Day Five: September 23rd: Gruppo Italiano/Bolla Vini
"Adventures In Wine Country" with Co-Hosts Chuck Byers and Greg Rist, is a new series airing in April 2010 on CHEX Television Channel 12 Durham and the Greater Toronto Area."
Gruppo Italiano Vini
The Gruppo Italiano Vini is a large company made up of some of the biggest names in Italian wine. The names include: Formentini, Santi, Lamberti, Folonari, Machiavelli, Melini, Fontana Candida, Conti Serristori, Calissano,Nisso Negri, Ca Bianca, Rapitala, Terre Degli Svevi and Bigi.
The Gruppo Italiano Vini has 15 wineries under its umbrella and ships some 800,000 cases of wine to Canada every year. Canada is its biggest market with many well known agents in the business such as PMA, Philip Dandurand, Charton Hobbs and Lifford.
Now a new name joins the list of greats. It is Bolla Vini, a company that has been in existence for 125 years. The Bolla story goes back to the mid 1800's when Abele Bolla opened an in within the town of Soave. Much winemaking was done so his sons decided to work towards the wine making business and in 1883 Abele opened his winery. Bolla established a number of firsts in Italian wine. It was the first to market and label Amarone in Italy. It was the first to market Amarone i the U.S.A and around the world and it probably was the first wine that Frank Sinatra thought important enough to leave a restaurant that did not serve it! In 1997 Mayor R. Guiliani of New York recognized by decree the 50th Anniversary of Bolla in the U.S.A. Bolla grew to include many brand names and varieties of wine.
The Visit
Stefano Puppini slid out of his Audi and came to meet us. He was tall and very slim and quite aristocratic looking (I'm starting to believe that they clone these guys. I've never felt so pudgy). The suit he was wearing looked Armani. Of course I was wearing my Wall Mart jeans and light blue shirt. Stefano also had a charming and beautiful marketer and public relations person by the name of Tiziana Mori. It seemed a mandatory thing that all staff either men or women were good looking as well as intelligent. Tiziana was certainly both!
When he spoke, it was with that type of commanding accent that most of the Canadian women all adore. Why couldn't I talk like that? In other words, Stefano was charming, good looking and well dressed compared to my-----well, let's get on with the visit.
As we were talking, a large Tanker truck pulled in and we did a double look when we saw it was a wine carrier. This thing was huge and must have held thousands of gallons/litres of the stuff. Stefano looked at it casually as if it happened all the time and I guess it did.
Greg and I were led down to a historical museum that depicted events in the history of Bolla. We were given a quick tour of the winery before being escorted off to a village called San Nicola and to a vineyard called Ca' Mariana. Here there was a dynamic view of the Pergola style of canopy. The view was dynamic as it was beautiful. The vineyard was owned and worked by a family called Remedio who had owned it for generations and sold their crop to Bolla.
We also went to a village called Torbe and to a vineyard called Capo di Torbe. The vineyard was owned by Bolla and produced grapes destined to become Valpolicella and Amarone.
An interesting thing happened as Greg was filming the mounds of drying racks at the vineyard. We noticed a person checking and pinching off some of the grapes from the various baskets of picked grapes. He would pace the grapes in an instrument and then, after the grape was crushed within the instrument, he would hold it up to the light and bring his eye level with it as if looking through a microscope. I remembered from my college days that this was a "refractometer" which measured the angle of the light as one looked at it through the "window". The Brix measurement is the one accepted in Canada. One degree Brix is a a one percent sugar to water solution, the amount of liquid being 100 grams. The readings are recorded on each basket and computerized so every basket and picker (and in the case of a co-operative, individual farmer) is recorded.
Winery
After the tip to the vineyards, we got the grand tour of the Barrel Cellars that contained some of the original barrels that were used by Abele Bolla in 1883. There they were almost like new. The date of the oldest had an 1883 engraved on it along with an A B for Abele Bolla. Now the barrels are only used for keeping stock. They are not used for aging but need to be used in order for the wood to stay moist and tightly in place. Other dates on barrels were 1902 and on so. Since this part of Italy was then part of the Austrian Empire, the Austrian crest was also on them.
Lunch
Lunch was served in the Museum portion described earlier. It was a Buffet style lunch with various cheeses, hams, prosciutto and salads. The wines were as follows.
Pinot Grigio
The the wine was perfect as an introductory course wine.
Colour: White almost lemon yellow, straw colour.
Nose: Floral with some herbal and tropical qualities. Passion Fruit, peaches, mango melon and citrus.
Palate: Refreshing and light. Had citrus and melon/peach on the palate with a lively acidity that set the palate up for the meal.
Valpolicella:
Colour: Garnet Red
Nose: Cherry/black cherry notes with some other red fruit subordinating.
Palate: Soft and approachable. Cherry notes with excellent spice.
Le Poliane:
Colour: Dark Red
Nose: Cherry and some ripe fruit flavours.
Palate: Very soft with cherry and red fruit notes as well as vanilla spice and black pepper.
5 Selle: This wine from Lombardy is truly amazing. It is made in hard to get to valleys using Nebiolo grapes and done in the Amarone style.
Colour: Dark, Dark red.
Nose: A sign of things to come. Too young and it would be a massive sin to drink now. Power beyond power. Vanilla, toast, blackberry, plum, smoke.
Palate: Power weight lifter that needs to have some refinement and aging. Black fruit, cherry, blackberry with strong tannins that indicated quality and age ability. Concentration and character galore. I was lucky enough to have been given a bottle of this wine and have no plans to drink it yet. maybe in about five years. Will it tame then?? Regardless, I will love it! Be nice to me and you will share this with me!
Amarone, Le Origini:
Nose: Blood red in colour
Nose: Ripe red cherry and red fruit flavours
Palate: Soft mouth feel with some vanilla wood spice and cherry flavours. Medium length with a nice bitter almond finish.
The goat cheese went very well with the Amarone and the luncheon was certainly a nice comlement to the wine. Nice food and great company made this trip enjoyable.
Cantina Valpolicella Negrar (Domini Veneti)
The next winery that we went to was Cantina Valpilicella Negrar (Domini Veneti). The Cantina was composed of 200 growers who were delivering their grapes to the winery as we visited. Tractor after tractor lined up to deposit the grapes that it was carrying to the destemmer crusher. One of the special interests of the Director Mr. Daniele Accordini was in the repatriation so to speak of old, forgotten and even almost extinct indegenous grape species. He had several on hand to taste if we so desired. He also showed us a very rare bottle of 1939 Amarone that was found, liquid and cork still in tact in a forgotten part of the winery.
Mr. Accordini also had the added honour of being the Vice President of the Consorzio Valpolicella.
We toured the winery to discover that in one part of the winery, the grapes were still hung on string from the ceiling to dry. We were told that this was an old practice that was seldom used and replace by the racks that were so common at other wineries.
The barrel cellar was also quite unique with a capacity of storing 100,000 hectolitres of wine with an oak aging facility of 12,000 hectolitres.
History
We sat down and discussed a bit of the history of the Cantina. It started in 1933 a group of smaller wineries banded together for the purpose of challenging and surviving the changing market. They also agreed to respect the environment and improve the vineyards of the group through efforts in single vineyard development and collaborate with growers in other locales to produce a wide range of wine products. The Cantina's total production is 8,000,000 bottles a year from 13,000,000 pound of grapes. The best wines made from select grapes are called "Domini Veneti". Research projects are always on the planning board to improve yields, land, soil and grape quality.
Ancient Grapes
Mr. Accordini also has another interest and that is the research and eventual reinstatement of old, forgottor and/or near extinct vines. He brought out several of these grapes and we tried them. The grapes showed a high concentration of flavours for the most part and were certainly good grapes for addition to the Valpolicella blend while others would have made better sweet wines. Mr. Accorini's passion for the history of grapes and the reintroduction of those threatened was a very hearting and dynamic thing to encounter.
Wines Tasted
Turchetta, Corbina, Bressa, Castelrotto, Spigamonte, Corvina
I found that the Spigamonte was suited to my taste. As soon as I sipped, I felt its sugar on my tongue and its acid bite was refreshing. The Castelrotto was a very close second. The Corvina is used in making Valpolicella and Amarone.
I believe that the whole intent in finding and rescuing these grapes by the consorzio is to bring the Valpolicella back to its roots---improving it as time goes along. If that is the reason, I think that the consorzio is just the place to do it!
End of Day Five
Gruppo Italiano Vini
The Gruppo Italiano Vini is a large company made up of some of the biggest names in Italian wine. The names include: Formentini, Santi, Lamberti, Folonari, Machiavelli, Melini, Fontana Candida, Conti Serristori, Calissano,Nisso Negri, Ca Bianca, Rapitala, Terre Degli Svevi and Bigi.
The Gruppo Italiano Vini has 15 wineries under its umbrella and ships some 800,000 cases of wine to Canada every year. Canada is its biggest market with many well known agents in the business such as PMA, Philip Dandurand, Charton Hobbs and Lifford.
Now a new name joins the list of greats. It is Bolla Vini, a company that has been in existence for 125 years. The Bolla story goes back to the mid 1800's when Abele Bolla opened an in within the town of Soave. Much winemaking was done so his sons decided to work towards the wine making business and in 1883 Abele opened his winery. Bolla established a number of firsts in Italian wine. It was the first to market and label Amarone in Italy. It was the first to market Amarone i the U.S.A and around the world and it probably was the first wine that Frank Sinatra thought important enough to leave a restaurant that did not serve it! In 1997 Mayor R. Guiliani of New York recognized by decree the 50th Anniversary of Bolla in the U.S.A. Bolla grew to include many brand names and varieties of wine.
The Visit
Stefano Puppini slid out of his Audi and came to meet us. He was tall and very slim and quite aristocratic looking (I'm starting to believe that they clone these guys. I've never felt so pudgy). The suit he was wearing looked Armani. Of course I was wearing my Wall Mart jeans and light blue shirt. Stefano also had a charming and beautiful marketer and public relations person by the name of Tiziana Mori. It seemed a mandatory thing that all staff either men or women were good looking as well as intelligent. Tiziana was certainly both!
When he spoke, it was with that type of commanding accent that most of the Canadian women all adore. Why couldn't I talk like that? In other words, Stefano was charming, good looking and well dressed compared to my-----well, let's get on with the visit.
As we were talking, a large Tanker truck pulled in and we did a double look when we saw it was a wine carrier. This thing was huge and must have held thousands of gallons/litres of the stuff. Stefano looked at it casually as if it happened all the time and I guess it did.
Greg and I were led down to a historical museum that depicted events in the history of Bolla. We were given a quick tour of the winery before being escorted off to a village called San Nicola and to a vineyard called Ca' Mariana. Here there was a dynamic view of the Pergola style of canopy. The view was dynamic as it was beautiful. The vineyard was owned and worked by a family called Remedio who had owned it for generations and sold their crop to Bolla.
We also went to a village called Torbe and to a vineyard called Capo di Torbe. The vineyard was owned by Bolla and produced grapes destined to become Valpolicella and Amarone.
An interesting thing happened as Greg was filming the mounds of drying racks at the vineyard. We noticed a person checking and pinching off some of the grapes from the various baskets of picked grapes. He would pace the grapes in an instrument and then, after the grape was crushed within the instrument, he would hold it up to the light and bring his eye level with it as if looking through a microscope. I remembered from my college days that this was a "refractometer" which measured the angle of the light as one looked at it through the "window". The Brix measurement is the one accepted in Canada. One degree Brix is a a one percent sugar to water solution, the amount of liquid being 100 grams. The readings are recorded on each basket and computerized so every basket and picker (and in the case of a co-operative, individual farmer) is recorded.
Winery
After the tip to the vineyards, we got the grand tour of the Barrel Cellars that contained some of the original barrels that were used by Abele Bolla in 1883. There they were almost like new. The date of the oldest had an 1883 engraved on it along with an A B for Abele Bolla. Now the barrels are only used for keeping stock. They are not used for aging but need to be used in order for the wood to stay moist and tightly in place. Other dates on barrels were 1902 and on so. Since this part of Italy was then part of the Austrian Empire, the Austrian crest was also on them.
Lunch
Lunch was served in the Museum portion described earlier. It was a Buffet style lunch with various cheeses, hams, prosciutto and salads. The wines were as follows.
Pinot Grigio
The the wine was perfect as an introductory course wine.
Colour: White almost lemon yellow, straw colour.
Nose: Floral with some herbal and tropical qualities. Passion Fruit, peaches, mango melon and citrus.
Palate: Refreshing and light. Had citrus and melon/peach on the palate with a lively acidity that set the palate up for the meal.
Valpolicella:
Colour: Garnet Red
Nose: Cherry/black cherry notes with some other red fruit subordinating.
Palate: Soft and approachable. Cherry notes with excellent spice.
Le Poliane:
Colour: Dark Red
Nose: Cherry and some ripe fruit flavours.
Palate: Very soft with cherry and red fruit notes as well as vanilla spice and black pepper.
5 Selle: This wine from Lombardy is truly amazing. It is made in hard to get to valleys using Nebiolo grapes and done in the Amarone style.
Colour: Dark, Dark red.
Nose: A sign of things to come. Too young and it would be a massive sin to drink now. Power beyond power. Vanilla, toast, blackberry, plum, smoke.
Palate: Power weight lifter that needs to have some refinement and aging. Black fruit, cherry, blackberry with strong tannins that indicated quality and age ability. Concentration and character galore. I was lucky enough to have been given a bottle of this wine and have no plans to drink it yet. maybe in about five years. Will it tame then?? Regardless, I will love it! Be nice to me and you will share this with me!
Amarone, Le Origini:
Nose: Blood red in colour
Nose: Ripe red cherry and red fruit flavours
Palate: Soft mouth feel with some vanilla wood spice and cherry flavours. Medium length with a nice bitter almond finish.
The goat cheese went very well with the Amarone and the luncheon was certainly a nice comlement to the wine. Nice food and great company made this trip enjoyable.
Cantina Valpolicella Negrar (Domini Veneti)
The next winery that we went to was Cantina Valpilicella Negrar (Domini Veneti). The Cantina was composed of 200 growers who were delivering their grapes to the winery as we visited. Tractor after tractor lined up to deposit the grapes that it was carrying to the destemmer crusher. One of the special interests of the Director Mr. Daniele Accordini was in the repatriation so to speak of old, forgotten and even almost extinct indegenous grape species. He had several on hand to taste if we so desired. He also showed us a very rare bottle of 1939 Amarone that was found, liquid and cork still in tact in a forgotten part of the winery.
Mr. Accordini also had the added honour of being the Vice President of the Consorzio Valpolicella.
We toured the winery to discover that in one part of the winery, the grapes were still hung on string from the ceiling to dry. We were told that this was an old practice that was seldom used and replace by the racks that were so common at other wineries.
The barrel cellar was also quite unique with a capacity of storing 100,000 hectolitres of wine with an oak aging facility of 12,000 hectolitres.
History
We sat down and discussed a bit of the history of the Cantina. It started in 1933 a group of smaller wineries banded together for the purpose of challenging and surviving the changing market. They also agreed to respect the environment and improve the vineyards of the group through efforts in single vineyard development and collaborate with growers in other locales to produce a wide range of wine products. The Cantina's total production is 8,000,000 bottles a year from 13,000,000 pound of grapes. The best wines made from select grapes are called "Domini Veneti". Research projects are always on the planning board to improve yields, land, soil and grape quality.
Ancient Grapes
Mr. Accordini also has another interest and that is the research and eventual reinstatement of old, forgottor and/or near extinct vines. He brought out several of these grapes and we tried them. The grapes showed a high concentration of flavours for the most part and were certainly good grapes for addition to the Valpolicella blend while others would have made better sweet wines. Mr. Accorini's passion for the history of grapes and the reintroduction of those threatened was a very hearting and dynamic thing to encounter.
Wines Tasted
Turchetta, Corbina, Bressa, Castelrotto, Spigamonte, Corvina
I found that the Spigamonte was suited to my taste. As soon as I sipped, I felt its sugar on my tongue and its acid bite was refreshing. The Castelrotto was a very close second. The Corvina is used in making Valpolicella and Amarone.
I believe that the whole intent in finding and rescuing these grapes by the consorzio is to bring the Valpolicella back to its roots---improving it as time goes along. If that is the reason, I think that the consorzio is just the place to do it!
End of Day Five
posted by Chuck Byers - Wine Consultant | 1:45 AM
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