Feeling a little overwhelmed about writing this post, I decided to follow organizer/creator Fillipo Ronco’s advice and start from the beginning talking bit by bit about the grand wine event called Terroir Vino. What initially attracted me there was the #ddb (degustazione dal basso) a grassroots wine tasting and discussion tagged with the motto “no gurus, no idols!” When I heard about this idea I didn’t hesitate to hop onto the Genova train “sola” with notebook, camera, flip video and wine glass in hand.
TerroirVino vocalizes a common spirit of enthusiasm for quality wine and most importantly without airs. It is an event that involves carefully selected winemakers from all over Italy with high caliber wines which express their originality, terroir and emotion.
There were many fun ideas in addition to Monday’s tasting like #Bwd Baratto Wine Day, a personal wine exchange and #gwc A Garage Wine Contest. Like I said earlier, what interested me the most was #ddb, where we could hear about winemakers and experts talk about wine in an easygoing way .
The first tasting of the day was with the charismatic Gaspare Buscemi from Friuli. He was chosen to speak at this event for his in-depth practical knowledge acquired through decades of experience. Buscemi is notable for his dedication to a traditionally natural approach to enology. I couldn’t wait to hear him speak about this philosophy and taste the outcome in a vertical tasting of sparkling and white wines, some of which were over 20 years old!
- Perle d’Uva Frizzante Naturale bottled in 2001 made from Pinot Bianco and Ribolla Gialla. Ribolla is generally a dry, fresh and pleasantly acidic wine to drink.
- Perle d’Uva Frizzante Naturale bottled in 1998 made with ’96-’97 Cuvée.
- Perle d’Uva Frizzante Naturale bottled in 1991
- RiBolla Frizzante Naturale bottled in 1987. Excellent! Especially for its vintage for a white!
- Alture Bianco Scelta di Collina Igt Venezia Giulia 2009. These were not sparkling and on this one I got a huge floral nose and a soft almond finish.
- Alture Bianco Scelta di Collina Igt Venezia giulia 2006. Evolved incredibly in a matter of minutes!
- Alture bianco scelta di collina Igt Venezia giulia 2002.
- Riserva Massima di Alture Bianco 1987. The ’87 did it once again, proving that time only enhanced the wine in development and complexity. A crazy intense nose, gold hue and a more buttery mouth-feel.
It was a little hard for me to follow all of this in Italian but from what I understand, Buscemi does everything uniquely by:
1) striving for wine to be an expression of the winemaker himself and terroir, not necessarily for the mass consumer.
2) Grapes are picked when fully mature and sugar comes from the must rather than added sugars.
3) He closes the bottles with pure cork and tops it off with a crown cap.
4) He takes great care in not allowing the must to become oxidized. The quality of the must respects the grape.
5) It is important that when the bubbles go away, you are left with a good base wine. No cover up bubbles.
6) He uses no controlled fermentation.
7) Uses either a minimum amount or no sulfites. Performed a taste test of his wines with and without sulfites and preferred the one without sulfites. It is a sign and proof of the quality of its production in all phases.
8) He invented his own winemaking machines which allow him to use a minimum quantity of sulfites by paying special attention to the must.
I know these descriptions are not very technical but when I asked him afterwards how to taste sparkling wines, and how you can differentiate these wines he told me, “there are 4 types of wine: Red,White, Good and Bad. That is all you need to know”. His simplicity and passion comforted me and reminded me that even if some artisan wines may not be top flight wines, it is more important that they can convey emotion.
so this is where you’ve been…