Always worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

We are very fortunate in London. There is a plethora of wine fairs and shows one of which is the 'Borsa Vini' tasting promoted by the Italian Trade Agency, on this occasion at the impressive IET (  of Engineering and Technology)building, Savoy Place, London.    

Some tastings are better than others and in this case the event struggled to be outstanding. However as we have said before, these events are 'Always worth it' because the subject of Wine is so vast that somehow we invariably find something of interest and there was no exception to this here.

 

 

 

Our first 'discovery' was bumping into Jonathan Rodwell. We had been trying to meet since 2021 when he made contact thanls to a mutual friend Paolo Addis and this blog. There occurred a near miss at the Oxford Wine Festival one year but in the event neither of us could make it. 

Jonathan is an immensely well qualified ampelographer, He has served as head of Vineyard Establisment at Vinescapes and Director of Viticulture and Winemaking for Devonian Coast Wineries – Nova Scotia’s largest grape grower and wine producer. He began his career in the Loire Valley in 1977 and since has worked internationally both in consulting roles as well as managing and developing wine estates – this has predominantly been in France, California and Italy but also with consulting roles with the European Bank of Development in Kyrgyzstan as well as the “British Know How Fund” in the Ukraine. He has also worked harvests as a “flying winemaker” in Slovenia, Romania, Moldova and Chile. He holds degrees from London University, the University of California at Davis and the Bocconi Business School, Milan. 

Jonathan told us he plans to go to Sardinia next and be involved in the fascinating scene there. He is truly a rare grape connoisseur and enthusiast. He told us he grows Marquette and L'Acadie Blanc in pots on his balcony. It really is a privilegs to be in touch with him.

 In terms of new grape varieties, Borsa Vini Italiani had one that was new to us: 'Ervi.' 

 

 

Ervi is a crossing of Barbera and Croatina. We have mixed feelings about these two varieties, loving Croatina but not understanding the popularity of Barbera. We immediately thought of the DOC 'Gutturnio' which is a blend of these two varieties. Gutturnio is not something we have warmed to in the past. Why spoil Croatina by mixing in Barbera? Also we always think of Victor Hazan who dismissed Gutturnio because he found the name ugly. He was not wrong although Gutturnio has its fans. We always remember the winelist at the historic Barca Restaurant in Castel San Giovanni, Lombardia which was a hymne to Gutturnio with about 20 different bottles of the stuff.

 

 

Ervi is an attempt not to make Gutturnio but to take the best characteristics of both grapes. It was obtained by Mario Fregoni in 1977. He was a professor at the Universita Cattolica di Piacenza at that time. In the Colli Piacentini apparently Barbera doesn't always ripen fully and the local Croatina suffers from irregular production. Initially nearly 650 vines of the crossing were cultivated. After 11 years, vine number 108 was selected as the best giving the original name of Fregoni 108. 

Later the name Ervi was chosen because it incorporated the first letters of the name of someone who had been instrumental in the early stages of the study - Ernesto Vigevani. By chance, Ervi is also the word for wine in Aramaic.

Ca Fontani's Ervi was a very pleasant wine with a character of its own, not reminiscent either of Barbera, Croatina or Gutturnio if you ask us. Never mind, we'll settle for pleasant. 

 

 

  

 Elsewhere in the forest. a stand-out wine was Sacco's Bombino Bianco. What a great grape Bombino is! 

 

 

 

  

Further on a surprise indeed: a blend of Fleurtai and Johanniter. An unusual combination to be sure but successful. 

 

 

 Cantina Biologica Le Carezze even make a sparkling version. Nice. 

 We noticed that the same producer made a wine from Palava, a grape we had only ever encountered in the Czech Republic. The friendly Alihan Eksel, sales director told us Palava originated in Croatia but we read that it was obtained in 1953 by one Josef Veverka in Moravia from Mueller-Thuergau and Gewurztraminer. Never mind, it makes a good dessert wine as well as dry table wine. Good to know.

 

 So even if not all wines were great or especially interesting there were enough to make our visit worth it, especially with the pportunity to meet Jonathan Rodwell thrown in.