From left : Mr. Federico Cerretto of Cerretto (Piemonte), Mr. Nicolas Belfrage (Master of Wine)
My palate is more acquainted with Old World wine, Italian wine being one of my favorites, especially Barolo. When I received the email from Watson’s Wine for the many tastings and dinners they were hosting this week, my first choice was the Italian Wine tastings.
The tastings was led by Nicolas Belfrage, Master of Wine along with three vineyard owners. We tasted 8 wines – 1 sparkling, 1 white and 6 red wine. The sequence of the tastings was:
Fattori Pinot Grigio Classico Valparadisco 2008- Ceretto Barolo Zonchera 2004
- Le Machiole Paleo Rosso 2005
- Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino 2004
- Barone Ricasoli Casalferro Rosso 2005
-
Barone Ricasoli Castello di Brolio 2006
- Tommaso Bussola Amarone 2003
There were 2 wines that left a stronger impression on me – the Pinot Grigio and the Amarone.
The first thing that we noticed on the Pinot Grigio was the color of the wine. Nicolas Belfrage also pointed out the color was not the light yellow one would expect. On the nose, it was very aromatic with floral. On the palate it showed grapefruit, toast and the finish was quite long with a sweet after taste. Mr. Belfrage added this would be a great wine with dim sum.
The Amarone was the other wine that stood out. I had the impression that it would be a sweet wine because of its vinification. The main grape used in making Amarone is Corvina; the wines are made from semi-dried grapes. It is difficult to find vintage chart on Amarone because there are 2 factors influencing the quality of the wine – vintage and the weather condition at the time of drying the grapes.
The Amarone we tasted was dry; it showed raisin, dried prune and dark rum. The finish was long and it reminded me of Port.
It was an informative session and well spent Thursday evening!
Grape Wine Journey 
Leave a Reply