Terroir Vino Part 2: The Memories That Remained

Thinking back to part deux of the event, I am reminded of all the wonderful people I met, of laughter, of smiles, of rosy faces. I took notes on all the details of the wine that was tasted and the methods used but what really stands out to me now is the warm and welcoming atmosphere. Robin, a twitter friend and British expat was the one who really made me consider attending #TerroirVino and I couldn’t wait to finally meet him! He has his own wine tour business in Ferrara and it was nice to see him as enthusiastic as I was to meet all these quality winemakers. (and most of all open-minded)

Originally I wanted to stay as close as possible to Piemonte so I could discover potential wineries in the pursuit of doing wine tours in the near future. However, the fun-loving and incredibly cultured TireBouchon swept me up with his posse: Luigi Fracchia (Sommelier) and wine/tourism expert Fabio D’Uffizi leading me over to the Sardegna area to taste Tenute Dettori’s Cannonau.  Before we tasted it, Fabio swore that we were just about to experience wine tasting like no other. A powerful original red wine with a pleasant herbal taste of oregano! BOOM! He was right! You could just imagine the hot, dry and breezy Sardegna with its natural herbs sprouting up from the land. The winemaker told us that they only use cement vats just like they have done since ancient times. This was probably the most memorable wine of the day! I’ve never tasted anything like it.

Next stop was at Lombardia’s Colline della Stella stand where I fell in love with both the winemaker’s friendly Brescian accent and with my favorite delicate Franciacorta of the day Dossaggiozero “no dosage”. The wine “posse” enjoyed making fun of my swirling sparkling wines which they said only released too many bubbles!  Big NO NO! 

We got carried away at the Franciacorta stand like kids in a candy store, enthusiastic to taste these little treasures, each with different characteristics. I happened to glance at my watch and oops! It was already 3:00 and time to literally run off to our second #ddb official grassroots tasting. This was a white Fiano di Avellino tasting where once again we were able to taste 7 different expressive Fianos. Generally speaking I was quite amazed by the strong smoky flavors in these wines comes from its volcanic terroir in Campania..just think Pompeii! I sat next to a really nice girl named Elisa from Santa Margherita in Veneto and we compared notes on the wines and both agreed we loved the Vadiaperti, smoky but delicate. I think after this tasting I had almost reached my limit but I still had lots more winemakers to meet so off we went!

Continuing my Piemonte “giro”, I stopped at Poderi Roset from Verduno. The Verduno wineries interested me because not for long we will be right around the corner from each other! Apart from loving their Pelaverga wine label I really enjoyed their Barbera together with their friendly laid back personality.

The day flew by and unfortunately had to come to an end. I had to strategically choose the last few stands to check out before leaving. One of these was Vajra, whose Freisa and Barolo I had already heard great things about. By then, the doors were open to the public and the place was packed! But Aldo Vajra himself was so patient and generous, offering me a taste of his Barolo amongst the crowd. I can’t wait to visit his “cantina” and have more time to discover his wines. After capping off the day with Barolo it was time to say goodbye and I amusingly had to walk to the train station hiccuping with my empty wine glass in hand looking like an alcoholic!  Thanks to all the people who made this event a fun learning experience for me:) Until next year….