So I was sitting in my car outside of a locally owned wine shop where I was going to meet a few of my contemporaries and taste through wines from Northern Italy.. We were going to all bring in wines in brown paper bags and taste them and talk about their attributes while throwing the appropriate adjectives around, not including freshly quarried alabaster (that was for you Pete). Tasting them blind is a good way to assess the wine with out having a preconceived notion about what the perceived quality level is.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving where we crack it open, which I might add, made a perfect addition to the meal, and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of body and balance it had. This wine has a vibrant red hue with a delightful nose, with polished oak overlaid with black cherries and other black fruits.
The driving force behind this estate is Enzo Boglietti, a new producer on the Barolo scene, only establishing a presence in the early 1990s and he is not afraid to embrace new techniques, including the use of high-toast small barrique.
I then went to find some of his other wines. There is also a wonderful
Dolcetto d'Alba “Tiglineri” with dense cherry and raspberry fruit, as well as a touch of liquorice. This wine, produced from 60-year-old vines, is a serious, classy example of Dolcetto.
Another producer I have always loved is La Spinetta. The Monferrato Rosso ‘Pin’ has a gorgeous nose; black cherry and blueberry jam, with black peppercorns. La Spinetta's most significant wine is Pin, a blend of 50% Nebbiolo with 25% each of Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is produced under the Monferrato Rosso DOC, a catch-all classification designed to bring the many blends made by the local producers under one umbrella.
There are of course other significant red wines. There is the light crisp Grignolino. I have been advised that there is one to be found at the Sam’s in Highland Park from a producer called Luca Ferraris along with a Ruché that generally makes a light ruby colored wine with an aromatic twist. Both are recommended.
Marenco’s Brachetto d’Acqui "Pineto" has red bold fruit that explodes with flavor: raspberry, grapes, sweet and sour cherries, and a hint of strawberry and has wonderful richness and layers of flavor, with an off-dry finish. It is a wonderful frizzante (semi-sparkling) or fully sparkling wine made from grapes of the same name.
Whites are also well represented in Piedmont:
The DOCG for Arneis is Arneis di Roero, but it can be grown anywhere in Piedmont under the DOC of Langhe.
This wine upon a foreign tree
Plunged in its fruit;
Man in the day or wind at night
Laid the crops low, broke the grape's joy.
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
A Saluté il mio Padre
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