Just landed is the 2013 Bianco, 2013 Nerocapitano and more stocks of the 2012 Rosso.
Love these wines. Love Sicily and what it is capable of doing.
Monthly Archives: June 2014
2010 Barolo…. wow…..
Wow they are good,
During my trip to Italy in April I tried a swag of fantastic 2010 Barolo. These wines will live forever and are already supremely balanced. They drink well from today and for another thirty years.
As these wines have landed in Australia, I have been opening these wines and see how they compared to when I looked at them in April. Sometimes, the distance in travel can shock the wines and it can take months for them to come back to the level there were before the voyage across the world.
Well, not the 2010 wines. They have hit the ground running and even with some of the wines that have arrived and I have tasted within a day or so of there voyage, they have looked stunning. The more I try these wines in Oz (and I reckon I have tried close to a dozen Baroli) the more I think that this vintage is going to be one for the ages, and talked about in the same light of the very best post war vintages.
Lot’s of people ask me how they should by so they cover enough of the 2010 Barolo without having to take out a second mortgage. For me, I think 3’s and 6’s are a great way to buy. If you can afford it, lash out with 6 bottles, you will never be disappointed. Otherwise 3 bottles will you allow to look at these wines at multiple stages of their life.
A new @boccacciovino Enoteca and what floor would we choose?
Being good Italians, concrete of course!!!
Fantastic interview with Aldo Vacca on why no 2010 Single Cru’s were made..
Last night I drank a bottle of the 2010 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco and loved it. So feminine and perfumed, it is a great wine to drink now and over the next decade.
With such a classic vintage of Barbaresco in 2010, it got my mind thinking why no 2010 Single Cru’s were made by Produttori.
Well listen to the answer from Aldo Vacca courtesy of James Suckling:
http://www.jamessuckling.com/barbaresco-2010-produttori-del-barbaresco.html
Fratelli D’Anna Rosso di Montalcino 2013: it is coming…..!
For the last few years I have been making annual trips to the town of Montalcino to talk to wineries with similar philosophies to not only import and represent these wineries in Australia (think Il Palazzone and Biondi Santi) but to also work on a special little project focusing on wines under our Fratelli D’Anna label. when you visit the cellars of a winery, there are always barrels that stand out and having a label like Fratelli D’Anna, it will give us the opportunity to purchase these barrels to showcase on their own (rather than being blended back with other barrels).
The wines under Fratelli D’Anna represent what I like and expect out of a grape variety and region. It was an idea that came about by reading Kermit Lynch’s Adventures of the Wine Route who on visiting vineyards and wineries that he imported (or liked) made offers to buy selected barrels to be finished off to his specifications. When I think of this, it takes the notion of importing wine from a region you love, one step further. In this instance it is the ultimate expression of what I look for in Sangiovese and Montalcino.
We expect to have our 2013 in Australia by the start of November and look forward to lot’s of different and diverse wines under this label.
If you want to make great wine: you cannot tame Etna…
Over the last few years, I have constantly stated that ‘Each year, the interest in wines from Mount Etna continues to grow.’ This interest is global: it is from winemakers, the press and the public. It is easy to see why this is the case.
These wines are alluring, they are highly complex and they are mysterious. Each glass in each bottles shows a different side of Etna that is like a slideshow of flavours that draw you closer to the mountain. Mysterious Etna has fascinated people for thousands of years and now it is doing it to wine lovers all around the world with world class wines.
As our interest grows in the mountain, so does our knowledge of what works in regards to vineyard practices and wine making methods. What is obvious, that if you want to make great wine, you cannot tame Etna. The best wines that I have tasted as been those that focus on hands off winemaking, that allow the fruit to be expressive without the heavy stamp of man through the use of oak. The growing group of winemakers now making their mark of Etna (think Graci, Cornelissen, Foti, Franchetti, plus more) have shown great respect to this land.
When we speak of Etna, we don’t speak of grape varieties or oak regimes, we speak of lava flows and altitudes. No where else in the world are these two factors so critical in determining the flavour profile of a wine. Each different lava flow gives the wine different flavour profiles. The same lava flow that flowed down the mountain will present different wines depending on what altitude the grapes are grown on that lava flow. Fascinating and it makes you want to learn more and more about Etna.
Finally, if you love Etna, you will also love thos vineyards that surround this great main. Hence don’t just limit yourself to Etna, some of these lava flows made it all the way to the ocean and in many seaside villages from Syracuse to Catania, the complex nature of lava, altitudes and vineyards repeasts in many different vineyards and varieties.
il vino da tavola 