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Vinitaly.
For forty years now Italy has organized itself a little wine conference that has grown to gigantic proportions. If you asked the Greeks, circa something-crazy BC, they would have said it was inevitable. When the first Greeks landed on the Italian peninsula, way back then, they reported to their fellow countrymen that Italy was "Oenotria" - the land of the (grape) vine. For five days, the winemakers from Italy and the wine sellers from around the world descended on the city of Juliet's balcony to drink the wine of yesterday, today and tomorrow. I returned from Verona with countless notes, a piece of luggage full of literature, purple lips and tongue and am still trying to digest and categorized the magnitude and diversity of the wines I tasted. The event was overwhelming to say the least. Even the most energetic and disciplined taster couldn't possibly experience the event en masse - near 4,000 wineries represented in 11 pavilions the size of football fields! My initial reaction to the event started with the wine taster's ritual - sight. Tens of thousands of bottles of wine - clear glass with yellow gold liquid; dark green grass glass with ruby red wine inside - all set on display under bright white lights. This, I thought, was no wine festival. Cased in the glass of Bordeaux style bottles were jewels, gems of the winemaking trade. And the savvy marketers and PR professionals expertly crafted this image that no price could be put on the passion that would be poured into your glass. So, I drank it up. And drank. And drank. Spitting was not an option. I savored each sip and commented on the success of such and such. Too many wines to detail here, but my most memorable moments were sitting on two opposite ends of the spectrum - a quiet, classic beauty in the background and a bold forerunner taking risks. The classic Italian beauty of wine was found in a man named Renzo Seghesio from Monforte d'Alba. The older man was sitting alone, in a section of the Piemonte tent built for boutique wineries that didn't have the marketing clout or dollars to put on a spectacular show. He was reading his newspaper in a small booth built for two, three if you positioned your knees inside and out of the people sitting across from you. We talked about the Italian elections that were happening over the weekend and it wasn't until his wife arrived a few moments later to tell me that he was the former Mayor of Monforte. His political success in Piemonte helped him be very judicious post retirement when he decided on which vineyards to cultivate for his selection of Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo grapes. If the man has a boisterous bone in his body, his modest demeanor didn't show it. He was elegant with a shy smile and his wines reflected such. The wines I tasted were on the verge of maturity, that awkward period when we know that the acidity of life is soon to be smoothed over with age. A half an hour had passed and I knew that the only thing that was pulling me away from his table was the fact that our conversation turned to an open invitation to visit his farm and cantina in late April while I would be in Piemonte on the last leg of my Italian wine experience. One day later, where I started every morning, I was walking toward the pavilion dedicated to Sicily. Just seven years ago, I was told, Sicily shared a small space with other Italian regions that weren't at the forefront of Italian winemaking and recognition. Today Pavilion 2: Sicily welcomed all visitors as they passed through security gates and into Vinitaly's entrance piazza. Outside the airport hanger of a building hung a sign, "Welcome to Sicilia, The Excel-land." My friend, Francesco Ferreri, the grape grower for Valle dell'Acate, shook his head at the sign and sighed, "we are an emerging market for wine, but we still have a great deal of work to do with our marketing." And it is true, beyond the sign, under the lights, was 240 vineyards and countless bottles of grape juice ready to explode in your mouth like two fruit trucks in a head on collision. But your entrance into Sicily was warm, like an early summer sun and inviting like the bright blue sea of the Mediterranean. There were the big draw attractions, Planeta, Duca di Salaparuta and Tasca d'Almerita, and the many who were shouldering their way to prominence with flair and fine winemaking. Francesco introduced me to a winemaker who has made a name for himself by bucking the trends of indigenousness and producing a portfolio of wines that consisted largely of International grapes. The Count Francesco Maurigi, slight in build, softly dressed in a collared shirt covered by a cashmere sweater, had eyes that were a tempest of craze and eccentricity or what some commonly refer to as genius. But in the winemaking world, the word "genius" is usually reserved for just that, genius; so, in Sicily most people prefer to shake their head and consider the Count flat out crazy. Why plant Viognier, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc when Insolia and Cartarratto will do? Why plant Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Syrah and Merlot when Nero d'Avola is the only remaining King on Sicilian soil? The Count responds only with a smile of crooked teeth and pours a glass of wine. The Maurigi estate of 40 hectares (100 acres) is off the hills of Piazza Armerina at about 600 meters (1,800 feet) above sea level. His wines taste and feel straight from France - Viognier from the Rhone, Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire, Chardonnay from Burgundy. Viognier that is intoxicating with apricots and citrus flavors. Sauvignon Blanc that is minerally fresh and Chardonnay with delicate citrus honey taste. The reds; Pinot, Cab, Merlot and Syrah hold the same French influences of the distant land. And most surprising he is not afraid to shock your senses by blending all four red grapes in one bottle. The wine is wonderfully inviting and takes on all aspects of the abovementioned - a powerful Cabernet, but soft and round as Merlot, a spicy Syrah but with Pinot's elegance - a "wow" wine for those who are short of adjectives to describe it. Although the musk of wine is probably still lingering in Verona while the stage show of Castello Banfi's two floor castle in the Tuscan Pavillion is being broken down and Renzo Seghesio's quiet pursuit of passion has returned to his home in Monforte and Francesco Maurigi's wild wine cocktail is shelved for another day, Vinitaly was a success for experiencing wines that are rich in history and structure, but more importantly it is an exciting time for Italy and the future for those who are willing to stick a glass of grape juice under the nose of the world and say, drink it - it comes from an "Excel(lent) land." Wine Post - April'06 Back to home...
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