Hi all,
Firstly apologies to all as it’s been ages since my last blog!
Wine is not my business (unfortunately) but it is my great love & passion, however I own a business which I have had for 25yrs & I have been flat out busy. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad to be busy because it allows me travel, eat & drink fabulous wines too, however it does unfortunately restrict my spare blog writing time.
So once again “Sorry” but I’m now making the time, in 2018 from March, for regular Pietrovini blog time👍🍷🍷
A couple of months ago I was asked to go to a vertical wine tasting, I was so looking forward to this one. Why? Simple really it was 2 grape varieties I know well but had never had the opportunity to explore their ageing potential.
Note: Vertical Tasting (for those of you that don’t know) = Tasting the same wine from different vintages to see how they develop and also how the weather can change the wine dramatically.
The two grapes are Friulano & Refosco both from Friuli North eastern Italy and both produced by Tenuta di Angoris.
Brief History of the Estate: (Part 3 will have more details from when I visited a few weeks ago for the Passagio di Angoris event & they even let me loose in the vineyard with some secateurs!)
In 1648 Locatelli Locatelli was given 300 fields in an area of Cormòns known as “Langoris” by then Emperor Ferdinand III for his service as a General in the 30 Years War. At this time this area of Friuli was part of the Hapsburg Empire. I have to say a very generous gift indeed!!
- Original Land document 1648
The 17th Century Villa Locatelli is the home of the Tenuta di Angoris
We started the evening with a Collio Bianco Riserva 2015
This was an interesting start to the evening. This wine has since won 3 Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso which is very high praise indeed.
The grape varieties are 60% Friulano, 30% Sauvignon Blanc & 10% Malvasia Istriana.
A delicious wine for sure! It’s aromatic with sage, thyme & green herbs. On the palate its dry yet rich with green apples and tropical fruits. Wonderful mineral notes too, although the Malvasia Istriana is only 10% it shines through to make this wine so rounded and an absolute delight to drink. No wonder it won 3 Bicchieri
Friulano DOC Tasting:
The Friulano grape was once known as Tocai and you will see this on the 2005 bottle below. The Italians were made to change the name of the grape by a European court ruling taken out by the Hungarians to protect their grape Tokaji (pronouced Tock-eye).
Even though not spelt the same and there is no genetic connection between these varieties they still had to change it.
So we start with the 2016 & 2012 Friulano
The 2016 was only released a couple of months earlier from the tasting in Sept 17′ (sorry should have done this before but been on WORK catchup!) The grapes are harvested by hand planted on (Guyot system) vines which were planted in the 1950’s. The yield per vine is low but there are many vines planted per hectare.
2016 was initially wet early in the vintage but improved to low 30c’s temps but cooling off at night. Pale straw yellow in colour, with pears, melon, herbs and a touch of spice on the palate. On the finish a very light buttery feel.
2012 was a super hot vintage with yields much lower and the grapes ripened earlier. This gives the wine more fruit and less acidity. Pear fruit with a slight almond nuttiness. Creamy mineral finish. Quite different from 2016 but equally delicious.
2011 next. This was a cool and rainy vintage initially but saved by a warmer spell before harvest which produced a good crop here. The 11′ is more herby and slightly more acidic. I liked this wine a lot as it was so fresh with slightly lower alcohol too.
2005 was our final vintage to taste. This proves with no doubt that Friulano can definitely age well. This was a cool vintage.
Much darker yellow in colour now with its ageing, the fruit still shines, a new richness has evolved, and the finish is long and rounded.
Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso DOC Tasting:
There are at least 9 different Refosco grapes but dal Peduncolo is by far the best…. This is what Angoris tell me and its delicious!
This wine is made with the cold maceration process with malolactic fermentation.
This wine is super dark garnet in colour almost black. Blackberry, cherry & tobacco on the nose. This wine is crisp, dry, noticeably acidic and quite strong tannin’s. I love it.
2015 is the 1st vintage to try. 2015 is definitely going to be a good vintage for wines from Italy. It was a pretty hot vintage so the reds are super ripe fruit which shines through. When tasting this wine you get black fruits then pepper & spice, although fairly strong on tannins it still has bold fresh fruit. There is a mineral note running through the finish due to the limestone clay that the vines are planted in.
2014 this differs because of the weather. A cold and rainy vintage. However this has made the wine more herbaceous, spicey and noticeably more acidic. Having said that very enjoyable.
2009….. Wow ok this is why you do vertical tastings, this wine is a totally different animal, has more spice than a 1990’s girl band (SPICE GIRLS YOU MUPPETS)
It was a hot vintage and this shows with massive fruit, spice on the palate, although now its ageing nicely with the tannins more balanced with acidity.
2006. This was a hot vintage in Italy and has provided some great wines from across all areas of the country. Ripe cherry flavours much less spicey and the tannins are still going like a steam train. I just needed some fatty lamb chops and i would have been in heaven!
Finally 2003
Well this is a great wine! Its balance is incredible, fruit abounds, so rounded and tannins a soft delight! I actually didn’t write many notes on this except loads of expletives of how delicious this wine is!
Congratulations Angoris for top quality wine making!!
Part 2 (out within days! I PROMISE!) Is about my Angoris adventures in Friuli.
I would like to give a huge thank you to HAY WINES for the invite to this incredible tasting evening & to Frantiska from Angoris bringing these wonderful wines. Their details below:
Hay Wines is a family owned & independent wine merchants based in the medieval market town of Ledbury, Herefordshire. United Kingdom. With over 1,200 wines, whiskies, spirits, liqueurs, beers, ciders and perries, supplying wholesale solutions to restaurants, pubs, hotels, wine bars & also to you and me via the shop or online.
Hay wines have an extensive range of organic, biodynamic, natural, vegan, low sulfite wines. The Italian wines directly imported under the watchful eye of Michele Longari their in-house Italian Sommelier.
Tenuta di Angoris
Loc. Angoris, 7
34071 Cormons (GO)
Italy
Tel.: 0039 0481 60923 Fax: 0039 0481 60925
E-mail: info@angoris.it
Pietrovini Life through Red,White & Rosé Glasses🍷 