Vinitaly 2011, Part 1

The opening morning at Vinitaly is always a bit of madness, as we've learned before. Getting through the ticket line and then the main gate can take a little time, so our planned schedule for the morning wasn't too busy. I anticipated starting in the Veneto as we usually do, then taking the afternoon to begin our assault on the Tuscany pavilion. However, those plans immediately got tossed when we ran into our good friend Mario Bollag of Terralsole in the ticket line. After getting our tickets we met Mario inside the gates and decided to go ahead and go with him to meet a good friend of his who has just started a new winery in Montecucco (just across the Orcia river from Montalcino). Mario's friend Paolo Vaggagini is actually the consulting winemaker at Terralsole, and has a similar role with many of Montalcino's top estates. Now he and his wife have started their own winery, Amantis, in a nearby area.

We tasted five wines with Paolo, beginning with his 2007 Birbanera, an IGT wine with Sangiovese, Colorino, Canaiolo, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. It's a very nice, easy-drinking wine that is a great choice for the price. We then had the 2006 Sangiovese, the 2005 Iperione (Cab Franc), the 2008 Birbanera, and the 2007 Sangiovese. These wines are all fairly priced as Montecucco is a relatively unknown area, but it's obvious that the terroir is good, and Paolo certainly knows how to make great wines. He was also a fantastic host, and I look forward to drinking more of his wine and hopefully seeing him again next year.

After that start, we had to make our first move to the Brunello Consorzio, and we were thrilled to come upon the stand of the Baricci family. I visited the Baricci winery last June after Mom and Dad recommended it from a visit they made several years ago. Nello Baricci was one of the founders of the Brunello Consorzio and remains a staunch traditionalist. His winery is also still a small, family-run operation, and in our past visits to Vinitaly they were not present. Now however, the youngest generation is taking a larger role and decided to make the trip north to Verona. Nello's grandsons were happy to receive us, and even more enthused when we told them about our prior visits to the winery visiting with their father and grandfather. When they poured their wines for us though, we were the excited ones, as their 2009 Rosso is very good and the 2006 Brunello is outstanding. This is traditionally-styled Brunello from the Montosoli hill in the northern part of the appellation that hits all the right notes. Even better is the price, as these wines are incredibly reasonable if you can find them in the US. I certainly can't wait to get some of the 2006 Brunello, and look forward to a bright future from this estate.

Our next stop was with another of the Montalcino traditionalists, Livio Sassetti. Livio's Pertimali estate has always made some of my favorite wines from Montalcino, and our visit with Livio two years ago at Vinitaly was one of the highlights of the trip. Livio was great once again this year, taking time to read us some of his poetry while we tasted. We went through his full lineup of wines, beginning with his 2009 Rosso and the 2006 Fili di Seta IGT. Next we tried his wines from vineyards outside of Montalcino, the 2008 Istriciaia from Maremma, and the 2007 Montecucco. Finally, we wrapped up with a trio of Brunelli: the 2004 Riserva, followed by both the 2005 Brunello and 2006 Brunello. Truthfully, the 2006 didn't stand out among all those we tasted, which is a little disappointing. It wasn't a bad wine at all, but it just didn't make a big impression on me.

After these two traditionally-styled producers, we switched gears with a visit to our friend Giancarlo Pacenti of Siro Pacenti. We have all visited the Pacenti estate, and enjoy the wines Giancarlo makes, though they are quite different than the prior wines. The Siro Pacenti wines are much more modern in style, aged new French barriques as opposed to the larger Slavonian botti (giant barrels) the traditionalists use. The resulting wines are thus bigger, darker, and a bit tougher to judge when so young. We tasted the 2009 Rosso and 2006 Brunello with Giancarlo, though I have now read that he will release two other Brunelli from the 2006 vintage, the PS Riserva as well as the Pelagrilli, made from his younger vines.

Our next stop took us briefly out of Montalcino, as we came across the Chianti estate of Felsina, which has become a favorite of mine over the past couple of years. I was disappointed not to get to visit the estate last summer, but we ran out of time the day I had hoped to visit. Our tasting began with the 2009 Chianti Classico, another strong effort for a bottling that became a house favorite of mine with the 2007 vintage. We followed that with the 2008 Chianti Riserva Rancia and the 2007 Chianti Riserva Rancia. The Rancia is a very backward wine when young, so these were both not showing a lot yet, but have great potential, especially the 2007. We then had the 2007 Fontalloro, an IGT due to the vineyards location the border of tho Chianti sub-regions, and finished with the 2007 Maestro Raro, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon IGT. While I enjoyed all of these wines, most of them still seemed very tight and closed.

Our final stop as we waited to meet up with several friends for lunch was another Brunello producer, Sesta di Sopra. Here we were actually offered the 2005 Brunello along with the 2009 Rosso. The 2005 Brunello was a very nice wine for the vintage, but I was disappointed not to get to try the 2006.

Overall, our first morning at Vinitaly was a good start to the event. We didn't taste a lot of wine, but got to spend some time with some old friends as well as make some new ones. We also tried some great wines we knew about and found some new things to seek out, which is always a plus. After lunch, we would spend a little more time in Tuscany before finally making our way to the Veneto to wrap up the opening day.