Veronese

It's winter, it is cold and sunny or cold an grey as the weather chooses and that means an ideal, warming, late and long Sunday lunch is in order. The Ox cheeks were cooked long and slow, really long and very slow, such that they fell apart with a deeply satisfying richness and demanded to be over-eaten.

Having cooked Ox cheek previously I wanted something that would pull its weight and, despite having marinated the meat for more than 24 hours in a bottle of Errazuriz Coastal Series Pinot Noir, I went for:

Week V (2109) Masi Campofiorin, Rosso del Veronese IGT 2015. Waitrose £9.74

This did the job very nicely, thank you. In fact so nicely I find myself feeling rather pleased that I bought two bottles and only opened one. It was rich and fruity, in a cherries and berries kind of way, but had good tannins and typical Italian acidity that made it a well-rounded pleasure.

I have for quite a long time been a fan of Valpolicella, in all its forms, as I may have mentioned in the past (not that I expect anyone will have read it) and although this particular bottle is labelled IGT and cannot, therefore, use that name but it is in effect what it is. Made in the Veneto with the three most frequently used Valpolicella grapes: Corvina, Rondinella & Molinara, this wine is a 'supervenitian' for the same reason the wine from Week T (2019) was a Super Tuscan.

Masi first made Campofiorin in 1964 as the prototype for what has become the Ripasso style of Valpolicella. That is, the fermented wine is re-fermented on the pomace left over from the production of either the Amarone or Recioto styles. I definitely banged on about this on 28th June 2015, if you are really bored.

Masi, a producer run by the Boscaini family for six generations, are an innovative bunch as, not only introducing this style of wine, they have also more recently been leading the reintroduction of a near-extinct regional grape variety, Oseleta, which was at the start of the 21st century down to its last 50 acres of vines, near Lake Garda. I was lucky enough to attend a tutored tasting back in September 2016, during the fallow period for my blogging, at the WSET School where a range of Masi wines were shown to illustrate the effect of adding a proportion of Oseleta to the various blends. All of the wines were good with my personal favourite being the Costasera, described by Masi as 'proud, majestic, complex and exuberant...a gentle giant...a benchmark for the Amarone category', which doesn't contain Oseleta so I came away having tasted some excellent wine but being less convinced that Oseleta was the missing magic ingredient. Italy is not short of unusual grape varieties and I was hoping to be more convinced as I like the idea of a winemaker's efforts to maintain local specialities being successful.

Campofiorin will be bought again, especially as at ~£10 a bottle it is good value for money. Costasera may also be bought but at £33 a pop it will need to be for a special occasion. Did I mention it's my birthday next month?

Umberto's again

I have enjoyed exploring wine for around nine years now and found that what started as a simple desire to understand the difference between, for example, Bordeaux and Burgundy or Chianti and Valpolicella, has developed into a seemingly endless voyage of discovery of all manner of unexpected delights.

I have found myself reading not just about grapes and fermentation, but geography, meteorology, history, biology, chemistry, economics, marketing, counterfeiting, fraud, philosophy and politics, amongst other things that I can't recall quickly enough and which in any case would only make an already unnecessarily long list longer.

I have made friends, and lost others, through the sharing of opinions and the debating of the merits or otherwise of particular styles and bottles. I have learned from many, disagreed with some, but always enjoyed the interests and experiences of others who have an appreciation of the juice and where it can lead.

The romance attached to some wines or their producers can be beguiling, as long as it is not transparently invented solely for promotional purposes. There was an element of romanticised history involved in this week's selection bought from Umberto's in Thame.

Week U (2019) Da Vinci Vermentino IGT 2016. Umberto's £12.50

As I noted last week, this wine was bought alongside its Tuscan cousin as part of a 'bin-end' pair, marked down from significantly higher original retail prices.

The romantic history attached to this Vermentino was that it came from vineyards originally owned by Leonardo Da Vinci and now in the hands of his great, great, great, etc until there are enough greats, grand-daughter. I may have misheard the precise details, but the strong family association was certainly part of the sales pitch, even if that was nothing to do with the decision I made to buy the bottle. That was much more to do with the fact that I like Vermentino and I like the salesman.

The wine is good. Bright and lively with citrus and floral aromas leading to some stone fruit flavours and a pleasing, tropical finish. For the apparently discounted price it is very good value and is the kind of wine that I would be happy to have on hand for any occasion where a white might be enjoyed.

Now, back to the provenance. Armed with Google (other search engines are available) it would not take even the least experienced of investigators to challenge the notion that the owner of the vineyard or winery responsible for the wine is a part of Leonardo's legacy. Yes, it comes from Vinci, the town from which Leo was Da, but it seems the winery itself, Cantine Leonardo Da Vinci, was established in 1961 by a group of 30 farmers who saw the benefits of forming a co-operative. In 1965 they first made wine in barrels and were putting it in bottles from 1971. The number of growers has increased since then to around 200 who together account for the production of over 4 million bottles of Da Vinci wines every year.

So, perhaps not a long-established family firm although it is of course possible that the great, great, etc, grand-family member was one of the original 30 farmers, or even a later entrant. But g-g-g-grand-daughter seems unlikely as LDV had no documented offspring, but does have documented records of behaviour (and later speculation) that any offspring at all would have been unlikely.

Does any of this matter? No, not a jot. In fact it is quite a good example of how the simple act of purchasing a single bottle of wine can lead to unexpected places, as long as you let it.

Toscano

Despite Saturday morning being a little drab and grey, The One and I decided to take a trip to Thame, by way of a change of scenery. Whilst there we visited a couple of kitchen shops, a ladies outfitters (where a very attractive woollen poncho-type-top was acquired) a supermarket and our favourite deli: Umberto's.  I mentioned Umberto's last week as the source on two separate occasions of Franciacorta and it is a coincidence that this week's pick was also found there.

Umberto is a charming man who makes shopping in his deli a very enjoyable experience. He has great enthusiasm for everything he sells and make his customers feel they have made great choices, which is as it should be.

I wasn't intending to buy any wine there yesterday, but he had two bottles which he explained were 'bin ends' and that I could have them both for £25, instead of the original £30+ prices that they had been marked up with. The white, a Vermentino, came from Leonardo Da Vinci's estate, so that must be very expensive....

Week T (2019) Dogajolo Carpineto, 2016. Majestic £11.99 (£9.99 mix six).

This is a 'Super-Tuscan'. A bold claim when you consider that Dante, Galileo, Puccini, Da Vinci, Machiavelli, Boccaccio and many more all came from that part of the world. However, in this case the 'super' doesn't mean bigger and better than, rather it means above or at least outside the rules that determined how wines of Tuscany could be made until the 1970's. At that time some producers of Chianti felt the rules were too restrictive and that being limited to Sangiovese as the permitted grape variety was preventing the improvement and development of wine styles in the region and so started making wines using other 'international' varieties even though this meant they had to label the wines as IGT rather than DOC. That is to say, they gave up some marketing advantage in order to follow their own preferences.

This Super-Tuscan is a blend of 70% Sangiovese and 30% Cabernet and 'other varieties', where the exact percentages vary with vintage to give the producer, Carpineto, the ability to manage the flavour profile to get the best balance each year.

Carpineto describe the Dogajolo range as their Baby Super-Tuscans, as they are designed to be drunk young. Interestingly, they recommend a serving temperature of 15-16C in the first year (after production) and then a warmer18-20C thereafter. At the time of drinking we are into year two, so I have not lightly chilled this bottle and will never know if the advice is useful!

We drank it with a meal of sausages, Brussels sprouts, peanut-butter sweet potato gratin and a game of cards, so hardly a classic Tuscan pairing, however, it was very drinkable, soft and fruity and surprisingly well-developed for a young wine.

Umberto's slow-dried pasta, olives, Cannoli and other cakes, pastries and sweetmeats are all outstanding and whilst I will be a little cautious with respect of wine price labels I will certainly look forward to our next visit.

Sparkling - Franciacorta

Happy New Year!

After a three year rest and following the termination of any kind of 9-to-5  style professional life, let's pick up where we left off. That means we need an S, as long as we ignore the only 2016 entry that crept in below. If I had returned to my game in strict adherence to my own unnecessary rules, I would have needed to find a red S to follow the white Rousanne from 27th December 2015 but, as you will see from the title of this week's entry, I have decided to play much faster and looser than before. So, S is for Sparkling.

This seems appropriate as for the festivities to welcome 2019 into the world we had a small celebratory gathering and the sparkling that I chose to mark the occasion was:

Week S (2019) Tesco Finest Franciacorta DOCG NV. Tesco £15.

I have become something of a fan of Franciacorta since first hearing of it when studying for the WSET exams during which time I had read about it as an exotic-sounding Italian alternative to Champagne, but for a long time could not find any to buy. In fact, although I had completed the diploma level unit on sparkling wines in 2011, it was not until 2015 that I chanced upon some in Majestic. That was Berlucchi Cuvee Imperial which I shared with a friend and we were both very impressed.

Since then I have also bought the Rosato version of the same wine, from Umberto's Deli in Thame, and also some excellent Lantieri from the same shop.

I was delighted to see that Tesco had started to import Franciacorta in late 2017 and even more delighted when I asked in the Aylesbury branch if they had any to replenish the empty shelves, to find that it had been put on offer at £13 a bottle!

So what it is all the fuss about? It is a traditional method sparkling wine (don't say 'Champagne Method / Methode Champenoise' or the French will be after you, even if that is what it is) that comes from Lombardy in the North-West of Italy.

The grapes used are a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Nero & Pinot Blanc, the last of these being the only variety not used in Champagne, and they have been selected under strict rules (so Tesco say) and lightly pressed before fermentation in small wooden barrels by the producer, Castel Faglia, who farm 17 hectares of vines in small garden-like plots.

The results are great, especially considering the price tag. A Champagne showing the same crisp flavours, backed with some appealing Brioche tones, as this would cost twice as much.

I look forward to finding more examples of Franciacota, perhaps en-route to the slow food and cheese festival in Bra, Piedmont, later this year and of which I will write more in the coming weeks.