Nebbiolo Prima

[Jeff Grossman]

Big event in Piemonte. Here's one blogger.

 

[Matteo Mollo]

levi is there i believe. look forward to his report.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Agreed, MM.

One thing I like about the Polish Wine Guide is the disclosure at the bottom of each report (available from the summary page linked above). Caveat Lector, and all that. I still don't know why other writers think this is such a big deal.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

'Cause we are rolling in the $8.99 Malbecs!

(Disclosure: this post was paid for by FredDexMS.)

 

[Levi Dalton]

I am there.

That's right. I am live blogging from the Hotel Calissano this very minute. Just got back from the Castle of Barolo.

Big Ups to my Peeps in the Cantinas.

I did a long form visit with the Brovia family this afternoon. We walked Villero and also Brea (from whence ca' mia and Solatio both come).

I have visited the cantinas of Bartolo Mascarello, Giuseppe Rinaldi, and Accomasso. Tomorrow is Poderi Oddero and Giuseppe Mascarello.

I walked all of the Bartolo vineyards with Maria Teresa and I checked out the Giuseppe Rinaldi vines that are near the house.

I have something like 900 photographs at this point. You can seem some from the G. Rinaldi visit on my blog, if you would care to.

I also walked Cascina Francia today.

I met Mr. Masnaghetti, of the maps.

To say it has been totally tremendous would be a massive understatement.

Giuseppe Rinaldi's cellarman is a Black Eyed Peas fan. Now you know.

 

[Guilhaume gerard]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:


Giuseppe Rinaldi's cellarman is a Black Eyed Peas fan. Now you know.

Had the feeling it would be the case just by tasting the wines. I'm getting good at this blind tasting stuff.

 

[Levi Dalton]

originally posted by Guilhaume gerard:

originally posted by Levi Dalton:


Giuseppe Rinaldi's cellarman is a Black Eyed Peas fan. Now you know.

Had the feeling it would be the case just by tasting the wines. I'm getting good at this blind tasting stuff.

Really? Because that is the one of the biggest non sequiturs I know of. So basically, you are either joking or full of shit. It is hard for me to tell the difference in your case.

 

[Levi Dalton]

The Castle of Barolo

In between two plots of Cascina Francia

Cascina Francia

Cascina Francia

Cascina Francia

Rionda in the middle distance

Castle of Serralunga

Looking out from near the Castle of Serralunga

Alex Sanchez of Brovia

Brovia has two parcels within Villero. This is looking down a row in one of those parcels (the upper one).

This a look down a row in the other Brovia Villero parcel.

A vine owned by Brovia in Villero. Brovia purchased their Villero vines in 1991.

The road to Villero.

A Nebbiolo parcel in Brovia’s Brea vineyard (in Serralunga). Brea is owned solely by Brovia (unlike Villero, of course). You can see the roof of the ca’ mia in this picture. Brea stretches significantly to both the right and left of this vantage point. To the right would be where the Barbera, Moscato, and Dolcetto for the non-Solatio Brea Dolcetto bottling would be planted. Also more Nebbiolo, which would go into the Brovia Barolo normale (a blend of the four crus). To the left would be the Nebbiolo for the ca' mia bottling, and then the Dolcetto for Solatio, which is a personal favorite of mine.

Nebbiolo vines in the plot used for the ca' mia bottling. The ca' mia has been produced since 1995, when this vineyard was purchased by Brovia. The year of the first vintage released and the year of the purchase are the same. The Brovia family had been working with the fruit earlier on a sharecropping basis.

Nebbiolo vine (for ca' mia).

Dolcetto vines with fruit intended for the Solatio.

This shot gives an idea of how steep Brea can be in places.

This is the other end of Brea, where the vines are not meant for ca' mia or Solatio. I believe this shot is of Nebbiolo. This is the part of the vineyard that is next to the house where Alex and his wife - who is the winemaker at Brovia, having worked in the cellar for 23 years now while Alex has handled sales for close to 10 years - live. There are a series of trees near here under which white truffles are often found. Alex and his wife do not hunt truffles themselves (no dogs), but do hear the hunters come close to their house in the night.

This is another shot of that side of Brea, the side of Brea near the house and bounded by the road. As I mentioned before, here you are looking at Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Moscato, and Barbera. As I understand it, the Barbera is at the far end where the vineyard starts, next some Nebbiolo, then the plot of Dolcetto with the Moscato below it, and then more Nebbiolo (basically the same as in the last shot) in the foreground. I might have that order wrong, though.

Papa Brovia's first vintage was 1953. He now advises his daughters as they continue the day to day work. One of his daughters, Cristina, oversees the vineyards, while her sister Elena (Alex's wife) looks after the winemaking. Papa said that back in vintages like 1982 there was no such thing as a green harvest at the winery. You let nature take care of it with insects and frost. Now, he said, everything is different, because the area is warmer. He said he thought 1978 was going to be a disaster and that there would be no wine, before a couple months of perfect weather saved everything and made that vintage one of the best of his career.

The generations at Brovia: Papa, Cristina, and Alex. Elena took off in a car before I could snap a photo, unfortunately. Sorry.

Another member of the Brovia family.

All of these magnums were destined for a single restaurant in Copenhagen. And there was a bunch more besides this. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

Three of the four Brovia 2009 Barolo Crus are shown here. Villero furthest back, ca' mia in the middle, Rocche nearest to the camera. These large wood ovals are smaller than the botte used for the Barolo normale (which also has lots that are aged in steel, if I understood correctly).

This is a shot of those larger botte which contain the normale Barolo.

Cement fermentation tanks.

Those are a lot of shots for one post. I'll start another post with more.

 

[Cory Cartwright]

Thanks for the Brovia pictures. We weren't able to get to the vineyards while we were there and I regret that.

 

[Levi Dalton]

I figured out that I had totally misunderstood the Bartolo Freisa up till now. It is supposed to be vivace (fizzy), like a lambrusco. I missed that somehow. I think because I tried in the past a vintage that was older (2005) and decanted. Basically, I think you are supposed to drink it young. I certainly preferred the 2009 on this night to the 2007, solely because of the freshness. It is hard to know these things when the wine isn't imported to the country you live in. I totally misrepresented the 2005 to people many several times, as I understand now.

 

[Levi Dalton]

The house is the Ca d'Morissio. No one lives at Ca d'Morissio at the moment, although it is currently being renovated for use as an agriturismo. The vines for the Ca d'Morissio bottling are near the house. Those are actually young vines (the first Ca d'Morissio bottling was 1993, of course). The older Monprivato vines are outside that parcel. Like Cascina Francia, Monprivato is pretty huge.

I had not realized that Brovia made a Monprivato for a few years, eventually selling their piece to G. Mascarello.

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

Tsk, tsk, we tasted the 07 Freisa at Mascarello a year and half ago and mentioned the frizziness as intentional. Wait, I wasn't on WD back then. Never mind. BTW, interesting how several of the pictures show sandy soils, as in pie franco sandy. Any conversations about ungrafted experiments?

2007 Bartolo Mascarello Freisa Nebbiolata Vigna Monrobiolo 13.5%
Single vineyard. Nebbiolata because wine stays in contact with Nebbiolo musts for approx. 12 hours. Robust cherry and animal aromas. Very flavorful, with some secondary fermentation carbonation, desirable in this wine, according to Maria Teresa. Liveliness masks considerable substance.

 

[Levi Dalton]

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

BTW, interesting how several of the pictures show sandy soils, as in pie franco sandy. Any conversations about ungrafted experiments?

The Cappellano cantina is super close to the Brea vineyard, for reference.

These are shots of the soil at Brea, specifically where the old vine parcels start:

 

[Cristian Dezso]

The 1985 Brovia Monprivato is phenomenal, more so than the Mascarello. Just had both over Easter. Unforgetable.

And thank you for all the postings from Piemonte!

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Wow, Levi. Just wow.

 

[Levi Dalton]

I'd never seen a picture of a young Bartolo before I came across this one.

This painting was done by Marta Rinaldi (Giuseppe's daughter) when she was younger (she is in her mid-20's now). The painting hangs in the G. Rinaldi cantina.

 

[scottreiner]

thank you, and good travels!

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

BTW, interesting how several of the pictures show sandy soils, as in pie franco sandy. Any conversations about ungrafted experiments?

The Cappellano cantina is super close to the Brea vineyard, for reference.

Cool. Hope you get to spend time with Augusto Cappellano, wonderful guy. He's doing some experiments with submerged cap, alongside Baldo's traditional floating cap. From tank, the 09 submerged cap Rupestris seemed even more fascinating than the wonderful regular.

 

[VLM]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:

The house is the Ca d'Morissio. No one lives at Ca d'Morissio at the moment, although it is currently being renovated for use as an agriturismo. The vines for the Ca d'Morissio bottling are near the house. Those are actually young vines (the first Ca d'Morissio bottling was 1993, of course). The older Monprivato vines are outside that parcel. Like Cascina Francia, Monprivato is pretty huge.

I had not realized that Brovia made a Monprivato for a few years, eventually selling their piece to G. Mascarello.

Levi, thanks for these posts, wish I were there with you.

On a visit to Brovia many years ago, the father gifted me with a bottle of 1986 Monprivato after a discussion of how 1986 was a year where there was either excellence or disaster. It was fantastic. I have a couple of bottles of the 1989 around. I'll share one with you if you make it down here.

 

[VLM]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:
I figured out that I had totally misunderstood the Bartolo Freisa up till now. It is supposed to be vivace (fizzy), like a lambrusco. I missed that somehow. I think because I tried in the past a vintage that was older (2005) and decanted. Basically, I think you are supposed to drink it young. I certainly preferred the 2009 on this night to the 2007, solely because of the freshness. It is hard to know these things when the wine isn't imported to the country you live in. I totally misrepresented the 2005 to people many several times, as I understand now.

I had always thought of Freisa as a wine to drink young, until I was introduced to an aged Vajra.

I'm not sure that I had Freisa wrong, just that my experience was a sample and did not encompass the universe of Freisa. I still tend to like it young.

As an aside, the Piedmontese tend to like to drink their wines younger than we here would think of doing, IME. Curious.