W
L
THE CURIOUS QUAFFER
A VISIT FROM TUSCANY
In January, not long after the new year had kicked in, two worlds collided
on the Wirral as the cellar at the Hillbark Hotel in Frankby welcomed
Ciacci Piccolomino D’Aragona to host a tasting of some of its wines. with a touch of subtle vanilla. Overall you get a delicate wine, but one of
some complexity and with a long finish. For a wine so young the tannins
are balanced and silky. The wine retails at around the £30.00 a bottle mark.
Many of you will be familiar with some of the great wine regions in Italy.
Amongst these, I suspect, most of you will be well acquainted with that great
wine producing region that is Montalcino. Known globally as the home of
one of the world’s best wines, Brunello di Montalcino, it is that fabulous
hill top town or commune in the province of Siena in Tuscany. Medieval
buildings, beautiful farm houses, rolling hills, city walls, picturesque
vineyards, pastures and woods all make this little gem of a commune well
worth a visit. ATEO DOC S.ANTIMO 2016 – Here we move away from sangiovese. This
was a cracking wine made from 50% cabernet sauvignon and 50% merlot.
A wonderful, full bodied, big mouthful of wine but with, again for a fairly
youthful wine, soft tannins. On the nose and palette you get ripe fruit, black
cherries, some herbal characters, a touch of spice and perhaps a hint of
almond. A good solid wine with depth. Here we are at the very reasonable
price of £17.50 a bottle. For a wine like this – a bargain! You would have to
go a long way to find something comparable at this sort of price.
Part of this commune is occupied by the wonderful Ciacci Piccolomino
D’Aragona estate. Its origins date back to the 17th century and it still keeps
its historical heritage in a building called “Palazzo” (Palace) that was built
by Fabivs de' Vecchis, the Bishop of Montalcino and Abbot of Sant’Antimo
Abbey. The estate itself is located on the south east slope of the commune,
close to the medieval village of Castelnuovo dell’Abate and to the famous
Romanesque Abbey of Sant’Antimo which dates back to the 11th century. BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO ‘VIGNA DI PIANROSSO’ 2007 – At
nearly 12 years old this was stunning, classic, Brunello at its best. Again
we are in single vineyard territory here. Red brick/ ruby in colour, with a
perfumed earthy nose. On the palette you get a complex wine involving
red fruit, dark cherry and a hint of cinnamon. I have tasted many, many
Brunello’s over the years. This is up there with the best of them. We tasted
this wine from a magnum (retailing at £120 a bottle – so £60 a 75cl bottle).
For a special bottle of wine this is value for money. Something for a special
occasion perhaps and certainly not out of place, from either a quality or
price perspective, when one considers the great Brunello’s that are available
to us today.
Luckily (or unluckily if you look at it another way I suppose) a few of us from
the Wirral did not have to travel to Tuscany to taste the estate’s fine wines.
The tasting at the Hillbark hotel was hosted by Contessa Hotels (owners of
the hotel), by Mentzendorff (importer and distributor of the estates wines)
and by the charming Nicolette from the estate itself. At this point, however,
I probably need to confess to the fact that whilst I had heard of the estate,
I had never previously tasted any of its wines before. I suspect this is likely
due to the fact that their wines have never been widely available in the UK
before – but they are now! With a tremendous array of food, served from the
hotels Riviera menu, we were able to taste five red wines. As a bonus we were
also treated to the tasting of the estate’s olive oil too.
In order of the wines tasted:
TOSCANA ROSSO 2015 – This is perhaps what you would call the estates
entry level red wine. If that is what it was, then it punches well above its
label. Whilst it would match with just about everything food wise, this wine
could just as easily be drunk on its own. This was a juicy, but fairly full
bodied, affair. A touch of light spice, a touch of white pepper on the nose,
possibly a hint of earth, cherry and soft red fruit. Made from 85% sangiovese
grosso, 5% cabernet sauvignon, 5% merlot and 5% syrah, this was a very,
very drinkable wine. At £12.00 a bottle you wouldn’t go wrong with a case
or two of this.
ROSSO DI MONTALCINO ‘ROSSOFONTE’ DOC 2015 – Here we move
up a step in complexity. This wine comes entirely from a careful selection of
hand picked sangiovese grosso grapes from the Rossofonte vineyard (i.e. this
is a single vineyard wine). The vineyard is one of the estates eldest and best.
Produced in small quantities (only about 6,000 bottles a year) we find a ruby
red wine. On the nose an aroma of soft red fruit, a hint of pepper, some spice
and a touch of tobacco. Again, on the palette, the cherry comes through,
40 wirrallife.com
FABVIS DOC S. ANTIMO SYRAH 2014 – I guess we are never surprised,
these days, with the shear variety of wines produced in Italy. However I
wasn’t expecting to taste a single varietal syrah from Montalcino when I set
off for the cellar at Hillbark a few weeks back. But taste it I did. We actually
drank this wine at the end of the evening with chocolates!! It turned out to
be an inspired match. Dark black fruit, dusty cherry, herbs, oak, spice and
once more lovely soft tannins. At £19.00 a bottle this is another bargain.
The wines tasted were fabulous. For so many of them to be so young, yet
to have such soft and delicately balanced tannins, is a credit to those who
had a hand in making the wines. They can now all be purchased from the
Hillbark Hotel at the prices referred to above (phone 0151 625 2400 and ask
for Matthew Whitehouse). Each of the wines that we tasted took a little time
to open up; so if you do purchase any of them decant or double decant a
couple of hours before you drink.
Finally, if you are ever in Tuscany get in touch with the estate. The enduring
image for me was not only one of a fabulous wine maker, but of a genuine
family run winery that would welcome you into their midst.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I trundled along to the Hillbark
Hotel a few weeks back. However, what I tasted and discovered during
the course of the evening is definitely something worth writing about.
Impressed? Very much so.
Till next time. The Curious Quaffer.