Penfolds Grange is unquestionably Australia’s most famous red wine and has reached celestial heights in terms of adoration and expectation. From its experimental inception in 1951 by winemaker Max Schubert, Grange has been lovingly crafted to shine as a uniquely Australian wine of longevity, power and class.
“Grange’s aesthetic quality and remarkable aging potential is the stuff of legends.”
Andrew Caillard MW
In line with the 20-year celebration of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, an event was arranged that could commemorate the significance of this anniversary. Two bottles each of Penfolds Grange 1971 and 1976 (tested by the clinic in 2011) were obtained from a close friend of the owner of my workplace. The extensive museum Italian wine list was pulled out for perusal. It was like being a kid in a candy store as eight other wines were chosen that hail from Italy which would sit alongside Australia’s most iconic wine. The wines selected are classified in the upper echelon of quality and come from the most respected producers. These include rare wines such as Ceretto Bricco Rocche Barolo Brunate 1990, Produttori del Barbaresco Montefico 1985, Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino Schiena d’Asino 1990, Tedeschi Amarone della Valpolicella ‘Monte Olmi’ 1991, Castello di Ama Chianti Classico 1997 and even the famous Toscana IGT wine Antinori’s Tignanello 1985 and Bolgheri’s inimitable Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia DOC 1987.
In total, the combined age of these wines is over 200 years. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one that I feel privileged to have been able to pour at. Below is a visual diary of the evening with small commentary made as to the condition of the wines.
La Donna del Vino savouring a glass of Grange
Today I present one of the fathers of Langhe winemaking in Piemonte, Italy – Signor Bruno Giacosa. Some might refer to him as a stubborn man; someone who lived by the mantra of doing what tradition displayed to be best for the wine regardless of what trends dictated should be done to sell more. Clearly this philosophy has boasted well for Mr Giacosa. His wines are long-lived, penetrating, and at times, breathtakingly magical. This post is all about the Giacosa estates, coated in lots of love, with a friendly review of his Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa Dolcetto d’Alba 2007 at the end. Allora, let’s delve into the mind and world of Mr Giacosa!
Pensive Bruno Giacosa - Photograph by Gio
Who says it’s too early to drink wine before 9am?
Clearly if you want to be involved in this Galli Scholarship you better get your act together!
“I consider myself very lucky because life gave me, almost for fun, the chance to live an uncommon ‘agricultural’ experience.” – Alberto Cisa Asinari di Gresy, in Piemonte…noblewoman of wine by Andrea Zanfi
Photograph by Gio’ Martorana, Piemonte…noblewoman of wine
Today I recalled a beautiful moment after bottling some La Spinetta Ca di Pian 2006 at work one day in 2008, when the cellarmaster Stefano took me to see Martinenga vineyard at the Marchesi di Gresy winery in Barbaresco as we knew Alberto the proprietor would be there to show us around. Stefano used to work there for a great number of years before moving to La Spinetta so it’s not like he needed to be ‘shown around’, but hey, it had been more for my sake anyway. Continue reading
May be a young wine still, but it drank a beauty last night. Mature fruit, less savoury but still Italianate because of the style, and really, really approachable tannins. Drank with Matt Harrop and wife Tamara once the kids had gone to bed. The 2008 is now sold out and the 2009 is out in store. Ha ha I got to drink the last one!
Produttori del Barbaresco Langhe Nebbiolo 2008
Available from Enoteca Sileno, 920 Lygon Street, North Carlton
“I don’t have several vineyards in different zones, which would mean that at the end of the year I could obtain a certain number of bottles. No, all of mine are here around the house, and if the weather suddenly changes for the worse and it begins to rain or hail, it’s all up for me: I throw away a whole year’s work. When at last I see the big black clouds with their load of torrential rain move away in the sky above my vineyards I breathe a sigh of relief…How many sighs of relief I too breathe when I see that bank of cloud passing on! In all these years, though much has changed, my approach to the weather hasn’t. When I get up in the morning I look at the sky.
This constant uncertainty prevents me from relaxing completely, maybe the only uncertainty in my life with which I am very happy and satisfied, because in all these years I have built up something that may be small, but it functions.”
– Renato Cigliuti, in Piemonte…noblewoman of wine by Andrea Zanfi
Photograph by Gio’ Martorana, Piemonte…noblewoman of wine
It was my last day at La Spinetta winery and I played my final game of Gin with Stefano in the lunchroom. I won, and as my gift he took me to his car and gave me a red long-shaped box. A wine box. I opened it to find a Marchesi di Gresy ‘Gaiun’ 1986 Barbaresco. What a beautiful thought.
At the end of our shift Stefano and I left for Neive where we went up to Serraboella to the winery Fratelli Cigliuti to meet with Stefano’s respected friend Mr Renato Cigliuti. He took us for a quick tour through the winery and to the barrel hall where we tried the 2007 Vigne Erte Barbaresco that had finished MLF but was still left with a bit of sugar unfortunately. We tried it but it seems dry enough, so hopefully it doesn’t lead to some problems down the track.
Afterwards he took a bottle of 2005 Serraboella Barbaresco to drink in their home and we sat around eating hazelnuts and sipping this delicious wine. His wife Dina came in and we talked about what I’m doing and about studying in schools today for children from Italy or Australia. She also showed me some hilarious photos of my boss Giorgio Rivetti back in the 80’s when he had a handsome mop of hair!
Eventually it was time to leave for dinner and I asked to purchase a bottle of the ’05 wine we’d just tried and she brought it to me and told me it was a gift and that I did not have to pay anything. Normally it is about 40-50 Euro…so I felt so grateful to them for the evening they had just shared with me.
Stefano and I then drove another 5 minutes up the rode to Mango to the trattoria I’d been to once before with a group of Czech Republicans. Here we were having our end of vintage festa! There were 14 of us all together and we went through all the typical Piemontese cuisines over about ten courses! What did we drink?
Drank:
2007 Riesling Trocken, Germany by Doohaus… – Crisp acidity and fine minerality and not overpowering citrus flavours, mouth-coating texture, from Stefano.
2003 Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend by Frank Haas from Alto-Adige. Simple flavours, medium-weighted but not overly Cabernet like (no green vegetal flavours thankfully), so appealing as a simple table wine. Initially thought it might be an old Barbera…brought by Manuela.
2001 Barbaresco Starderi by La Spinetta. Typically Starderi, lots of smooth but firm tannin structure, fresh nose and well-translated palate flavours.
1990 Paolo Scavino Barolo ‘Rocca di Annunziata’. Very old nose, no sign of advancement or oxidation, textured, smooth, savoury palate with tannins that glide across your mouth and linger until the next sip!
2005 Barbaresco Serraboella by Fratelli Cigliuti. Will be interesting to see how this looks in 2015! Can she hold on??…
Andrea, Stefano and myself met at 5am at the winery this fresh Saturday morning and left for Liechtenstein where we were to conduct a degustazione (wine tasting). We weren’t the only ones of course participating. On the way we stopped in Neive and picked up Claudia Cigliuti who is one of the two daughters who work at Fratelli Cigliuti of Serraboella and Vigne Erte fame. The other vehicle we went with had Chiara Boschis of E. Pira e Figli stunning Barolo wines, the dude from Prunotto and Alberto Gresy of Barbaresco and the owner of the famed Gaiun and Martinenga crus. Claudia and I shared the 4-hour journey together in the back seat through Piemonte, Milano, Switzerland and finally into Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The scenery along the way was gorgeous with the towering Alps around us and already there was snow on top of the caps.
The national language of Liechtenstein is Deutsch but they can usually speak alright English and some of them Italian or French. So between the three of us La Spinetta crew we had it covered (Andrea – Italian only, Stefano (French and Italian) and myself (English and some Italian).
Seven hours later with very sort feet we retired to the dining room with the other winemakers and and shared a delicious, intimate dinner on a long table and drank the leftover wines, chatted and acted a little silly. The song ‘Tintarella di Luna’ came on and I surprised Andrea when I sang the first verse correctly. I was seated next to Alberto Gresy who is very well spoken and explained his entire family history to me. His cellarmaster of the winery he owns is Geoff Chilcott who I’d met previously a number of times so I think I’ll make the effort to stop in and visit their winery when I get the chance.
We drank:
2007 Gelbert Muskateller Clos Domaine by Domane Wilfersdorf, Austria for Hofkellerei, Liechtenstein. Overly sweet fruit flavours like Gewurztraminer but not actually a sweet style of wine. Interesting though, but pretty simple.
2007 Riesling Clos Domaine by Domane Wilfersdorf. Simple wine yet again.
2007 Sauvignon Blanc Clos Domaine by Domane Wilfersforf. Not overly fruity but less textural than the Italian styles.
2007 Vaduzer Pinot Noir Herawingert AOC by Domane Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Tank wine, simple, rose’-like, blah.
2006 Vaduzer Pinot Noir Selection AOC by Domane Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Barrel fermented, overly oaky, no marriage. Bowbow…
2007 Verdicchio by Pignocco DOC, Le Marche by Santa Barbara. Delicious example!
2007 Chardonnay from Langhe DOC by Brangero. More typically Chardonnay with greater fruit weight and classic peach flavours with more obvious oak use. Picked later style.
2004 Nebbiolo Barolo ‘Mariondino’ DOCG by Armando Parusso in Montforte d’Alba. A decent standard, lots of body. Chewy.
2004 Nebbiolo Barolo ‘Bussia’ DOCG by Prunotto. Great barolo! Better than the previous, more harmonious and balanced.
1999 Barolo ‘Bussia’ 10 years Riserva by Prunotto. Oxidised and buggered.
2007 Dolcetto d’Alba DOC by Conterno Fantino in Montforte d’Alba. Actually the best Dolcetto I have tasted so far. I was pleasantly surprised. Great body for a Dolcetto.
2007 Barbera d’Alba ‘Vignota’ DOC by Conterno Fantino. Well made, good fruit concentration and not overly tannic.
2006 Monpra’ Rosso del Piemonte DOC by Conterno Fantino. Basic red blend, quite simple, a little touch of Cabernet Sauvignon.
2004 Nebbiolo Barolo ‘Vigne del Gris’ DOCG by Conterno Fantino. A wine with a hell of a lot of body, still needs time in the bottle, little off on the nose but palate overpowered by the strength of the tannins.
2005 Nebbiolo Barolo Sori Ginestra by Conterno Fantino. Just bottled four months ago so like the previous one was overly tannic with too much body and needs time in bottle.
2006 Barbera d’Alba ‘Campass’ DOC by Fratelli Cigliuti. A decent example but not overly impressive. Lacking in body and concentration of flavour.
2004 Nebbiolo Barbaresco Vigne Erte by Fratelli Cigliuti. Light style, savoury flavours in balance with a lighter body and salty (?) finish.
2004 Nebbiolo Barbaresco ‘Serraboella’ DOCG. Better than Vigne Erte, older vines, so concentration of flavour is higher, well balanced acidity to flavour and body all in one. Delicious!
2004 Nebbiolo Barbaresco ‘Camp Gros’ Martinenga by Tenuta Cisa Asinari di Gresy. Lots of body in the wine, needs time but will eventually sing.
2000 Nebbiolo Barbaresco ‘Camp Gros’ Martinenga by TCAdG. Better after time in the bottle, ready to be drunk. from south-facing vineyards, balanced but with some real guts, more masculine.
2000 Barbaresco ‘Gaiun’ Martinenga by TCAdG. Elegant and a more feminine style of wine, in my opinion more approachable and more attractive in flavour profile.
1996 Nebbiolo Barolo ‘Cannubi’ DOCG by E.Pira e Figli. Drying tannins, mouth-coating bottle-age characters. The low pH and high acidity are apparently typical of the ’96 vintage. What a wine.
Tonight we had a great time. Gianni, Andrea, Stefano and myself drove to Mango to a low-key trattoria where Stefano’s friend, Geoff Chilcott of New Zealand had friends over from the Czech Republic. We were a group of 18 in total. Geoff works for the Gresy family winery in Barbaresco and has been living here for the last twenty years or so. We all had to bring a covered bottle of wine…or two. Hence about 24 wines in total! What a festa!
So the dinner party started after 9pm. Classic. To kick off the evening in case we didn’t think we would be drinking enough wine that night, we had an aperativo of Champagne. Philippounat I believe. From there flowed the wine continuously with options games taking place.
Five antipasto dishes (including prosciutto with puff pastry, salami, insalata russa, carne crudo di vitello, which I love, tripe and tripe soup with fagioli beans). Primi was next with ravioli in sage and butter sauce, a classic Piemontese pasta dish which I have become a bit of a wiz at. Several secondi were put in front of us which I gladly consumed, including cinghiale with polenta and guinea fowl.
At about 1pm or a bit after the nocciola ice cream and pineapple tart dessert arrived and 24 bottles of wine were polished off. I had brought with me the One Eye Shadowfax 2005 Shiraz, which looked quite good, but so not European so it stood out amongst everything else.
Drank:
Brut Champagne by Gobillar (50% Chardonnay, 25% each PN & PM). Wonderful lees characters, refreshing and balanced.
2003 Bouin Muscat di Frontignac from Macedonia. Seemed like a Sauvignon Blanc, still fresh, but quite simple.
2005 Langhe Sauvignon Blanc by Parusso – Montforte d’Alba
1998 Langhe Chardonnay by Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Gresy – Martinenga. Opened up beautifully with time in the glass, still fresh with a lot of oak influence which did not dominate though. Overall impressive.
2006 Arneis by Malvira – Rodera. Simple but admittedly a good example of this Piemontese variety.
2006 Pinot Nero by Boheme in Czech Republic. Seemed like a Gamay but was actually a Pinot Noir.
2007 Suche’ Neronet by Esterka in Czech Republic di Moldavia. Wine with a dark colour, high pH, sweet palate, is a native grape.
2001 Valpolicella Superiore di Veneto. I thought it was Grenache, Stefano guessed Nebbiolo. Damn.
2007 Rose d’Austria using Blaufrankish.
2005 Shiraz ‘One Eye’ by Shadowfax – Heathcote. After sampling Italian wines with high acidity and less obvious fruit, this Aussie Shiraz stood out like a sort thumb. Most people guessed it and they thought it was quite a big wine, which is true especially in relation to its alcohol content.
2004 Pinot Nero from Valais, Switzerland. I could tell it was distinctly Pinot Noir but wrongly assumed it was a nice Burgundy. My first wine ever from here! And I am impressed! The acidity is higher in these wines than Burgundies too.
2007 Nebbiolo Langhe by Gresy, Martinenga in Barbaresco. For a wine this young it was surprisingly drinkable now!
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Aglianico blend by Montevetrano in Campagna.
2001 Sagrantino by Montefarco in Umbria. Was a tired, problematic wine.
2003 red grape by Pallavo- Sicilia. Corked.
1998 La Spinetta Valeirano Barbaresco. Looking tired with loss of fruit, cork’s fault!
2003 Chapoutier’s Chateauneuf du Pape in the Rhone. Lovely wine.
2005 Bourjeoes Cru Bordeaux in Medoc
2003 Merlot da solo by Gresy, Martinenga in Barbaresco.
1989 Fratelli Cigliuti Barbaresco Serraboella. Stood up to the test and was a lovely wine, old age bottle characters, still juicy fruit, firm tannins. Superb.
1998 Malvira Roero Superiore. Quite a robust wine, not tired at all.
2007 Moscato d’Asti by Goergis, Mango in Piemonte.
So it’s Sunday and into my second week at La Spinetta where I’m doing vintage in Piemonte, Italy. The winery work has not begun to reach that state of chaos just yet though. Fortunately this gives me time to do other more local things!
Today Gianni took me out for an aperativo in Neive where we then went to the brilliant restaurant La Contea for a long lunch. It was set up in the town’s courtyard with rows and rows of long tables for all the guests. The first course had a couple of things on the plate, one being shreds of yellow capsicums with sardine paste on top, or a minced baby veal shaped like a tomato (salted and seasoned to perfection) and insalata russa.
Following the spuntino was the primi of small basil-sauced ravioli, then the obligatory second alternative of meat-ragu home-made pappardelle pasta.
The secondo was capretto (baby goat) in a rich sauce and the dessert was a stunning peach sponge cake with nocciola (hazlenuts) sprinkled over the top. You could have killed me with happiness then and there.
Wines we drank:
2006 Ugo l’Equio Langhe Nebbiolo from Neive
2005 Fratelli Cigliuti Barbaresco from Vigne Erte (younger vines than Serraboella)
2005 Ca Veja Paitin Bricco di Neive Nebbiolo d’Alba by Pasquero Elia
"'Just living is not enough,' said the butterfly. 'One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.'" - Hans Christian Andersen
La Donna del Vino 