Some months ago I was in raptures during a meeting in Piemonte where I came face to face with a wine figure I admire greatly. He was softly spoken with gorgeous, blue-eyes. His name was Walter and he had me at ‘Ciao’.
Walter Massa of Vigneti Massa
Massolino of Serralunga d'Alba
Massolino, also known as Azienda Agricola Vigna Rionda, is the name of one of the small grape grower/wine bottling families in the Serralunga valley whose business is named after their most famed and popular vineyard, Vigna Rionda. The business began with Giovanni Massolino creating the estate in 1896, followed by his son Giuseppe subsequently building the cellar a number of years later. Today, the winery is still in the hands of the Massolino family with brothers Roberto and Franco Massolino along with Giovanni Angeli acting as winemakers for the estate.
Back in August 2011, the Australian wine importers for Massolino, Bibendum Wine Co., held a long-awaited masterclass to highlight the producers various vineyards. The event was held at the gloriously spacious and sea-view aligned restaurant The Stokehouse in St Kilda. Just to heighten the opportunity to make someone green with envy, see the menu below for what delights were in store:
The well-dressed Italian representative (because there always has to be at least one good-looking Italian at these events) was none other than winemaker Giovanni Angeli. Softly spoken, but groomed within 007 standards, he acted as our amiable host along with head of Bibendum, Robert Walters.
The late Matteo Correggia - Photograph by Matthew Molchen
ABOUT MATTEO CORREGGIA
The wine world lost one of its greats back in 2001 when the driven and ardent Roero vine dresser Matteo was taken unexpectedly in an accident in the vineyard. Prior to his death, Matteo had worked fervently to establish the sandy soils and the vines of the Roero as fruit that could one day be held next to the great Langhe vines. His dedication to his craft meant he gradually bought the vineyards that he knew ripened the best and had the best exposures and sold off those he knew he would rather do without. When at last the world took notice to his beautiful wines, it was all be taken away from him and the estate was left in his wife Ornella’s capable hands. The wines are now made under the direction of enologist Luca Rostagno – the man Matteo wanted to make the wine in his cellar.
ABOUT THE ROERO
Matteo Correggia’s estate is based on the northern side of the Tanaro river in Piemonte in the area known as the Roero (rather than the more southerly and well-known Langhe wine region). It is an area long-renowned for the native white grape Arneis, a wine that is usually unoaked and consumed when young and is a beautiful accompaniment to fish dishes. It is the reds though that are commanding due attention, with a classic Roero rosso like Matteo Correggia’s La Val dei Preti or earlier maturing Roero made from 100% Nebbiolo in the Canale d’Alba region of the Roero hills. These wines tend to be lower in price also due to a lower demand with the majority of people going for the more publicised Langhe wine region. So I say, scoop up a bargain, put your feelers out there, and the next time you come across a wine with Roero on the label, well apart from knowing a little more about the area now, you can feel confident that it is an area producing reputable, delicious wines worthy of the purchase! Trust me!
Roero and the Langhe wine regions: courtesy of Chevsky
The bottles of Luciano Sandrone - Photograph La Donna del Vino
Ah yes, twas yet again another fantastic session at the Prince Wine Store in Bank Street, South Melbourne.
They held a tasting of eight wines from the meticulous producer Luciano Sandrone in Piemonte. His are wines I have yet to look at in a back-vintage line-up so I was super keen to do this Masterclass with a group of randoms to see what we would be looking at.
The last time I’d seen Sandrone’s wines was back in 2008 at ‘The Greatest Tasting of my Life‘ and more recently in January at the ‘2011 Lorenzo Galli Wine Scholarship-Day 1 Tasting‘. Both times I have looked at his Cannubi Boschis Barolo, which was interesting for me to realise and compare notes back. Either way, he is seemingly an excellent producer and the ability to understand the story behind his production, gradual collection of vineyards and philosophy behind his wines was truly a beautiful opportunity to be able to share.
All in all we were a group of about fifteen…yet again, I was the only female. Why aren’t other women onto this? There’s not that many places you can hang out and drink with just men and not get teased for it!? Meh! Maybe I’ll just keep it my little secret…shhhh 😛
Have you ever thought about the risk involved in making a joyful beverage like Moscato d’Asti? Surprisingly for such an easy-drinking wine, it is one with a fair amount of winemaking technique involved. Ladies and gentlemen, Moscato d’Asti is not your standard, sweet, fizzy drink. This is a more serious matter. The trouble only just begins with the bubbles…
As a means of providing a brief introduction, Moscato d’Asti is a low-alcohol sweet white wine made from the Moscato grape (grown in the Asti province in Piedmont of northern Italy). The sweetness does not come from adding sugar. Instead, it is provided by the natural sugars remaining from halting the fermentation. I prefer not to get overly technical, so here is a short tale from the 2008 vintage when I worked in a small town called Castagnole delle Lanze at La Spinetta winery.
It was the beginning of September and the Moscato vineyards were almost ready. La Spinetta has been making Moscato d’Asti since the late 1970’s, when Giorgio Rivetti took control of his father Pin’s grapes and purchased more from other vineyards to create what was to become one of Italy’s most celebrated Moscato d’Asti wines.
The first week patiently waiting passed by with ease with the team’s attendance at a party in Tuscany to celebrate the opening of their winery in the typically Italian named town of Casanova. Upon completion, we herded the team back to Piedmont where we began the harvest, or la vendemmia as the Italians call it.
Allow me to present Giuseppe Rinaldi and his wines of Barolo in Piemonte, Italy.
To his friends, he is simply known as Beppe.
“I could tell you a whole lot of things, since I belong to a complex generation that lived through a historical period of great ideals and upheavals which cast doubt on everything, including the ways of interpreting the countryside and agriculture. A generation which with great effort carried the burden of older generations on its shoulders. I still recall the greyness and destitution of the postwar years…
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
Whilst the ex-boss and wife and child were still sleeping I got up and had breakfast on my own in the kitchen and dressed for lunch as they informed me we were going to the ristorante Bovio in Ceretto Langhe with Ornella also in attendance. Together we rugged ourselves up and braved the chilly winter air and sat down to a wonderful lunch. We ordered and pretty much were all having an antipasto and a secondo but then the restaurant chef who knows Giorgio well ended up bringing us an antipasto on top of our other orders which consisted of carne crudo di vitello in small balls on bread, a spoon of insalata russa and grissini…the child of Anja and Giorgio, Lidia, is two years old and eats like an adult. In fact she ate more of the antipasti than everybody else. On top of that she also ended up eating an adult sized primo of agnolotti, then a smaller sized steak. Hungry kid.
This morning I grabbed my bags (plus 6 bottles of wine of Giorgio’s to pass on) and we drove to Cecina and had breakfast at the Principe Cafe. They took me to the station and I asked for a train ticket from here to Alba…the man behind the counter laughed and gave me the most doubtful look. Why? Perchè ha riso?
It’s snowing here still a little but they have had a surprise dump last night so trains that were leaving this morning from Firenze, or from the north have been delayed an hour, or two, or three. He suggests I leave tomorrow or try my luck anyway but anticipates I will run into problems in Genova. I call Anja (I am headed to Piemonte fyi to stay with the La Spinetta gang for whom I worked last year) and tell her I am going to try my luck! I will just buy my ticket to Pisa Centrale for now then we will see what they say there. Giorgio tells me if there is no trains, to use the same ticket to come back and try tomorrow. Anyway! With all this negativity about my subsequent journey I decide to give it a go nevertheless. Also because Anja informed me that tonight there will be a surprise birthday party for my old boss Andrea which means it will be a great opportunity to see everyone again.
Arriving into Pisa it’s a bit of a brothel. People everywhere in the main foyer, a queue a mile long to buy tickets from the teller, and the main screen is blacked out because perhaps there’s no point with so many delays. The smaller screens in the station list only those trains from this morning that are hours behind so there is no space to write the new trains on arrival. All one can do is wait! I decide to buy my ticket from the machine – stuff having human contact – and wait patiently at platform 4 in the bitter cold with others for our IC510 train to Torino Porta Nuova. We’re all hoping there’s no delay, it seems that only trains from this morning are really late. Otherwise, others have arrived a maximum of 20minutes late. Finally at 12:30pm the screen lights up to indicate our train exists! Woohoo! But will it arrive punctually? That is the question my friends! Everytime the screen goes black for some changeover we all expect to read that it has been cancelled or to read how many minutes ‘in ritardo’ it will be. Fortuunately my stars were well-aligned and the train arrived and we departed a measly 10minutes behind. Che fortuna!
The coastal landscape we took was beautiful and interesting as it was like winter in Pisa, spring in La Spezia, and winter again with snow in Genova. Overall, no problems and we arrived on time! My next train at Asti I took to Castagnole delle Lanze. Ahh…memories! Here at 17:30pm Anja with Giorgio and Lidia in the back picked me up and whisked me away from this cold, bitter chill in the Piemontese air. -1C outside it said. Brilliant.
I learn that Giorgio has lost his licence for drink-driving, and Lidia has grown and says my name and sings ‘Tanti aduuuri Andrea’ the whole way as we drive up Via Annunziata to the Castagnole delle Lanze winery of La Spinetta. I haven’t told any of the gang here that I am coming – only Clara knows as it was her organising the surprise party for her 30-year old son Andrea. When I get out of the car my old Italian mamma Emiliana was there and trying to see who it was so I said, ‘Ciaooo Emiliannaaaa’, and she got a shock and after a bit of ,’O Dio‘ (Oh God) I passed cautiously over the icy pacement and gave her a big hug and recollected what I am doing here, etc. Then I saw Clara and France, the other mums who live above the winery, and did the same. They haven’t changed, though France cut her hair short so she’s cute!
I grabbed a bottle of Impronte to give to Andrea as a birthday gift then went inside to the new degustation area they’ve finished. Impressive room! Eventually the parents of Andrea’s partner Noemi arrived and I chatted with the mum for awhile, she remember me from the Tuscany party last year. I went into the bathroom and when I came out I gave a surprise to Ele and Manuela, the girls I lived with for three months. Manu has cut her hair short and is a little pixie! We were speaking in Italian and she congratulated me on how well I speak. But then it was strange for her to be speaking Italian with me as last year all we spoke was English. I also met her boyfriend Simone who is very handsome and lovely and on meeting me said, ‘Ah, si si, Krystina Menegazzo, ma non sei in Turchia?’ Strange that he knew my last name and they’ve all seen my Turkey photos from Facebook!
Andrea finally arrived and was a little surprised, he also had his new baby boy Giulio with him too. Andrea had a big smile when he saw me. Stefano wouldnt be coming tonight which is a shame, I would have liked to see him too! Clara had made everything herself so we ate delicious Piemontese food. I tried a morsel of most things, insalata russa, carne crude di vitello, etc, everything bar the cheese and salami. Giorgio was doing the right thing and made sure I always had something in my glass as did his son Andrea, showing me the next vintage of La Spinetta Campe’ Barolo 2006…just like old times…vini vini vini! Turned out to be a superb evening seeing most of the crew, but I will try come back on the weekday to see everybody else properly too.
Drank: 1998 Sottimana Barbaresco Cotta’. Smooth tannins, great colour still, ready to drink now, delicious with pollo!
2001 Matteo Correggia Roero Arneis. Fresh flavours still, Chardonnay-like texture, but with a minerality to its flavous that suggests Arneis. Good ageing potential…something that surprised me.
2006 Gancia Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Barbera and Nebbiolo. Colour very young, rich ruby red, fresh fruitier style, nice blend!
I have been working at the winery in Grinzane Cavour called Gallo for a while now. The last of the Barolo has already been pressed off and we’ve also put the Barbera d’Alba from the Gallina vineyard into barriques. It’s a stunning small winery this one compared to the one at Castagnole delle Lanze, which has to accommodate the Moscato, the Barbera d’Asti and Barbaresco fruit. But it’s a very ‘designed’ winery, and there for its looks and not necessarily for its functionality.
Last night Manuela, Ele and I went to Grinzane Cavour for dinner with Anja and Giorgio’s friends to celebrate their daughter Lidia’s first birthday. The party was held in the degustation room above the winery and when we arrived we received a glass of Champagne from Andrea: Philippounat Imperial-sized!
The night commenced with appetisers cooked by some Californian appretice chef dude who thought he was awesome. But he did make some crazy dish of prune wrapped in prosciutto and oven baked. I commend you for that sir, but not your ego I’m afraid!
After that Giorgio and some other vecchio competed with cooking their two pieces of capretto to see who’s was best. They were judged to be equal but in my opinions , Giorgio’s was lacking in a little flavour. Scusa!
There was plenty of La Spinetta wine ot be drunk and by the end of the meals a guitar was pulled out and a gentleman sang songs in Italian for the next few hours. A couple of English ones were thrown in too and it was so much fun singing songs that I actually knew in Italian so I could join in with everyone, like ‘Marina’, ‘A sole mio’, ‘Rosa Rosa per te’, ‘Lasciate mi cantare’, etc.
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.
Today I was la regina di riempire le barrique (the queen of filling barrels). I did not spill anything which winemaking Andrea Rivetti informed me was a first for a person who is here for only vintage. After work someone pulled out some bottles.
Myself and the boys drank: 2001 La Spinetta Pin Monferatto Rosso – I thought the 2001 had some real Bordeaux-like characters, which understandable once I was told some Cabernet Sauvignon was added in that year to the Nebbiolo and Barbera blend.
We continued drinking and then my mamma Emiliana arrived with some gorgonzola so we migrated to the degustation room and ate until 7:30pm when I realised my dinner was probably ready upstairs so I left the lads and ran to eat some trout. Afterwards, I decided it would be more beneficial to my Italian and to my reputation with my alcohol-loving boss Andrea if I went back downstairs after dinner to drink some more vino with them…so I did.
We had Franciacorta’s and Valentino’s and whilst the men sang, shouted and teased, I took it all it. I did get the chance to ask Andrea if he was happy with how I am working so far to which he said yes, definitely, which was a relief to hear. We were a little inebriated so I think he would have said something positive whatever I asked!
Drank: Cuvee Valentino sparkling from Piemonte, Riserva Spumante. Dangerous on an empty stomach!
I stumbled back to bed at 11pm and fell into dreams with my head spinning like it never has before!
The last two days have been fantastic with work. The cellarmaster Stefano has taken me under his wing and I’m actually in the winery a lot more now and doing all things with him. This is such a huge change from the way they treat the other ragazza Danila. She has not shown any initiative or extra sort of physical capabilities and is happy to help Gianni do orders, so is delegated to that part of the winery instead of the exciting cellar during vintage! Go figure…
At the end of the day Giorgio came into the winery and we went and tasted the 2008 Barbera they’d just pressed and put into tank to see if it was still sweet. It was, just. He was saying how this vintage 2008 reminds him of 1996. A good vintage for Barbera, Nebbiolo, Moscato, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but not for Dolcetto. The reason being that the hot days and cold nights are great normally, but one really cold night will completely stop the maturation of a dolcetto grape. Risky business.
Tonight drank: 2000 La Spinetta Gallina Barbera d’Alba – great nose, good lenth and structure.
Can you tell I have been too busy to write? We’ve processed a large proportion of the Moscato d’Asti already, which has been tiring seeing as we start at 5:30am in the morning. But the smell as the grapes are crushed is divine. Do you know it smells just like the resultant wine? The yeast we use too smells just like fresh nectarines and peaches as we’re making the starter culture! So many good smells in the winery! For someone like me with a manic-sniffing nose, that sort of thing puts a smile on my face regardless of the task I am doing.
After an exhausting day of work today I went out to dinner with my flatmate Manuela and her sister Ele to a restaurant in Alba called Conto Rosso. It was quite busy in the town centre because it was the first festival day in tartufo (truffle) season. The night was called Bianco Notte (white night).
For dinner I ate a delicious antipasto of carne crudo di vitello (raw veal) with lemon dressing. For main I had a ravioli del Phin in a rabbit sugo. For dessert, gelato!
We drank: 2006 Elio Grasso Barbera d’Alba. Disappointing, weak nose, unbalanced acidity, weak structure. Shame…
"'Just living is not enough,' said the butterfly. 'One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.'" - Hans Christian Andersen
La Donna del Vino 