A White New Year’s

It took only a phone call from none other than Doctor Wine himself to radically change the color of my New Year’s holiday from a ruby-red leaning towards garnet to a more or less bold, straw-yellow leaning towards golden-yellow for the botrytis and late harvest dessert wines. I had never ‘paired’ work with the holidays before but in this case the reason was simple: to take part in the Orvieto Winter Jazz Festival. My role was to conduct, from December 29 to January 1, four wine tasting centered on the discovery and/or rediscovery of one of Italy’s best-known white wines worldwide that is currently undergoing a profound revamp: Orvieto.

At the center of this is the Orvieto diVino (divine) organization that, among others, includes the Orvieto producers’ association. Within Orvieto diVino is a scientific committee composed of people of undeniable importance like Professor Attilio Scienza, enologist Riccardo Cotarella, our Doctor Wine Daniele Cernilli and other leading experts from the fields of research and communication. The recommendations from this committee are almost religiously applied by many producers who thus create the critical mass needed to meet market demand. The recommendations for the most part regard the choice of grape clones and vineyard yields per hectare, which are decidedly lower than those set by regulations governing the wine’s production. The clones are for the most part the less-productive Procanico variations (T34) as well as Grechetto. These two varieties together represent 60% of the total although many producers are now leaning more towards having a higher percentage of Grechetto.

The tastings were a big hit with the public and there was a waiting list for the 80 places available per tasting. This was also the first time I saw concrete contributions by a local government, which in this case provided a wonderful location for the tastings, the beautiful lobby of the Mancinelli Theatre. Of no less importance was the contribution of city restaurants that each provided a dish to pair with the wines. Altogether a great example of teamwork.

In regard to the wines, I was pleasantly surprised by the great leap forward in quality found in the latest vintages. But more important was to see how the area has found a way to make itself known. The appellation of Orvieto Classico can be divided into three macro-areas. The one to the south, where the Paglia river joins the Tiber, has a volcanic, tuff stone soil, the one in the middle has a more sandstone in the soil, while to the north, towards the town of Allerona, it has more clay. Both the Procanico and Grechetto wines are influenced by these compositions with aromas that have fresher notes of sage, elder and white flowers, together with a higher acidity, in those produced with grapes cultivated at the higher altitudes to the south, while the flavor becomes thicker with less acidity and a greater richness in those grown near Allerona. The aroma in the latter case is similar with notes of yellow flowers, as well as darker ones, with yellow and white fruit. In the tastings, these differences were finally recognizable, a sign that winemakers are learning to express the land.

The estates participating in the tastings were: Argillae, Barberani, Bigi, Cantine Altarocca, Cantina Cardetto, Cantina Monrubio, Castello della Sala, Castello di Corbara, Castello di Montegiove, Custodi, Decugnano dei Barbi, Falesco, Freddano, La Carraia, Ruffino, Tenuta Le Velette and Tenuta Vitalonga,  with each providing two wines of their choice. The restaurantsoffering their typical, simple and authentic foods were: Trattoria Carlo, Ristorante In Sette Consoli, Ristorante Vinosus, Trattoria La Petgola, Osteria da Manna angela, Ristorante Capitano del Popolo and Ristorante Il Miglio.

Orvieto is a beautiful city filled with important monuments including the Duomo cathedral, the San Patrizio well and a very interesting underground network. The food there is also excellent and aside from the classic I Sette Consoli restaurant there are also a number of wonderful trattorias with modest markups on their wines. From personal experience, I can recommend Osteria da Mamma Angela, Trattoria da Carlo and Ristorante Il Miglio. The only truly absurd shortcoming of this city is the high price for parking. For me, paying 12 euros a day to be far away from the center, which is difficult to reach, is highway robbery.

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