Tag: wine

The wine of the week: Riecine 2014 – Riecine – Italian Cuisine

There are companies that should be much more famous than they are. One is Riecine, a company from Gaiole, in the heart of the Chianti Classico, which produces a Sangiovese that is a champion of elegance and territoriality

Woods, dirt roads and the navigator who does not take. It is not easy to reach Riecine, a company of Gaiole, in heart of the Chianti Classico, but once reached, one would no longer want to leave. Compared to many other wineries in the area, its history is very recent; in fact, it was born "alone" in 1971, but the wine was probably already produced here before the 12th century, when Riecine was a farm of the nearby monastery of Badia a Coltibuono. Originally, it was owned by John Dunkley, one of the many Englishmen who fell in love with Chianti and Sangiovese and started a quality production, without compromise and without concessions to shortcuts offered by the use of international vines: his is the joke"When Baron Philippe de Rothschild sang the Sangiovese, I will convert to cabernet sauvignon!"

Today, Riecine belongs to the family of Lana Frank and leads her as general manager and oenologist Alessandro Campatelli, who accompanied me on the tastings of the new vintages and on a tour of the winery, where the eggs and vats stand out cement for the refinement of the wines, according to Alessandro the best material to transfer the essence of the particular Sangiovese of Riecine into the bottle. The cellar is also worth seeing for the colorful murals, work of the Florentine street artist Marco Burresi, aka Zed1: along the walls, the story of two berries that grow and become human is told, to the point of falling in love.

The vineyards, grown organically, are between 25 and 50 years of age and are planted on clayey soils, with limestone and marl, between 480 and 600 meters of altitude.

With an intense and brilliant ruby color, Riecine di Riecine is the most representative wine of the company style, made of respect for the terroir and of obsessive attention to every aspect of production. Its aromas range from flowers to fruit jam, with hints of balsamic freshness, reminiscent of mint and wood. On the palate it is a persuasive wine, powerful and elegant at the same time, deep and full of grace, even in a year that is not easy as it was 2014.

Why now: it is a fresh and elegant red that can also be drunk with summer meat dishes.

As did: fermentation takes place in wooden tanks, with a maceration of 20-30 days; the wine is then refined into cementless eggs for 3 years and then 6 months in the bottle, before being put on the market.

To combine with: roast beef, roasts, veal with tuna sauce.

Serve it at: 16 ° C

Price: 58 euros.

riecine.it

Matching recipes

Trento, opens the library entirely dedicated to wine – Italian Cuisine

It is named after Bruno Lunelli, who inaugurated the fortune of Ferrari bubbles and who brought his land to the knowledge of the classic method. It is privately owned but open to the public

A space entirely dedicated to wine. It is not a cellar, but a library, with ben two thousand titles dedicated to Italian production, from the cultivation of grapes to wine shops. It was opened in the Villa Margon complex, a Ravine of Trento, and is called BBL: it is the acronym of Biblioteca Bruno Lunelli, because the collection of books is named after the Trentino who inaugurated the fortune of Ferrari bubbles and who brought his land to the knowledge of the classic method.

It was his son Franco and his nephew Marcello who wanted to enrich the Italian cultural heritage with this special library, which also includes books of a literary type and others of scientific setting. Among these, thanks also to an important legacy made by Italo Roncador, one of the major protagonists of Trentino viticulture, to Marcello Lunelli, there are also rare and difficult to find titles, as well as the most complete collection of wine guides Italian, starting with the first, published just fifty years ago (and edited by Luigi Veronelli), up to the most recent, published in 2019.

The library named after Bruno Lunelli (to whom the municipality of Trento had already dedicated, recognizing its merits, a few decades ago, a small square in the historic center of the city), even if privately owned, is open to the public: books, destined to become more and more numerous, are available to all wine lovers, to its long history and its vast world. To check the availability of a volume or to request a loan, just make a telephone booking (Lucia, 0461.912666) or an e-mail. In the link the opening times.

In Italy there is also another important collection of themed volumes: it is that, in Castagneto Carducci, province of Livorno, of Attilio Scienza, member of a family that has been producing wine for generations, who has collected, in a lifetime of work and passion, a vast library of about 15 thousand volumes on all aspects of wine culture (from technique to history, from sensory analysis to graduation theses). Also included are ancient oenology and viticulture texts. And all are available to interested students and scholars.

The wine of the week: Classic Method Dosage Zero Rosè Strain 326 2014 Pasini San Giovanni – Italian Cuisine

Two little-known native grapes of the Brescia area and a family with the desire to experiment new ways. Here's how an amazing Classic Method is born

It all starts with Paradiso, the Brescia trattoria founded by his grandfather Andrea in the 1940s. Among the tables set, the interest in the Pasini family's wine is born, today the third generation of winemakers: 60 years of activity celebrated in 2018. We are at Puegnago del Garda, a few steps from the lake, in an area that is beautiful from a landscape point of view and blessed with a particular microclimate, so much so that in addition to the vine, olive and citrus cultivation thrives and it is not unusual to find palm trees and caper plants.

Browse the gallery

The company Pasini San Giovanni produces about 300,000 bottles a year, divided between the territory of the Valtènesi (red and pink wines, from groppello, marzemino, sangiovese and barbera) and that of Lugana (white wines from turbiana grapes). All the labels are interesting, but the hand is particularly happy with the Classic Method sparkling wines; in the company there are three, Lugana Brut, Centopercento Extra Brut (a single grape, vinified in white) and Dosage Zero Rosè Ceppo 326: it is on the latter that you have to bet, if you like bubbles and want to try a wine unlike anything you've experienced so far.

It is made with 65% groppello, plus a white berried grape, which has always been chardonnay, replaced by the 2014 vintage fromerbamat. The vine, native of the Brescia area, was once very cultivated, then it was abandoned in favor of more "easy" and known varieties. Its main characteristics are neutral taste, late ripening and great acidity, qualities that make it the perfect grape for sparkling wine, especially in this period of climate change (not for nothing, they are experimenting and studying carefully in the nearby Franciacorta).

What is striking about Ceppo 326 is its slender and vertical character, with the delicate scents of small red fruits and some slight idea of spice, to serve as a seasoning for a sip full of salt and freshness. It is a fairly complex wine, for the rest on yeasts for over 30 months, but at the same time extremely easy to drink: it is good for an aperitif, but it is enhanced even more when it accompanies some dish: from fish tartar to meat , also with fruit; from shells to shellfish, not to mention pizza. In short, it is the classic bottle whose only flaw is to finish too quickly.

Why now: once discovered it can no longer do without it: the sooner you know it, the better!

As did: groppello and erbamat, collected in 2014 remained to refine in the cellar until the spring of 2016; after the draw, the disgorgement was carried out in February 2019, without added sugar.

To combine with: raw fish, steamed crustaceans, scallops, spaghetti with seafood, fresh fromaggi, focaccia with onions.

Serve it at: 6-8 ° C

Price: 19 euros

pasinisangiovanni.it

Matching recipes