Veneto - Lombardia

Thursday 6th of September.

Looking forward to this trip, from Thursday the 6^th till Sunday the 9^th of September, to mainly the Veneto region, the start of it was certainly horror.

Beginning by having to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, a 1 and 1/2 hour trip to the airport, flying, arriving in Milan Malpensa at 10:15 and having to wait an 1 hour for my colleagues coming from the Netherlands. Then travelling by bus for 2 and 1/2 hours to the hotel in ‘San Pietro In Cariano’, where we had lunch before getting to our room at 4 PM… A bit too much to start this trip.

However, from that point forward the trip went from marvellous to ….

Thank you Federdoc, but next time, please try to organise everything better, starting from choosing the  airport to the travelling distance between the winegrowers.

After settling down, we visited the winery of the estate/agriturismo Buglioni, where a collaborator of the company took us around the estate and cellar, and telling us a bit of the history of the wine house, which started recently in 1993 with the help of winemaker Bertoni.

Making a range of wines from 36 Ha of vineyard, we only tasted 3 wines before and 3 during lunch. The remaining wines we tasted one evening later, coming home around 11h15 PM.

The wines are at least interesting, going from average to good. With a bit more time and experience they could be able to make very good wines, although we didn’t get bad wines perhaps the sparkling rosé was too sweet to our taste.

The wines:     

• Il Vigliacco;    sparkling rosé, 100 % molinara, methodo charmat.
• Lo Spudorato; sparkling white wine, 85 % garganega, 15 % durella, meth. charmat.
• Il Disperato;    white wine from 100 % garganega.
• Il Valpolicella, Classico DOC; corvina, corvinone, rondinella and croatina; vinificated for 6 months in steel and 2 in bottle.
• Il Ruffiano, Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC; corvina, corvinone, rondinella and croatina; partly appasimento, matured for 8 months in tonneau and 3 months in bottle.
• Il Bugiardo, Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC Ripasso; corvina, corvinone, rondinella and oseleta; partly appasito for 40 days while the superiore is made ripasso for the 2nd time on the vinacce d’Amarone, matured for 12 months in tonneau and 6 months in bottle.
• L’Amarone, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC; Corvina, corvinone, rondinella and oseleta; appasito till half January, matured in barriques and bottle for at least 4 years.
• Il Recioto, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico DOC; Corvina, corvinone, rondinella and oseleta; made ripasso till half February, matured in partly barriques, then steel and bottle for at least 18 months.
• Il Monello, Bianco appasito 100 % garganega. White sweet wine.

In time we have to visit this estate again.

In the evening we went to Verona for diner at a place I know very well, but now with changed management, the Antico caffè Dante, now a restaurant owned by the Tommasi family.

With the weather, it was very pleasant to have diner outside on the terrace. 

A nice end to the first day.

Friday the 7th of September.

After a good night sleep, we went to the Lombardia region, to the Azienda Agricola Ricci Curbastri where the owner Riccardo was expecting us for a visit and tasting. The man is also the president of the organisation Federdoc Europe, which organises the legacy of DOC etc…

We tasted the whole range of his Franciacorta wines, and we were all very satisfied with the quality of the wines, especially because he makes the wines dryer than most of his colleagues. 




A very special mention for the cuvee Gualberto, only made in magnum bottle, a wine dedicated to his father, a wine that aged for 5 years under 1 atm. pressure before making the 2^nd fermentation in the bottle.

After this we went for an extended lunch at restaurant Antico Mulino di Rovato, with the wines of Ricci Curbastri, and because they have also an estate in Emiglia Romagna, we also tasted these red wines, ranging from a simple antipasto wine to a good quality wine. Maybe at an interesting price.

The wines:      

• Franciacorta Brut; very lively wine, for every day aperitif.
• Satèn Brut 2007, 100 % chardonnay, very nice satin wine, long aftertaste
• Extra Brut 2007, 50 % chardonnay and 50 % pinot nero, very nice in the glass, very expressive nose and very complex in the mouth with a long aftertaste.
• Senza Dosage 2004, Very beautiful, great taste and very long aftertaste.
• Extra Brut 2002, very good evolution, for people who like older wines, a bit to much CO2 in the mouth.
• Satèn Brut 2004, confirmation of quality
• Rosé Brut, 80 % pinot nero, 20 % chardonnay, although I usually don’t  like rosé because of to much sugar  (to sweet), it was very good, mouthfilling, dry and fresh, a revelation. A good start at lunch at “Il Vecchio Mulino” Rovato. Very nice lunch. Related to this restaurant is an other restaurant worth mentioning, rest. “Due Colombe”, 1* Michelin.We tasted also 3 red wines at lunch from the same direction from easy to good. Colle di Faenza, Col More Rontana, Colle Terre Monte.              

Of course we arrived late at the Zenato winery in Peschiera where Alberto Zenato was welcoming us.

The winery only started in the 1960’s in the Garganega zone with 40 Ha, they later acquired vineyards in the Valpolicella region,Sant’Ambrogio, and now have around 70 Ha in total. 

They also buy grapes for making wine like the IGT Venezia, of which 70 % is for export.

Also they have a wine-line named Sansonia, a wine made by the mother and one sister in the Lugana region.

The wines:        

• Lugana Spumante; 90 % trebbiano Lugana;
• Lugana Santa Christina 2011; 100 % trebbiano Lugana
• Lugana San Benedetto 2010;
• Cormi 2008; merlot and corvina
• Cresasso 2006; corvina Veronese IGT
• Amarone Classico 2007; classic wine, not bad but lacking a bit of everything.
• Sansonia 2006; 100 % merlot, a wine they compare with a Pomerol, although the wine is made well, because of drying the grapes it is impossible to compare, there is lack of freshness, acidity and complexity.
• Amarone 2005; too much tanines, lack of body and complexity, after-taste only tanines.
• Amarone 1998, better than the one before but also lack of body, already bit of reduction.
• Recioto di Valpolicella 2007, sweet red wine, ….
• Sansonia Lugana; at diner, not quite the one we ware waiting for.

We had diner in Peschiera at “Trattoria Al Combattente”, with the wines of Zenato. Sadly the trattoria is popular with the tourists staying in at the camping’s nearby. It was not bad but….

I know there is a market for this sort of wines but I think they must be able to make better traditional wines. Perhaps in a few years we could visit this estate again.

Saturday the 8^th of September.

In the morning Pier Angelo Tommasi came to pick us up at the agriturismo and took us to see 2 vineyards in the Valpolicella region. 

The Grolleta and the Conca d’Oro (golden shell), two very nice exposed vineyards, and a breathtaking view of the Valpolicella region.

Valpolicella comes from old words signifying: Val(le) which means valley; Poli, many (a lot of); and Cella, like cellar.

This winery started only in 1902 with a few Ha by Giacomo Tommasi. 

Now the 4^th generation continues the company with 79 projects, 3 vineyards in the Valpolicella, 2 in Toscana and 40 Ha in the province of Verona and other projects.

Giancarlo is the wine maker, Pier Angelo takes care of marketing and export, Piergiorgio does the domestic marketing, Stefano is the regional manager, Francesca and Erica do the administration, and Michela, Barbara and Paola are in charge of the Villa Quaranta, centro benessere.

After the visit to the different cellars we had a tasting of some wines.

The wines:       

• Valpolicella Classico Superiore Rafaèl 2010; young fruity wine, very well made wine to start with.
• Ripasso Valpolicella 2010; nice wine, discrete nose, nice overripe fruit, very pleasant in the mouth, with plenty to enjoy.
• Amarone 2008; Good fruit, intense, nice maturity, very good balance and length.
• Amarone 2003, more power but warm (hot year), lacks a bit of balance.
• Amarone 2000; nice evolution, impression of old barrel, smooth, velvety but a little bit missing in the middle.

This really was a good example to compare the evolution of the wines.

We had a very nice lunch at the Villa Quaranta, a very nice resort, with a few other wines.

They don’t search to make extremely great wines but they certainly do make a great range of wines with good quality and at a good price.

After this nice visit we went to Bardolino, the Zeni winery.

A couple of young girls took us around the wine museum and the cellars, where we tasted a range of wines. They were well trained and could tell us a lot, but unfortunately no one of the estate took the effort to be present. I don’t understand why they invited us.

If they would take as much effort to make wine as they do for the wine museum, perhaps they would reach other markets than the tourist one.

We had a nice diner in Bardolino with a view on the lake Garda, but because of the extended lunch  not very much was eaten or drunk.

We went back to the agriturismo to taste the rest of the wines of  the Bugiardo estate, like the "Bugiardo" which means in fact "the liar".

Sunday the 9^th of September.

After these intense visits, a bit tired, we took the rest of our courage and went to the winery of  Tenuta Sant’Antonio in the east of Valpolicella. The trip was certainly worth it.

The estate was started by the father Antonio and is now lead by the 4 sons:
Paolo the winemaker,
Massimo takes the vineyards under his control, Armando commerce and
Tiziano administration. 

Armando took us around this family estate.

After the visit to the vineyard, where we could see very damaged vines and grapes, they think of a loss of 50 %. 

We visited the cellars and then had a tasting.

The wines:      

• Soave Fontana 2011; 90 % garganega and chardonnay; very well made wine for the aperitif with lots of minerality.
• Soave Monte Celiani 2010; 100 % garganega, made for 90 % in steel and 10 % in barrel; a bit more colour and nose, a bit too much new barrel, nice taste, a wine for lunch or diner.
• Soave Superiore Vecchie Vigne 2010; 100 % garganega, 100 % made in barrel (1 – 5 years old barrels); very nice colour, very nice expressions in the nose, minerality, clean, nice balance and length, great wine.
• Telos IGT 2011; 80 % garganega and chardonnay; wine made without sulphites, (biological), first impressions are that we taste sauvignon. Big discussion over the quality of the wine, but half of us found the wine good and at least interesting. Must try again sometime.
• Valpolicella 2010; 70 % corvina and rondinella; nice colour, fruity, spices and pepper, simple but good wine to start with.
• Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso Monte Garbi 2009; 70 %corvina 20 % rondinella, croatina and oseleta; beautiful wine in nose and mouth.
• Valpolicella Superiore La Bandina 2007; wine made with fresh grapes (not appasito) and 2 years on oak, very good and balanced wine.
• Amarone Selezione Castagnedi 2008; Nice full, rich and ripe wine. Great.
• Amarone Campo dei Gigli 2006; nice rich wine, but I prefer the first one.
• Lilium Est, Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva 2004; Nice great wine but they didn’t have the knowledge they have now, one to look out for.

 This visit was certainly worth our time, before beginning our (more than 3 hours) trip to the airport.

All in all, a nice few days with lots of different things. We look out for the next trip.

Timé