A tale of two tastings - Italian style

Gambero Rosso 2009 ... more like 'gamble on a rosso'!

On 16 February 2009 a number of us attended the Gambero Rosso tasting of Italian wines at the Landmark Hotel in London. 57 top wineries, over 200 wines, it promised to be good overview of Italian wines and after last years decent effort I was looking forward to it immensely.

My aim was to taste widely and benchmark the Tuscan wines in particular to the Chianti and Brunello wines my company imports. First we attended the seminar taking a look at a wide range of wines from Italy's top regions - it was a 6 out of 10 at most. Though the wines were generally well made, too many didn't quite hit the spot on the palate or in your heart. Also, I was confounded that Steven Spurrier presented, no disrespect to him but his knowledge of Italian wines seemed limited and I couldn't help feeling that an Italian wine tasting expert would have been better.

So it wasn't a great start, onto the main tasting room. The first thing I noticed was that the tasting included a lot of the big boys of Italian wine and their respective importers - for my liking there were too many large commercial producers here and some of the wines reflected that. I liked the wines from Donnafugata, Masi and in particular Mastroberardino (the last two being imported by Berkmann - well done!) Mastroberardino's whites were lovely with the Greco di Tufo (a fantastic white grape) 2007 showing a pronounced floral nose, stoney minerality and drinking perfectly - this is a wine you could fall in love with immediately. Their Sannio Falanghina 2007 was diferent, more fruity but equally mineral and slightly heavier. The red Taurasi was superb.

Illuminati and Sella & Mosca also tasted well, as did Tenuta San Guido whose 3 reds showed great character, depth and power. I must say I was baffled by some of the so called superstars. Biondi-Santi's '04 Brunello was limpid and acidic and showed close to nothing (2004 was an excellent vintage as well!), I poured it out. Il Molina di Grace from Chianti was average as was Ruffino and Fontanafredda in Piedmont didn't work for me at all. Now these are some big names, and names that regularly get good ratings. Overall my experience of the tasting was quite hit and miss - too many wines were acidic and unapproachable and many had little character. Overall, I preferred the whites over the reds (wierd for Italy). I would also warn anyone who buys Italian wine based on ratings to be ready for disappointment. Far better to taste widely, put your trust in a good quality merchant or two and make your own mind up. Italy hides real treasures in the wine world and overall is my favourite country to buy wine from at the moment. Unfortunately for them I'm don't think this tasting did them too much justice.

As an aside - this was the second UK based tasting this year that seemed to heavily feature large commercial wineries. Is this a credit crunch thing - only the big boys can afford to exhibit in London? I hope not - I'd hate to see the disappearance of small boutique producers at these tastings. Maybe it's just the direction of Gambero Rosso? Who knows?

Faith restored in Italian vino

Thank god! Last week's taste of Tuscany tasting restored everything that Gambero Rosso succceeded so well in destroying. Hosted in the Dorchester's Crystal room the tasting featured small independent producers, interesting native grape varietals, styles ranging from the steadfastly traditional to modern and avant garde and even wine made from a new and unknown grape variety (it tasted like something between a cabernet and a merlot - the perfect Bordeaux singel varietal?)

Stars of the show:

- Petra - superb range and brand proposition, all the wines were superb (classic french and italian grapes and lots of blending) and had impressive levels of balance, supreme drinkability and stunning low-yield fruit. Damn Alivini for already representing these guys! Really switched on wineries with such a comprehensive package and such a good product are few and far between in the wine world. I would recommend these wines to anyone.

- Fattoria di Gratena - great range featuring 'Siro' that wine made from an unknown (and unamed) grape varietal, interesting and very different. Lousy packaging though - shame.

I also tasted some very intersting Brunello and Chianti though luckily nothing better than our own Tenuta di Riseccoli and Castello di Romitorio.