dlb@druca.UUCP (Dave Bauer) (01/15/84)
The Wines of Italy
Eric Berge (stolaf!berge) requested some information about Italian wines,
and I thought the following information (which I just happened to have
sitting around in a file) might be of sufficiently general interest
to warrant a posting. It provides some general background on Italian
wines and wine labeling laws, and concludes with a few tasting notes
of mine on 6 Italian wines.
--dave bauer AT&T Information Systems Laboratories denver druca!dlb
Some Background
Italy produces some 2 billion gallons of wine annually,
about 25% of which is exported. (Compare to California's
annual production which is in the 400-million gallon range.)
Some 60 million gallons of Italian wines are imported
annually into the U.S. By far the most popular is
Lambrusco, which alone makes up half of the amount imported.
Reds are more prevalent in Italy than are whites, and this
fact is borne out in the imports as well.
The D.O.C.
California wines are characterized as varietals -- the type
of grape from which the wine is produced. This is unlike
most of the rest of the world, where the place the wine is
produced is what characterizes the wine. To be sure,
varietals are indeed produced in Italy and elsewhere. But
to be a varietal in Italy, the wine must be made 100% from
that type of grape (in California its only 75%). Italian
law also sets strict rules on the regional names that can be
stated on the Italian wines. In order to use one of the
over 200 recognized names, certain rules must be followed.
These rules are known as the "Controlled Denomination of
Origin" (in Italian, the Denominazione di Origine
Controllata, or D.O.C). The law specifies, for each name of
origin, a strict geographical region in which the grapes
must be grown, as well as the varieties of grapes which can
be blended into a particular region's wine, and the amount
of time the wine must be aged in order to use the place-
name. This is done, at least in theory, to guarantee to the
consumer that a wine bearing the DOC name will be of a
certain variety and origin.
Italy has recently added a new, higher designation than the
DOC. This new designation is the DOCG (Denominazione di
Origine Controllata e Garantita, "Denomination of Origin
Controlled and Guaranteed"). This difference is that the
new term supposedly guarantees quality as well as origin.
DOCG wines will be bottled at the wineries, but will be
sealed by state authorities to guarantee authenticity and
protect against imitations.
Only a bit more than 10% of the wines produced in Italy are
DOC wines. The others are the equivalent of the red and
white generics in California, often quite enjoyable but
usually undistinguished.
Notes on a few wines:
1. Antinori, "Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone" (DOC)
($4.25)
This wine comes from the Latium region of Italy, in
the western central part of the country. This region
includes the city of Rome, and is best known for the
white Frascati wine. Est! Est!! Est!!! resembles this
wine, but is produced from grapes grown on the slopes
around Lake Bolsena, farther north than the area that
produces Frascati. Est! is somewhat lighter than the
typical Frascati, and is in fact one of the lightest
of all the Italian wines. The name of this wine,
according to folklore, stems from the work of a 12th
century servant to a German bishop. This steward was
instructed to travel ahead of the bishop's party and
chalk the word "Est" (This is it) on the doors of inns
where good wines were available for the bishop. The
servant supposedly was carried away with enthusiasm
when he discovered Montefiascone, the home of this
wine.
2. Bolla, "Soave" (DOC) (3.99)
Despite Bolla's obnoxious television commercials,
their wine remains immensely popular. The Soave DOC
district is in the Veneto region, in the northeast
section of the country. This region is one of the
country's largest producing regions, and is also the
home of the two popular reds Valpolicella and
Bardolino. Soave is a dry, pale white wine, with a hint of
floweriness and acid. All three major wines from this
region should be drunk young, and at cool
temperatures.
3. Giacobazzi, "Lambrusco" ($7.00 per magnum)
Lambrusco comes from the Emilia-Romagna region in the
north-central part of the country. It's unique
qualities as a semi-sweet, semi-sparkling red
resembling a fruity grape soft drink make it extremely
popular in this country. The wine produces a fizz
which quickly subsides, leaving a fresh, clean, fruity
taste. The wine is produced from a grape of the same
name. There are four different DOC Lambrusco
designations; Giacobazzi, however, is not a DOC wine.
4. Sona, 1980 "Chianti" (DOC) ($6.99 per magnum)
Chianti comes from the Tuscany region, in the central
west portion of the country (immediately north of the
Latium region where Est! is produced, and just south
of Emilia-Romagna, home of Lambrusco). Chianti comes
from a blend of four grapes, and can be made in two
distinctly different styles. Young Chianti is
traditionally packaged in straw-wrapped bottles known
as "fiaschi" and is produced using a method called the
"governo" process. In this process, while most of the
grapes have been crushed and the juice is fermenting,
other selected bunches of grapes hang to dry by air,
causing their juices to concentrate. In December the
concentrated juices from these grapes are added to the
already fermented wine, causing a second fermentation
to take place. This second fermentation raises the
glycerin content of the wine and can be sensed as a
mild "prickle" if the wines are drunk within a year or
two of their vintage dates.
Aged Chianti, on the other hand, does not use this
governo process. Instead, the wine is aged in oak for
at least two years, producing a much fuller, richer,
and more complex taste. If the Chianti of this type
has aged a minimum of three years, it can legally have
the word "riserva" added to its name. The word
"Classico" can be added if all the grapes are produced
from a designated sub-zone of the larger legal Chianti
region. (There are also stricted alcohol-content
requirements for wines from the Classico area.) Thus,
a Chianti Classico Riserva would be one of the best
(and more expensive) legal designations for an aged
Chianti.
5. Illuminati, 1977 "Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (Riserva)"
(DOC) ($8.50)
This wine indicates what a significant difference a
long time in wood can make in a wine. When I first
tried this wine, I had the opportunity to drink side-
by-side the present "Riserva" wine and a "regular"
1979 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from the same winery.
The difference was simply remarkable; the '79 was aged
6 to 12 months in oak, and tasted extremely dry,
highly acidic, and completely disjoint. The
"Riserva", on the other hand, is much smoother, lower
in acid, and has a nice balance. This wine saw two
years in oak. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo comes from the
Abruzzo region in the central part of the country,
just east of Latium (home of the "Est!"). The wine is
typically pale and pleasant; this particular winery
makes it a bit heavier than the norm.
6. Masi, 1974 "Recioto della Valpolicella Amarone
classico" (DOC) ($9.50)
Amarone comes from the Veneto region, in the northeast
corner of the country, the same region that produces
Soave. The wine is a dry Recioto. Recioto is also
produced as a sweet wine, made from grapes which have
been left to dry, and is sometimes produced as a
sparkling wine. Amarone has a very full, fruity
taste. The Masi is a particularly big wine, both in
alcohol content (14%) and in taste. For an Amarone a
bit milder than this, I would suggest the Cesari
Amarone Classico Riserva 1975. It has lower acid and
a touch of sweetness not present in this wine.
_
|_| Dave Bauer
| | AT&T Information Systems Laboratories
/ Denver Colorado USA
| |
|vin| 11900 N. Pecos St, Denver CO 80233
| | (303) 538-4304
| |
|___| (hogpc, allegra, rabbit, inuxc, ihnp4)!druca!dlb