What: 100% Gamay
Who: Rudolphe & Ludivine Marteau; Vincent Leclair
Where: Cher Valley, Touraine AOC, Loire Valley, France
Tastes Like: Bright berry aromas dominate in this light bodied red. On the palate, ripe red fruit flavors (strawberry and raspberry especially) are accented by a delicate spicy note. Smooth and mellow, delicious with just a bit of a chill.
Pairs With: Mild cheeses; Spag Amatriciana; Red Sauce Sunday; Summer; Good Times.
The Who:
A collaboration with Rodolphe & Ludivine Marteau and Vincent Leclair - both fourth generation families in Touraine. The Marteaus took over their family’s estate in 2010 which is a 29 hectare property is located on South bank of the river Cher, on siliceous-argilo (clay and flint) soils. Vincent assumed leadership in 2014 at his family’s 45 hectare estate in Pouillé, in the Cher Valley.
The Where:
The Touraine AOC stretches from the outer limits of the Anjou region to the gateways of the Sologne, in an area of confluence formed by the Loire river and its tributaries. The soils in the Touraine are very varied, with “perruches” (clay mixed with flint), “aubuis” (argilo-calcareous on a chalky subsoil) and sands on clays in the East. The influence of the sea in the West gradually takes on a continental character as you proceed Eastwards. These climatic differences combined with the different soils determine the selection of grape varieties grow
The Wine:
The vines average 30 years in age and are meticulously tended by the family. Short-cane pruning, selective ploughing, spring de-budding, deleafing, grass cover throughout the vineyard and green harvest practices all lend to limited yields and best quality fruit at harvest. Harvested by hand with vinification in stainless steel tanks including 8 days carbonic. Elevage in tank until release.
2017 Vietti Barbera d’Alba
Who: Lucca Currado
What: 100% Barbera
Where: Alba, Piedmont, Italy
Tastes Like: Barolo Light! Strong but integrated tannin with a light to medium body. Dried fruits and purple flowers, hint of barnyard.
Pairs With: Pates and terrines; Conchiglie with rabbit sugo; Rigatoni and mushrooms
The Who:
The history of the Vietti winery traces its roots back to the 19th Century. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, however, did the Vietti name become a winery offering its own wines in bottle.
Patriarch Mario Vietti, starting from 1919 made the first Vietti wines, selling most of the production in Italy. His most significant achievement was to transform the family farm, engaged in many fields, into a grape-growing and wine-producing business.
Then, in 1952, Alfredo Currado (Luciana Vietti’s husband) continued to produce high quality wines from their own vineyards and purchased grapes. The Vietti winery grew to one of the top-level producers in Piemonte and was one of the first wineries to export its products to the USA market.
Alfredo was one of the first to select and vinify grapes from single vineyards (such as Brunate, Rocche and Villero). This was a radical concept at the time, but today virtually every vintner making Barolo and Barbaresco wines offers “single vineyard” or “cru-designated” wines.
Alfredo is also called the “father of Arneis” as in 1967 he invested a lot of time to rediscover and understand this nearly-lost variety. Today Arneis is the most famous white wine from Roero area, north of Barolo. Setting such a fine example with Arneis, even fellow vintners as far away those on the west coast of the United States now are cultivating and producing Arneis!
Grapes: 100% Barbera
The Wine:
Winemaking: The vineyard is located in the Scarrone area, from the oldest portion of the vineyard, facing south-east. We can count approximately 4300 plants per hectare.
The naturally low yields due to the age, are further reduced by a strict selection of the grapes.
Vinification start with a short period of cold maceration followed by 2 weeks of alcoholic fermentation in steel vats, with regular pumping overs. After this, the wine macerates for another week, then it is racked and it is moved to oak for malolactic.
Ageing: 18 months in big oak cask, barriques and steel tanks.
2016 Clos de L’Elu
Who: Thomas & Charlotte Carsin
What: 40% Gamay, 40% Cabernet Franc, 20% Grolleau
Where: Anjou noir, St Aubin de Luigné, Loire Valley
Tastes Like: Plums, raisins and bubblegum, backed up with a eucalyptus aromatic. Delicious served slightly chilled. Tannins are firm, but the wine is relatively light on the palate.
Pairs With: Pates and terrines; grilled meats; rabbit sugo
The Who:
Thomas and Charlotte Carsin acquired Clos de L’Elu in 2008 after making careers for themselves in vineyard management and communications, respectively. They transitioned the winery to all organic farming, and maintain rigorous standards for their winemaking. The focus in the vineyard is to harvest ripe and healthy grapes. All pruning, debudding, and harvest is done by hand, with a minimalist approach to soil rejuvenation (too many nutrients = robust plants, but poor fruit). Minimalism comes through in their winemaking as well: reds are whole cluster maceration, indigenous yeasts are used, and the wines are not filtered.
The Where:
The Domaine is located in Saint Aubin de Luigné in the heart of the Layon Valley, a small valley belonging to the appellation of the Loire Valley. Our vines grow on the outskirts of the village, between Chaume and Ardenay, mostly on the right, south-facing side of the Layon river.
All of the vines grow on the Anjou noir territory. Anjou noir is the most easterly part of the Armorican massif: a geological massif of schist that joins the Paris Basin just east of Angers. Full of volcanic rocks, sandstones, quartz, the Anjou Noir evokes many colours too: silvery grey, anthracite, blues and browns typical of schist terroir. This clearly makes a distinction from the Anjou Blanc, characterised by calciferous limestone, which is the terroir of Saumur. Soils are characterised by their low capacity to retain water so winemakers favour the growth of cover
Our little valley is at a crossroads of oceanic (Atlantic) and continental (Touraine) influences. The result is optimal precipitation levels, mainly western winds and mild temperatures in our valleys. The effect of south-facing slopes accentuates this insolation, pushing the temperature up and drying the topsoil. The slopes of the Layon valley take on a Mediterranean feel. The somber colour of the soil and stone also helps to retain heat, which benefits the plants.
The Indigene macerates with whole bunches for 3 weeks, then spends 12 months in steel.
2014 Villacreses “Pruno”
Who:Gonzalo and Lalo Anton
What: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Where:Ribera del Duero
Tastes Like:
Pairs With:
The Where:
The Duero River is the same river as the Douro in Portugal. This region is notable for the minerally white wine, Verdejo, of Rueda and the bold red wines of Toro, Ribera del Duero and Leon. The wine grape of this region is Tempranillo and in Toro it’s called Tinta de Toro, where it is considered to be a slight mutation of the Tempranillo grape. Ribera del Duero is home to one of the most famous wineries in Spain: Vega Sicilia.
The Who:
First written evidence of the existence of this Duero estate refers to its founder, the Franciscan monk Pedro de Villacreces, from whom it takes its name. Together with a group of other clerics, including San Pedro Regalado (the patron saint of Valladolid), he established a monastery in this wonderful spot as a place to pray and grow crops. There was a little vineyard for their own use and for the monasteries nearby.
For some centuries Villacreces was a place of retreat for Franciscan monks to meditate, repent, work the land and contemplate nature, before being gifted to a Marquis in the 1800’s, with the Cuadrado family from Valladolid purchasing the property at the beginning of the 20th century. In 2004 Gonzalo and Lalo Antón met the Cuadrado family. The Antons already ran a bodega in Rioja (Izadi) and in Toro (Vetus), and had been looking into the Ribera de Duero for some time. Pedro Cuadrado hinted at his interest in leaving his wine business and estate in good hands. The Anton’s responded and soon became owners of one of the most spectacular of the Ribera del Duero vineyards. After rebuilding the bodega and restoring the vineyard, Villacreces was relaunched in 2007
The Wine:
Villacreces covers 110 hectares, 64 of them under vines. It stands on a meander of the Duero River, in the heart of the Ribera del Duero’s “Golden Mile”. The estate is divided into 15 plots of Tinto Fino, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, amongst century-old pine trees. These contribute to both the beauty and the ecology of the vineyards. Finca Villacreces is a single estate which benefits from the wide variety of soils found within it. These can be sandy, close to the pine forests, or alluvial and stony, dominated by larger pebbles deposited by the Duero. The poor soil naturally guarantees low yields, which average 4000 kg per hectare.
The bodega is situated at 700 metres above sea-level. Its climate is one of extremes, including significant temperature variations, long winters and dry summers with low rainfall. Nevertheless, the microclimate provided by the surrounding pine forest protects the estate from the harshest weather conditions.
Winemaking focusses on quality. The vineyards naturally only achieve yields of under 2 kg per vine. Individual bunches are selected by hand, and then berries sorted by using jets of air (a process called mistral). Each plot is vinified separately in small fermentation tanks. The Pruno is then aged for 12 months in 3-year-old French oak barrels.
2016 Cantine Antonio Caggiano “Tauri”
Who: Antonio Caggiano
What: 100% Aglianico (“ah-YAH-knee-koe”)
Where: Irpinia, Taurasi, Campania, Italy
Tastes Like: Big, bold, red. Earthy, with powerful tannin, and a raisin-like fruit.
Pairs With: Grilled meats, Amatriciana, Governatore PIzza.
The What: Aglianico is a grape native to Greece, brought to the southern part of Italy by early Greek settlers. The name comes from a corruption of “vitis hellenica,” or quite literally “greek wine.” The grape is mentioned by name by Pliny the Elder and is arguably the oldest consumer grape planting still grown today. Its finest expressions are grown in Basilicata and Campania, 2 southern, sunny, and dry regions of Italy. It tends to perform best when planted on volcanic soils, making southern Italy a perfect home for it.
The Where: Taurasi is an important wine center for the region of Campania, giving its name to the DOCG red wine of the region made from Aglianico with the option of blending in Piedirosso and Barbera. The area is noted, in addition to its award winning wines, for homely cooking based on homemade pasta, cattle-breeding, and oil and walnut production.
The Who: Antonio Caggiano pursued a career as a photographer before starting the winery on his family’s land in 1990. He really wanted to capture the history and culture of his home region, and the winery he built feels more like a museum of viticulture than simply a cellar. All of his wines are rooted in the indigenous varietals of the area, and he tries to adhere to traditional methods and equipment as much as possible. The Aglianico dell’Irpinia is a single varietal bottling, with the grapes grown on a mix of clay and limestone. Fermentation occurs in 100% stainless steel, and then the wine is rested in oak barrique for between 4 and 6 months, depending on the vintage.
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