Showing posts with label Tanaro River Imports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tanaro River Imports. Show all posts

Friday, January 29, 2016

#WineStudio Online Session 32 with Tanaro River Imports Concludes with Tannins Galore

January's edition of #WineStudio featured George Tita and Tanaro River Imports, an importer specializing in small producers in northern Italy and France.  The first two segments covered excellent wines from Alsace as well as the Roero and Diano d'Alba regions of Italy's Piedmont.This week we finished with one more wine from the Piedmont as well as a Montefalco Rosso from Umbria.

Germano Angelo Azienda 2010 Nebbiolo d’Alba “Visette” Piemonte, Italy ($24, 14.5%) is "a Barolo without the price tag". Germano Angelo is the name of the winery's founder and a little more than a century later Davide Germano is now the winemaker. This is a baby Barolo as it is aged six months less than a traditional Barolo. The grapes are also sourced from three areas ( La Morra, Barolo and Monforte) where "Visette" is a name of a parcel in Monfort. And although once heavy farmed,  Nebbiolo now accounts for only 6% of Piedmont grape production. This Nebbiolo is a structured wine with many layers of dark black fruit, tobacco and dried figs. It finishes with long stringy tannins. At $24 this is a great value.


Azienda Agricola Romanelli 2012 Montefalco Rosso Umbria, Italy ($24, 15%) was made using the legacy Montefalco Rosso DOC regulations requireing 60-70% Sangiovese, 10-15% Sagrantino, 15-30% other authorized varietals. In this case Merlot and Cabernet. In 2015 these regulations were changed to remove the other varieties so that the final percentages must consist of 60-80% Sangiovese and 10-25% Sagrantino. The former grape is is indigenous to Umbria and is found only around the hilltop town of Montefalco and is tannic. And I mean tannic, the most tannic of all Italian varieties. Devis Romanelli is the young family winemaker and according to Tita is "doing important work on understanding terroir, skin contact, barrel use, etc. to push the quality of wine of Umbri". This wine shows plenty of structure starting with a leathery tobacco aroma, faint black cherry fruit, and very noticable dirty chewy tannins - finish is not harsh as in a Sagrantino di Montefalco. Pair with fatty meats.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

#WineStudio Online Session 32 with Tanaro River Imports Moves into Italy

Protocol Wine Studio's Online Session 32 online session continued with two Italian wines from Tanaro River Imports. And like last week's Florian Beck-Hartweg wines, George Tita has focused on two young winemakers utilizing old world methods.

Azienda Agricola Brangero 2012, Dolcetto di Diano D’Alba “San Rabino Soprano” Piemonte, Italy ($18, 13.5%) is produced by 3rd generation winemaker Marco Brangero in the town of Diano di Alba. This area is an approved Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) for Dolcetto as it's high elevation favors the early-ripening grape. On the front end Dolcetto is known to be soft and fruity, yet the wine comes to abrupt u-turn at the finish delivering a healthy dose of astringent tannins worthy of its Nebbiolo cousin. This wine from Brangero Winery is fermented and aged entirely in steel including long maturation process. Thus there are no outside wood influences which leads to a soft tart cherry wine with rustic earthiness finishing with almond like astringent tannins.  Beaujolais with teeth.

Cantina Roagna Giuseppe di Marco 2014 Barbera d’Alba Roero, Italy ($18, 14%) is produced by another third generation winemaker Marco Roagna from Priocca, a small town in the Roero. The soil contains more clay than other vineyards in the area so Marco's grandfather Bartolomeo selected clones that were best suited for this specific soil profile. Until the early 1980's the family was just selling it's fruit on bulk, but when mad cow disease wiped out the family's herd of livestock, Marco's father Giuseppe turned to a more higher yielding investment - wine production. Barbera is one of these wines and it's the complete opposite of the preceding Dolcetto. The initial taste focuses on it's juicy sour cherry flavor followed by an herbaceous and lively underbelly. There are plenty of acids with will allow this wine to age for a few more years. It finishes softly with easy tannins. This is one friendly and approachable wine. 

Session 32 of #Winestudio concludes tonight, February 26 at 9Pm ET. Join the conversation.

Monday, January 18, 2016

#WineStudio – Tanaro River Imports & Florian Beck-Hartweg

January's online session of #Winestudio features George Tita of Tanaro River Imports, which specializing in small producers in northern Italy and France. This month will feature a few of Tanaro's wines made by young winemakers who have maintained the traditional of their forefathers. One of these “young turks” is Florian Beck-Hartweg, who along with his wife Mathilde, are the fourteenth generation to work the family vineyards in Alsace. These vineyards are situated in northern Alsace near the village of Dambach-la-Ville.

Old traditions are followed as Florian utilizes century old oak casks to ferment and age the wine; natural yeast for fermentation; and only adding a small quantity of sulphur dioxide for preservation. Furthermore Beck-Hartweg stresses a spirit of cooperation with nature as depicted in their logo and imprinted on some of their corks. The logo shows a flower with a bee, which represents the wild green cover that is allowed to grow in their vineyards. This cover crop includes flowers which attract insects -- encouraging biodiversity. The particular bee drawn on the logo is a predator of the grape worm, which allows the winery to avoid the use of insecticides.

Beck-Hartweg's most famous wines are the Frankstein Grand Cru, but in this tasting we sampled a Riesling and Pinot Gris from their Prestige brand. These grapes are harvested from the same Frankstein vineyards; they are just located on opposite slopes with different sun exposures. Yet they all share the same granite mineral rich soil. The wines are also stamped with a Vigneron Indépendant label which designates that Florian Beck-Hartweg operates all phases of the wine's production from the viticulture to harvest to wine making to bottling.  Now that's hand crafted.


2011 Pinot Gris “Prestige” Beck-Hartweg ($20, 12.5%) - this is a mineral driven wine as the light citrus flavors are overshadowed by creamy minerals with solid acidic backbone. If you think of Pinot Gris as boring (like I used to) then try this wine; it will change your perception of the grape.

2012 Riesling Cuvée “Prestige” Beck-Hartweg ($20, 12.5%)- this is an acid driven wine with floral and light citrus flavors mingling with honey and nuts. There is a solid textured body and a long, long finish.  Well done.

One entertaining note is that Beck-Hartweg recommends serving the Riesling Cuvée with sauerkraut. I mimicked that pairing and for my tastes determined that the Pinot Gris was actually a better partner as it coated and dampened the sourness On the other hand the Riesling seemed to blend and extend the sour flavors. Nevertheless an interesting pairing.

On Tuesday January 19, #Winestudio will move into northern Italy with Dolcetto and Barbera. Join the conversation.