Our newest harvest blog recruit - Duemani from the Costa Toscana

We are delighted to have Elena Celli (who runs Duemani alongside Luca d'Attoma) on board for our first ever series of harvest blogs from the Tuscan coast.  Just across the border from Bolgheri, high in the hills, Duemani is a fascinating bio-dynamic project lead by Luca d'Attoma, a most famous consultant to wineries such as Macchiole and Tua Rita. 

"We still have not yet started the harvest, which is strange, but it is looking good! I've attached some photos taken on Friday 13th of our Cabernet Franc. Plants and grapes are healthy and only need a few more days to get to perfect ripening."

 

A Piedmont Paulée at Zucca

Tuesday night was a memorable and hugely enjoyable evening that celebrated the food, wine and wine-growers of Justerini & Brooks favourite Italian region, Piedmont.

For the first time ever we gathered together seven top producers who brought with them a wine of their choice to share with 45 of our excited customers, over dinner.  The only stipulation we gave the growers was that the wine had to have at least 10 years bottle age.

The setting was Bermondsey Street's Zucca. A bonified institution for Italian foodies, Zucca's slick and super-friendly team did not disappoint -serving up seven deliciously elegant, traditional Piedmontese courses.

As I stood in the restaurant at 7pm crunching on an outrageously crispy fritto misto watching our producers filing in all present correct and on time, I looked around to see the smiles and excitement in people's faces.  It was going to be a great night.

Without further ado the growers took their seats and started chatting away to our customers about their history, growing methods and wine of choice. The producers moved table after each course, and so by the end of the evening had shared their wines with everyone in the room.  It was a bit like speed dating, said one of our growers (I won't name names.)

In no particular order the wines were:

Barolo Brunate Marengo 2000

Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra Clerico 2000

Barolo Carobric Scavino 1998 (magnums)

Barolo Bricco Fiasco Azelia 1999 (magnums)

Arborina Langhe Rosso Altare 1995

Roero Riserva Roche d'Ampsej, Correggia 1999 (magnums)

Barolo Capalot Brunate Roberto Voerzio 1999 (magnums)

and visiting producers were:

Riccardo Sgarra from Paolo Scavino

Davide Voerzio from Roberto Voerzio

LucianoRacca from Domenico Clerico

Elio Altare

MarcoMarengo

Sara Palmafrom Matteo Correggia

Lorenzo Scavino from Azelia 

Rather like the growers, each of the wines had their own very distinctive personalities, however there was a common and quite remarkable thread running through all of them.  Fruit.  Yes, the wines had softened and gained in complexity with age but without exception there was a total dominance of fruit and absence of secondary characteristics.  I was expecting at least one or two to offer something up a little more evolved but all seemed to be ageing rather gracefully.  This equally applied to the oldest wine there, Altare's 1995 Langhe Arborina, which was my wine of the night.


The Altare, Correggia Roero Riserva, Marengo Brunate and Carobric from Scavino were all moreishly "a point." The rest of the wines were gripping, seductive, complex and could clearly benefit from another 5 to 10 years bottle age each. Most notably the Voerzio, this is brilliant but still several years off its peak.

With a last sip of Marengo's Brunate the evening for our table drew to a close, all too swiftly.  It was a lot of fun.

A presto, Zucca!

A sumptuous R Voerzio Rocche Torriglione 07 Barolo

I had a bottle of this at home on the weekend, despite it seeming young, on paper, it was actually drinking beautifully well. A really intense, fragrant but suave wine with an incredibly long echoing finish. A very enjoyable drop already but it has the intensity to age well. It has 96 RP points and see below my tasting note from the original offer. We have 120 bottles in stock, retail price is £1400 per case 12 ib

"Even fruitier and more perfumed than the Cerequio, if less structured. A total charmer, a Barolo for hedonists, sweet perfumed red fruit flavours of Alpine strawberry, fresh violet and rose notes with touches of kirsch. Simply wonderful. A blend of 50- to 60-year-old vines from Torriglione and 30-year-old vines from Rocche; both have very similar soils and southern exposures. Voerzio’s parcels in both are very small and, as the style of wine is very similar, they blend them together"

Barolo Brass Monkeys

My annual pilgrimage to Piedmont is one of my absolute favourite trips, often occurring in mid March when the snow has been melted away by the increasingly warm sunshine, Spring is very much in the air. I always wondered whether it was the time of the year that made me feel that extra level of enthusiasm for the people, region and their wines. The 2012 voyage was to prove a stern test. My journey out there last week, earlier than usual, was accompanied by tough conditions, as the driver of this mini no doubt discovered. There was heaps of snow and minus 13 degree temperatures.

However the wines, predominantly the 2008 Barolos, passed the test with flying colours. The structure in Barolo is very similar to Burgundy, small artisan wine producers making individual vineyard expressions of, largely, one unique Barolo variety, Nebbiolo. The wines are clearly more tannic than Burgundy in their youth and more alcoholic, but otherwise there is often as beguiling and fragrant an aromatic profile, similarly light to mid deep colours but with enormous intensity of flavour and a marked difference in taste depending on the vineyard the grapes are grown in.

For me, time and again, the height of vinous pleasure comes from wine made out of a single grape variety, grown at its extremes, that expresses a site-specific complexity and character. Pinot Noir in Burgundy, Riesling in Germany and, of course, Nebbiolo in Piedmont.

I was totally seduced by the 2008 Nebbiolo based wines. Admittedly I was fortunate enough to taste at some of the greatest addresses in the region, including Clerico, Voerzio, Altare, Paolo Scavino, Vietti, Sandrone, G Rinaldi and G Conterno. Perhaps further down the pyramid there may well be variability, more so than in 07, but I found that with quality wine growers their efforts were every bit as enjoyable as the 2007s. The 07s are so seductive, smooth and complex. 2008s are clearly different but equally seductive. The very late and cool season, many growers weren't finishing harvest until end of October, was perfect for the late-ripening Nebbiolo and has resulted in one of the most aromatic vintages of the last ten years. The wines are fresh, like 1998, but have more stuffing and tannin, without the austerity of 2006 or 1996.

So many of these great Barolos hugely impressed me and had me reaching for my glass for another sip (which in my view should be the function of any truly great wine.) However the single most surprising bottle was from a lesser known area. The Rocche d'Ampsej Riserva from Matteo Correggia 2008 shows just what greatness the under-appreciated Roero region can achieve. The perfumed, poised, bitter-sweet Nebbiolo mix of red fruit, flowers and richness I found totally beguiling.

I much look forward to our full offer of the new releases in September 2012.

Barolo 2007 - 27 out of the top 30 Parker Points

Here at J&B we like to think we buy what we rate and follow those producers we truly believe in.  We don't , and never have, slavishly followed Parker points, or those of any other critic for that matter. I think it's what makes our customers come back to us time and again.

But it is worth pointing out the recent dominance our Barolo list has in the top 30 scoring wines in 2007, as scored by Antonio Galloni on Robert Parkers website. And, with the exception of his ratings of Marengo's stunning 07's, Galloni is a critic who's praise we do generally agree with. He is a man who know's Piedmont in great detail.

No fewer than 7 out of the top 10, 15 out of the top 20, and 23 out of the top 30 are wines we list. And more to the point,  have listed for some time, most probably before the rise of Mr Galloni on Parker's site.

Of particular note, with a price v points hat on, are the wines from Azelia, Scavino and Clerico.

Barolo 2007 - Summary

I had already tasted a few cuvees of 2007 last year, the quality seemed unbelievably good at the time almost too good, too easy. So I came out here with a degree of suspicion, wondering how the wines had evolved, were they too opulent or had they faded in any way? The answer, resoundingly, is no. This is a special vintage. The wines are so inviting and alluring. So easy to taste. There is plenty of tannin but it is a sweet sumptuous tannin. The wines are as effortless as Barolo can be at this early stage but more encouragingly they show every sign of ageing well. They have more freshness than I expected and very ripe clear fruit flavours. As well as enthralling Nebbiolo lovers, this vintage, I am sure, will bring the region many new friends. That mix of approachability and ageability is what makes this special. When asked, growers themselves struggle to come up with another vintage to compare it with, 07 is unique.

I have aslo relooked at several 2006s out here and I am every bit as confident in them, if not more so, as I was this time last year. Of course they were more rigid and classic to taste upon release, though they are already shaping up well and in time could well prove to be the equal of 2007. For the time being, though, we should revel in the 2007s, they are a delight.

The season started early, summer was sunny and dry but never hot and whilst this aided ripening, the cool nights extended the ripening period. So even after an early start, vintage took place at the usual time - during the first week of October. Growers say that long, gentle seasons like this are the best, certainly 07's ripening conditions have resulted in wines of smooth, shapely tannins without sacrificing any power.

In early September 2011 we will present 2007s from all of the growers mentioned in this blog, our greatest ever offering of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero, it should prove a fitting celebration to the Piedmont and its great wines.

Barolo 2007 - Castiglione, Serralunga, Monforte, Roero and one more La Morra

This trip is starting to get very expensive for me. I left La Morra not only with an appreciation of a delicious raw spiced beef sausage produced in the town of "Bra" but also with a fairly sizeable personal shopping list of wine. Tuesday's and Wednesday morning's tastings have seen this list swell even further.

I wondered whether the sumptuous textures of the wines i had been enjoying so far were purely a La Morra phenomenon but it is clear this a feature of the vintage accross the region.

Scavino are a benchmark; their 2007s are serious and polished wines, the bric del Fiasc wine is a fitting tribute to this top cru, one of the first single cru bottled up separately back in 1978. It was exciting to go to Vietti for the first time, also in Castiglione, their wines are hugely intense and complex. And the last of the Castiglione trio, Azelia, are now the equal of anyone in the region. Marginally longer fermentations and less new oak have, over the last few vintages, seen them jump to the top division of producers. Apart from a great Dolcetto, the best there is, i also fell for the San Rocco.

Clerico, I am glad to report, is fit and well. Since 05 / 06 vintages gentler extraction has been a feature of the wines, his new range from Dolcetto to Barolo Cru is, in my view, the best and most refined he has ever made.

My visit to this wonderful region came to a happy end on Wednesday morning, a tasting at Azienda Matteo Correggia and a simply glorious Roero Riserva Rocche d'Ampsej 2007 and finally back to La Morra, to Giuliano of Giovanni Corino. Silky bright and totally seductive Barolo Cru 2007s and a memorable old vines 2006 Giachini. Those who like Barolo with a bit of extra grunt will prefer the wines of his brother Renato, those who like finesse in their La Morra Barolos will be totally seduced by those of Giuliano.

Now accross the nowhere lands passed Piacenza and into the beautiful hills of Soave and Valpolicella

Barolo 2007 - Barbaresco and La Morra

Monday started with a bang. If Roberto Voerzio describes a vintage as "legendary" you sit up and take notice. These were the impressive dense but highly svelte wines I was expecting, and the even better news is there is a full complement of crus made this year.

In Barbaresco, Gaja made some extremely slick, serious 07s, whilst over the road in Neive Giacosa's new Barolo is as pure and elegant as ever, whilst bowing to that sweet generosity of the vintage.

Our very own J&B blogger, Silvia Altare of Elio Altare, was in typically effusive mood, not only do they have an exciting new cru from Serralunga, Cerretta, but also the range of 2007s is phenomenal, pure smooth but not too sluggish, they retain that wonderful flowery, high-toned scent good La Morra should have but also betray an extra edge and grip that mark them out as so special. They are some of the very best wines they have made.

Renato Corino of the gigantic hands (the biggest in the Barolo business) has made a gigantic Rocche. I will taste his brother's wines Giuliano of Giovanni Corino on Wednesday.

Even taking all of these highs into consideration, THE highlight for me so far has been tasting with Marco Marengo. His 2007s were easily the best he has made ( which is saying something) and rival the very best in the vintage. This seems at great odds with some recent ratings he has been given which were, in my view, a mistake. The wines have found an extra level of finesse, they are intense and haunting, high toned but sweet and alluring. Barolo has never come closer to Burgundy. I found them totally beguiling

More on Castiglione, Serralunga and Monforte tomorrow...

Brunello - Beauty and the Beast

3 planes in 3 days. The jet set lifestyle is starting to feel like the jet lag lifestyle. But its been in a very worthy and enjoyable cause.. Hopefully by tasting and, eventually importing, some delightful wines with incredibly strong green credentials, I have been able to offset this rather nasty carbon footprint! One such wine is Etna rosso and its crus from the Terre Nere estate. A truely remarkable and marginal vineyard area of rugged beauty,rooted on the rocky, scorched soils of Etna's north facing slopes. Their 2008s, now in bottle, must be saught out, they are totally sublime, whilst the trickier 2009 vintage still yielded an unforgettable prephylloxera cuvee. It goes to show there is no substitute for good vines, planted in the right place and tended with care.

Anyway, onto Brunello di Montalcino. It is a wine of many sides, as indeed, is the vineyard area. Many people's preconceptions is of a wine that must be massive, heady and raisiny but this does not have to be the case.
It may never be a shrinking violet but I can say that over the last 2 days I have tasted pure, enormously drinkable expressions of Sangiovese. Le Ragnaie was one of them, at 550 metres the highest vineyard in Montalcino, as airy and beautiful as the vineyard from which it is made. Siro Pacenti was another, from vineyards on the north and south side of Montalcino, there is a very gentle modern sheen to this but its beauty, balance and depth is crystal clear. A real treat, too, was Soldera, as elegant and complete a Brunello as you will find. One cuvee is made, a riserva, produced from organically farmed vines, fermented with natural yeasts and aged in large oak vat for 5 years.

The Brunello vintage to be released this year will be 2006, a vintage that has produced some really complete and composed wines that mix structure, ripe elegant fruit and freshness. A very good year indeed that should prove most ageworthy.

Picking in Piedmont - Harvest is over!

GAME OVER GAME OVER GAME OVER !!!

Yes, we are finally done, we can start breathing again, we are all tired but happy.

We finised picking on Wednesday, it has been a long month. Non stop, no days off, 15-20 hours of work per day, but I can finally say, now that it’s all safe in the cellar, that 2010 will be a GREAT VINTAGE for Piemonte.

So cheer up everyone, excellent results for all the grapes, Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo, and of course Barolo.

The few rain showers that we had didn’t effect the vineyards nor the quality of the grapes, and even if at the end we were literally running, because we were afraid of mould and infections, we still harvested very good quality grapes.

There are a few more weeks of work in the cellar ahead, pressing, racking, putting the wine into barrels, preparing for malolactic, everything now seems quick and easy, as we no longer need to rush in the vineyards anymore.

All the wines are turning dry easily; becasue we just use our indigenous yeast sometimes the wines tend to remain sweet, but it’s not the case of this year, almost everything is dry now.

This harvest has been an other great experience for all of us, to work close with a very good team makes life much easier, we all worked hard, we were all tired at night and but smiley in the morning...and now we all look forward to the big “harvest crew” dinner that Elio always offers us, and we always make sure he picks the fanciest restaurant in the area, the biggest menu and the nicest wines :-)

See you next year!!

Silvia

Picking in Piedmont - Larigi Time!

Finally we are done with the Dolcetto picking, pressing and racking. We have now started barbera and the vineyard we decided to start with is Larigi.

Larigi is one of our oldest vineyards, it was planted by my grandpa Giovanni in 1948, and the vines still look healthy and in good shape...just like baby vines.

The production is always very limited, not just because of the age, also because we do a drastic green harvest in July-August to reduce the yield perhectar.

Since we had a very hot and dry summer, the grapes look really really healthy, in some spots even a little bit dry, they almost look like raisins, which tells us that the plant has been suffering a bit from drought (see pictures below)

The picking is done by hand and it usually takes a while because you have to look carefully at every grape and at every single berry to make sure there are no damages, and if see any, you pull the berry out and you throw it away, but this year we were picking as fast as superman, no need to check, Larigi was perfect!

Plus we had the supervision of Mr. Talin, 85 years old (and pictured below), our oldest but fastest picker of the cru. This is the first time he is not picking because of some health problems, he has been work ing the harvest with us for 70 years and he knows every single vine one by one, I’m sure he has names for all of them!

Once all the grapes have been harvested we took them to the crusher-disteammer, and big surprise: 25,5 brix sugar, this will be an other big juicy wine.

Once Larigi is totally picked, we will move on to our regular barbera vineyards, and then soon, the nebbiolo.

News from Etna: Harvest 2010

News just in from Marco de Grazia where the Tenuta delle Terre Nere harvest is under way...

"We just picked the best white grapes ever, and are starting with Feudo di
Mezzo. It looks very good to excellent, and could even rival 2008 if the
weather holds, particularly in Calderara.
Ciao,
Marco"

Sounds promising.....

Would you give someone your last BaRolo?

Not judging by our customers response to the 2006s on Monday. Despite the strike, customers were scrummaging ferociously for a sip of the best La Morra, Serralunga, Monforte and Castiglione Barolos money can buy. This is proving a really classic, structured vintage yet with enough generosity and fruit to allow us an exciting glimpse of even greater things in store. Wines from Gaja, Voerzio(pictured), Altare Scavino and Clerico, to name but a few, must make this tasting of Piedmont's best one of a kind in the UK

Two other highlights were Terre Nere's 2008 Etna Cru wines, arguably their best vintage so far, and a flight of undoubtedly the greatest ever wines to come out of Toro, the 2009 Teso la Monja wines were extraordinary and surely await high critical acclaim.

More Barolo 2006 and the rest - Days 3 & 4

Great Barolos, Serious Soaves and excitment in Valpolicella

Excuse the radio silence, two and a half days of tasting young Barolo followed by a three hour journey east towards Treviso can take it out of you. Day 3 was a very spoiling one, visits to Roberto Voerzio, Paolo Scavino and Gaja. Our tasting with Enrico Scavino was sensational, a producer seemingly at the top of his game. After a brooding start to life, the 2005s seemed to have quickly come a long way after a couple of years in bottle, they will drink quite beautifully before too long, while we wait for the 2004s and 2006s. Their 2006s were intense, structured but always showing Scavino polish, they will be up there with the vintage's best. Gaja was everything I expected, great wines of huge intensity and length of flavour. The 2007s were luxurious and heady, the 2006s more restrained but highly sophisticated. However, the single most impressive array of wines during the Piedmont leg of our trip hail from Roberto Voerzio. From Dolcetto to Barolo, these are naturally made and very intense wines produced with unstinting attention to detail. The picture shows bunches from their Barbera Pozzo vineyard, they cut the bottom off all of their bunches, as the finest grapes are to be found at the top or "ears", where ripening takes place first. There is no La Serra 2006, the Voerzios weren't happy with the wine's aromas during ageing and so sold it off, this tells you all you need to know about them. The rest of their 2006s are impeccable - precise, ripe and definitely built to last.

A long hike east takes us off to the pretty Colli Asolani to our Prosecco producer, Dal Bello, a thoroughly refreshing change from young red wine that gets day 4 off to a good start. Then we head west again to the hills of Mazzano in Valpolicella and its quite breathtaking views. 450 metres above sea level in the hills overlooking the town of Negrar are the Vivianis, a charming husband and wife team. Such pure, elegant and drinkable wines, be it simple Valpolicella classico, Amarone or Recioto. They have cast their spell. A very exciting find, I feel. Finally we end our trip with a visit to the affable and quite brilliant Gini family. 2009s are richer than 2008s but show great acidity and finesse too. Any wine lover can not fail to be enchanted by these fruity, zesty Soaves. La Frosca proves that Italian white wine can genuinely be great: Along side the young vintages we tasted a 1997. Like a mature Riesling on the nose, all honey and minerals on the palate but still youthful and refreshing , with a remarkably long, mineral finish. Exquisite.

Alas, like all good things, my short but sweet taste of Italy must come to an end. Now back to earth, via Milan Malpenza.

Barolo 2006 - day 2

Super Serralungas !

After last night's belly full of Elio Altare's bread, Sicilian Terre Nere olive oil and wholesome array of vegetables, we were fighting fit for a day's tasting up and down the Barolo region, away from the comfort zone of La Morra and its refined, perfumed wines. We started off in the 'dark' corners of Barolo: At Azelia in Castiglione and Clerico in Monforte, followed by Giacosa in Neive and finally Sandrone in Barolo itself where they have made some extremely polished wines.

Some massive but excellent 2006s overall, Monfortes and Serralungas are not for the faint-hearted but the best examples have such great fruit, flesh and minerality to carry you through the explosive tannins of their young wines.

Just as Altare's Ceretta did yesterday, the Serralunga single crus impressed most, particularly the 2006 San Rocco from Azelia and the new vineyard from Clerico, 2006 Aeroplan Servaj (wild plain), as well as the Rocche del Falleto Riserva 2004 from Giacosa. That said Clerico's Monforte, Ginestra, was also a monumental effort.

Luigi Scavino of Azelia has made some excellent 2006s and a superb Voghera Brea Riserva 2004 (another Serralunga.) This is an estate that is starting to get showered with plaudits and deservedly so.

Apart from Azelia, the other highlight was Clerico. Despite the big structures, his wines have a clarity and precision that really put them at the top of Barolo's first division. A long tasting here finished with an incredible flight of 1992, 1998 and 1999 Pajanas, proving how sweet, spicy and seductive these big wines become with age.

The day ended, fittingly, on a bottle of Marenca 1998 from Luigi Pira of Serralunga, another excellent wine from this great commune. All sweet spice and liquorice but with sufficient mineral vitality.

Time to pull out the toothbrush, more tomorrow

2006 Barolos - day 1

For the first time in 10 years of coming here to Piedmont, there is snow in March. Apparently half a metre fell two days ago. It's a great opportunity to visually pick out the top vineyard sites, where the snow has already completely melted away.

Aside from tasting the new young wines, sumptuous and easy 2009 Dolcettos and Barberas, our main purpose here is, of course, to taste the latest Barolo releases. We have covered good ground today, most of it in and around La Morra - Marco Marengo, a Corino double header (Giovanni and Renato), Elio Altare, Matteo Correggia in Roero, finishing on a high with the trip up towards Asti to visit La Morandina, whose delightful Moscato d'Asti must be one of the best there is.

On today's evidence 2006 is a very good Barolo vintage indeed, the wines taste well now but clearly have great ageing potential. They have robust structures without being austere, crisp red fruit acidities, and that enchanting Nebbiolo aroma and ripeness. A classic style vintage, akin to 1996 but sweeter, fleshier and less chiselled, an extremely interesting proposition particularly for the purist.The only negative so far seems to be that very localised but devastating hail towards the end of the 2006 season meant that some wines have not been made, Arborina from Renato and Elio Altare, for example.

Today also saw our first glimpse of Elio Altare's new cru Barolo, Ceretta, a vineyard from Serralunga. We tasted 2005 and 2006, both very complex and moreish wines, different to the La Morras but every bit as impressive. Alas the 2005 will not be released until next year.

Now the hamlet of Annunziata La Morra beckons, where I will wash away a day's worth of tannins with some of Elio's, apparently very good, home made bread.

A presto !

Piedmont 2009 : "Harvest is finally over"

We were very worrried about the rain we had in the middle of September, but we soon got happy again seeing as afterwards the sun started shining and we had warmer days. Even today, while I write this, I'm wearing a t-shirt sitting outside and it's 25°!

The last few grapes were picked by our crew without any hurry or overly stressful selection - the grapes were healthy and fully ripe.

It looks like this is going to be another (!!) great harvest for Barolo, perhaps with a little too much alcohol, but definitely with good acidities and balance.

The last tank of nebbiolo was pressed on Sunday. For the first time we fermented longer than usual, we left it for a week on the skins..."just a week" some might say, but for us it's a "record". We tried to keep the temperature lower than usual, about 28°, and for longer. We will see the results soon as the juice is almost dry now.

Luckily this year we haven't had any arrest of fermentation, all tanks are turning dry naturally and some have even started their malolactics already.

We never inoculate with powdered yeast, preferring to create a "mother yeast" that we carry on for the whole vintage. I think that is a very good natural way of working and of giving your wines a special "familiar" taste every year.

Now that the crazy action is over we start to realise just how much work we have done and how many hours we have worked. Sleeping till 7,30am now feels like a total luxury!

This morning we racked the Dolcetto from one tank to another. It has such a nice aroma of violets and cherry that you almost want to eat it!

Just a few more day of moving stuff around, racking, then putting the new wines in barrel, turning the heaters to help malolactic fermentation and.....finito!!!!!!!!

Frenzy for 2006 Italians

Yesterday saw the release of the eagerly anticipated Masseto 2006, the `Petrus of Tuscany`. The flagship wine from Tenuta Dell Ornellaia clearly made the most of the wonderful conditions in 2006 and merited a whopping 99 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.
Next to come will be the equally hotly anticipated Gaja 2006s. This magnificent vintage has produced great wines throughout Italy and Gaja’s Barbarescos are no exception. Keep your eyes peeled and be swift to avoid disappointment.

A Harvest with Elio Altare

It seems like I just need to ask for it and the cooler weather comes! We basically had dry tropical weather till last Sunday, then suddenly from Monday rain rain rain…

A little bit of rain is fine, but when it starts pouring down, well, that’s not too good.

Luckily we did a very serious green harvest in July/ August so the grapes are quite healthy and strong. I’m sure there will be problems for those that didn’t work properly this summer!

We were basically running to the vineyards as soon as it stopped raining, trying to work as fast as we could and trying not slip on the mud! At some point, in one vineyard the tractor got stuck and we had to pull it with the caterpillar. We picked a bit more barbera last week and, afraid of the bad forecast, we started picking nebbiolo from the Arborina vineyard on Friday.

This is probably the earliest ever in Altare’s history, but it's better having the grapes in the cellar than hanging on the vines under the rain. While picking in the afternoon, it started raining. Since we work under Elio’s slavery we even had to pick under the rain for about an hour, but then our 60-80 year old pickers revolted and we had to stop...we cant afford to lose them right now!

No picking during the weekend, just lots of cellar work, pressing, racking, moving stuff around, preparing shipping and deliveries. There are lots of tourists around as well - Piedmont is very appealing and attractive this time of the year, the landscape starts changing colour and the air smells like sweet must, its addictive!

Barolo 2005

The release of 2005 Barolo is shortly upon us. I was so impressed by what I tasted way back in March, its a vintage that will appeal to both Barolo admirers and lovers of any fine, aromatic, sophisticated red wine. The quality of 2005 Barolo is excellent, when it comes from the quality producers. It is not a homogenous vintage like 2004, an easy year when anyone who did not make good wine should have considered hanging up their shears, it was a more challenging vintage that sorted out good producer from bad. So you can't just buy 2005s from any old producer but there are plenty of outstanding wines from the growers who traditionally make good wine, they display a vivid fresh red fruit profile, together with a richness, generosity and structure. They will drink well young and even if they have not quite got the density of 2004 they are definitely serious and intense enough to age very well in the medium to long term. Producers liken it to a mix of 2000 and 2001 or 1998. Some growers even surpassed their 2004s, Renato Corino is a clear example of this - stunning wines.