Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [83]
Barbera d’Alba Pio Cesare (Pee-oh CHEZZ-uh-ray), Clerico (CLAIR-ee-coh), Aldo Conterno, Giacomo Conterno (JAH-cuh-moe), Elio Grasso, Prunotto (Proo-NOH-toe), and Vietti.
Barbera d’Asti Michele Chiarlo (Mee-KELL-eh Kee-AHR-loe), Coppo (KOH-poe), and Zonin (ZONE-in).
Dolcetto d’Alba Elio Altare, Azelia (Ah-ZEH-lee-uh), Ceretto (Cheh-RETT-oh), Elio Grasso, and Mascarello (MAHSS-cuh-RELL-oh).
White Wine in Piedmont
This category, led by the dry, crisp wine called Gavi (GAH-vee) doesn’t excite me, except for Piedmont’s one-of-a-kind white, Moscato d’Asti/Asti Spumante DOCG. It caused quite a sensation when the Asti appellation was elevated to DOCG status a few years ago, with wine experts guffawing at the memory of the annoying, singsongy Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante voice-overs in the 1970s commercials. Maybe DOCG status is overkill, but I think this is a fun wine category. Spumante is the Italian word for a wine that’s fully sparkling (about 90 psi—a lot higher than the pressure in your car tires), so that is what you can expect from Asti Spumante. Moscato d’Asti, on the other hand, is semi-sparkling, what the Italians call frizzante (free-ZAHN-teh), and the French petillant (peh-tee-YAHNT). It is a wonderful, fragrant, slightly sweet wine (you tried it in Chapter 3’s “floral” tasting). It is lower in alcohol than most wines, around 8 or 9 percent, and not very expensive, making it perfect for brunch. Some good producers: Paolo Saracco (POW-low Suh-RAH-coe), Nivole (NEE-voh-leh, “clouds”) by Michele Chiarlo, Rivetti La Spinetta (Spee-NETT-uh), Vietti, Marco Negria, and Bruno Giacosa.
WINE TASTING
Piedmont Wines
Since we already tasted Moscato d’Asti, I will not repeat that here, but you may want to do so. It would make a great palate refresher after tasting these big red wines—Dolcetto, Barbera, and one from the Piedmontese dynamic duo of Barbaresco and Barolo. Choose from the recommendations above, or, if you buy from a good wine shop, ask for their suggestions. As with the Tuscan tasting, add bread and olive oil or cheese to your tasting after you have first tried the wines au naturel. It is even more important to have some food with these wines, to help tame their acidity and tannin.
The Rest of Italy
Besides Piedmont and Tuscan wines, there are a few other wine types that you’ll likely see in stores and restaurants, either because they are big sellers or because they are the distinctive styles that have contributed positively to Italy’s reputation in the global wine market. We’ll look over the major ones.
The Veneto Region
The Veneto region, with Venice as its historic heart, for the most part isn’t a quality leader, despite Verona being the headquarters of “Vinitaly,” the huge annual trade show for Italian wines. However, it was once the source of Italy’s top export wine—Soave from the Bolla winery, along with its neighboring red, Valpolicella (both are regional names). I don’t put either wine in the “cheap but good” category, because I still think the overall standard is weak. However, there are some good producers. For Soave, made from the local white grapes Trebbiano (Trebb-ee-AH-no) and Garganega (Gahr-GAH-neh-gah)—the wines from Anselmi (Ann-SELL-me), Gini (JEE-nee), and Pieropan (Pee-AIR-oh-pahn) are all worth trying. In Valpolicella, made from local red grapes—mainly Corvina—look for Allegrini (Al-uh-GREE-nee), Guerrieri-Rizzardi (GWEAR-ee-air-ee Ree-ZAHR-dee), and Quintarelli (Quin-tuh-RELL-ee).
CHEAP BUT GOOD—SPARKLING PROSECCO This inexpensive, usually dry sparkler is named for the grape Prosecco (Pro-SECK-oh), often attached to one of the two best regional village names, Conegliano (Coh-nell-ee-AH-no) or Valdobbiadene (Val-doe-bee-AH-duh-neh). Given these pronunciations, most people just say Prosecco. This is the sparkler traditionally mixed with