Querciabella tasting seminar

In the baroque "Terrasse Room" of the luscious Ritz Carlton Hotel in Osaka I had the pleasure to attend this event on Querciabella wines. There were a total of six wines to taste and Giorgio and Stephanie from the company explained us a little bit about the story and philosophy of Querciabella.
The winery has a very peculiar approach in winemaking. It was founded in 1974 by Giuseppe Castiglioni, who made his fortune producing steel in Mexico and loved so much Bourgogne and Bordeaux wines that he decided to make Italian wines that could stand the French ones. Querciabella focuses in fact in what we use to call "Supertuscans" and it was one of the firsts to do that in Italy.
In 1988, pushed by Giuseppe's son Sebastiano, the winery went organic and after another 12 years it embraced the biodynamic philosophy. But what is more interesting was the following step: from 2008 Querciabella began to make biodynamic wines without using any animal by-product: we can call them vegan wines. Wild yeasts are used.
The grapes are sourced from a 74 hectares estate in Greve in Chianti, Panzano, Radda, Gaiole and another 32 hectares vineyard in the Maremma.

We tasted the following wines:
1 - Mongrana Maremma Toscana IGT 2009 (red)
2 - Chianti Classico 2011
3 - Turpino Toscana IGT 2010 (red)
4 - Camartina Toscana IGT 2010 (red)
5 - Chianti Classico 1999
6 - Batàr Toscana 2011 (white)

• 2009 Querciabella Mongrana Rosso 88 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Maremma, Maremma Toscana

  Your budget Supertuscan. Mongrana is a nice wine, very pure with red plum and cherry aromas. The oak is not heavy and gives just a spicy hint. In the mouth it tastes very fresh, the acidity is pronounced while body and tannin are medium. I was expecting it to be a little bit more intense on the palate, tannins are very delicate, but it can be somewhat sharp.
  I would see it well with some salami, just to balance the acidity with the fat. Chill it a little bit and you'll have a good red wine to face the next hot summer.

  Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

• 2011 Querciabella Chianti Classico 89 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG

  Give me all the Supertuscans you want and maybe I will like them, but a good Chianti Classico for me is something different, it just relax me, it makes me comfortable and reminds me of past times.
  And this was a very good Chianti indeed, especially if you look at the price. The red cherry and the violet aromas were not flamboyant, but well defined. As in the Mongrana you feel the oak, but it gives a very delicate toasty nuance.
  In the mouth you can feel its above average body and medium acid, which, together with the fruity flavours and a light sweetness on the tip of the tongue, make it round and mellow, what I expected from a relatively hot vintage. The aftertaste is pleasant, but maybe a little bit short.
  
  I found it more balanced than the Mongrana, very enjoyable even without food.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

The tasting was very interesting. I wrote about the wines in the notes, so I'll make just a few closing remarks.
1 - it was very bold to put the white wine last, after the '99 Chianti. As Giorgio said, many white wines would just fade and taste bland, but the Batàr fit in well and showed much character.
2 - the light in the room was not optimal. Very atmsopheric for sure, but also too much low. I couldn't really appreciate the different colour nuances of the wines.
3 - tables were somewhat small, making it difficult to take notes. Anyway this was inevitable: the event had a huge success and the organizers had decided to increase the available seats at the last moment.
4 - finally, you can be organic, biodynamic or vegan, but when you make wine you will always been killing some innocent life organisms for your enjoyement: yeasts. :D