November 2021 Wine Club Blog
New and Classic Varietals from the Piedmont
Welcome back to the Grandiflora Wine Club blog! This month we are continuing our regional focus with a place dear to many of us: northwest Italy’s Piedmont! Home to 42 DOCs and 17 DOCGs, the Piedmont is a region whose reputation rivals or exceeds that of Tuscany. It’s also a beautiful historic cultural center of Italy. Let’s take a look.
Region Focus: Piedmont
Bounded to the north and west by the Alps and to the south by the Apennine range, Piedmont is encircled by mountains. Its terrain is dominated by rolling hills and deep river valleys that fill with fog during the harvest season. The fog — nebbia in Italian — gives its name to the Piedmont’s most famous grape, Nebbiolo. The endless combinations of soil, elevation, and exposure creates a small universe of microclimates which allow the Piedmont’s native grapes to develop an astonishing diversity of expressions. These grapes include international favorites Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, and Moscato d’Asti, as well as local indigenous and autochthonous varietals such as Cortese, Timorasso, Grignolino, and Bonarda. Take a look at the following map to get a sense of how geologically complex this region really is:
La Colombera, Colli Tortonesi DOCG Timorasso Derthona 2018
We’ve chosen one of these indigenous varietals to focus on this month: the weighty white Timorasso of Tortona from the Colli Tortonesi DOCG. Timorasso is an ancient grape — first mentioned in an 11th century text — that almost died out after the Phylloxera epidemic, and it’s currently in the midst of a quality revolution kicked off by Walter Massa. Colli Tortonesi has been overshadowed by the Langhe region upriver, home to the famous Barolo and Barbaresco DOCGs, but is starting to gain the respect of the international sommelier community, largely due to the leap forward in quality production of Timorasso.
We’ve chosen a beautiful cuvee made by Elisa Semino of La Colombera. Farmed organically and planted on calcareous clay soil between 1997 and 2000 from massal selections, these grapes are given a rich texture by a three hour maceration in the press followed by 10 months of aging on fine lees in steel tanks before bottling. This cuvee is named Derthona after the medieval name of the nearby city, Tortona, where the grape originates. Elisa is the fifth generation to be growing Timorasso at La Colombera.
What we love
To me, this wine drinks like an entry-level Cru Burgundy for half the price. When I say that I’m referring to the flavor profile — crisp and aromatic with fresh ripe apple and citrus tones, the texture — rich, smooth, viscous and weighty without being too boozy, and most of all the overall balance between all these elements which speaks to the craftsmanship of this wine’s production. It’s a multidimensional wine that deserves contemplation. Serve slightly chilled.
Francesco Boschis, Dogliani Superiore DOCG Vigne Sori San Martino 2016
Mario Boschis’ family has been growing grapes in Dogliani since 1919. They began vinifying and bottling their own grapes in 1968. They farm using traditional organic practices as well as some biodynamics such as polyculture with bees, cattle, and hazelnuts.
Grape Focus: Dolcetto
Dolcetto is a delicate, early ripening grape well suited to the Piedmont’s higher elevation sites with colder, shorter growing seasons. Its first mention is in a 1593 document from Dogliani, and modern research indicates that Dogliani is where Dolcetto originated. The thing that attracted my attention to Mario Boschis’ Dolcetto is that they are all from massal selections from a prephylloxera vineyard. Massal selection involves gradually replanting a vineyard with cuttings, so that the vineyard isn’t all one clone of a grape. Often cuttings are taken from the most vigorous plants in the same vineyard. This is good for the environment, since there’s no mass replanting, which preserves soil structure, and good for grape genetic diversity, as this produces local genetics adapted to each site. It also just produces unique wines, as we shall see, and was the original way to plant a vineyard.
Sori San Martino
So let’s consider the site that the Boschis’ vines have been adapted to. Your wine club selection is a single vineyard cuvee from Sori San Martino. This vineyard rises from 450 to 580 meters above sea level with southeast exposure. This means that the majority of the sun is in the morning and the grapes are protected from the heat of the day. The soil is similar to the more famous Serralunga area of Barolo with calcareous clay, and there is a touch of chalk in this site that brings softness and elegance to the richness of this Dolcetto.
What We Love about Boschis Francesco’s 2016 Sori San Martino
There are three things that strike me immediately about this wine. First, the varietal expression of Dolcetto is excellent. Second, the maturity of the wine illuminates its depths. Third, there are unique tones in the bottle that speak to its terroir. The dark red-purple berry and stone fruit aromatics characteristic of Dolcetto are well developed and balanced with soft tannins and medium acidity, which tells me that harvest was timed and performed well. Because of the 2016 vintage, I expect ripeness, and the development of fig-raisin-mocha tertiary flavors tells me this bottle is aging well. The thing that really stands out to me as unique to this bottle, though, is the surprising, cold climate characteristic, bitter herbal high tones that remind me of a Cabernet Franc from the Loire. The contrast with the ripe fruit really puts this cuvee of Dolcetto on another level. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
Similar to last month’s German rotating flight, this month we will be pouring wines from all over the Piedmont! I’m particularly excited to share some Nebbiolo from Barolo and Barbaresco as well as overlooked grapes like Ruche, Cortese, and Grignolino. See you soon!
Cheers, Jason
