Vinitaly 2009, Part 1

And now, we finally get to the real meat of the Italy trip, our 3 days at Vinitaly 2009. Thursday and Saturday were two full days, and we really put up quite a pace. There is just so much there, and though you try to make sure to get to as much as you can, you know that it is absolutely impossible to get to everything you would like to taste. Having experienced things once, I even tried my best to have some sort of plan of attack for us, but we would still not even come close to getting through all I had hoped. Thursday morning's start was somewhat slow as we got into the swing of things, but we spent a great deal of time visiting some of the wineries at the top of our list. We were also trying to make sure that we were able to see several of the people we had met previously, and that we could spend some time with them discussing their latest releases.

As we did last year, we began our first day in the Veneto pavilion after finally getting inside. We met up with Megan, and made out first stop at Giuseppe Campagnola. Of course, we had met Giuseppe the previous evening, and he was there to greet us upon our arrival. We sat down and began our tasting through his wonderful lineup of new releases. We started with the 2006 Caterina Zardini Valpolicella, then move don to the 2007 Corte Agnella, an IGT that is 100% Corvina. Next up was the 2005 Campagnola Amarone, which was still a bit tannic, followed by the 2004 Caterina Zardini Amarone, which we had drank the prior evening. It was just as good as the prior night, fully deserving of the 3 Glasses from Gambero Rosso. We then finished with the 2006 Recioto and the NV Fortificato, also tasted the prior night. Having Giuseppe there to walk us through everything of course made it an even better experience, and it was the perfect way to start out at Vinitaly.

Next we made a quick stop at Brig'aldara, where we tried the 2007 Valpolicella (still a bit young) and the 2004 Amarone Case Vecie. As mentioned in other posts, we had plenty of Brig'aldara wine on the trip, and they remain a favorite of mine from the Veneto.

Our next stop was one of the biggest names of the region, Zenato. Amazingly, last year we did not make it here, so this was a new experience for us. I'm pleased to say it did not disappoint, as we went through a great lineup of wines. We actually began with the NV Lugana, a sparkling white similar to Champagne. From there, we went into the reds with the 2007 Valpolicella (a little better than the Brig'aldara), the 2006 Cormi IGT (a blend of Corvina and Merlot), and the 2006 Ripassa, a favorite of mine in most every vintage. The next wine was a new one for us - the 2006 Cresasso IGT, a 100% Corvina Veronese selection that was quite nice. Finally, we were able to taste two Amarones, the 2005 Amarone normale and the 2003 Riserva Sergio Zenato, which was really amazing and one of the best Amarones we would have.

After Zenato, we proceeded to Lorenzo Begali, where son Giordano was once again there to host us (along with his sister Tiliana). We started here with the 2008 Valpolicella, then the 2007 Ripasso and the 2005 Tigiolo IGT. After that came a trio of Amarones, starting with the 2005 Amarone normale. We then tried two vintages of the Ca' Bianca Amarone, the 2004 and 2003. The '03 is already drinking well, but the younger 2004 has all the potential of a real blockbuster. We finished with the 2005 Recioto that was sweeter but still not overpowering.

All in all, it was a great start to the day. At this point, we went ahead and took our lunch break before embarking on an afternoon in the Toscana pavilion, which will come in the next entry.