Italiano
Strolling through vintages
Life of Wine – a retrospective of old vintages – left an important impression: Italian wines are heading in a direction unthinkable 20 years ago.
Strolling through different old vintages is the theme of the Life of Wine, event that was held in Rome at the end of last October under the excellent supervision of Roberta Perna and Marco Guelfi, now a seasoned team after five editions. This year’s event was a huge success both in terms of both the number and level of those who attended: sector operators, buyers and many well-versed wine lovers. A good 60 exhibitors took part and brought the current vintage available of their wine, generally the most representative, along with two older vintages. The offerings varied from producer to producer with some vintages very distant from others. It was an excellent occasion to review the history and evolution of certain estate or ascertain how a particular wine has changed, while following the same technical approaches, depending on the harvest and how long it has aged. There was nice selection of top-quality Italian wines although only a few were from Montalcino here was only one Barolo, albeit a great one: Parusso.
It was not possible to taste them all but enough to draw some conclusions. I was very impressed by the new “awareness” among the participating producers with wines that have improved taste-wise over the years thanks to a better winemaking mentality. These producers appear to have a better vision of their objectives and the future which is more in line with a ‘global’ outlook rather than a blind defense of values allegedly tied to tradition. It was a pleasure to ascertain that with many of the older wines not only had the flavor upheld but the aromas remained fresh. Maintaining the freshness of the aroma is becoming increasingly important and this bodes well for the future of Italian wine.
Overall, the wines I tasted had great flavor with a nice acidity, pleasing tannins and an excellent persistence. As for the bouquet, after 15 years the results were not as good. However, the fact that the producers themselves admitted this was a fantastic as well as new and means that they are looking for a solution.
There were some excellent whites that were up to 10 years old and some real gems are available at affordable prices. Time is also doing wonders for wines that were hastily branded as being too woody. In particular I would single out a lovely 2005 vintage of Chardonnay Ca’ del Bosco that was in splendid form at the tasting. Another fantastic wine was the Voglar 2008 from Peter Dipoli, a refined, vertical and extremely textbook Sauvignon. 
Chianti Rufina Riserva 1980 Selvapiana was a wonderful ‘relic’ that, despite an evolved aroma, maintained a very interesting freshness in its flavor. It is a wine that is the product of winemaking methods of its era, without even any malolactic fermentation, and I wonder whether it was not that drinkable when it came out.
The 2006 Montevetrano was marvelous, an icon of the renaissance of reds from the Campania region with its refined balances, elegant tannins and a texture comparable to the world’s great reds. An applause for Giovanna Maccario who brought two vintages of her wonderful Rossese Posaù, 2007 and 2010, both intact and precise to the nose and with a youthful and flavorful mouthfeel.
Another fantastic surprise were the wines made from Albana grapes. The 2011 dry version from Fattoria Zerbina was wonderful with a mouthfeel that was still a bit tannic while the bouquet had begun to lean towards hydrocarbons and Mediterranean brush with a veil of saffron. This latter characteristic was also found, obviously more intense, in the Passito of Giovanna Bissoni whose 2008 has reach a very interesting peak.
There were many other good wines but the most important impression I had was that Italian wines are heading in a direction unthinkable 20 years ago.
