Michele Chiarlo 2013 Moscato d’Asti Nivole Michele Chiarlo’s extensive vineyards stretch over more than 272 acres of Piedmont, including the hills surrounding Canelli, which offer an ideal microclimate for growing Moscato. Grapes are hand harvested from select vineyards with southern exposure and placed in pneumatic presses, followed by a slow fermentation using natural yeasts to a low level of alcohol. Unfermented Moscato grape must is then added to fine tune the sugar levels. Finally, the wine is immediately bottled in order to preserve the characteristically aromatic, sweet fruit fragrance of the Moscato Bianco grape. The result is a wine with such a delicate finesse that Michele Chiarlo named it Nivole…
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Caparzo 2005 Brunello Di Montalcino The name of the estate apparently derives from “Ca’ Pazzo”, as shown on some ancient maps. The estate covers an area of 190 hectares, 54 of which are vineyards, 4 are of olive groves, 87 of which are wooded and 45 of which are to be planted with new vines. Caparzo is the only estate-bottled producer of Brunello di Montalcino to have estate vineyards on all five sides of the hill of Montalcino, ensuring that no matter what climatic challenges effect one side, the other vineyards will more than compensate. More than thirty years have passed since the first vines were planted and the first…
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Antinori Toscana Tignanello 2005 The Antinori family has been involved in the production of wine for over six centuries, ever since, in 1385, Giovanni di Piero Antinori entered as a member, the “Arte Fiorentina”, the Winemakers’ Guild of the city of Florence. During this entire long period, thorough twenty six generations, the family has always directly managed this work with courageous and, at times, innovative decisions, but always maintaining, unaltered, a fundamental respect for tradition and for the territory in which they have operated. Today the firm is run by Marquis Piero Antinori with the support of his three daugthers, Albiera, Allegra, and Alessia, directly involved in the work of…
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Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2012 Not long ago I went to a tasting and tried the Tenuta San Guido wines. They offer three noteworthy reds, the famous Sassicaia and two additional labels; Guidalberto and LeDifese. LeDifese, their lower priced wine, is a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese blend and has been produced by the winery since 2003 and is an excellent offering. Their second label to Sassicaia is Guidalberto. Mario Incisa, creator of Sassicaia, was inspired by his great-uncle Leopoldo Incisa della Rocchetta and motivated by his great great grandfather Guidalberto della Gherardesca, pioneer of modern agriculture, explains the choice of the name and creation of a new wine in 2000, Guidalberto.…
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Michele Chiarlo 2009 Barolo Tortoniano The Chiarlo style has always that of producing greatly elegant and complex wines with a tendency to excellent longevity and at the same time, featuring all the characteristics of the vineyards and soil from which they claim their origin. In the cellar, winemakers Stefano Chiarlo and Gianni Meleni pursue the goal of being faithful to the Chiarlo style: a moderate and careful use of wood for their red wines so that the varietal and the soil characteristics remain evident. Michele Chiarlo worked tenaciously together with other prestigious producers to raise the level of the noble Barolo, making it less austere and with smoother tannins, but…
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Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto 2013 Not long ago I went to a tasting and tried the Tenuta San Guido wines. They offer three noteworthy reds, the famous Sassicaia and two additional labels; Guidalberto and LeDifese. LeDifese is a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese blend and has been produced by the winery since 2003. LeDifese is their lowest priced wine and is an excellent offering, however today I will be commenting on the 2013 Guidalberto, their second label to Sassicaia. If Mario Incisa, creator of Sassicaia, was inspired by his great-uncle Leopoldo Incisa della Rocchetta, then his son Nicolò, director of Tenuta San Guido since forty years, has been motivated by Guidalberto…
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Michele Chiarlo 2011 Barbera D’Asti Le Orme The Chiarlo style has always that of producing greatly elegant and complex wines with a tendency to excellent longevity and at the same time, featuring all the characteristics of the vineyards and soil from which they claim their origin. In the cellar, winemakers Stefano Chiarlo and Gianni Meleni pursue the goal of being faithful to the Chiarlo style: a moderate and careful use of wood for their red wines so that the varietal and the soil characteristics remain evident. Among the red wines, the winemakers attended to the importance of the Barbera d’Asti wine that they transformed, from the 1970s, by being the…
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Tenuta San Guido 2011 & 2013 Le Difese The Tenuta San Guido is a 7,500-acre estate located in the province of Livorno on the western coastal outskirts of Tuscany near the village of Bolgheri. Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta acquired it through his marriage to Clarice della Gherardesca in 1940. Tenuta San Guido cultivates fruit from several plots scattered around Bolgheri with an annual production of approximately 180,000 bottles. They produce three notable wines Sassicaia, which began in 1944, when Mario Incisa acquired a number of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc vine cuttings and planted them on a sloping hillside of the San Guido estate, the second wine, Guidalberto, was…
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Renato Ratti 2009 Barolo Marcenasco In 1934 Renato Ratti is born. After studying enology in Alba he “emigrates” to Brazil where he is put in charge of the production of Vermouths and sparkling wines for Cinzano of Sao Paolo. The experiences gained operating in such a vast, and challenging country as Brazil will prove fundamental in the development of an innovative outlook, one that will characterize his later work back in the hills of Piedmont’s Langhe region. In 1965 Renato Ratti returns to Piedmont and buys his first vineyard for the production of Barolo: a small plot in the historical zone of Marcenasco, right below the Abbey of L’Annunziata (Our…
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Serradenari 2005 Barolo The name of the farmhouse, Serradenari, harks back to centuries ago, when the Black Death forced the peasants of Barolo and La Morra to leave their lands and take refuge on the crest, taking with them all their savings – hence, the name Serradenari, from “Sara D’nè,” which in the local dialect means “sierra of money.” The Diatto-Negri family has owned Serradenari since the late 19th century, they were entrepreneurs in Turin, where they produced Italy’s first automobile in the late 1800s, and Serradenari was their country estate. But year after year the Diatto-Negri family started exporting the wine it produced almost as a hobby. It was…