A Visitor from Italy - Jeffrey Chilcott from Marchesi di Gresy

At the beginning of last month I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Chilcott, the cellarmaster for Marchesi di Gresy, who are based in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. The winery is based in Martinenga, Barbaresco which for me is an area that produce some of Italy's greatest and aromatic wines, predominantly from the red grape Nebbiolo, but have added Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay in to there repertoire.

Marchesi di Gresy is made up of four estates, the estate in Martinenga became the property of the Marchesi di Gresy family in 1797, adding to their property in Monte Aribaldo that they had acquired in 1635. They also have properties in Monferrato, La Serra south of Asti and close to it Monte Colombo. Alberto di Gresy in 1973 decided to stop selling his grapes to other merchants which were used to set the benchmark price in the markets of Alba and start to produce his own wines. Included in the property in Martinenga, is the only Barbaresco Cru Monopole which only Marchesi de Gresy can mention on their labels.

Jeffrey had bought a selection of his wines for us to taste covering the Langhe, Monferrato his Barbaresco Cru and single vineyard, there were two wines that really stood out for me, but here are the others. The 2013 Langhe Sauvignon Blanc had some lovely green fruit flavours with a slightly richer texture from the lees stirring, and the perfect touch of acidity. 2012 Villa Martis Langhe Rosso, this is a blend of 60% Nebbiolo and 40% Barbera with french oak and large neutral oak barrels used. It was delicate and aromatic on the nose with some lovely fruit and a well balanced structure from the tannins and acidity.

The last two I tasted were two wines from the Martinenga Monopole, the 2008 Barbaresco Martinenga, this wine was everything you'd expect it to be and possibly even more. With a very pale red colour and a garnet rim showing signs of it's age, it had some lovely dark fruit, smoke, leather and spice aromas, with them all coming through on the palate giving it a meaty character. It still had plenty of soft and silky tannins with just enough acidity to clean them from your palate, making it a very stunning glass of wine. We then tasted the 2005 Barbaresco Camp Gros Martinenga, this single vineyard site is the pride of the estate and has been produced since 1978, only in exceptional vintages though. Considering this was three years older than the previous wine, in the glass it looked and smelt richer and with more depth, it had all the characters of the first Barbaresco but you could be mistaken for it to be a lot younger. This again was a stunning glass of wine and you could see what an exceptional wine this vineyard site can produce, this will last for another 10 years without any problem. Both of these wines were exactly as they should be, but they aren't cheap, ranging from £47 - £54 for the 2008 and £69 - £77 for the 2005.

The first of the two that really caught my eye was the;

2012 Langhe Chardonnay,
I'm not usually the biggest fan of oaked Chardonnay, but this one was stunning, produced from fruit grown on the Martinenga, Monte Aribaldo and La Serra estates it had this lovely bright golden colour to it. The wine starts it's fermentation in Stainless Steel tanks for the first couple of days before then being transferred into oak for further fermentation and maturation. This gave the wine a wonderfully rich and creamy texture with hints of baked green apples, nuts and lanolin, the nutty characters really started to shine over the fruit on the palate with a balanced acidity that stopped it from being over the top and making it a very enjoyable glass of wine.

The second was the;

2007 Monferrato Rosso,
This wine is produced from 100% Merlot which is grown on the La Serra and Monte Colombo estates and was not starting to show any signs of it's age yet. It spends around 30 months in French barriques before spending a further 22 months in bottle the wine is also allowed to go through malolactic fermentation. With all this you get a deep red colour with aromas of macerated dark berry fruits with some hints of spice and smoking coming through, lovely fine and silky tannins and just enough acidity to make them all combine perfectly and produce another stunning glass of wine.

It is hard to find a bad wine in what we tasted, the Barbaresco's were, as I had expected them to be, stunning, but when you compared them by price to the other wines, the Langhe Chardonnay (£25 - £29) and the Monferrato Rosso (£16 - £18) were the real stars that shone out for me. I'd like to say a massive thank you to Jeffrey for taking the time to come and show me his wines.

A Carema from Produttori del Carema

Over the last few months I've been learning about and tasting a lot wines from Italy, who have to produce the broadest range of wines than anywhere else, which is hardly surprising when you think about the fact that they have over a 1,000 indigenous grape varieties.

I've always found Italian wines a little difficult, the reds always tend to have a slightly sour edge to them, which without food can make them difficult to really appreciate, but there was one that really stuck in my mind. That was the 2011 Carema Classico from Produttori del Carema, this is a cooperative that was formed in the 1960's by a handful of producers, to today where they now have 81 producers working together to produce this fantastic from 100% Nebbiolo. 

Carema, the region in Northern Italy which gives it's name to this wine, is located 60 miles north of Turin in the Piemonte region, which is probably better for producing Barolo and Barbaresco also from the Nebbiolo grape.

They ferment the wine in 100% stainless steel vats, leaving the skins in contact with the wine for around 12 days, once complete they then age the wine for 2 years in Oak and then for a further year in bottle.When you pour this wine into your glass the first thing that strikes you is it's very pale ruby red colour, which is starting to develop hints of brick around it's edge. On the nose you get hit by a barrage of spice, nutmeg and cinnamon, then red berries that have been preserved in alcohol, These all come through in your mouth, with the red berries being very obviously sour cherry, with just a little more elegance and subtlety than i'd seen so far, but you also had some Raspberry coming through as well. Combine this with the spice and the plentiful silky tannins and all  the components come together and produce an absolutely stunning wine that rivals anything for twice it's price from Barolo and Barbaresco for me.

A Supermarket Tries Something New

I was sent a press release and two samples from Sainsbury’s the other week, telling me that they had introduced 5 new wines to their Taste the Difference (TTD) range, and that they were the first major supermarket to sell the indigenous grapes, Marzemino and Brachetto. Having read the press release I got quite excited and had a look at the samples I’d been sent, I was surprised (and a little disappointed) to find that I’d been sent the TTD Verdicchio Classico dei Castelli di Jesi and TTD Barbaresco, not the Marzemino or the Brachetto, but never mind, I still had some interesting wines to taste.

As you do, I went for the white first, which had been billed as an alternative to Pinot Grigio, which for me at this price point, is a great place to start, as there are far too many one dimensional and uninteresting Pinot Grios on the market. Produced in the Marche region of Italy on its Adriatic coast, it’s vinified in stainless steel to help keep its freshness.

On pouring you got a pale straw colour, with the fresh aromas of apples and cut grass, on the palate these all came through, with a good level of acidity making a really refreshing wine. It was an uncomplicated, but very pleasant wine which I have to agree is a good alternative to Pinot Grigio.

Moving onto the Barbaresco, this comes from the Langhe hills in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, produced from the indigenous grape Nebbiolo, which is also used in one of the great wines of Italy, Barolo. For its DOGC status it must be aged for a minimum of two years, with a minimum of 12 months must be in oak.

In the glass it had a deep red colour, not quite as dark as I’d have expected being Barolo’s “baby brother”, it did have quite pronounced aged aromas of red fruit, cherries and currants, after the fruit you got the sweet spice of liquorice. On the palate you got the fruit and spice coming at your taste buds in waves, combined with fine, silky tannins and a reasonable amount of acidity, this was all combined perfectly.

These were two interesting wines, the Verdicchio; fresh, fruity and a great alternative to Pinot Grigio all for £5.99, while the Barbaresco was rich and starting to show real signs of complexity for the princely sum of £9.99.