WFA Italian Wines

I was extremely privileged to be in the company of Luca Furlotti, the managing director of Tenuta Sella, and Rossano Terrazzano, a respected wine journalist. I got to try some really top-class Italian wines during the three days at Wine For Asia. Luca brought in his own Sella wines, along with a Gavi from Bruno Broglia and a really impressive range from the Sicilian producer Gulfi. Rossano introduced me to Italo Stupino, the owner and winemaker at Castello di Neive who was showing some wonderful wines.

• 2007 Broglia Gavi Villa Broglia 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Gavi

  (10/16/2008)

  I tasted this Gambero Rosso Tre Bichierri wine just a little too warm, but its quality shown through. Yellow gold colour, with subtle bread and pear flavours on the nose along with a little lemony lift. The palate was rather intense, with rich yellow fruit and really nice balance from a good dose of lemony acid. Long fresh finish.

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Luca's wines. Really nice range, with high quality throughout. Lovely with food as well. These showed nice Nebbiolo character without pretending to be Barolo or Barbaresco.

• 2007 Tenute Sella Coste della Sesia Majoli 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Coste della Sesia

  (10/16/2008)

  This was a serious rose. Highly impressive and reminiscent in a way of the much pricier Chateau d'Esclans of Provence. Pale rose pink specked with a light orangey garnet. This had a real complex, unsual nose of bread, button mushrooms and roses. Nice, fragrant palate, with some treacle, sweet berries and weightier bready flavours anchoring the wine into its finish. There was a pretty good amount of acid bringing balance too. I just wish this was served a bit colder, because we tried it a little outside its comfort zone. Nevertheless, a really interesting wine.

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• 2007 Tenute Sella Coste della Sesia Casteltorto 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Coste della Sesia

  (10/16/2008)

  This was probably the simplest wine in the line-up, but still rather nice with good Nebbiolo typicity. Nose showed ash, rose and musky perfume. Grippy, chewy tannins on the palate, which otherwise had some cherry fruit that carried into a decent finish. Just a touch less refined compared to the other Sella wines.

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• 2003 Tenute Sella Bramaterra I Porfidi 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Bramaterra

  (10/16/2008)

  Tre Bichierri in Gamboro Rosso. Smokey, earth, soy and meat on the nose with a little bit of leather. The palate was marked with fine-grained tannins which gave a little bite along with flavours of sweet cherry and perfumed flowers that carried into a dry finish. A nicely structured wine with some character.

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• 2005 Tenute Sella Lessona 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Lessona

  (10/16/2008)

  This was a lower end bottling, but I thought it was really good when I tried it. The nose showed flowers, smoke, meat and sweet cherries. Much the same on the palate - sweet cherry with a slight candied note, silky tannins with a bright acid spine, some spice, and a clean fresh finish. Nothing spectacular, but a delicious, well-integrated package. Quite ready to approach with food already.

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• 2004 Tenute Sella Lessona San Sebastiano allo Zoppo 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Lessona

  (10/16/2008)

  The 2001 vintage of this wine got a Tre Bichierri rating in Gambero Rosso, and this was no slouch either. Garnet colour. Absolutely lovely nose of tar, ash and smoke with a touch of soy, dusky cherries, orange peel and a little layering of buttery oak. A little simpler on the palate, but still really nice, with oange peel and cherry flavours all nicely held up by a nice amount of dryness and sructure. A long , bright finish rounded the wine off. Very good indeed.

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Amazing wines from one of the top producers in Sicily. Gulfi is organic, does not irrigate (in Sicily no less!) and has a very non-interventionist approach to wine-making. The result? Absolutely wonderful Nero d'Avola wines from single vineyard sites, each really speaking of Sicily, yet every one showing a unique terroir. I was quite excited by this brief tasting.

• 2004 Gulfi Etna Reseca 90 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

  (10/18/2008)

  What an interesting wine made from two native grapes, Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. Nice nose of caramelised soy, smoky meat and a bit of spice. The palate was nicely balanced with fresh acid and mouth-coating acid, upon which rested a touch of black fruit and some licorice which started emerging from the mid-palate into the decent finish.

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• 2004 Gulfi Sicilia Nerosanlorè 92 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Sicilia

  (10/18/2008)

  I believe this was my first Nero d'Avola. My impression when I first tasted this wine was "wow, this is really nice!" Complex and refined from the nose, which showed earth, smoke and rosemary, and into its palate, which had a nice, clear expression of olives, some berries, dark cheries, a little touch of violets, all nicely balanced out. Lovely finish, long, smooth and sliky with just a glide of the finest tannins. Really good.

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• 2004 Gulfi Sicilia Nerojbleo 91 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Sicilia

  (10/18/2008)

  Very clean nose, with clear savoury meat and a touch of bramble and earth. Similary clean and balanced on the palate, which showed meat, black olives, capers and a hint of rosemary along with some meatiness. The salty capers carried on into a nice round finish. This was certainly the earthiest and meatiest of the Gulfi wines, yet still remained really clean and clear tasting. Very nice.

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• 2004 Gulfi Sicilia Neromaccarj 92 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Sicilia

  (10/18/2008)

  Tre Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso. Dark inky purple coloured wine. Salty nose, with capers, olive tapanade, brine and dark cherries and rosemary herbs. This was really nice - one could almost smell Sicily in the wine. The palate was really focused, clean and elegant, at once sweet and savoury, with fresh olive flavours at the fore and a long finish that started a little empty, but filled out with a flourish of capers. All this in a very nicely balanced package. A lovely, lovely wine.

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Rossano introduced me to Italo Stupino, who was just the most lovely guy. I learnt a lot just tasting the wines with him and chatting about Piedmont. Castello di Neive owns the famous Santo Stefano vineyard from where Giacosa sources grapes for their famour Santo Stefano Barbaesco. If I am not wrong, Italo is the only person Giacosa still buys grapes from. Half the grapes in each vintage goes on sale, the other gets vinified by Castello di Neive. Some fantastic wines here.

• 2004 Castello di Neive Langhe Arneis Montebertotto 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC

  (10/17/2008)

  Pale yellow gold. Very neutral flavours on the nose - bread, a smattering of white flowers. That was about it I think. Rather neutral on the palate as well - clean, limey acid, white fruit, but all very nicely layered and well put together with impecable balance and structure. The medium-length finish was clean and fresh. Not stupendous on its own, but I think this will be a great foil for quite a lot food. The winemaker, Italo Stupino, was extremely proud of this wine when I spoke with him.

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• 2005 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Santo Stefano 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  (10/17/2008)

  Not quite as superlative as the 2004, yet this was an excellent effort in its own right. Lightish garnet colour. Complex nose of earth, hibiscus and sweet floral notes. Firm tannins marked the palate on the attack, along with clean acid that kept the wine in a very nice balance - very classically styled. While not quite as complex and expensive as the flavour profile of the 2004, the palate had a nice warm sweetness with dark cherry jam tones that carried into a long, clean finish. This is a wine that will need time and will certainly reward patient cellaring.

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• 2004 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Santo Stefano 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  (10/17/2008)

  What an excellent, classically styled Barbaresco! A lighter garnet colour than the 2005, this was also more backward, but certainly a more broad shouldered, expansive wine. The wine had a nose an an absolutely classic beauty - rose petals, strawberry jam, fresh flowers, orange peel, smoke, forest floor. The palate was fresh, very 2004, with a little rivulet of round acidity running through flavours flowery flavours and fruits like cherries and strawberries into a long, lingering finish that showed firm, grippy tannins. Very complex, yet very lithe with lots of finesse. Still achingly young, this will be tremendous when it reaches its prime.

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• 2003 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  (10/17/2008)

  Not bad for 2003, but I thought the wine still clearly stood out as a child of the vintage. Deeper red than the 2004 and 2005 non-Riservas that I tried, yet still marked with a little garnet. The wine's nose showed fresh cut flowers, a little meaty undertone, some pepper and a whiff of smoke. It was on the sweetness of the palate, expressed in dark fruit flavours, that the 2003 character came out. It still had fine-grained and very grippy, drying tannins along with the clean, bright acidity that I liked so much in Castello di Neive's Santo Stefano wines, but I thought this had less character than the other two vinatges. It finished like it started - sweet and round. Still, a good wine nonetheless.

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