Noir by Tenuta Mazzolino

We are in Oltrepò Pavese, and Tenuta Mazzolino opens the doors of its newly restored villa and celebrates the 40th anniversary of its flagship wine, Noir, pure Pinot Noir, with a vertical tasting.

Oltrepò Pavese is a beautiful territory and, with its 3,200 hectares planted with Pinot Noir, it is the European area with the largest area for this vine, excluding France of course. It has been cultivated since the nineteenth century and exploited in its eclecticism to make still, sparkling, classic method and Martinotti method sparkling wines, or still reds in both youthful steel and elevated wood-aged versions. Perhaps it is this abundance of possibilities that makes one lose focus on the wine a bit.

This is not the case with Tenuta Mazzolino, purchased in the late 1970s by banker Enrico Braggiotti, grandfather of the current owners, who focused from the beginning on Pinot Noir with French clones. Thanks in part to enlightening dinners with friends Gino Veronelli and Giacomo Bologna, the focus was a great red, the Noir. First official vintage 1985 but the first bottles date back to '82. "It cost 28,000 lire and everyone called him crazy," says granddaughter Francesca. "But grandfather was French-Levantine and his wife Parisian, his reference was Burgundy.

Francesca Seralvo, formerly a lawyer, is the one who, among 12 grandchildren, was chosen by her grandfather to lead the estate, which her mother Sandra had been in charge of since 1995. The estate is located in Corvino San Quirico on what was locally known as "the Pinot Noir hill," clay soils with steep slopes and chalky-limestone veins; 20 hectares under vine (plus one planted last year) surrounding the manor house. A nineteenth-century building that was completely restored during the lock down to allow the gatherings of this large family "as in grandfather's time," chides Francesca who, upon grandfather's passing in 2019, took over the winery together with her parents. It was in the 19th-century cellar that the barrique cellar was built in 2002, with extensions that did not distort the structure. 228-liter Remond Barrique, Burgundian style.

"Fundamental to the history of Noir was the meeting in 1998 between Grandpa Enrico and Kiriakos Kynigopoulos, a young Greek winemaker who lived and worked in Beaune and about whom Grandpa had read," Francesca says. Those were the years when the new Burgundy was being thought about, and Kiriakos' ideas convinced Enrico, who persuaded him to collaborate with the winery. His advice was instrumental in defining that oh-so-Burgundian style that characterizes Noir.

Since 2016, Francesca has chosen to work with her Stefano Malchiodi, oenologist and agronomist, who is entrusted with the winery management. A figure who, working alongside Francesca, has continued the path traced by Kynigopoulos, thanks also to frequent trips to Burgundy and exchanges with local producers.

The Noir comes from a vineyard of less than 2 hectares about sixty years old, replanted over the years with great continuity in clones, of French origin. Very low yields, around 45 quintals per hectare. Grapes are harvested in boxes, the crusher has been abolished: after destemming, the whole berry goes cascading into steel vessels, at 4°C for 7-9 days to keep fermentation from starting, it is an infusion rather than an extraction. Fermentation is at temperatures kept low (24-25°) for the least possible extraction. Maturation is for 12 months in 20% new wood.

For the 40th anniversary of the winery's flagship wine, a vertical tasting of 9 vintages was organized, of which there are very few bottles left. To read the sheets, click on the wine name.

• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 1988
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 1990
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 1995
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 1998
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 2003
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 2008
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 2012
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 2017
• Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero Noir 2019 

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