Belated notes from the June 23 tasting “Beyond Nebbiolo” – Exploring the other grapes of Piedmont. Piedmont, in northwest Italy, is known mainly for its majestic Barolos and Barbarescos, but it’s got several other noteworthy indigenous grapes as well; for this tasting I wanted to explore those.
The first wine was Araldica’s 2007 “La Luciana” Gavi. From a single vineyard and 100% Cortese, this wine was showing really well. I tasted it when it was first released several months ago and it was quite tight, but really expressed itself nicely for this tasting. Cortese to me always has a savory characteristic, with notes of dried herbs and minerals. The Araldica showed that, along with fairly juicy green fruit and good acidity. A nice example of Gavi and a really enjoyable wine – I’ll put this on by the glass at some point.
The next wine was supposed to be Bruno Giacosa’s Arneis, which is a stunning example of the delicate, floral Arneis grape (think Torrontes without the soapiness and more minerality). The distributor was out of stock, though (more on that below) and the last-minute replacement I ordered the Fratelli Barale, was supposed to be the ‘07 vintage but the ‘06 got shipped. It was DOA – completely aldehydic and over the hill, so I scrapped that and substituted another Dolcetto.
Paitin’s 2007 “Sori Paitin” Dolcetto d’Alba was richer than most Dolcettos, which are known for their tart cherry and cranberry flavors; this showed a roundness you don’t often see while still being true to type. This wine is at its peak now, showing good secondary flavors and integrated tannins.
The next wine was Bruno Giacosa’s 2008 Dolcetto d’Alba, the last-minute substitution. Why did I have this wine? Well, when I ordered the Arneis, which was theoretically in stock, the warehouse guys for the distributor couldn’t find that wine so they shipped me the Dolcetto instead. Dolcetto, Arneis – of course they’re the same thing!?! I had them set aside to be returned, but they came in handy after all. The Giacosa’s a little more expensive than the Paitin, so it made a good quality comparison. The wine was incredibly juicy and grapey, almost like a good cru Beaujolais. The Paitin is drinking better now, but if you looked beyond the grapiness and focused on the structure and concentration of the wine, you’d see that this has all of the elements and in a year or so will be exceptional; it’s still very young. I ordered more of this and it’s now on the shelves.
On to Barbera; again doing a quality comparison – the Ca del Sarto 2006 Barbera d’Alba is a good everyday Barbera for $10.95 – bright red cherry fruit, good acidity, easy-drinking, not incredibly complex. Exactly what it should be. The Luciano Sandrone 2005 Barbera d’Alba ($29.95), on the other shows how good Barbera can be. A serious wine, with significantly more tannins, fruit concentration, and structure. Darker fruit, with some chocolate and spicy oak flavors; great balance, long finish.
I was bummed about not having an Arneis, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind and it was funt to taste two vastly different Dolcettos.
- Araldica 2007 “La Luciana” Gavi
- Fratelli Barale 2007 Arneis, Roero
- Paitin 2007 “Sori’ Paitin” Dolcetto d’Alba
- Ca’ del Sarto 2006 Barbera d’Alba
- Luciano Sandrone 2005 Barbera d’Alba
