
These wines are the ultimate expression of the grape’s potential and
from the best terroir. Many professional
tasters recommend enjoying these wines 10 years after harvest, and they often
retain quality for 25 years.
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| Panna Cotta, Salted Caramel & Almond Crumble with Pascena Moscadello |
We
finished with a Col D’Orcia 2011 Pascena
Moscadello, the one wine not of Sangiovese.
As the name implies, it is made from the Muscat grape. Too bad this
grape has a poor reputation with some because of its inexpensive renderings by wineries
having made bulk wine. Yes, it’s sweet
(it’s a dessert wine). But with the balance of fruit to acid so expertly done,
it’s on par with the famous dessert wines of France. A perfect wine to enjoy with blue cheese or
Foie Gras, it is made using Muscat a Petits Grains. Forgive me “Big Bird”, but
with 200 varieties of Muscat, using “one is not
like the other. This wine made from the
Petits Grains Muscat offers sweet peach and refreshing tangerine. Aged one year
before bottling, it finishes cleaner than most dessert wines I’ve tasted. ARP
about $46.
All
the wines of Col D’Orcia have been certified as organic since 2010. Whether
DOGC or DOC (the Pascena Moscadello), the common thread throughout is graceful. These are wines that entice,
that suggest, that seduce. To experience what Col D’Orcia does with Sangiovese
is to understand what Michelangelo did with marble: a difficult material to work
with that yields results sublime and
unique and can only be experienced by meeting the difficulty with skill and a commitment
to grace.
Salute!
…………………..
Jim
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Incidental Info:
Sangiovese is not
just one grape. It’s understandable you would think so. But in fact, it’s a
highly adaptive little creature. Until 1879, it was even believed that
Sangiovese from Brunello was a separate variety. This is because Sangiovese has
somewhat of a chameleon-like character. It grows in both warm and somewhat cooler
environments, but too much warmth and its flavors can become diluted. Too cool
and the grapes will have high levels of acidity and harsh, unriped tannins. What
makes Sangiovese particularly interesting is its ability to morph – actually
altering its genetics to fit the environment.* But the various adaptations to terroir will have a substantial impact
on the finished product’s aromatic and flavor profile. Throughout Italy (and
the new world) there are many different mutants of this Sangiovese (at least 14
different clones exist) and they produce different tasting wines. Sangiovese from Brunello (the DOCG within
Chianti) is considered the epitome of the grape’s expression. Limestone, in
particular, seems to enhance the wine’s unique and earthy quality. As far back
(pre-genetic testing) as 1906 Girolamo Molon discovered that the Italian grape
Sangiovese could be broadly classified as Grosso and Piccolo, the Grosso
variety being grown in Brunello and producing the highest quality wine.
* A great (non-wine) book to read about
how plants do this is The Botany of Desire, a Plant’s Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan
One of two wines tasted before the tasting. Notice the place of origin (Chile). Like many winemakers from around the globe, Col d'Orcia has vineyards in the Maule Valley and produces wine under the Erasmo label. Click this link for more information.
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