On Saturday 24th February at the landmark hotel in Marylebone, Decanter, the no1 wine subscription magazine in the UK held its first tasting event of the year.
Just shy of 60 vendors displayed their vineyards or merchants respective selection of all things Italy with no surprise, the stars of the show being super Tuscany and Piedmont, our very own
Matthew Knight attended:
Decanter treated ticket holders to two full grand ball rooms, to try over 100 different grape verity’s from Italy’s finest, some, of which famously blended with the French Merlot and Cabernet Franc. To many people on the days surprise, my favourite Italian wine is not… one of the superstars like Tuscany or Barolo, this is due to the knowledge, skills and kindness from a sommelier at a restaurant on the island of Capri, who kindly offered my partner and I, to open his favourite bottle on the menu and try with no obligation to buy as he would take it home himself if we didn’t approve! It was half the price and apparently twice as good, so of course, I accepted this generous offer and found that after all I knew nothing about Italian wine. Nearly 10 years spent down this rabbit hole and I had found a new favourite! I digress, but today this experience from back in 2021, caused me to head straight to the Almalfi coast section of Campania, which is dominated by the Aglianico grape (pronounced ahh-lee-aun-ico) which takes some practicing to really sound out the music within it.
Each stand had 4-6 wines on offer from their entry level label to their most prestigious. I spent most of the session tasting the finest wine each table had to offer called the ‘Riserva’ which simply means they had been aged in the barrel and handled entirely differently to a ‘table wine’. Each producer was especially proud of their 2019 vintage and I concurred.
I roamed nearly all 20 or so Tuscan offerings within both rooms, thankfully using the spitoon to my advantage all day, and I was pleasantly surprised by some growers I was totally new to, with the highlight of my Toscana samples being a Lamoro 2015. Riserva picture below:
Once I tried all that Tuscany and campania had to offer, I moved on to the next room to inlduge the region I am trading currently to see how they compare to my Almalfi wonders: Barolo, Piedmont.
Bruno Giacosa Falleto Barolo 2019 – 100% Nebbiolo grape.
This was fantastic and I could immediately see what all the fuss is about. It fully warranted its lofty £250 per bottle price tag and I had a noticeable cue of people behind me waiting to get a splash of what was probably the star of the show by most people’s judgement.
Whilst this tasting event alone was more than satisfying a return for the days travel and time, the final part of the day was very special. I had added a masterclass of the 1857 established Bertani winery to my ticket, to be taught about the greatest Amarone wines ever made. The speaker was none other than the current wine maker at the vineyard, and one of 407 Masters of Wine in the world Andrea Lonardi, who was an exceptional host.
Tasting wines from the same area or vineyard in one sitting, side by side, is the greatest way in my opinion to really understand distinctive tastes and qualities of a wine, it amplifies everything you are going to notice and we did it in quite the setting:
Within an hour Andrea covered Bertanis’ illustrious history from finding remains of the Roman Empire to the modern day climate issue and guided us through their wonderful eight wine styles.
I imagine everybody learned something new from this true oenophile, as well as having the ‘Italian soul’ of winemaking, as he put it drummed into them.
“We do not make wines to have hints of vanilla, or cafe latte like some, this is not true Italian wine. Italian soul is within the Bertani winery and it’s about finesse, elegance and purity.”
Over the course of the tasting, we eventually got round to the 2005, which was the reason why we was all here according to Lonardi, the Amarone vintage retails at around £190 a bottle and had fetched an average 95/100 score from the top critics. It was outstanding. I didn’t see many people use the spitoon for that wine and why would you, it was really special. From what I can recall as I don’t keep a list, it’s in the top 10 wines I have ever tried.
There was a Q&A at the end, and of course the climate question came up, once again, Lonardi showed why his mindset has helped make this vineyard one of the best contemporary wines right now. He didn’t fear the changing climate, he called it an opportunity to make some of the best wines they’ve ever made. Sure he will harvest earlier and lose some of the fruit, but this didn’t bother him in the slightest he was set on one thing, his wines truly expressing the Italian soul.
The next decanter fine wine tasting in London is in November and tickets cost around £65 + £90 for the masterclass.
Matthew Knight
Account Manager
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