lgsjr – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

Alba, Italy

The town of Alba, nestled in the Piemonte hillsides, is famous for making three things that give the world pleasure: wine, truffles and chocolate. Any place whose economy is based on those three is bound to be a happy one.

Let’s start with the truffles. Of course, they had grown near the roots of local trees from time immemorial. They were harvested by local farmers and their dogs (not pigs) and used as a flavoring but not as an expensive luxury item. Then, in the first part of the 20^th century, Giacomo Morra, the owner of a local hotel, realized that white truffles, Alba’s specialty, could be a big international business. He started the annual Truffle Fair that still occurs each October and attracts thousands of chefs and epicures to his town (and his hotel). Even if you visit Alba in the other eleven months, you’ll find truffle dishes on Albanese menus, if only the less-prized black ones.

The Piazza Michele Ferrero in Alba.

Alba’s chocolate is forever associated with the name Ferrero, maker of Nutella, Ferrero-Rocher and now Nestlé chocolate bars in the United States. The primary public square in Alba is the Piazza Michele Ferrero, named for the man who turned a small family confectionary into a global industrial enterprise, still headquartered in Alba. In recent years the piazza has been significantly renovated and is the focal point of any visit to the town.

And then, the wine. The local farmers had been raising grapes and making wine for centuries. The prevalent varietals were Barbera and Nebbiolo. The former was made by the farmers for their own use. It was thin and acidic. In the mid-20^th century came the realization that with better vineyard techniques and more sanitary winemaking facilities, Barbera could be an exportable product. Late in the century, Barbera started to be aged in French barrels and the fuller, fruitier, less acidic Barbera d’Alba entered the market. (There is also Barbera d’Asti, which is its more acidic cousin.)

Albanese gathering for an aperitivo in the Piazza San Giovanni Batista.

What the Albanese make is interesting, but it says nothing abouta visiting the town. In terms of art and architecture, it’s not particularly interesting, though there are some impressive churches. For those visiting for the purpose of wine tasting, Alba is the place to stay. It is 15 minutes’ drive from the villages of Barolo to the south and Barbaresco to the north. Numerous other even tinier villages to the south are also in the Barolo region and make that wine, a subject for a future issue of Power Tasting.

Alba itself is a sprawling town, with only the central historical center of interest to visitors. That core is graced with piazzas, churches, shops, restaurants, gelaterias and wine bars. Taking a few glasses in the wine bars and meeting with friends and neighbors appears to be the preferred Albanese sport, one that visitors can also indulge in. Two of the best wine bars, Roberto Serratto and 100Vini, are located on the Piazza Michele Ferrero; reviews will appear in future issues of Power Tasting.

Marchesi di Barolo

On the main street in the village of Barolo there’s a big yellow building housing the winery of the Marchesi di Barolo. Barolo as we know it today was first produced by this winery. Although it is named after the Marchesi, the real “inventor” was the Marchesa Giulia di Barolo, in the early 19^th century. Before then, the wines produced there were sweet and sparkling. She figured out that with cellaring in large casks, the Nebbiolo grape could be used for a deep-bodied, rich table wine. You can still see those casks on a visit to the winery because, amazingly, they are still in use. Alas, the Marchesi no longer owns it, but it is still owned and operated by a local family.

Visitors enter into a covered courtyard with a few touristy photo spots that belie the quality of the wines Marchesi di Barolo makes. There are numerous tours offered in various languages, so the sit-down tasting room is able to accommodate several tours at a time. The walls are completely covered with graffiti left by previous visitors, which again detracts from the wine.

*Huge wine casks from the 19^th century, still in use at Marchesi di Barolo today.*

Those quibbles aside, the tour and tasting are worthwhile. After all, this is where Barolo was born. The guides give quite a history lesson, explaining the importance of the Falletti family (that was the Marchesi’s family name), the love story of Tancredi and Giulia di Marchesi and, most importantly, how Barolo came to be. Seeing those ancient casks makes the history come alive. You also see that modern Barolo uses neutralized French oak barrels as well as the casks, to provide smoothness and to hasten the development time from harvest to bottle.

Depending on the tasting you choose, you can obtain a good understanding of Marchesi di Barolo wines and, in fact, of Barolo more generally. You try a Langhe Rosso, which is Nebbiolo but not from the vineyard areas designated for Barolo itself. They offer a Barbaresco for contrast, a few single vineyard Barolos and a Riserva. (Marchesi di Barolo also makes wines from other grapes, such as Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cortese, which were not included in our tasting.)

A few words about the vineyards: the term in Piemonte for single-vineyard wines is MGA (for Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive). There are more than 170 vineyards in the official Barolo region, but some are considered to be the best, including vineyards with names such as Cannubi, Brunate and Monprivato. So if you see Barolo Cannubi on a label, for example, you’ll know it’s an MGA from a top winery. Marchesi di Barolo offers four of them. A Barolo Classico is a wine made from grapes from multiple vineyards. These tend to be less complex and more approachable when young.

If the wines made today weren’t any good, then all the history of the Marchesi di Barolo wouldn’t matter. But they are quite good and the best of them are sought after around the world. So if you don’t know much about either the history or the Barolo wines, this is a good place to start.

Wine Tasting in the Piemonte

In the northwest of Italy there is a section called the Piemonte, which is Italian for “foothills”, in this case the foothills of the Alps. As is true almost everywhere in Italy, they make wine there. But the wines from this region are particularly well known, starting with Barolo, considered among the best the nation has to offer. There are other wines as well. Barolo and its close cousin Barbaresco are made from Nebbiolo grapes, as is Langhe Rosso, a perfectly fine wine that doesn’t meet the requirements for the Big Two. (Langhe is a local word for the Piemonte region.)

But as they say in the late-night commercials, that’s not all. In the reds, there’s wine made from Barbera grapes, centered in both the towns of Alba and Asti. There’s also wine from the Dolcetto grape, which is dry despite its name; the best comes from Dogliani to the south. There are some unique whites as well, including Arneis from the Roero subregion north of Barbaresco and Cortese that’s used in Gavi wines, made in the southern reaches of the Piemonte. You can also find Vermentino and the omnipresent Chardonnay.

Those of us who enjoy tasting wines in the places where they are made have so much to choose from in the Piemonte. We focused on visits to red wine producers, drinking whites with meals in the oppressive heat that is haunting Western Europe this year. Winery reviews will be in this and successive issues of Power Tasting.

The winemaking areas of the Piemonte are famed for their beauty. No matter how often you may have seen pictures of the region, including the one included in this article, nothing prepares you for the reality. It is stunning and there is a new vista to take your breath away around every bend in the road. (This is European Wine Country so there are many bends in the roads.) There are many villages on hilltops, built there in medieval times for security reasons. Seeing them across endless vines is rather special.

*The village of Roddi on a hilltop, across the vineyards. It’s much prettier from a distance than in the village itself.*

When not visiting wineries, you can sample local wines at the many wine bars that you find both in the towns, Asti and Alba, and seemingly every little village as well. The wine bars are especially popular in the early evening, aperitivo time. You can spend anything from a few euros for a simple Arneis to thirty or more for a grand Barolo. Better yet, every bar, no matter how humble, provides a spread of olives, cheese, salami and maybe a bit of pizza – to go with your drink. We found that having had a full lunch in a village after visiting a winery, the aperitivo offering was enough for dinner.

The winemaking area of the Piemonte is rather concentrated. Alba is in the center, and most of the wineries are only about 15 minutes’ drive from the town. Even the time to go from village to village takes no more than 20 minutes between them. It makes it easy to see, and taste, a lot in a short time.

Wine Tasting Appointments in the Piemonte

Wine tasting at the most exclusive wineries everywhere has long been on the basis of “By Appointment Only”. This applies to areas as widely spread as Napa Valley, Bordeaux and Tuscany. In the Piemonte, specifically relating to the wineries in Barolo and Barbaresco, they have never been open for casual passers-by to stop in for a taste of their wines. At one point, there were no organized tastings at all in the Piemonte; you got to try a few wines if you were in the trade or were a friend of the owner.

By the 1990’s wine tasting tourism had taken off around the world and Piemonte had become a destination region based on the quality of their wines. But the wineries themselves were – and for the most part, still are – small, family owned businesses that are in the wine business, not tourism. Serving visitors has become a profitable sideline, but no more than that. To control the distraction from their main business of winemaking and to contain labor costs, almost all wine tasting in the Piemonte is strictly by appointment. And the tastings can be quite costly.

Here are some tips to get the most out of a Piemonte visit, while working through the appointments.

Do some homework. This has long been advice given by Power Tasting, for wine tasting anywhere. But many Americans, even knowledgeable wine tasters, are not that familiar with specific Barolo and Barbaresco wineries, so some prior research is called for. Find out which wineries make quality wines and offer tastings that fit your budget. Then get on their web sites and make your appointments.
Don’t over-plan. Realistically, you can only visit one winery per day. That’s because almost every tasting includes a tour as well. These visits take at least an hour and half. But there are only a limited number of tours in English. So unless you’re fluent in Italian, there’s only one or two times you can visit.
Use the rest of your time wisely. Have lunch in the village. Visit a castle. Sit in a wine bar and sample the wines of whatever village you’re in. Enjoy the incredible views. Who knows when you’ll ever be in the Piemonte again; enjoy it while you’re there.

Take advantage of the exceptions. There are a few opportunities for wine tasting without an appointment. In the village of Barolo, there’s a tasting room of the Borgogno winery where you can just come in and order their wines by the glass. (Borgogno also offers tasting tours.) In the little village of La Morra, which also offers spectacular panoramic vistas of the Barolo vineyards, there’s the cooperative, called the Cantina Communale de La Morra. There’s a huge selection of lesser-known Barolos and other wines to try.
Try your luck. You can knock on the door of a winery, look very apologetic and say that you don’t have an appointment but you’d like to try their wine. You never know, they might pour you a little. It worked for us, at least once.

Marchesi di Barolo

On the main street in the village of Barolo there’s a big yellow building housing the winery of the Marchesi di Barolo. (Well, there is only one street in the village, but even so.) Barolo as we know it today was first produced by this winery. Although it is named after the Marchesi, the real “inventor” was the Marchesa Giulia di Barolo, in the early 19^th century. Before then, the wines produced there were sweet and sparkling. She figured out that with cellaring in large casks, the Nebbiolo grape could be used for a deep-bodied, rich table wine. You can still see those casks on a visit to the winery because, amazingly, they are still in use. Alas, the Marchesi no longer owns it, but it is still owned and operated by a local family.

Those quibbles aside, the tour and tasting are worthwhile. After all, this is where Barolo was born. The guides give quite a history lesson, explaining the importance of the Falletti family (that was the Marchesi’s family name), the love story of Tancredi and Giulia di Marchesi and, most importantly, how Barolo came to be. Seeing those ancient casks makes the history come alive. You also see that modern Barolo uses neutral French oak barrels as well as the casks, to provide smoothness and to hasten the development time from harvest to bottle.

Paradise Springs Winery

Paradise Springs is not your usual winery. For openers, it’s not one winery but two – one facility in Virginia and another in Santa Barbara, California. This piece is about the West Coast branch; we haven’t visited the one in Virginia (yet). It’s a young winery; they started making wine in Virginia in 2010 and in Santa Barbara in 2015.

When we refer to Santa Barbara wines, we often include those made in the area surrounding the city, Santa Barbara County. And in fact that’s where Paradise Spring’s grapes come from. But the tasting room puts the funk in Funk Zone, Santa Barbara’s hot-spot wine tasting area. It’s situated on a parking lot and it has a hole of miniature golf outside. Tables outside are on artificial grass; no vines are in evidence. If you look at the building from just the right angle, it’s quite attractive, but it’s hard to avoid looking at the food truck in the parking lot and the visitors playing golf. To be fair, the interior of their facility is well-appointed but we only discovered it after we had enjoyed a rather extensive list of wines that we tasted outdoors.

*The interior of Paradise Springs’ Santa Barbara tasting room.*

Our server – excuse us, he’s an Experience Manager – was knowledgeable but decidedly casual. Taken together, everything about Paradise Springs would have turned us off, since we’re rather conventional in our wine tasting tastes. The saving grace is that we really enjoyed the wines we got to taste.

Not surprisingly, the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs come from Santa Rita Hills and the other reds are made from grapes from the much warmer Happy Canyon. (It’s amazing how different the climate can be, with both areas in Santa Barbara County.) Our tastes run towards red wines, so we focused on those. One of their outstanding Pinot Noirs is sourced from Sanford & Benedict vineyard, among the best known in the county. There’s also a Rhône blend, which Californians insist on calling a GSM (Ugh! Yes, the Rhône makes wines from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre but they sometimes use other grapes such as Carignan and Cinsault. Why do West Coast vintners insist on making wine from just those three grapes?)

There was one wine that stood out to us. They call it The Roshi and it’s a Bordeaux-style Meritage. This one is made from both Happy Canyon and Virginia grapes. Paradise Springs proclaims it as the only bi-coastal wine and we’re sure that that’s true.

When we’re wine tasting in the city of Santa Barbara, we generally stick to the up- and mid-town wineries that are, in general, quite classy. We do go into the Funk Zone too, but with some trepidation. The wineries in that part of town have improved recently, so we can’t just skip it. If you’re in the mood for sipping some serious wine in a hippy-dippy atmosphere, we recommend you put paradise Springs on your itinerary.

“Which One Is Your Favorite?”

Often, when we talk with friends and acquaintances about our love of wine tasting, we get the question stated in the headline. Of course, it’s an impossible question to answer, much akin to “Which one is your favorite child”, which we often tell the people who ask. Sometimes they mean to ask which is our favorite wine and we have to answer with the unsatisfying reply, “It depends”. With what food? What time of year? How do we feel that day? It’s easy to say, “Those Rothschilds sure make mighty fine wines” and be done with it, but that’s just dodging an answer. The best we can say is that we can’t answer that question and explain why not.

*Photo courtesy of Wine International Association.*

Others, perhaps more interested in wine tasting themselves, ask “What is your favorite winery to visit?”. Of course, that’s just a backhanded way of asking which wine we prefer, but we admit there is more to it. A wine tasting visit incorporates the wines, the servers and the winery itself.

A fairer question is what region of Wine Country do we prefer? Even that is a tough one. We have visited Napa Valley more than any other locale over the years, both for the quality of the wine and the fact that in our earlier years of wine tasting, it was the only place to go, or at least it seemed that way. But we also have visited Sonoma County often and we enjoy the more relaxed attitude there. Long Island’s North Fork is a drive for us, not a plane flight. And can life be any better than sipping Champagne for a few days in the place where it’s made?

A fairer question, one that we often turn the conversation to, is what is our favorite type of winery to visit for tasting. The ideal winery has architectural beauty, without going completely over the top. It’s even better if the building has some historical interest as well and is surrounded by grape vines. The servers should be informed and interested in educating as well as pouring. And, oh yes, the winery has to have excellent wine.

These days, it’s too much to hope that a tasting of top-tier wines would be inexpensive. Seated tastings are what we generally find in the US, and they’re becoming more common in Europe as well. At our ideal winery, sitting at a table by ourselves, not with the server, who is being helpful but not too intrusive. And if they can find a few little “extras” that just happen to be behind the bar, so much the better.

There are a few wineries that come to mind that meet all or most of the specifications we have in mind. Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley is one; Dry Creek in Sonoma County is another in California; Biondi-Santi in Tuscany and Château Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux fit the bill overseas. Anyone who loves wine and wine tasting should try to visit these and others like them in their lifetime.

Trastevere

In the early years of the Roman Empire, the Emperor Augustus divided the city of Rome into fourteen regions. Only one was on the right bank of the River Tiber. It was called Transtiberim, or “across the Tiber” in English. Back then, it was a working class neighborhood, full of immigrant laborers who worked the docks where food and merchandise entered the city.

Today, Transtiberim is called Trastevere (pronounced tra-STEV-er-eh). It is still a very lively neighborhood that some call the Greenwich Village of Rome. Since we live in New York’s Greenwich Village, we find the likeness to be a bit stretched. The similarity is based on the fact that both have lively nightlife, with lots of caffés, restaurants and bars worth exploring.

*Dining with Italians (and some tourists) in Trastevere.*

Trastevere is fine to visit during the day as well. This section of Rome is well beloved by tourists and Romans, too. In daytime, you’re more likely to see tourists than locals. There are a few sights to see, but if you enjoy a place for simply hanging out, Trastevere is your best destination in Rome. The streets are old and narrow. The shops and kiosks are there for browsing and no one seems to mind if you don’t buy. And even if the caffes and restaurants blossom once the sun goes down, they are happy to welcome you for a lunch or an aperitivo in the early evening, the time for the passeggiata. This last is the uniquely Italian custom of taking a walk to see who else is taking a walk or, more important, so you can be seen talking a walk.

*The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.*

Chief among the sights is Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. It might be the first place where Christians gathered to worship in Rome, although the church that is there now was “only” built in the 12^th century. The foundations, so the archeologists say, date to the 3^rd century. It’s an attractive enough basilica, though in the city with the most overwhelmingly beautiful churches in the world, it doesn’t leave a huge impression. There’s a popular fountain outside the church, where footsore tourists often relax without having to buy a meal or a drink.

But meals and drinks are the primary reasons to be in Trastevere. No matter how you get there – by taxi, bus or foot – you arrive at a large piazza with a gelateria and a restaurant. There’s no reason to stop at the first places you see, though. Continue down the main street, the Viale di Trastevere and you will find no lack of caffes, restaurants, gelaterias, shops and little nooks where there always seem to be people either arguing or in love, or probably a little of both. We offer no recommendations; half the fun is discovering.

Oh, wait, we do have one recommendation. The Italians take their gelato very seriously and the top gelaterias vie for recognition. On the Viale di Trastevere there is one called Fior di Luna (Moon Flower) that has won the all-Italy, all-world championship. Don’t miss it!

How to Disagree About Wine

Let’s assume that you’re going wine tasting with another person, someone whose taste in wine you respect. You’re fond of that person, maybe that person is your partner in life. Most of the time you agree about the quality of the wine you drink, but on occasion in a winery’s tasting room, you disagree.

Now as friends and lovers, you probably don’t need advice from Power Tasting about how to disagree amiably. But there are some aspects of disagreements that are unique to wine tasting. Disagreements can be learning experiences for all those involved.

Is the wine bad? We’re not talking about the relative quality of the wine the two of you might be tasting. We’re suggesting that a wine may have turned or is corked. Corked wine, in particular, is a common problem, more so than is generally recognized, although it seems it occurs in fewer bottles in recent years. One may recognize the problem and the other not, so that might be the first question to consider if one of you is immediately turned off by a sip of wine because you feel that wine is corked.
What if one of you likes a wine, and the other doesn’t. This is where respect for the other’s taste comes into play. It may simply be a stylistic difference. One likes oaky, buttery California Chardonnays. The other prefers classic French Chablis, made from the same grape but tasting very different. The best idea is to recognize the underlying difference in a particular wine, while recognizing that there are some unoaked Chardonnays from California and some very fruity Chablis from Burgundy.
What does it taste like? You both lift a glass of, say, Zinfandel. One tastes cherries when sipping it. The other is sure that the dominant flavor is dark chocolate. It’s amazing how suggestions alter perceptions. All of a sudden, when they mention their impressions, the cherries come through to one and the chocolate to the other. You both realize that what you smell is chocolate-covered cherries. Now, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but the point is valid. Consider what the other is smelling and tasting and your senses may begin to respond in the same way.
What does the winemaker say? One of the niceties of wine is that you can often read the winemaker’s opinion about aromas and tastes on the back of a bottle. (You can also find other people’s opinions on some restaurants’ lists and in critics’ commentary. But we’re talking about what you can do in a tasting room.) To be honest, we often find some of those comments to be ridiculous. Every time we read about road tar or pencil shavings, we grimace. But if one of you tastes plums and the other doesn’t, the winemaker can be a tie-breaker.
De gustibus non disputandem est. The ancient Romans had it right: There’s no arguing taste. And it may be that one person is actually incapable of tasting what the other does. For example, the smell of white pepper is a known characteristic of Syrah. But according to Decanter magazine, more than 20% of the population don’t have the taste receptors to detect the chemical that imparts that peppery taste.

As we have said before, disagreements about wine tasting are often a learning experience which we should take advantage of.

Tastings at the Wine Shop

It’s almost commonplace these days: We walk into a wine shop and there’s someone standing behind a little podium with a few open bottles of wine and a rack of glasses or more often small plastic cups. “Hi. Would you like to taste a little wine from <fill in the name of a wine region>?” The wine might come from anywhere, from California to Georgia (in Eastern Europe, not the American South). Our answer is generally, “Sure, why not?”

To be honest, the great majority of the time the wine on offer isn’t very good. We rarely say, “Wow! Let’s buy some.” Although there have been a few occasions when we have done that.

There are also some tastings held in wine shops that are a great deal more sophisticated. A representative of a winery arrives with bottles – sometimes cases – of various wines from their vineyards and sets up behind a makeshift bar. In these instances, shoppers sip one wine after the other, just as if they were in a tasting room somewhere in Wine Country, except that there is no charge for the tasting.

*Annie Shull, proprietor of Raptor Ridge Winery, serving at a wine tasting.*

We were recently in St. Paul, Minnesota and stopped by a shop called Solo Vino. The proprietor is Chuck Kanski, a friend of long standing. We always go to Solo Vino when we’re in town, to say hello and buy a few bottles. That day, he was hosting a wine maker from Raptor Ridge Winery in Oregon. She had brought a selection of six whites of various styles. We can sincerely say that we gained a pretty thorough understanding what her winery produces.

So far, we’ve been talking about free tastings. Then there are some stores that really dig into their inventories and offer a serious comparison tasting. We well remember an event at New York City’s Morrell wine store tasting of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; it was truly an education. There’s a store a short walk from our home called Le Dû. They just had a tasting of Iberian wines from all over the peninsula. We don’t remember the price for that CdP tasting, but the one at Le Dû cost $60.

There are many wine shops that have those gas-filled cases that pour a few ounces at the touch of a tap. We’ve enjoyed them at Union Square in New York and some SAQ stores in Québec. The selections are generally not extensive but often have high-quality wines on offer. There’s usually a fee for each pull of the tap and for the amount that pours out.

Finally, travelling in European corners of Wine Country, we have often encountered dégustations (or degustaziones) in towns like Béziers in France or Montalcino, Italy. Enterprising owners of local wine shops select a few bottles and open them as a sales pitch to get visitors to buy some more. The wines are all representative of the famous wines made there, but the quality is hit-or-miss. It all depends on the integrity of the proprietor. We’ve found that if we are truly interested, there’s something special just under the bar.

The overall point is to take advantage of wine tastings where you can find them. We often find them where we’re going to shop anyway.