La Viarte Pignolo Riserva 2005 Friuli, Italy

La Viarte Pignolo Riserva 2005.

Wine review

5 of 5 stars

An outstanding wine

Dear vinous friends, this wine is truly divine.  La Viarte Pignolo Riserva 2005 is a spectacular example of what can be achieved when this Friulian grape is grown and vinified respecting its varietal potential. La Viarte is an important premium wine producer in the village of Prepotto, in Colli Orientali del Friuli. Their methods of vineyard care are ecologically aware, aiming at respecting the vines and the delicate balance of the nature. Although, at this point, I’m well acquainted with what can be accomplished with Pignolo, tasting this wine makes me still go weak at the knees.

Intense and deep in its ruby red colour, this wine boasts an elegant version of the aromatics so typical of Pignolo. At first, the pronounced nose offers a soft, floral perfume of powder immediately followed by cranberry-like red forest fruit. Deepness of ripe cherries and plum aromas forms a background to the freshness of the forest fruit. The more developed aromatic layers present spiciness, coffee and leather. Further, the aromas of oak are very subtle and well integrated considering this wine has been matured in barriques for 24 months. What I find so special about Pignolo is the alluring combination of the very feminine nuance of floral perfume of powder and the wildness of the forest fruit. This wine is a particularly fine example of this varietal aromatic uniqueness.

When it comes to acid structure, Pignolo possesses a huge aging potential as well as an aging requirement due to its abundant tight tannin in youth. To become agreeable and show the grape’s potential, it requires at least around ten years to soften and integrate its tannins. La Viarte’s Pignolo, at the time point of 10 years from the vintage, has a surprisingly velvety yet firm, full-bodied mouth feel, and is very well balanced, developed and complex. Still, it remains very fresh fruit-wise. The plentiful fruit and structural components balance the relatively high alcohol very well. Pignolo’s signature, the structural backbone of tannin, creates paradoxical elegance in the mouth as it provides the otherwise full-bodied wine with a good posture and narrows it on the tongue. Aromatically, the forest fruit lead the way, as the black peppery spiciness and coffee linger in the background. Finishing with a pleasantly fruitful and fresh aftertaste that remains, this wine leaves a lasting impression.

Well balanced, aromatically complex, a particularly fine example of Pignolo. Warmly recommended.

Although I tend to concentrate on wine bar recommendations, I can’t write about this wine with good consciousness without giving you, dear readers, a vinous restaurant tip. I ran into La Viarte Pignolo in Trattoria Al Giardinetto, in Cormons. Proving to be a true wine lover’s paradise, Al Giardinetto presented us with an impressive wine list and outstanding food as well as lovely and professional service in all regards. You can find this restaurant in Michelin guide Italy, and although it doesn’t have a star, its place in the guide is well justified.

Info in a nutshell

Price examples:

EUR 68 webshop friuliwineandfood.it (request shipment possibilities via email)

GBP 49.20 webshop whisperwines.com (ships only to UK)

NZD 194.99 webshop villagewinery.co.nz

Country and region: Italy, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Colli Orientali, Prepotto

Grapes: 100% Pignolo

Alc vol: 14,5%

Producer: La Viarte

Pignolo - Friulian autochthon black grape varieties part I

Gravner's Pignolo vines grow on the slopes of Collio-Brda, in Friuli.

Should I to choose only one Friulian wine to take with me to a deserted island, my choice would be Pignolo. Hands down. This grape’s allure leads me to the following bold hypothesis: if in the 1960’s Friuli hadn’t made a political decision to concentrate on white wine in its brand building, today Pignolo could be the same for Friuli what Nebbiolo is to Piemonte. However, the more sensible option for Friuli was to go for white wines, as Piemonte and Toscana already had themselves established as the premium quality Italian red wine producing areas, and South Italy was highly competitive at the lower price points in the red wine market. Consequently, Friuli became the source of Italy’s finest whites, while its exceptional, local red grapes such as Pignolo effectively remained under the radar - silently growing in very small numbers on the limestone slopes of Colli Orientali.

Even though Pignolo and Nebbiolo are very different varieties, they surprisingly have a lot in common when it comes to their personalities: both varieties are high maintenance. Aptly for this grape, the Italian word ”pignolo” translates to ”fussy” in English. In the vineyard, the one certain thing about Pignolo is its low yield. Everything else around its growth is very random - for no apparent reason a vine might grow just one bunch of grapes, or give five bunches if it is in the mood. You never know! Further, in the winery Pignolo presents a challenge due to its high tannin and intensive colour. Making Pignolo wine is very messy indeed. 

Still, the greatest difficulty - or potential, depending on how you look at it - is its demand for aging before integrating and softening Pignolo’s tannins. However ripe grapes you use, Pignolo, very much like Nebbiolo, demands a couple of years maturation in oak and at least eight to ten years in bottle before tannins sufficiently integrate to show the wine’s potential. Naturally, the favourable flip-side of the coin is the tremendous aging-potential that comes with the abundant, drying tannin, high acidity and plentiful, interesting fruit that Pignolo boasts. If you have an opportunity to taste a slightly older Pignolo, you’ll be greeted with surprisingly velvety yet intensive tannin, moderate to high acidity, and unique, elegant aromas.

Referring to Pignolo as ”Friuli’s Nebbiolo” is a metaphorical way of expressing its paradoxical tannic elegance and aging potential. When it comes to comparing the wines that these two superb grapes produce, it is important to keep in mind that the resulting wines are very different from each other.

Structurally, Nebbiolo comes often in light, highly elegant styles, and its colour starts to fade quickly. Pignolo, on the contrary, always produces a dark ruby red wine, and its colour stays this way. Also, Pignolo’s structure is full bodied, dense and muscular, and aromatically completely different from Nebbiolo. Presenting flavours of wilderness, Pignolo is characterized by forest fruit such as blackberry, blueberry and cranberry, as well as dark fruit like dark cherry and plum. The more developed range of Pignolo’s aromas include forest floor, spices, leather, chocolate, liquorice and tobacco.

As if these exotic forest flavours weren’t enough, I have still to reveal the jewel in Pignolo’s aromatic crown. All of the Pignolos that I tasted in Friuli share this very particular, captivating aroma that I haven’t detected in any other wine before: a soft perfume that resembles the scent of face powder. When I take a sniff of a glass of Pignolo it takes me straight to a theatre backstage make-up room, where mirrors are lined with glowing light bulbs and soft powder puffs are in constant use. How fitting for Pignolo - a grape that is as demanding and elegant as any true diva!

Friuli - the hidden gem amongst Italian wine regions

Friulano grapes in Colli Orientali, Friuli

Delicious autochthonous grape varieties

Friuli-Venezia Giulia, or Friuli for short, is internationally well recognized for its high quality white wines that have entered the awareness of wine world since the 70’s. However, my reasons for travelling to Friuli were different. I was curious of the once nearly extinct autochthonous grape varieties that, fortunately, during the last decades, have again attracted the local winemakers attention. Black varieties such as Pignolo, Refosco ja Schiopettino, and white varieties Friulano ja Ribolla Gialla have become a medium for nurturing the local winemaking tradition, and as they are becoming Friuli’s wine signature, the area is distancing itself from the past neutrality of producing neutral, simple wines from international grape varieties.  

While the white wines made of both international and local varieties in the eastern Collio area  are still getting the most attention as Friuli’s premium wines, the black varieties have made steady progress behind the scenes. Since the 90’s the quality of Friuli’s Bordeaux blends and varietal Merlot has been recognized. Nevertheless, the area’s highest potential probably lies with the fascinating, autochthonous black varieties that are now being vinified using temperature control and thoughtful oak treatment - sometimes in blend with international grapes but more often on their own. The results are top quality red wines with longevity and personality that can’t be replicated anywhere else.

Eastern Collio on Slovenian border is orange wine's home

Orange wine’s home

It wasn’t only the local, obscure grape varieties but also the tradition of orange (or amber) wine making that made Friuli so magnetic for me. This style of making white wine with long skin maceration times, which is normally the procedure in red wine making but not white, is characteristic to the geographical area around the border of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Due to the extended skin contact, these wines receive more colour (orange or amber), tannin and flavour extracts from the grapes compared to white wine made in standard style. Consequently, orange wine’s structure and aromatic profile differs from those of conventional whites. Tasting orange wines previous to my travel to Friuli only added to my curiosity towards this particular wine style, and I was very excited to see the European home of orange wine making as well as to visit its top producer, Gravner. I’ll return to this subject and the divine wine visit at Gravner in my later posts.

Friuli is located in northeast Italy. Image: Wikipedia.

Premium wine from the east - everyday wines from the west

After highlighting the Friulian gems of autochthon grapes and orange wine it is only appropriate to finish with going back to the basics - to contextualize a bit. Geographically, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is located in the very north east of Italy, historically at the border region of Venetian and Habsburgian rules. These two historical powers are still influential in Friuli’s winemaking traditions as in Collio region in the very east, on the border of Slovenia, white wines dominate the production - in line with the taste preferences of Habsburg tradition. On the other hand, red wines are in the majority in Colli Orientali, only slightly west from Collio.

Top wines come from Collio (lime) and Colli Orientali (orange). Image: Bigger than your head.

What makes Friuli the hidden gem amongst Italy’s wine areas are its characterful reds from Colli Orientali that are on the rise, Collio’s whites that are regarded the best in Italy, and the uncompromising orange wine making very particular to this area. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Friuli Isonzo (in dark green on the map) that produces excellent wines despite its vineyards growing on a pancake flat riverbank. Still, the reality is that two thirds of Friuli’s wine production comes from areas to the west of these top quality regions. The monstrously huge Friuli Grave DOC (in blue) covers majority of this production, offering mostly good, simple table wine for everyday consumption.

In terms of classification, to date only four Friulian wines have DOCG classification, three of these being sweet dessert wines made of Picolit and Verduzzo. These wines earned their merits at the royal courts of Europe in 1800’s, and despite of their current minuscule production volumes, they are still the jewels of Friuli’s wine crown. The most elegant expression of Verduzzo comes from Ramandolo DOCG at the eastern corner of Colli Orientali. 

***

After this intro to Friuli, the blog posts to follow will take a more in-depth look into Friuli's local grape varieties, as well as orange wine. All this juicy information will be applied to practice on Divine Wine visits to exciting wineries in Colli Orientali and Collio, and enjoying the best local wine bar at the village of Cormons at the heart eastern Friuli. Great times ahead!

Divine winery visit in Valpolicella - Tommaso Bussola

Poetry of the tonneaux at Tommaso Bussola.

The first thing I notice is the silence. Admittedly, I’ve listened to our screaming rental car for the last hours, and finally the car is parked, but there is more to this feeling. As I keep on sensing, I can only hear the crickets and feel air staying put - the non-moving heat of a blazing summer day. All this stillness is accentuated by the minimalistic surroundings: the drive way entrance is a simple wall of white stone; the white winery with red brick grape drying rooms stands alone facing an open yard; a stack of pallets awaits the next wine shipment. There is nothing extra. This is when I realize that this place is Zen. What is essential, it is there.

When Giuseppe Bussola, Tommaso’s son responsible for winery’s PR and office, welcomes us, my first impression is confirmed. Out of us two I’m the talkative scandinavian who keeps on babbling, while he answers my questions quietly, with a friendly smile. Gradually his presence calms me down, and I find myself able just to listen. And this is when Giuseppe tells me the story of how Tommaso Bussola winery got started.  

The white family house is attached to the winery.

Originally, Tommaso Bussola didn’t work with wine, but his uncle Giuseppe, namesake of our host, did. When Tommaso decided that he didn’t want to work in office surroundings anymore, Giuseppe introduced him to vineyard work. Tommaso became passionate about vineyard management, and later the art of winemaking.  While Giuseppe was more a man of quantity than quality, alongside with Tommaso a change was about to come. The quality of the wine became an absolute guiding star.

In Barolo to Valpolicella (2004) MW Nicolas Belfrage, an expert in Italian wine writes that when high quality winemaking became Tommaso’s passion, he kept painstakingly aiming at his goal. He took a loan to build his family house and winery with all the things necessary for making best possible wine from start to finish. The results of this determination were soon evident - and what kind of results were they! When Belfrage asked the legendary Amarone producer Giuseppe Quintarelli (1927-1912) whom he particularly recommended among the younger generation in Valpolicella, Quintarelli gave only one name: Tommaso Bussola.

Giuseppe introducing the cellar.

Walking alongside Giuseppe in Bussola’s cellars I realise that I’ve come to a temple. Again, Zen is in the air as the rustic, peach tinted arched vaults carry the weight of the winery with robust grace, protecting the magnificent five-hectoliter tonneaux. The rhythm at which these medium-sized Slavonian, American and French oak casks are arranged in the cellar space is sheer poetry.  Giuseppe tells that each year there are 60 000-70 000 bottles of wine ageing in these tonneaux: Valpolicella classico, ripasso, and their especially celebrated Amarone and Recioto.

Bussola’s wines are divided into two deparate lines. The oak used for the basic line wines is in its second or third passage, while only new oak is used for the TB line. Covering 14 hectares, Bussolas vineyards are mostly planted with Valpolicella’s traditional grape varieties Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina and Molinara. The vineyards are located in three different crus: Ca del Laito lies just below the winery, while Vigneto Alto and Casalin are a few kilometres away. A small vineyard area also produces international varieties for more experimental wines like L’Errante, an international red blend made with Amarone technique, and Peagna, a white dessert wine made partially of local varieties and partially of Chardonnay. Peagna is produced in a very small quantity and only in the best vintages.

At harvest time, the grape picking is done with meticulous precision. Five, even six visits may be paid to the same patch of vineyard to pick only the optimally ripe grapes. Bussola aims at producing all their three Amarones every year. Their principle is that any of the Amarones will be left unproduced in case the grapes do not match Bussola’s quality standard. Also, this goes for any of their other products. For example, in 2013 and 2014 hail and rain destroyed 2/3 of the crop, hence basic line Valpolicella classico was not produced at all.

TB line Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is ready to travel.

In the tasting room everything Giuseppe has told becomes tangible reality as we are presented with the following works of art: Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore Ca del Laito 2011, Valpolicella Superiore TB 2010, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2009, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva TB 2008, and finally, Peagna. At the time of our visit a new vintage of Recioto is just being bottled, while Valpolicella Classico is sold out, so unfortunately these can’t be tasted right now. In the following, I’ll sketch the general experience of the tasting for you. To do these wines justice, I’ll post separate, more detailed wine review posts of chosen wines at a later point in time.

Because Valpolicella Classico is not available, the tasting starts with cru Ca del Laito wine made with ripasso technique. Boom! I’m being knocked me off my feet by the very first wine. I can’t stop marveling the intensity of its particular cherry aroma. Together with a sophisticated almond aroma the cherries resemble those marinated in maraschino liqueur. Further, the structure of this wine is impressive: acidic, concentrated, with ripe and plentiful tannins. The high alcohol is well balanced with the abundance of structural elements.

Ca del Laito ripasso being the entry-level wine of the tasting, you can just imagine the development as we travel through the basic line Amarone, TB line ripasso and TB line Amarone. Simplicity is replaced with more complexity; concentration becomes, if possible, even more concentrated. What stays is the impression of maraschino cherries - the intense and fresh cherry primary fruit accompanied with almond flavour. Depending on the oak usage, there is more or less oak influence, vanilla and toast.

Amarones, not surprisingly, are the most deep and complex out of the wines with floral, liquorice and spice aromas. The wines that have matured the longest are very layered, and still the freshness of their fruit remains pristine. 2008 TB Amarone gets a special mention form Giuseppe for its particular aromatics: this vintage was exceptionally hot in Valpolicella and producers struggled with jammy fruit aromas. Nonetheless, in 2008 TB Amarone the fruit remains bright and fresh. Finally, the finish of every wine is extensive, vibrant and fruity. Dear vinous friends, up until now Amarone in general has been slightly too fruit driven for my taste. However, these wines have changed me, to say the least. I’m impressed.

While we thank and say our goodbyes Giuseppe expresses his regrets we didn’t get to taste their Recioto - the wine that is particularily important for Bussola. While I’m of course curious of this wine, I have no problem with leaving with such a good excuse to return for a new visit in the future! And, on top of that I’d like to taste their basic line Valpolicella classico, as I’ve got inkling it might change my idea of Valpolicella normale entirely.

Coordinates 

Azienda Agricola Tommaso Bussola

Via Molino Turri, 30

37024 Negrar

bussolavini.com

info@bussolavini.com

Tel. 045 7501740