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Wednesday’s Meritage #159
Meritage Time!
January is almost over, and as many people talked about “dry January”, it was reasonably dry – not in terms of wines, but in terms of wine events. However, February promises to compensate abundantly and offers lots to look forward to.
Let’s start with the grape holidays. Next Tuesday, February 1st, is International Furmint Day. Furmint is one of the most famous Hungarian grapes, best known as the grape behind Tokaji, heavenly nectar. Furmint also can be vinified dry, although much harder to find compared to Tokaji. Either way, you have a holiday to celebrate. Two weeks later, on February 16th, we will celebrate one of my favorite grapes – Syrah, via International Syrah Day. Syrah should be much easier to find, so no excuses. There is also Global Drink Wine Day on February 18th, but for someone who drinks the wine every day, that is not something I can particularly celebrate.
Continuing the theme of celebrations, let’s talk about celebrating not a particular grape, but the whole wine region. Monday, February 7th, will mark the beginning of the New Zealand Wine Week. Two webinars will be offered – one focused on the New Zealand wines on the global wine scene, and the second one diving deep into the world of New Zealand Pinot Noir.
To complete the subject of celebration, the last one for today is the main wine holiday of the year – Open That Botte Night, or OTBN for short. The holiday was created 22 years ago by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, writers of the Wall Street Journal’s Tastings column. The goal of the holiday is to help people to happily part with their prized bottles, taste those wines themselves, and share them with friends, hopefully while both wines and people are in their prime. OTBN is always celebrated on the last Saturday in February, which will be February 26th this year. It is time for you to already start thinking about those special bottles you would want to open.
The next event I want to bring to your attention is Oregon Wine Symposium. While this is definitely a technical event, focused on the winegrowers, winemakers, and winery owners, the event offers excellent educational content for any wine lover. This year’s event will consist of two parts. Virtual part with all the educational content will take place February 15-17, and then the Oregon Wine Symposium Live portion will follow on March 8-9. Virtual sessions will cover in-depth Oregon wine industry, looking into the overall state of the industry, the direct-to-consumer market, the management of the supply chain, and lots more. Again, this is a technical event, offering lots to learn for those who want to learn.
Last but not least will be the first trade tasting I plan to attend in person this year – the Tre Bicchieri 2022, taking place on Friday, February 25th. This event is a culmination point of the Gambero Rosso wine publication, offering an opportunity to taste the best of the best Italian wines selected during the prior year, those awarded three glasses rating by the publication. Tre Bicchiery is one of my favorite tastings of the year, usually full of great discoveries – here is the retrospective of the events I attended in the past. Considering that there was no Tre Bicchiery event in 2021, I can only hope that we will see some great wines at the event, and I will actually be able to plan my attendance properly to taste the most coveted wines, instead of finding a table with only empty bottles, as already happened at my first Tre Bicchieri event, and the empty bottles at the table were the legendary Masseto. The event will travel around the USA, with the stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Houston, so hopefully, you will get your chance to attend.
That’s all I have for you for today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!
Tre Bicchieri 2020: A Mixed Bag
Tre Bicchieri is the highest distinction awarded to the Italian wine by the popular Italian wine guide, Gambero Rosso. About 45,000 wines are reviewed annually by the team of wine professionals, and about 1% of those wines (465 in 2020) receive the right to put coveted sticker depicting three wine glasses (Tre Bicchieri) on their wine bottles – if they so desire, of course.
Every year these best wines are presented around the world in the series of wine tasting events. I attended Tre Bicchieri tasting in New York which was one of the stops in this annual extravaganza.
I always make an effort to attend the Tre Bicchieri tastings – it is a great opportunity to taste the wines which at least someone considers to be the best Italy can produce. This tasting is typically quite overwhelming with more than 200 wineries, some of them presenting not 1, but 2 or even 3 wines, 4 hours, and a very constrained space with lots of people roaming around. 2020 event included 204 wineries – even with 1 wine per winery, you would have to taste one wine per minute to be able to taste them all – and this is only assuming that all wineries show only one wine, which is mostly not the case.
I always complain about the organization of this event – instead of grouping the wineries by the region, they are all grouped by the distributor. I’m sure this simplifies the logistics for exhibitors, but this doesn’t help attendees even for a bit. Another gripe is that you are given one single glass to use during the tasting, and you have no options of changing is once it becomes sticky and such. Of well… maybe one day organizers will read this blog? … yeah…
This year I decided to use a different navigation tactics – instead of trying to go sequentially from table 1 to table 204, or trying to frantically scavenge the show guide which is only available upon entering the event, and trying to find who you want to see by running through a 200-strong list, I decided first just to walk around, look for familiar names and taste what I want to taste first. Using this method, my first sip at Tre Bicchieri 2020 was 2016 Sassicaia, which provided a perfectly elegant opening to the event. Once I was done with a first walk, I took a pause to now look through the show guide and identify who did I miss and then go again and revisit.
Tre Bicchieri 2020 – busy as always
Thinking about the experience of Tre Bicchieri 2020, I’m not sure I can easily give you a simple and coherent summary of the event. One interesting observation was a noticeable number of Rosato wines represented at the event. I missed Tre Bicchieri tasting last year, but from the previous years, I don’t remember seeing much, if any, Rosé. I also tried to do the Amarone run (meaning: taste as many Amarone as I could), and it was not successful. With the exception of the Pasqua Amarone, which was not amazing but at least drinkable, the most of the rest simply were way too tannic and lacking any pleasure – I really don’t understand what was a rationale of awarding the coveted Tre Bicchieri to the insipid wines, outside of just recognizing the pedigree of the producers.
There were some excellent whites (Italian white wines still grossly underrated on the global scale), excellent sparkling wines (Giulio Ferrari, anyone?), and amazing values (like stunning $9 Sangiovese again from Ferrari), so, all in all, it was a good tasting, but overall I felt a bit underwhelmed. Anyway, here are my “best of tasting”, “worst of tasting” (if it’s okay to be so obnoxious), and notes on other wines I found worth mentioning. I’m using my “plus” ratings here, with “+++” meaning “excellent”, and “++++” being better than excellent :). With the exception of one wine, no wines with less than +++ are included in the list.
Tre Bicchieri 2020 Show favorites:
NV Barone Pizzini Animante Extra Brut Franciacorta – ++++, superb
NV Ruggieri & C. Cartizze Brut Veneto – ++++, outstanding, dry, clean
2008 Ferrari Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore Trento – +++, excellent
2018 Elena Walch Alto Adige Pinot Grigio Vigna Castel Ringberg – ++++, outstanding
2017 Leonildo Pieropan Soave Classico Calvarino – ++++, excellent
2018 Donnafugata Sicilia Grillo SurSur – ++++, excellent
2016 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Bolgheri Superiore – ++++, beautiful, perfect balance
2016 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso Bolgheri Tuscany – ++++, 100% Cabernet Franc, excellent, perfectly drinkable
Sparkling:
2014 Bellavista Franciacorta Brut Teatro alla Scala Lombardy – +++, superb
2011 Barone Pizzini Franciacorta Dossagio Zero Bagnadore Riserva – +++, excellent
2018 Ruggieri & C. Valdobbiadene Extra Dry Giustino B. – +++, excellent
2018 Andreola Valdobbiadene Rive di Refrontolo Brut Col Del Forno – +++, excellent
White:
2016 Il Colombaio di Santachiara Vernaccia di San Gimignano L’Albereta Riserva – +++, excellent, clean
2018 Rosset Terroir Spraquota 900 Valle D’Aosta – +++, Petite Arvine grape
2017 Ottella Lugana Molceo Riserva – +++
2018 Ottella Lugana Le Creete – +++, excellent
2018 Elena Walch Alto Adige Gewürztraminer Vigna Kastelaz – +++, amazing aromatics, excellent
Rosé:
2018 Varvaglione 1921 Idea Rosa di Primitivo Puglia – ++-|. I was told that it was an attempt to create a Rosé for the red wine drinkers. I’m not sure it was ultra-successful, but it was drinkable.
Red:
2018 Corte Sant’Alda Valpolicella Ca’ Fiui – +++, high acidity
2013 Corte Sant’Alda Amarone della Valpolicella Valmezzane – +++, not bad but too tannic
2013 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Costasera Riserva – +++
2016 Donnafugata Etna Rosso Fragore Sicily – +++, tart, clean
2017 Pasqua Passimento Rosso Veneto – +++, excellent, approachable, excellent value (sold at Trader Joe’s)
2015 Pasqua Amarone della Valpolicella Famiglia Pasqua – +++, excellent
2011 Paolo Conterno Barolo Ginestra Riserva – +++, excellent
2018 Montalbera Ruché di Castagnole M.to Laccento – +++
2018 Montalbera Ruché di Castagnole M.to la Tradizione – +++, nice, needs time
2016 Ferrari Tenuta Podernovo Auritea (Cabernet Franc) Toscana IGT – +++, excellent
2017 Ferrari Tenute Lunelli Montefalco Rosso Ziggurat – +++, excellent
2011 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico – +++, very good
2015 Bertani Tenuta Trerose Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Simposio Riserva – +++
2016 Planeta Noto Nero d’Avola Santa Cecilia – +++, excellent
2018 Elena Walch Alto Adige Schiava – +++, easy to drink, light
2015 G.D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole – +++, excellent
2016 Varvaglione 1921 Primitivo di Manduria Papale Linea Oro – +++, good
Dessert:
2016 Donnafugata Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryé Sicily – +++, good
Amarone run:
Tenuta Sant’Antonio (burnt finish, the real impression of a burnt wood), Allegrini (too much oak), Speri (too much oak), Masi single vineyard (too much oak), Corte Sant’Alda (too much oak), Pasqua single vineyard (too big, too tannic), Monte Zovo (too much oak)
This is my story of visiting the Tre Bicchieri 2020 in New York. Have you attended any of the Tre Bicchieri events? What is your take on those? Salute!
Wednesday Meritage – OTBN, Tre Bicchieri, Cru Bourgeois 2020 Classification, and More
Meritage Time!
Let’s start with my perennial favorite – Open That Bottle Night, or OTBN for short. OTBN movement was started by the Wall Street Journal wine writers, Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, back in 1999, to encourage wine lovers around the world to open up that long stashed special bottle which might be long gone while waiting for a special enough day. OTBN is always celebrated on the last Saturday in February, which will be falling on the February 29th this year. I had been a passionate supporter of this special wine holiday for many years. Last year, we had a great celebration hosted by Jim van Bergen of JvBUncorked fame. This year, John Fodera of Tuscan Vines will be hosting a wine dinner I’m very much looking forward to attending. The only question left is what bottle is special enough to be open this coming Saturday, but this will be hotly debated until the very moment of leaving the house. Oh well, these are the first world problems of the wine lover. I hope you have some special plans too.
Next, let’s talk about the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchiery event. Gambero Rosso is a wine publication in Italy which every year rates about 45,000 Italian wines. Out of all these wines, about 1% receives prestigious Tre Bicchieri (three glasses) designation – 465 wines attained these honors in 2019. To celebrate the best of the best in Italian wines, Gambero Rosso conducts an annual Tre Bicchiery tastings around the world. Such tasting is coming to New York this coming Friday, February 28th – it is open to the trade and media only, so if you belong to one of these categories, don’t miss this fun tasting. You can register for the New York tasting using this link. After New York, the show will make a number of stops in California – here you can find the full list. If you are interested in learning more about Tre Bicchieri 2019 awards, here is a very informative link for you.
Our next tidbit is about French wines. On a perfectly unique date – 02/20/2020 – Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc announced its new classification of the Crus Bourgeois wineries. Crus Bourgeois is a classification which is one level below of the famous 1855 Crus Classés (Classified Growths), but still represents a high level of quality and is difficult to attain, as an application process is quite rigorous. The new 2020 classification is awarded for a period of 5 years. It includes 249 Châteaux with a total production of 28 million bottles. Out of 249, 14 Châteaux are classified as Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, 56 as Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, 179 as Cru Bourgeois. You can find all the interesting stats here.
Now, a bit of the advice – how to store wine. I’m sure many of you have a few bottles which you want to keep for some time – the reason is not important, it is your wine – but not everybody has a wine cellar in their house or an apartment. Even if you don’t have a wine cellar, it is not a problem – you can still preserve your wines in the perfect condition for the years to come. The folks at Redfin, real estate news and analysis firm, asked winemakers, wine experts, sommeliers and wine writers for advice on storing the wines at home, and assembled all the recommendations in the form of the blog post, which you can find here. I’m sure not all of those recommendations are universally applicable to everyone, but I’m also sure you might some useful details there.
Not to be outdone, one last note for today – about Georgian wines. If you are living in or will be visiting New York on Monday, March 2nd, you are in luck – Georgian wine tasting will be hosted at a restaurant called Chama Mama in lower Manhattan. There are actually two tastings – one for trade and press from 4 pm until 6 pm (you can find information here), and one for consumers from 6 pm until 9 pm (here is the link to buy tickets). I always consider Georgian wines to be some of the best in the world, so if you can make the tasting, you can thank me later.
That’s all I have for you today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!
Gambero Rosso 2016: Tre Bicchieri Tasting
Now, let’s talk about most intense part of the Gambero Rosso 2016 event – Tre Bicchieri grand tasting. Both Custoza DOC and Special Awards Master Class seminars were nice and relaxing – you are sitting down, you have at least an hour to evaluate 9 wines – this is “an oenophile at ease” experience. The grand tasting though is more of an “oenophile in hell”, or if this is too strong of an expression, think of it as marathon which you have to run on the tippy-toes – yep, that level of comfort.
Let me repeat the Gambero Rosso numbers – about 50,000 wines are evaluated by the Gambero Rosso staff in a year, comprise 20,000 different labels from more than 2,400 wineries. 421 wines received the coveted Tre Bicchieri (Three Glasses) award in 2016. 193 wineries were present at Tre Bicchieri 2016 tasting in New York, which would roughly translate into about 400 wines – not all of those wines are Tre Bicchieri winners, wineries are allowed to present the wines which got two glasses awards.
This was the fourth year in the row as I attended Gambero Rosso in New York, so at this point I knew the drill – which means that there will be no rant in this post. Nothing changed – there was still a limit of one glass per attendee for the whole tasting, the wineries were still organized by the distributors and not by the regions – but again, I was ready for that before I walked into the room. I had an opportunity to look at the show guide before tasting started, so I had my targets set and thus from the moment I walked into the tasting room, I went directly to the tables I wanted to visit first (where the wines would potentially run out). This was the right strategy and it worked quite well (as you will see in the list down below).
This was also the first time in 4 years my dear friend Stefano was unable to join me at the Gambero Rosso in New York – which also changed the dynamics for me. Usually when we are together, Stefano perseveres until the very last moment, still tasting wines and taking notes. Left to my own devices, I cut it short when I felt tired. By the way, the pictures below will give you an idea how the tasting room looks like in a middle of event – I always like to take a few shots which I call “Hail Mary” – just put the camera up and take a picture of whatever it will point to. I think it will give you an idea for the event:
Before I will inundate you with the details on the wines I tasted, I want to offer you some of my main takeaways from the Tre Bicchieri 2016 tasting.
- Out of all the wines I tasted (90+), 4 wines were my absolute favorite:
- Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia – stunning wine – young (2012), but perfectly drinkable, with the balance nothing short of amazing. Down below I will have pictures of the labels – note that starting with 2012 vintage, Ornellaia wines now will have artistic labels on portion of their bottles – 1 bottle in every 6 pack will have an artistic label.
- Eugenio Collavini Collio Bianco Broy – my favorite white wine of the tasting – beautiful clarity, impeccable balance and a bonus story
- Tenuta Viglione Gioia del Colle Primitivo Marpione Riserva – yes, I know that Primitivo is technically a Zinfandel, but I never yet tasted Primitivo which would be reminiscent of a good Zinfandel, like Turley, for instance. This wine was – fresh fruit, ripe raspberries and blackberries, playful – just an excellent wine all together.
- Rosset Terroir Valle d’Aosta Syrah – might be easily my favorite red wine in the tasting – if anything very comparable with Ornellaia in its ability to deliver pleasure. Amazing clarity of spicy fruit, just a pure vibrant note of black pepper – only a few times ever I experienced such pure expression of Syrah. Absolutely delightful.
- Very interesting how things changed in Italian wines. I tasted a number of Barolo, 4-6 years old – they were all very approachable, with good fruit and reasonable tannins – quite a departure even from the few years back. On another hand, most of the Super Tuscans were tannic bombs, with the happy exception of Ornellaia and Le Macchiole. I definitely welcome the Barolo change (will be interesting to see how those wines will age), but I think super Tuscan producers should dial down the use of the new oak – as they are, these wines need quite a bit of time to age.
- Italy is the #1 wine producer in the world (by volume) so it is not surprising that in addition to the ingenious grapes, such as Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Montepulciano, Italians also mastered all the main international varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Grenache ( better known as Connonau), Zinfandel (yes, in the form of their native Primitivo) and now even Syrah. 3-4 years ago, I would never associate Italy with the world-class Syrah. But then was Syrah from Cartona, which is delicious, and this year’s discovery, Rosset Terroir Syrah from Valle d’Aosta, left me literally speechless in its purity of expression – and I loved it as much as I did the Ornellaia. So yes, Syrah is also squarely on the master list for Italy. Notable exception – Pinot Noir (should be called Pinot Nero in Italy), the finicky grape the world is in love with, which I yet to find to my liking coming from Italy. This will probably happen at some point, and if it does, I’m curious where and how.
Okay, now it is time to share the notes on my favorite wines. I visited about 45 tables, tasted about 90 wines. Below are the favorites – as typical for the trade tastings with lots of wines to evaluate, I use the “plus” system, where “+++” means “excellent wine”. The list below only includes “+++” or higher; I couldn’t contain my excitement and rated “++++1/2” both Ornellaia and Rosset Syrah, this is as high as I ever went. For what it worth, below are my brief tasting notes, all the wines are sorted by respective regions:
Abruzzo:
2012 Villa Medoro Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colloie Teramene Adrano – +++1/2, delicious
Alto Adige:
2013 Abbazia di Novacela A.A. Valle Isarco Riesling Praepositus – ++++, clean, balanced
2014 Abbazia di Novacela A.A. Valle Isarco Kerner Praepositus – ++++, delicious!
2011 Elena Walch A.A. Lagrein Castel Ringberg Riserva – +++1/2, excellent, concentrated
2012 Cantina Terlano A.A. Terlano Nova Dominus Riserva – ++++, delicious! 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Blanc, 10% Sauvignon
Basilicata:
2010 Re Manfredi Terre Degli Svevi Aglianico del Vulture Serpara – +++1/2, perfect, nice minerality
Friuli Venezia Giulia:
2013 Jermann Vintage Tunina – +++1/2, great complexity
2013 Jermann W…. Dreams…. – ++++, butter, vanilla, beautiful minerality
2014 Jermann Pinot Grigio – +++
2014 Eugenio Collavini Collio Bianco Broy – ++++, clean, beautiful, 50% Friulano, 30% Chardonnay, 20% Sauvignon, SRP $35, comes from the small small plot behind the house
2013 Livon Braide Alte – +++1/2, Chardonnay, Picolit, Moscato Gialo
Liguria:
2013 Poggio dei Gorgleri Rivera Ligure di Ponente Pigato Albium – +++1/2, Gunflint nose, clean palate
Lombardy:
2009 Ferghettina Franciacorta Extra Brut – +++, beautiful nose, a bit too sweet on the palate
2011 Nino Negri Valtellina Sfursat 5 Stelle – +++1/2, dried fruit, delicate, delicious. 2012 and 2014 were bad years, and no 5 Stelle wine will be produced
2008 Bellavista Franciacorta Extra Brut Vittorio Moretti Riserva – ++++, delicious, classic
Marche:
2013 Umani Ronchi Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Superiore Vecchie Vigne – +++
2011 Umani Ronchi Canero Cùmaro Riesrva DOCG – +++1/2, delicious (Montepulciano 100%)
2011 Umani Ronchi Pelago Marche Rosso IGT – +++1/2, excellent (Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Montepulciano 40%, Merlot 10%)
Piedmont:
2010 Abbona Barolo Cerviano – +++1/2, lavender, clean, wow!
2011 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Cannubi – ++++, beautiful
2012 Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti Superoiore Nizza La Court – ++++, outstanding
2011 Malvira Roero Mombeltramo Riserva – +++, nice, clean
Puglia:
2011 Tenuta Viglione Gioia del Colle Primitivo Marpione Riserva – +++1/2, wow, excellent, Zinfandel-comparable
2012 Tenuta Viglione Gioia del Colle Pri-mit-ivo – +++, excellent fruit and balance
Sardinia:
2013 Vigne Surrau Sincaru Cannonau di Sardegna – +++, excellent
2014 Vigne Surrau Sciala Vermentino di Gallura DOCG Superiore – +++
Tuscany:
2012 Poggio al Tesoro Dedicato a Walter Toscana IGT – +++, 100% Cabernet Franc
2012 Poggio al Tesoro Sondraia Bolgheri Superiore – ++++, excellent, Bordeaux blend (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
2012 Fabrizio Dionisio Cortona Syrah Il Castagno – +++1/2, beautiful nose, restrained, 100% Syrah
2012 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia – ++++1/2, wow! polished, ready
2013 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Rosso Le Serre Nuove – ++++
2013 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Poggio alle Gazze – ++++, outstanding
2010 Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino – +++1/2
2011 Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino – +++, beautiful
2013 Le Chiuse Rosso di Montalcino – +++, clean, simple
2012 Villa le Corti Chianti Classico Don Tommaso Gran Selezione – +++, excellent, soft
2012 Tenuta Sette Ponti Oreno – +++1/2, gripping tannins, wow
2013 Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo – +++
2012 PETRA Petra Rosso – +++1/2, good balance, Cabernet Sauvignon/ Merlot blend
2012 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso – ++++, outstanding, 100% Cabernet Franc
Valle d’Aosta:
2013 Rosset Terroir Valle d’Aosta Syrah – ++++1/2, wow, perfect, spicy nose, clean, wow! 100% Syrah
Veneto:
2011 Tenuta Sant’ Antonio Amarone della Valpolicella Campo di Gigle – +++, closed on the nose, well present tannins, but balanced
2011 Viticoltori Speri Amarone della valpolicella Classico Vign Sant’Urbano – +++, good, round
2009 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Campolongo di Torbe – ++++, delicious!!! (yeah – single vineyard at about $150 retail)
2014 Valdobbiadene Brut Rive di Col San Martino Cuvée del Fondatore Graziano Merotto – +++1/2, nice complexity
2012 Vignalta Colli Euganei Fior d’Arancio Passito Alpianae – +++
Top Highlights From Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri 2015
At this point, you most likely already read a number of reviews from Gambero Rosso 2015 (here are the links for the John and Stefano posts, the two that I know of), so it will be difficult for me to add much there. Considering that lots of hard work is already done by the others, I will take an easy path and this year will limit my post only to the 10 (or so) of the personal highlights. But before we will get to those, a couple of notes.
First of all, just in case you didn’t read the other posts and in case you are not familiar with Tre Bicchieri, let me explain what Tre Bicchieri is all about. In 1986, an Italian food 
and wine magazine was created under the name of Gambero Rosso (in translation from Italian it simply means “red shrimp”, and it comes after the name of the tavern in Pinocchio). Starting in 2002, the magazine introduced the rating of the Italian wines using the symbol of glasses (Bicchieri), with 3 glasses (Tre Bicchieri) being the highest rating. This rating proved to be successful and demanded, and since then the Gambero Rosso created a special event, called Tre Bicchieri, to celebrate all those best wine Italy has to offer. Tre Bicchieri events take place around the globe, and the event I attended was in New York (it was the third Tre Bicchieri event I attended in the past 3 years, all in New York).
For the next note, here comes the rant. Yes, Tre Bicchieri is a great event which gives an opportunity to taste some of the best Italian wines. But in terms of the overall organization, this is one of the worst wine tastings I ever attended. I have two major problems with the event. Just so you understand the size of the event – there were 185 producers showing between 1 and 3 wines each, which would roughly equate to 350 wines. First problem is that all the producers were not organized by the region. And they were not organized alphabetically by the producer, oh no, that would be too logical, right? Instead, the tables were arranged in the alphabetical order of the … distributors! So the wine from Tuscany stands next to the wine from Sicily. What makes it even worse is that the numbering of the tables is not straightforward, so the table #142 can be next to the table #50; to make matters even more interesting, some of the distributors who pour the wine, don’t have enough people to cover all the separate tables, so some of the tables had been simply “pulled in” to have #122 to be nested between #42 and #43 – makes it easy to find, eh?
This story was the same for the past 3 years I attended the event – but I still can’t get used to it and still find it very annoying.
The second problem was probably even more annoying, and for all I remember, it is getting worse, year after year. The problem can be expressed with one word (okay, two) – wine glasses. Puzzled? Let me elaborate. When you arrive to the event and show your registration, you get a little piece of paper, which is your coupon for the wine glass (! only at Gambero Rosso!). You come to the counter and exchange your coupon for the glass. All is good so far. Now, you start tasting, which means that white, red and even dessert wines get to be poured into the same glass – after 50 – 60 pours, the glass has traces of wine all over it, inside and outside, and what you can do at the regular wine tasting is to put your glass aside and go get a fresh glass. Makes sense, right? But not at the Tre Bicchieri. They bring best wines of Italy for a special tasting – but they can’t procure enough glasses for the people who would want to get a fresh glass to be able to do so. Believe me – I tried, was almost screamed at. I don’t remember having this problem 2 years ago; I was able to get a clean glass with the organizers intervention last year, but this year – no, was told to go away by the multiple people. Of course I appreciate been invited to the event where you can taste the best Italian wines, yes, for free – but I just think that organizers must make an effort to match the level of the wines with the overall level of the event.
Okay, I vented, so it is the end of the rant. Now let’s talk about the wines.
As you tell from the title, I want to mention here only the highlights. Before we talk about those, a few general notes.
- No, I didn’t taste all 350+ wines. May be someone did, but no, that was not me.
- There were lots and lots of truly spectacular wines, as you would expect at an event like Tre Bicchieri, where only the best wines are presented. But don’t assume that I found all wines to be spectacular. Some were just good, some were just okay, and a few I regarded in my personal notes as “terrible”. Taste is personal, and that’s okay.
- I want to reiterate it again – while there were lots of wines and wineries worth mentioning, I’m purposefully limiting this post only by 10 – they might not be all around the best, but they were the most memorable. Oh yes, these are not the wines – these are rather 10 wineries – yep, guilty as charged.
- As usual in the overwhelming tastings like this, I’m using the “plus” ratings. “+++” should stand for Excellent, but trust me, I had more than a fair share of “++++” spectacular.
Okay, now we are ready – here we go.
I want to start with one of my favorite wines which I was very happy to find at the Tre Bicchieri event – Podere Il Carnasciale Caberlot from Tuscany. This wine is made out of unique, “self-created” but officially recognized grape called Caberlot, which came to being as a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. First time I tasted this wine was 2 years ago, and it was a love at first sight, errr, taste. The wine is produced in minuscule quantities and only made in magnums – and needless to say, very hard to find. We tasted the following wines:
2012 Poderel Il Carnasciale Carnasciale, Tuscany – +++. excellent, old world style
2010 Poderel Il Carnasciale Caberlot, Tuscany – ++++, wow! classic Bordeaux blend, spectacular taste profile
2011 Poderel Il Carnasciale Caberlot, Tuscany – ++++, similar to the 2010, only with more tannins
There were lots of other great wines coming from Tuscany ( just think about all the super-Tuscans), so I had to limit myself in what to include in this post. Here is one more winery where I was literally blown away by the quality – Azienda Agricola I Luoghi:
2010 Azienda Agricola I Luoghi Campo al Fico, Bolgheri Superiore – ++++, wow!
2011 Azienda Agricola I Luoghi Ritorti, Bolgheri Superiore – ++++, beautiful, clean
2011 Azienda Agricola I Luoghi Fuori Solco, Bolgheri Superiore – ++++, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, wow!, precision!
Moving from Tuscany up north to Piedmont, Michele Chiarlo was perfectly representative of the area. Yes, there were other Barolo present in the tasting, but some were boring, and some where plain undrinkable due to the tannin attack (not just attack, a juggernaut rather). This wine was just perfect.
2010 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio, Piedmont – ++++, outstanding, clean, lavender, herbs
Continuing to explore the Northern Italy, we are now moving to Trentino, where we can find one of my favorite Italian Sparkling wines, Ferrari. While Ferrari wines are very hard to find in US, they are well worth seeking. Ferrari had 3 wines presented at the Tre Bicchieri, one better than another:
2004 Ferrari Trento Brut Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore – ++++, spectacular, notes of fresh dough, bread, yeast
2006 Ferrari Trento Brut Lunelli Riserva – ++++, very unique sparkling wine, undergoing maturation process in the oak casks, silky smooth palate
2007 Ferrari Trento Brut Perlé – ++++, beautiful!
Representing Campania, a few delicious wines. First, a beautiful white:
2013 Pietracupa Fiano di Avelino, Campania – ++++, fresh fruit on the nose, perfect palate with lemon and tart apples
And then the red and the white from the Fattoria Alois:
2011 Fattoria Alois Trebulanum Casavecchia, Campania – +++, rare grape, powerful tannins
2013 Fattoria Alois Pallagrello Bianco Caiati, Campania – +++, nice, acidic, clean, with some oily notes, unique and different. Plus, a new grape – Pallagrello Bianco.
A few wines from Puglia:
2012 Torrevento Castel del Monte Rosso Bolonero, Puglia – +++-|, fruity, open, beautiful ripe raspberries
2012 Torrevento Primitivo di Manduria Ghenos, Puglia – +++-|, playful, notes of tobacco and cedar
and
2012 Tenute Eméra Sud del Sud Salento IGT – +++, very good, soft approachable, reminiscent of Gamay, chocolate mocha notes
2013 Tenute Eméra Qu.ale Salento IGT – ++++, spectacular, great palate – not only this wine was outstanding, it was also a part of the very interesting project called Wine Democracy, which is all about making great affordable wines for the people and taking care of our little planet. Great cause, great wine.
Now, I need to mention another one of my favorite Italian producers – Jermann. Jermann wines represent Friuli Venezia Giulia, and I think these are some of the most thought-provoking Italian wines you can find. And as a side benefit, many of Jermann wines will age extremely well.
2012 Jermann W…. Dreams…. Friuli Venezia Giulia IGT – +++-|, spectacular, Chablis nose, light palate
2012 Jermann Vintage Tunina Friuli Venezia Giulia IGT – ++++, complex, delicious
2013 Jermann Pinot Grigio, Friuli Venezia Giulia IGT – +++
We are already at 9, and there are yet a few more wines I have to mention. I guess I’m really bad at math and self-control. Oh well, I hope you are still with me – here are few more wines, wineries and regions.
A very interesting wine from Lazio:
2012 Principe Pallavicini Casa Romana Rosso Lazio IGT – ++++, outstanding claret, perfectly classic
And then an excellent wine from Veneto. Of course Veneto is best known for its Amarone. And those who can’t afford Amarone, should settle for the Valpolicella, often made from the same set of grapes (Corvina/Molinara etc.). I generally not a big fun of Valpolicella, as I hadn’t been successful in finding the Valpolicella wines which would speak to me. Until now.
2012 Musella Valpolicella Superopre DOCG – ++++, simple, clean, with dried fruit on the palate, excellent! Wine is produced biodynamically, and probably the most amazing part is cost, at about €5! For the price, this is simply a stunning wine.
I would feel bad if I wouldn’t have at least one wine to mention from Sicily, where volcanic soils produce unique minerally-driven wines.
2013 Cantine Rallo Beleda Alcamo Catarratto, Sicily – ++++, spectacular, touch of sweetness, full body
And we are going to finish with some sparkling wines from Emilia-Romagna. There were lots of sparkling wines at the tasting, and many of them were outstanding. However, these wines really stood apart for me, as they were produced from the grape which generally commands very little respect – Lambrusco, and they were pretty much on par with any classic Champagne.
2013 Cantina Della Volta Lambrusco di Sorbara Rimosso, Emilia-Romagna – +++, excellent, fresh, crisp
2010 Cantina Della Volta Lambrusco di Modena Brut Rosé, Emilia-Romagna – ++++, classic Champagne nose
2010 Cantina Della Volta Lambrusco di Modena Brut, Emilia-Romagna – +++, excellent!
Yep, this is the end of my report. As I said before, this is only a small excerpt from a great selection of spectacular wines – but I have to draw the line somewhere. I’m curious in your opinion if you had any of these wines. Cheers!
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