In praise of Vuillermin, Mataossu, Asprinio, Durello and Torbato

These Italian grapes are from Aosta, Liguria, Campania, Veneto and Sardegna which just goes to show native and rare varieties (autoctonous) can be found everywhere in that country. All these varieties have made wines we have enjoyed immensely this year. 

First, three outstandingly delicious sparkling wines. Prosecco producers might as well pack up and go to be frank. If ever news gets out about these three beauties, it will be curtains for them. 

Of these three graces our favourite and the most obscure was the Asprinio. Luigi Veronelli called Asprinio (the still version) 'The best wine in the world to drink with Pizza.' That was not the first connotation that came to mind. I Borboni's Asprinio Frizzante has personality and attraction in high measure and could be drunk just whenever you might want something memorable and toothsome. It earns the Slotovino 'Mmmm' award.

Equally delicious but in a more restrained way is the sparkling Torbato from Sella and Mosca. Previously we have wondered who needs Chardonnay when you can have Torbato. Well, that may ne a little overstated but a Torbato from Sella and Mosca - perhaps the only producers working with this grape? - or a great Encruzado makes you think Chardonnay is not alone at the top of the tree as it were.

The third beauty was the Sparkling Durello from Montecchia. Strangely, Durello wine is not made with Durello grapes. It is made with Durella grapes. That might be a good trick question for the MW exams. Durello can be made dry, sweet or sparkling as here. Versatile, a bit like Verduzzo. Again. this Brut was a winner in terms of personality.

Staying with the whites but in this case a still wine, we enjoyed this Punta Crena Mataossu just as much as any of the above. Like them, a distinct personality was to the fore. We do like a wine with personality but we can imagine the strong features of these wines might deter more fastidious palates. 

In October 2023 we bought this bottle of Mataossu together with the Lumassina (third and fourth from right respectively) both made by Paolo Ruffino of Punta Crena, Varigotti. Mataossu is a synonym of Lumassina so it was a surprise to discover that the former was so much better than the latter. In fact D;Agata tells us the 'some believe [Mataossu] to be an unrelated variety and on the strength of this wine we can quite believe that.

This bottle of the Aosta red variety Vuillermin had languished in a cupboard since we bought it from Valerio Sola at Vinateca Sola, Genova in 2019, so much so that we wondered if it would have held up.

No need to worry; Vuillermin is obviously a robust variety and interestingly it has a characteristic one would have thought would have recommended it to growers in its native mountainous region: resistance to sunburn. 

D'Agata says Vuillermin is best described as a cross between Mayolet and Cornalin, two other native grapes of the Vallee D'Aosta. He also charts the progress of the other Aosta grapes making monovarietal wines which he says were Primetta, Fumin, Cornalin and Mayolet in that order. 

'Wine Grapes' gives us further information on Vuillermin. It is a natural cross between Fumin and another unknown and probably extinct variety and is therefore a nephew/niece of Petit Rouge. 

Also we read in 'Wine Grapes' that it was rescued in extremis from old vineyards in Pontey and Chatillon by Giulio Moriondo, ampelographer at the Institut Agricole Regional in Aosta. at the end of the last century. At the time of the publication of 'Wine Grapes' (2012), there were only three vineyards planted with Vuillamin. In 2000, it covered only a tenth of a hectare.

It is impossible to overstate what an excellent variety this is. Once more, a distinct and appealing personality shines through.

In search of the true Bardolino

 

What is it about our obsession with Bardolino? Early on in our wine-drinking days we loved the unpretentiousness and business-like quality of these wines which rarely disappointed. Now the majority of them do.

As we have speculated previously, it seems that the problem is that producers are trying to beef their wines up to resemble their Valpolicella half-siblings. Valpolicella is the base wine for Amarone. The Amarone business is big and profitable enough to support investment in Valpolicella in a way Bardolino lacks. 

At the same time, the world-wide drive towards more powerful, more extracted wines leads Bardolino producers to stray from their blueprint with other grapes, notably Cabernet Sauvignon getting into the mix to stiffen Bardo's backbone. It started with Guerrieri Rizzardi and no doubt others and now here we are with Bardolino no longer recognisable = at least to us - compared with what it was before.

At the 'For the Love of Wine' table at SITT in London in February this year we found a Bardolino we could identify with. Lenotti's Bardolino Classico.

For the Love of Wine import Lenotti

For once the back label is apposite;

E il vino piu adatto per uso quotidiano: facile da bere, si presta a tutte le occasioni. E per noi il prodotto piu "antico" e rappresentativo: lo produciamo infatti da 100 anni e ci ha fatto conoscere in tutto il mondo. Prodotto dai nostri vigneti sulle rive a est del nostro lago con uve Corvina, Rondinella e altre tipiche della zona del Bardolino e un vino rosso secco, fruttato fresco e delicato che accompagna egregiamente primi piatti, carni bianchi, pizza, formaggi e pesce....

For us the following words leap out of this description which should apply to Bardolino in general;

Quotidiano

Facile da bere

si presta a tutte le occasioni

fresco e delicato

Pesce.

We agree particularly with the idea that Bardolino can be drunk with fish. That has been our independent experience for a long time already. Can you say that about Valpolicella?

Lenotti are a bit coy about the other varieties that go into their wine apart from Corvina (65%) and Rondinella (25%) with the last 10% being made up from the other typical grapes of the zone of Bardolino. The well-established wine merchant Evington's of Leicester (1926) confidently state that Molinara is the other grape in Lenotti's Bardolino although no one else goes that far. D'Agata is a big fan of Molinara which he says adds freshness, lightness and a strong saline note to Amarone, Bardolino and Valpolicella.

According to the invaluable Enoteca Italiana's small but mighty 'Tutto Vino, guida completa ai vini d'Italia, the Bardolino appellation permits the following varieties to make up no more than 20% of the blend as well as Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, each one limited to a maximum of 10%

Corvinone

Rossignola

Barbera

Sangiovese

Marzemino

Merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon

Strange there is one variety missing here; Negrara. D'Agata's 'Native Wine Grapes of Italy' sets the record straight;

'Negrara Veronese...Most often,,,is used in the wines of Bardolino but the percentage is too low to draw any conclusions about the variety.

Looking back in Slotovino, there haven't been many Bardolinos to shout about. These producers have caught our eye 

Villabella

Montechi

Recchia

Gorgo

and also producers of Bardolino Novello such as Raval, the Cantina di Custoza and Costadoro.

But this Lenotti Bardolino Classico will do very nicely until we can add to the list.

Robert - 'Robby' Steel importer of Lenotti's Bardolino

SITT, London. 28th February 2024

 

SITT (Specialist Importers Trade Tasting) takes place twice a year and always has something of interest to us.

We have mentioned previously France's search for new grape varieties and here was one already in production; an Albarino from Aude, the departement in the extreme south-west of the country counting Narbonne and Carcasonne among its cities. The back label says this wine is part of a series called 'Les Vignes Rares' - wines made outside the rules and 'pas autorises dans les apppellations.'

Domaine Ciceron have Verdejo also in this series. Perhaps there are others in the pipeline but this is a start.

Next a Pardilla from Ribera del Jucar. Bodega las Calzadas are the producers. 'Wine Grapes' tells us that since 2009 the name has been established as Pardillo. We also learn that Pardillo is a local La Mancha variety which is non-aromatic. With 3,547 ha in 2008 it is yet another Spanish secret so quite wonderful to find this bottle here.

Also unexpected and wonderful was this other Spanish secret: Garrut. This is a really promising variety or so we thought. We had paid rather a lot to get a bottle of Partida Creus's Garrut and really loved the wine.

Or so we should: Garrut is a Catalan synonym for Monatsrell! 

This rare grape variety business is a minefield.

Verdoncho is a bona fide Spanish secret which came to save our reputation. We had enjoyed a version made by Jesus Recuero and here was another one. 'Wine Grapes' calls Verdoncho 'Undistinguished La Mancha blending material but in the right hands it makes an interesting 'vaut le detour' kind of wine.

 

Hungary is very active in the grape-crossing business. New varieties under 'Z' alone include Zeusz and Zenit.

Zenit is what you get when you cross Ezerjo with Bouvier. Apparently that is also the case for Zeusz.

There's more: Zengo. Even another Ezerjo x Bouvier cross. All were produced by Ferenc Kiraly in the early 1950s in Pecs.

Kiraly Ferencs obviously had a thing for Bouvier because he obtained yet another crossing beginning with 'Z' in 1951, this time with Furmint and named Zeta.

Thomas Allen (right) as Baron Zeta.

No doubt after Baron Zeta, the character in Lehar's 'Die lustige Witwe' (1905) who is the 'Pontevedran' ambassador to France of course. 

The story gets even more operetta-ish when you look up Bouvier - in 'Wine Grapes' naturally.;

'The Austrian-born banker and winery-owner Clotar Bouvier (1853 - 1930) discovered this and other varieties in 1900 in his vineyards in Hercegovascak (Herzogenberg) near Gornja Radgona (Oberradkersburg), in North-East Slovenia. Bouvier first used it to breed other varieties in his own nursery and later started to sell it in Austria and Slovenia. DNA parentage analysis has suggested that Bouvier could be a natural cross between PINOT and an unknown variety.

Bouvier was used by its discoverer and others to breed Bianca, Kabar, Veritas' [and those beginning with 'Z' above].

Delicieux

 

Domaine La Martinelle, Vaucluse

Blend of 65% Clairette Blanche and Rose, 25% Grenache Blanc and Gris supplemented with a little Picardan and Rolle, from 15-year-old vines grown organically, and planted on clay-limestone soils, on South-East facing terraces, mid-slope. Manual harvest on the 2nd and 6th of September. Direct pressing, indigenous yeasts, aging half in stainless steel vats and half in barrels that have seen several wines. Blending in March, and bottled at the Estate mid-April 2023 after very light filtration, low sulphur.

We drank this at the Cafe de la Gare in Bonnieux. Fantastic aromatic wine. Really outstanding.

Domaine La Martinelle seems to be a bit of a secret, a dark horse with only two retailers mentioned in Winesearcher, both French. And those for their Cotes du Rhone Village.

That Cotes du Rhone or rather Cotes du Ventoux hasn't escaped Jancis Robinson however:

Mid ruby. Warm and rich and thoroughly welcoming – really quite a lot of complexity for the money. The sort of wine that makes you wonder whether other French wines, especially the more expensive ones, shouldn’t just pack up now... Very sweet finish but no excess heat or tannins. Enough juice, yet there is enough structure too. Spicy finish. 17.

Francisi, an update.

12 years ago we blogged about an obscure grape called Francisi.

Today we can give a little update thanks to 'Xtra Wine.' To all who have waited so patiently, thanks!

Name of vine used by Etna winemakers who called it U'Francisi, which is not a name found in ampelographic books and does not always correspond to vines that arrived in Italy from France. A century ago there were at least forty native varieties present.

The amazing story of Gyulboor Davidova. (1892 - 1983) and winegrowing in Dagestan

Gyulboor Davidova

With the attacks on churches and a synagogue in Derbent, Dagestan we took a look at this place and were amazed to find the following story told of one of its citizens in the last century,

With thanks to Wikipedia;

Gyulboor Davidova was born on March 8th 1892, in the Mountain Jewish village of Khoshmenzil, Dagestan Oblast, Russian Empire, in a peasant family. Since childhood, she worked in the fields and helped her parents. After the death of her husband, she was left with two little children.

In 1928, when the collective farm “New Life” was formed in the village, Gyulboor Davydova was not accepted into it, believing that women could not work on an equal basis with men. Then she gathered 14 widowed farmworkers and organized a women's collective farm, to which women named it “Red Farmwoman”, and Gyulboor Davydova was elected chairwoman. The women's collective farm completed the spring sowing, prepared the ground for melon crops, and their yield turned out to be higher than in the men's agricultural farm. Subsequently, both of these collective farms merged into one large farm.

Two of Davydova's sons, David and Ruvin, died in the Great Patriotic War.

On July 27, 1949, for obtaining high grape yields in 1948, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor was awarded to her by the decree of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Gyulboor Davydova was only Mountain Jewish woman who was awarded such a high award.

Gyulboor Davydova was repeatedly elected as a deputy of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as a deputy of the local Council of People's Deputies.

Davydova died on April 9, 1983, and was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Derbent.

Wines in Dagestan today

From the website of  the Derbent Wine company;

Derbent is the oldest city in Russia.

and

The terroir of the Derbent region is ideal for growing quality grapes. The peculiarities of our landscape, soil and climate have created a powerful potential for growing grape varieties unique in their taste: both classic Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Riesling, and unique autochthons - Gulabi, Dokur, Djunga, Latsuchere, Narma, Girma, which we plan to revive.

Already some of their wines are made from obscure grape varieties including

Agustine (a table grape), Bianca, Citron Magaracha, Firstborn of Magarach, Moldova, Pervenets and Perborn.

Interesting that Derbent is in South Caucusus and is on the Caspian Sea whereas what we know of Russian wine is mainly from the Black Sea and North Caucasus.

When the terrible war in Ukraine is finally over and Russia is no longer a pariah state, it would be very interesting to research the wines of South Caucasus. They have been going for thousands of years so will outlive the present situation.

De-licious. Could this Oastbrook Pinot Meunier be the best English white wine yet?

 

Pinot Meunier. A most interesting red grape variety we're sure you will agree, so buying this bottle we thought we were getting a red wine such was our haste to get it.

We only found out it was a white wine on opening. Not surprising really given that the vast majority of P.M. goes into sparkling wine in this country.

We've enjoyed an English Pinot Meunier vinificato in bianco previously. The equally de-licious one from Simpsons. We hope UK sparkling wine producers will make more still white wines from this grape and it wouldn't hurt to make some reds from it as well surely?

PS. The Oastbrook vineyard (East Sussex) was only planted in 2018 by America and Nick Brewer, a Brazilian/English couple with no previous winegrowing experience. They also make monovarietal Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as well as sparkling wine.