Autoclaves or pressure tanks represent the industrialisation of Lambrusco in both symbolic and concrete terms. They can be used to produce sparkling wines quickly and cost-effectively. Their quasi-universal introduction in the 1950s led to a multiplication of production, but also to a standardis...
Lambrusco comes in all possible shades of red, depending on which variety of the Lambrusco family you are dealing with. Rarely, however, there is also a pink version, which is in no way inferior to its red counterparts in terms of quality (incidentally, we are not the only ones who find this to b...
San Vincent comes exclusively from Sorbara, the most delicate and elegant variety of the rather heterogeneous Lambrusco family. Sorbara is mainly found in the south of Modena, in the lowlands around Carpi, whose sandy soils provide the perfect substrate for the variety.
Gianluca Bergianti incor...
Gianluca Bergianti combines old techniques in the vineyard and in the cellar with his personal - biodynamic and minimally invasive - signature. He uses local grape varieties for his wines, a lot of Lambrusco, but in the case of "Steve" the white Pignoletto. Thanks to its high basic acidity, it ma...
The vineyard for Stiolorosso is located not far from Modena in the centre of the Emilian lowlands. Viticulture has been practised here since the Middle Ages and it is more or less in the original zone of Lambrusco. Next to the vineyard is a large building from the 16th century, where Gabriele Ro...
If you've never heard of Boschera, you'd be forgiven. Although the white grape variety was supposedly widespread in Trevigiano, the area around Treviso, in the 18th century, there are only six hectares of it left today. One of them is owned by Alessandro Winkler, who decided in 2012 to add winem...
Data sheet
Grape variety: Chardonnay (85%), Boschera (15%)
Vineyard: clay
Harvest: by hand
Fermentation: spontaneous | wild yeasts in steel tanks
Ageing: in the bottle, neither disgorged nor racked
Filtration: no
SO₂: < 50mg/l
Alcohol content: 13%
Closure: cork
Drinking temperature: 8-10 °C
...
Pinot Nero has an astonishingly long tradition in the Veneto. This has a lot to do with the lively exchange between monasteries, which founded a kind of World Wine Web in the Middle Ages and brought Pinot Noir (and a few other grape varieties) from France to the most remote corners of Europe - i...
Data sheet
Grape variety: Malbo Gentile
Vineyard: Situated at 150-230 metres. South-east exposure. Gravel-interspersed soils on a subsoil characterised mainly by sandstone and gypsum
Harvest: by hand in 15 kg crates
Fermentation: spontaneous | wild yeasts, fermented on the skins
Ageing: over a y...
The intimate relationship between the Italian wine world and birds of all kinds would be worth an article. There are wineries that are named after birds (Aquila del Torre, Colomba ...), also a good dozen grape varieties (Corvina, Oseleta, Rondinella, Corvinone, Ucelut ...) and of course a few win...
Data sheet
Grape variety: Sgavetta
Vineyard: Situated at 150-230 metres. South-east exposure. Gravel-interspersed soils on a subsoil characterised mainly by sandstone and gypsum
Harvest: by hand in 15 kg crates
Fermentation: spontaneous | wild yeasts, fermented on the skins
Ageing: secondary fer...
There are white grape varieties that are best suited to classic vinification (Riesling, Sylvaner, Vernaccia, Pecorino...). Others do well both macerated and immediately pressed (Ribolla gialla, Vermentino, Timorasso, Nosiola, Fiano, Garganega...) and then there are those that only show their true...
The Masini brothers are usually one step ahead of their time. For example, they were among the first to allow their white grapes to come into contact with the skins for a few days and to refrain from adding sulphites to all their wines.
Decades of experience have not only made them pioneers and i...
Querciole is a frizzante made from Spergola that makes almost everything that comes from Prosecco look old and rather bland. The intention may be similar, but what Ca' de Noci bottles year after year for secondary fermentation is usually miles ahead of its much more famous frizzante colleagues in...
Some grape varieties make the leap beyond local borders, others do not, although it is not always clear why. Spergola has a subtle flavour that is reminiscent of white flowers when classically vinified. If the grapes are left on the skins for a while, orange peel and clove flavours are often adde...