Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
"I am the Last of the Mohicans" was a famous quote of Bartolo Mascarello's. But it would seem that in fact it would apply more aptly to Renzo Accomasso, a grower in La Morra whose first vintage was 1958 and who still works his vine rows today. Over the course of a few visits to Accomasso, I have compiled these notes. I was able to sample some more diverse vintages of Accomasso wines at two recent dinners held in New York by Chambers Street Wines, and will post my notes on those wines later.
Lorenzo Accomasso Quotes:
“I have never changed anything.”
“Luckily, there is someone still different than everyone else.”
He has avoided groups in his life, and has avoided taking on the philosophy of a group: “Do what you want, without looking around at the others.”
“You have to respect what someone else is doing.”
“I feel everyone has to stay in their own garden, and I stay in mine.”
“Eventually, we cannot complain.”
“I am out of the game. It is up to your generation.”
“I see it as a positive that many young people come to visit me. I see it as a positive that many people who do not have a background in farming, but are from some other field, come to visit me.”
“I think we are going to go to the better, although it seems a big world.”
“We make wine in the vineyard. Without a good exposure, there is no point.”
“When you take away the sulphur, something nasty can come up [in reference to not adding sulphur to wines].”
“If the land is more expensive now, we have to say thank you to the people who use barrique, because these land prices are something new.”
“If you sell your vineyard now, you lose a chance that comes once in a hundred years.”
“I tried to age some Dolcetto in barrique that was 7-8 years old, but I don’t do it anymore because it is boring to work with barrique. However, that wine was still pretty good, so I don’t mind barrique.”
Dolcetto:
“I drink Dolcetto. This is the wine that I drink.”
“The 2006 Dolcetto is still fresh (in 2015), lively, really nice.” The 2006 Dolcetto was hard to ferment: the fermentation wouldn’t start due to the high sugars.
“Dolcetto turns to the dark. You can get the color.”
Barbera:
“It is hard to find a soil that marries Barbera well. Barbera needs heavy soil, clay. Like in Monforte: Barbera needs the soil that is good for bricks [there is a brick factory in Monforte].”
“The grapes of Barbera taste good to eat.”
Sales:
Sold wine to Peter Matt in the 1980s for the American market.
Now 80-90% of sales are cellar door to visitors. Otherwise, Japan is his number one export market today.
“In 30 years the production of the region almost has doubled. There isn’t much else to plant. In La Morra I don’t see a spot where I could plant more.”
Vineyards:
His Dolcetto is planted on a steep, stony site near to Bovio in La Morra.
Rocche dell’Annunziata: His parcel faces full south, towards Castiglione Falletto. His parcel was planted in 1960. This has now been pulled out, and it has not been replanted yet.
Rocchette: Faces west. More elegant wines than Rocche. “Within a half hectare, you have four different soil types.” The production of his Rochette is about 4,000 bottles each year.
Planted rootstocks in 1958, overgrafted them in 1959 [I believe this refers to the Rocchette -LD].
The vineyard closest to his house was in the past bottled as “La Mie Vigne,” but now the name for that in terms of the MGA is Annunziata [not Rocche dell’Annunziata, just Annunziata].
In some rows the trelissing goes as high as 3 meters in his vineyards.
He planted some Michet (the low yielding clone 71) as an experiment (the first harvest was 2012), but has not fallen in love with it. “It gives a different wine.” He feels he has to learn how to deal with it.
The new clones are less resistant to mildew- he needs to spray sulphur more often. Doesn’t like clone 142. Clone 141 is a Lampia that is closer to a Michet. Clone 320 is an older clone that he always used a lot. He never tried the Picotendro. The clone 71 is probably the best clone (the Michet one). He is experimenting with clone 185. He had one ton and a half of Rosé clone: was approachable right away as a wine.
He has experienced some issues with Flavescenza Dorata amidst his Dolcetto vines recently, but otherwise it hasn’t been much of a problem for him yet.
He believes in green harvesting, rather than pruning back to begin with. In general, he keeps a lot of fruit on the vines [it seems to me, LD]. He does not hedge the vines. He ties the vine canes into a cappello (“hat”) to protect from hail/sun. He does not use herbicides [in Annunziata, I did not see the other vineyards].
Vintages:
Accomasso’s favorite four vintages: 1971, 1974, 1990, 1997. He also likes 1982, 1989, 1999.
2016: The soil is very dry. He has never seen the soil so dry. There are fissures in the ground.
2015: “I have the inspiration- it may be like 1990.”
2013: “Good, but tricky.”
2009: Not a fan. “Too much alcohol.”
2008: “Not as good as 2007. A wine that people will like, probably.” On 3/11/15 he said the 2008 Barolo was still half in oak, half in steel, and that he planned to bottle it after the 2015 harvest.
2004: Nice wines.
1990 Rocche Barolo: “The poetry of wine. A wine that I really liked, it had everything.”
1989: “Maybe will age longer than 1990.”
1976 and 1977: Not good vintages.
1974: he did not add sulphur. “It was 30 total, but this was in fact a little too low.”
1971: they picked in November.
Technique:.
Uses native yeasts.
A mix of stainless and concrete for the fermentations.
Punch downs manually, in steel and concrete.
At one point he said: 40-60 days of maceration for the Barolo. Racks in July.
At another point he said: 38-45 day maceration, racks when clear. Possibly this was for the Dolcetto.
Malolactic conversion usually happens in June or July. Malo happens in steel.
These days only a little of wine is aged in demijohns. At one time he used 250 glass demijohns, but only some of those are used now. In those cases, the wine goes into demijohn after the time in wood. The 1995 Barolo is still in demijohn as of 7/9/2016.
He has 2 pumps for moving wine.
He told me on my 2015 visit that he destems. During my 2016 visit he refused to answer the question of whether he uses some whole cluster.
He still today bottles a portion of the production by hand. “It takes 2-3 months for the wines to recover after bottling.”
Lately he has been doing more delegation of the cellar and vineyard to duties to hired help. These employees are not Italian.
Miscellaneous notes:
He makes olive oil from the trees near his house.
“Since 2010, the prices for bulk wine from the region have doubled.”
LD Tasting notes:
2010 Dolcetto d’Alba (13.5%):
Smells wonderful: grapey, blossom scent. The nose is great. Savory hints. Balsalmico, red dust. Unfortunately, the palate is a bit short.
2009 Barbera d’Alba “Pochi Filagn”:
Complex nose that I like: includes licorice and also a hint of toothpaste. Broad on the palate. Licorice, wild mint candy. Spearmint. Darker tones, brown tones to the fruit. Lingers on the palate, gets into the senses. Dusty, rustic. River pebbles. Melon.
2007 Rocche Barolo (14.5%):
“I like to drink this now,” says Accomasso.
Tastes volatile, dusty, savory, soulful. Balsalmico, pine needles, sage. Orange peel hinting at oxidation.
2007 Rocche Barolo Riserva:
Dusty nose, with dark bramble. Vegetable minerals and stalky nose (alludes to some stem inclusion for me). Slight cardboard hint on the nose. Dark, oily tones on the soft palate. Dusty red fruit on the finish. As this sits in the glass it gets better, but remains soft. Asked about stems in this 2007, Accomasso says “these are not things we can talk about, I must have my secrets.”
2004 Rocchette Barolo Riserva (14.5%):
Dark fruit, oily. Broad texture. Not as much grip as I might expect (this bottle turns out to have been open for a few days already). Some dusty tones. Orange mandarine. Some grittiness. Good wine.
* 1990 Nebbiolo (from a parcel near Rocche dell’Annunziata, but not labelled here as a Barolo):
This smells delicious. The palate is delicious. An utterly lovely wine, awesome. Bright cherry and rose. Some grittiness. Does have a short finish, though. This tightens some texturally on the palate with time in the glass.
1985 Rocchette Barolo:
Lorenzo is upset about some of the corks failing on this vintage.
Tastes dusty and volatile, but soulful from a bottle that has been open 4-5 days.
Lorenzo Accomasso Quotes:
“I have never changed anything.”
“Luckily, there is someone still different than everyone else.”
He has avoided groups in his life, and has avoided taking on the philosophy of a group: “Do what you want, without looking around at the others.”
“You have to respect what someone else is doing.”
“I feel everyone has to stay in their own garden, and I stay in mine.”
“Eventually, we cannot complain.”
“I am out of the game. It is up to your generation.”
“I see it as a positive that many young people come to visit me. I see it as a positive that many people who do not have a background in farming, but are from some other field, come to visit me.”
“I think we are going to go to the better, although it seems a big world.”
“We make wine in the vineyard. Without a good exposure, there is no point.”
“When you take away the sulphur, something nasty can come up [in reference to not adding sulphur to wines].”
“If the land is more expensive now, we have to say thank you to the people who use barrique, because these land prices are something new.”
“If you sell your vineyard now, you lose a chance that comes once in a hundred years.”
“I tried to age some Dolcetto in barrique that was 7-8 years old, but I don’t do it anymore because it is boring to work with barrique. However, that wine was still pretty good, so I don’t mind barrique.”
Dolcetto:
“I drink Dolcetto. This is the wine that I drink.”
“The 2006 Dolcetto is still fresh (in 2015), lively, really nice.” The 2006 Dolcetto was hard to ferment: the fermentation wouldn’t start due to the high sugars.
“Dolcetto turns to the dark. You can get the color.”
Barbera:
“It is hard to find a soil that marries Barbera well. Barbera needs heavy soil, clay. Like in Monforte: Barbera needs the soil that is good for bricks [there is a brick factory in Monforte].”
“The grapes of Barbera taste good to eat.”
Sales:
Sold wine to Peter Matt in the 1980s for the American market.
Now 80-90% of sales are cellar door to visitors. Otherwise, Japan is his number one export market today.
“In 30 years the production of the region almost has doubled. There isn’t much else to plant. In La Morra I don’t see a spot where I could plant more.”
Vineyards:
His Dolcetto is planted on a steep, stony site near to Bovio in La Morra.
Rocche dell’Annunziata: His parcel faces full south, towards Castiglione Falletto. His parcel was planted in 1960. This has now been pulled out, and it has not been replanted yet.
Rocchette: Faces west. More elegant wines than Rocche. “Within a half hectare, you have four different soil types.” The production of his Rochette is about 4,000 bottles each year.
Planted rootstocks in 1958, overgrafted them in 1959 [I believe this refers to the Rocchette -LD].
The vineyard closest to his house was in the past bottled as “La Mie Vigne,” but now the name for that in terms of the MGA is Annunziata [not Rocche dell’Annunziata, just Annunziata].
In some rows the trelissing goes as high as 3 meters in his vineyards.
He planted some Michet (the low yielding clone 71) as an experiment (the first harvest was 2012), but has not fallen in love with it. “It gives a different wine.” He feels he has to learn how to deal with it.
The new clones are less resistant to mildew- he needs to spray sulphur more often. Doesn’t like clone 142. Clone 141 is a Lampia that is closer to a Michet. Clone 320 is an older clone that he always used a lot. He never tried the Picotendro. The clone 71 is probably the best clone (the Michet one). He is experimenting with clone 185. He had one ton and a half of Rosé clone: was approachable right away as a wine.
He has experienced some issues with Flavescenza Dorata amidst his Dolcetto vines recently, but otherwise it hasn’t been much of a problem for him yet.
He believes in green harvesting, rather than pruning back to begin with. In general, he keeps a lot of fruit on the vines [it seems to me, LD]. He does not hedge the vines. He ties the vine canes into a cappello (“hat”) to protect from hail/sun. He does not use herbicides [in Annunziata, I did not see the other vineyards].
Vintages:
Accomasso’s favorite four vintages: 1971, 1974, 1990, 1997. He also likes 1982, 1989, 1999.
2016: The soil is very dry. He has never seen the soil so dry. There are fissures in the ground.
2015: “I have the inspiration- it may be like 1990.”
2013: “Good, but tricky.”
2009: Not a fan. “Too much alcohol.”
2008: “Not as good as 2007. A wine that people will like, probably.” On 3/11/15 he said the 2008 Barolo was still half in oak, half in steel, and that he planned to bottle it after the 2015 harvest.
2004: Nice wines.
1990 Rocche Barolo: “The poetry of wine. A wine that I really liked, it had everything.”
1989: “Maybe will age longer than 1990.”
1976 and 1977: Not good vintages.
1974: he did not add sulphur. “It was 30 total, but this was in fact a little too low.”
1971: they picked in November.
Technique:.
Uses native yeasts.
A mix of stainless and concrete for the fermentations.
Punch downs manually, in steel and concrete.
At one point he said: 40-60 days of maceration for the Barolo. Racks in July.
At another point he said: 38-45 day maceration, racks when clear. Possibly this was for the Dolcetto.
Malolactic conversion usually happens in June or July. Malo happens in steel.
These days only a little of wine is aged in demijohns. At one time he used 250 glass demijohns, but only some of those are used now. In those cases, the wine goes into demijohn after the time in wood. The 1995 Barolo is still in demijohn as of 7/9/2016.
He has 2 pumps for moving wine.
He told me on my 2015 visit that he destems. During my 2016 visit he refused to answer the question of whether he uses some whole cluster.
He still today bottles a portion of the production by hand. “It takes 2-3 months for the wines to recover after bottling.”
Lately he has been doing more delegation of the cellar and vineyard to duties to hired help. These employees are not Italian.
Miscellaneous notes:
He makes olive oil from the trees near his house.
“Since 2010, the prices for bulk wine from the region have doubled.”
LD Tasting notes:
2010 Dolcetto d’Alba (13.5%):
Smells wonderful: grapey, blossom scent. The nose is great. Savory hints. Balsalmico, red dust. Unfortunately, the palate is a bit short.
2009 Barbera d’Alba “Pochi Filagn”:
Complex nose that I like: includes licorice and also a hint of toothpaste. Broad on the palate. Licorice, wild mint candy. Spearmint. Darker tones, brown tones to the fruit. Lingers on the palate, gets into the senses. Dusty, rustic. River pebbles. Melon.
2007 Rocche Barolo (14.5%):
“I like to drink this now,” says Accomasso.
Tastes volatile, dusty, savory, soulful. Balsalmico, pine needles, sage. Orange peel hinting at oxidation.
2007 Rocche Barolo Riserva:
Dusty nose, with dark bramble. Vegetable minerals and stalky nose (alludes to some stem inclusion for me). Slight cardboard hint on the nose. Dark, oily tones on the soft palate. Dusty red fruit on the finish. As this sits in the glass it gets better, but remains soft. Asked about stems in this 2007, Accomasso says “these are not things we can talk about, I must have my secrets.”
2004 Rocchette Barolo Riserva (14.5%):
Dark fruit, oily. Broad texture. Not as much grip as I might expect (this bottle turns out to have been open for a few days already). Some dusty tones. Orange mandarine. Some grittiness. Good wine.
* 1990 Nebbiolo (from a parcel near Rocche dell’Annunziata, but not labelled here as a Barolo):
This smells delicious. The palate is delicious. An utterly lovely wine, awesome. Bright cherry and rose. Some grittiness. Does have a short finish, though. This tightens some texturally on the palate with time in the glass.
1985 Rocchette Barolo:
Lorenzo is upset about some of the corks failing on this vintage.
Tastes dusty and volatile, but soulful from a bottle that has been open 4-5 days.
