Category: Wine Tasting

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Strength and Elegance from Picech wines

Picech Wines

Back in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in Italy that is close to my heart, I took a long weekend to catch up with a few long due visits.

One of the (no longer) hidden pearls from the region, are the macerated white wines (aka orange wines). Those have been steadily growing in quality, technique and relevance in the region in this last decade.

Legends like Gravner, opened the way to many other producers to explore the complexities of a white wine produced as red one.

In a nutshell, to produce white macerate wines, the grapes are gently pressed with their skins. Those are left in contact with the must from a few hours to several weeks. This process lends body, length and depth to the wine. The color is built over darker hues of yellow, which can get more intense depending on the maceration time. The process also builds a characteristic range of aromas that includes bees wax, almonds, terracotta and orange peel.

Macerated white wines are one of a kind. I won’t tell you if good or bad, since taste is as individual as fingerprints. However, I would suggest that on the first time you try it, keep an open mind, be slow on judging and preferably, be comfortably sitting.

Meeting Roberto Picech

I started the journey from Trieste up to Collio early in the morning, with Sara, an oenologist friend of mine. It was one of those incredibly hot days from this summer and moving up the hills mildly brought some freshness to the air.

Among the meetings we had scheduled for the day, Picech was one I have been waiting for a while to connect with.

We were received by Roberto Picech, owner and wine maker of Picech wines, and his dog. Both welcoming us warmly, each one in their own ways.

As we began our chat, we head out for a walk around the plots of the pretty vineyard.

Picech started a while back to implement organic practices, which have now reached the whole vineyard. Flowers and grass grow freely along side the vines.

Nature has historically been generous with the region, but the weather has been playing challenging cards lately. Super hot summers are making it trickier to align the maturation curves of the grapes. As a contrast, hail has been hitting hard the Friulano vines for two years. With an attentive eye, we could see sporadic bruises on the branches from the ice, giving clues on the story behind the losses from the last vintages.

Coming back to the house, our canine friend was there waiting for us. She welcomed us back with such happiness that it felt we were away for days, instead of minutes.

A vespa by the door of the location entrance reminded us that were in Italian territory.

We were at home.

Picech Location

Meeting the Picech wines

A particular aspect of wine tasting that I enjoy is the build up of expectations, as you move up in the complexity of the bottles.

Roberto first presented us with his classic wines from the most recent vintage on Friulano, Malvasia and Pinot Bianco.

Still wild and hyper active in the glass, waiting for a bit of aging to calm them down a bit and lend the stability that only time can give. Potent, with a lot of warmth in alcohol, recalling the hot summers in the region. All well incorporated in the body, creating precision in the experience.

As the sun begins to slowly set and we were closing our chat around the classic line, Roberto got things ready for the next act. He slowly stood up, cleaned a bit the table with a piece of cloth, reorganized the glasses and asked whether we could call the main actresses to the stage.

Athena

Athena, was named as of his daughter. An interpretation of Friulano through the point of view of a white maceration. Before going to lengthy descriptions or running technical evaluations in my head, the first sip just brought a smile to my face. The descriptors of Friulano are there but in a different, playful, bulkier and unapologetic way.

Friulano destemmed grapes, macerated for 16 days in large barrels (25 hl), without controlling for temperature and without using selected yeast. After pressing, the wine rests in large barrels for 18 months.

Intense on the nose, with opening on white peaches, acacia flowers, grapefruit, bees wax, green almonds and a minor but pleasant resinated note.

Intense and warm on the palate, the tannins play their role in resonance with the other elements of the structure of the wine. They bring tension and body to sustain a great level of complexity in the structure.

Jelka

Named after his mom, Jelka brings up the roots of the region. A blend of three indigenous grapes from Friuli: Ribolla Gialla, Friulano and Malvasia. The age of the producing vines range from 15 to over 50 years old. You can feel that the age of the vines has landed focus and concentration to the results.

Friulano grapes are destemmed and macerated for 15 days in large barrels, aging for 12 months. Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia are fermented normally and rest for 12 months in tonneau. The blend of the three wines is then brought to concrete vats, and rest there for about 3 years. Jelka, doesn’t reach the shelves before 5 years after the harvest.

Intense and complex on the palate. Balance sustained from the attack of the wine to the fading of persistence. The roundness in the palate is rich, but the acidity makes a statement in the structure bringing brightness, freshness and cleaning to the finish – which was really interesting to notice considering the work in concrete which brings the pH a bit up and the age of 5 years after the harvest. Great depth, which kept on opening by the minute. White flowers, lemon zest, candied orange peel, wet slate, claypot, cedar and cloves.

My definition of elegance in wine.

My thoughts on Picech wines

Talking with Roberto, reassures you of the pleasure of sharing great wine in great company.

Great wines are transparent to the personality of the wine maker. That is a true statement for Picech. Strength, warmth, unapolegetic. Yet, patient, elegant and with complexity and depth to create gravity in the glass.

Picech wines tell about the story of Collio, of Friuli. Looking into the past and creating space for the vibrancy of indigenous grapes, while aiming into the future and constantly iterating on new ways to improve their expression.

Potent wines built to age, and that know how to communicate strength and complexity with elegance.

For me, one of the ambassadors for the style in Friuli.

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Making a wine dream real in Friuli

Tralci di Vita Vine

Back in Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the small town of Ronchis di Torreano, I recently visited the work from Massimo Causero and Maria Chiara at Tralci di Vita vineyards.

Didn’t I know that their great wine was coming paired with a great story.

In his own words, Massimo was born to be a country side man and wine has been in the cards for him since childhood. Recollecting a recent event, one of his primary school teachers came to him remembering a story that had already faded from his mind: a task was given in the class to draw your future profession. Instead of doctor, engineer or architect, Massimo sketched bottles of wine. Each one bearing the name of a teacher on the label.

A few decades later, Massimo would find himself owning and managing a vineyard of his own. That bottle went out of the paper and into the hands of curious wine tasters.

Getting started in the vineyard

Since that drawing in the childhood, there was a long road until Massimo’s first bottle became real.

After obtaining the enotechnical and later the enology diploma, he went through about 10 years’ of practice working with different producers. As the experience gathered in his head and in his hands, the will to use that knowledge to express his own style increased.

At a point in time the stars finally aligned and his preparation met with an opportunity.

In the small town of Torreano, an elder couple invited him to take over the vineyard. He would be able to make it shine once more as the age was putting challenges for the old couple to run the business. Massimo and Maria Chiara decided to cross through that opened door, leaving everything behind, moving to Torreano and grasping their dream.

Philosophy behind Tralci di Vita

Tralci di Vita has about 3 hectares, with 10 varietals distributed partly in a flat area and part on a south facing hill. The production is of nearly 7 thousand bottles altogether.

Part of the production is sold in bulk (sfuso) and part in bottles. The first is aimed at the retention of long time clients who were buying wine at the property for years, from the previous owner. The bottled portion is where Massimo and Maria Chiara began to explore the potential of the land, producing wines from selected parcels and evaluating the results. It’s a simple but straight forward approach to segmenting the clients and keeping the cash flow under control.

The philosophy of the production highlights the integrity of the grape. The work is concentrated in the vines so that minimum intervention is required in the cellar. Customized pruning techniques, adapted to each varietal, help the vines give their best into the grapes.

Tralci di Vita Bottle

Tasting Impressions

That philosophy is reflected in their style. The wines are delicate in the aroma and in the palate. The acidity is high, yet balanced with the structure, reflecting the colder weather of the area. Tannins are active but round, bringing life to the wine without being aggressive. The finishings are elegant but at the same time rustic. The signature ending notes of wild berries, slate and moist soil reminds you where the vines are located, and how the area smells like.

Some of their wines caught a bit more my attention. The Sauvignon Blanc, brings delicate white flowers and exotic fruit to the aromas despite the moderate to cold climate area. The Merlot is rich and boasts beautiful black cherries, dark chocolate, liquorice and the signature rustic closing of the Tralci di Vita vineyard.

Their Schiopettino was a great finding. Balanced from the start, presenting a wide range of spices in the palate and smoky tones, with cigar box and a bit of leather. This autoctonous grape had a strong decline during the late 19th and 20th centuries, it was saved from extinction in the 1970s and is now regaining the place among the local varietals it once had. That’s a similar story shared by Tazzelenghe, another jewel from the region.

According to Massimo, 10 years ago would be unthinkable to growth red grapes in the zone, especially thick skin ones such as Merlot. Climate change has created a warm pocket in the zone, opening for a potential that didn’t exist before.

Coming next to Tralci di Vita

Even if the vines are far from being young, ranging from 50 to 100 years old, it was actually the first vintage of Massimo and Maria Chiara at Tralci di Vita.

Their results are focused and makes me curious about what waits in the bottles in the next vintages.

Instead of fixing what is not working, the goal is to understand what are the strengths of the vineyard and excel on what is already great.

Having 10 grape varieties is a challenge to manage, especially during harvest. The different maturation times spreads the efforts between vineyard and the cellar for too long. The season last year went through 12 September until 28th October.

As the strengths from Tralci di Vita become transparent, the focus on quality would naturally impact their current segmentation. That would lead to an eventual reduction on sales of bulk wines and a gradual shift to the bottled selection.

Massimo and Maria Chiara said that their vision was to give people something of their own. A piece of their dedication, their dream, their work, their culture, a piece of their life… and that’s how the name “Tralci di Vita” came about.

By the time of this post, their website was still under construction. The way to reach out to them for a visit and for purchasing wine was either by email ([email protected]) or their Facebook page.

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Have you ever heard about Tazzelenghe?

Tazzelenghe

It’s been a few months since we started, together my father-in-law, a careful hunt for a nearly extinct wine from Friuli.

Tazzelenghe is an indigenous grape from the extreme northeast of Italy, and has made Friuli Venezia-Giulia its home.

Along with several other European varieties, Tazzelenghe was nearly extinct in the 1860s with the arrival of the phylloxera. The remaining vines got hit again years later by powdery and downy mildew. Then, if that was not enough, its cultivation became forbidden in the region because of commercial pressure and market demands. It was replaced back then for known and more commercially appealing varieties (such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon). Tazzelenghe didn’t have a particularly easy road, while trying to thrive in the region.

Over a century later, in the more recent 1980s, it regained some traction and was back in a few less known vineyards. Its introduction in the list of grapes allowed in the Colli Orientali del Friuli (DOC) and the patience of a few producers, has been supporting the slow return of this grape. Still, there were only about 80 hectares being cultivated in Italy in 2000, according to agricultural census.

Tazzelenghe (coming from “taglia lingua”) literally means “tongue cutting”. It got this fame because of its super high tannin and acidity profile. Proper love in the hands of a good wine maker can help unfold great aging potential, giving the wine a good development prospects in the bottle.

Thick black skinned grape, Tazzelenghe has a late ripening. Given the naturally high acidity, grape growers leave the harvest for the very end of the season. This not only makes the most of the phenolic maturation but also increases the chances of getting the acids at the lower end of the curve.

Tazzlengue is cultivated today in the province of Udine, mainly in the communes of Buttrio, Manzano e Cividale.

It can be used to create single variety wines, but it is often blended with minor parts of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to facilitate achieving balance.

We found by chance in a restaurant, their last three bottles in the stock. Those were properly aged, ready to drink and we gladly took all of them home for our tasting session.

Tasting Notes

The wine we picked for this tasting was a Tazzelenghe from La Viarte. Vintage 2003 with 100% Tazzelenghe. It was a great finding as we were hoping to check the grape in purity, to understand its expression. Most often Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are blended in minor parts, as mentioned.

Grapes were macerated for 15 days, with fermentation between 25 and 28ºC. 12 months in new French oak barriques, resting for 30 months in the bottles before reaching the market.

The thing with opening anything older than 10 years (mental milestone for me) is that it’s really hard not to find yourself recalling how was your life back then… when the harvest that created that bottle in front of you was being done.

Feels like a ritual to me to go through that mental process, while gently taking the capsule out, working the screw through the cork and slowly pulling it out.

Look

Deep dark red, shifting to granate with some brick-coloring showing in the rim, giving away a bit of the development over the years. Even working on the decanting, there were minor fine sedimentation.

Nose

We let the wine decant for one hour, but it actually took nearly three hours for it to start waking up. The story it told was really exciting. It began with big and ripe Amarena bitter cherries, over ripe plums, some scattered red currant and a bit of papaya. Dark chocolate, licorice and baking spices following after.

Palate

It’s in the palate that the Tazzelenghe shows the traits that give its name. After 16 years in the bottle it sustained a bright freshness. Great attack with a clean finish. Tannins were big, round and mature. The wine aged well, the wood was well integrated in the work and the structured developed beautifully through the years. Bitter cherries, ripe plums and red currant confirmed in the palate. Balsamic notes showed up. The finishing was a reminder that it was grown in the Friuli, with a characteristic mineral signature and faint bitterness. Mouth watering minerality with wet slate and a bit of chalk.

The balsamic notes added to the long mineral finish, bring up the salivation. It kept me coming back to the board of pecorino romano cheese, taleggio and salami in front of us. A really wonderful pairing, with fat of the bites and acidity of the wine balancing each other.

Clean and elegant finish, with great persistence. Red currant and wet slate following until the end.

Tazzelenghe from La Viarte delivered in the legend of this indigenous grape.

A couple of other producers worth noting would include Conte d’Attimis Maniago  and Le Due Torri.

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How long should wine age after bottling?

How long should wine age after bottling

How long should I wait to open my bottle of wine?

Why should I let the wine age? If at all.

Wine is a living thing and is trying hard to become vinegar, as discussed in a previous post.

A bit of art and technique come into play to slowdown the time for wines said to have aging or development potential. Magic happens if we open the wine at the right point of its lifetime curve.

When it comes to the line “the older the wine the better”, it is not always true. Especially if there are taste preferences involved. Not all wines are worth aging. In reality, most of the wines produced today reach the shelves ready to be drank.

Besides the production costs and retail margins, there are subjective elements that might contribute to the price you see in a wine bottle. One of these overheads is attributed to the aging potential. What does that mean?

Aging is described by a slow and sustained oxidation of the wine. During this process, the wine goes through some changes that impact its flavors, texture and color.

If a wine is designed to age or has aging potential, opening that wine ahead of time might not be “too bad”. However, you might be throwing away the share of the price you paid for its aging potential, and you might not benefit from some features of the wine you actually paid for.  

How does aging impacts the wine?

Wines with good structure are prone to have good aging potential. In other words, the elements that form the wine structure evolve in harmony overtime, improving the overall balance of the wine.

Two elements change the most with aging: tannins and acidity. Acidity tends to decrease over time, bringing down also the descriptors that correlate with the freshness of the wine. Tannins tend to combine into larger chains (polymerization), resulting in a rounder and softer presence of the wine on the palate.

Red wines tend to become lighter in color. White wines tend to become darker, instead.

As consequence to the changes in the wine structure, the taste and aromas also change their profile. 

Flavors (the joint perception of taste + aroma) are classified in three layers. Those are based on the origin of the aromatic compounds produced along the grape-to-wine journey:

PRIMARY (OR VARIETAL) FLAVORS, derive directly from the grape variety. The anthocyanin from the grape skins are transferred to the juice during maceration. Primary aromas as strongly influenced by climate, soil and degree of ripeness of the grapes. Example: asparagus, cherry, herbal aspects, green pepper, violets, lime, orange blossom.

SECONDARY FLAVORS develop during various stages of the alcoholic fermentation process. Those are influenced by the winemaking process and temperatures sustained during each stage. Example: pineapple, banana, butter, honeycomb, almonds, mango, brioche, freshly baked bread, black pepper.

TERTIARY FLAVORS develop during the slow and steady oxidation of the wine along the aging process. Example: cocoa powder, cigar box, leather, tobacco, vanilla, caramel, truffle, musk, coffee.

As a result of aging, the bright, fresh, crisp and vegetal aromas give way to ripe, dried or stewed fruit. Spices also become more evident and include descriptors such as leather, cigar, musk, truffles and chocolate.

So, technically, if you’d like to savor tertiary flavors in your wine (assuming it has the ability to develop them) you will need to wait for time to work its magic. 

When to open that bottle?

We say that a wine is at its peak when it reaches the point of its best expression, during its life cycle.

It doesn’t mean that a wine is not ready to drink before its peak. Great wines are already great before reaching the best version of themselves.

As a reference on how each wine has its own developing period, I am sharing below an oversimplified view on aging potential. The reference was taken over better quality wines from the indicated regions or made from the indicated grape varieties. It is important to remember that this depends a lot on the vintage, winemaker, storage conditions, and many other factors. Those were taken from Jancis Robinson “The Oxford Companion to Wine”.  

 Current Trends

With the improvement of production methods and ever-changing consumer preferences, producers are shifting the profile of their wines to adapt to those swings. More traditional producing regions such as France and Italy have been tweaking their production, creating wines that don’t require too much cellar time before they are drinkable.

In Bordeaux, as an example, Saint Estèphe has been incorporating more Merlot into its grand vins to make them more approachable. This is a change in their style as Saint Estèphe wines are known to be quite austere in their youth.

In Italy, Barolo is one of the most classic examples of a wine built to age. It requires at least 3 years of aging process (or 5 if reserve) before it reaches the market.  Meaning that if you look at your preferred wine store now, the youngest vintage of Barolo you will find is from the vintage of 4 years ago. Besides, it has a developing potential of a couple of decades.

The “Barolo Boys”

There is the famous story about the “Barolo boys”, who created a revolution in the 80’s in Piemonte. Elio Altare and a few of his friends stepped a bit over the feet of tradition when chasing their dreams. Their goal was to improve the quality of Barolo wines while reducing the aging needed to have it drinkable. Spoiler: they introduced the concept of production for quality over quantity, by reducing the yield. But the big step came with them introducing the use of barrique (225 liters) in the process of making Barolo. Not only improving its complexity but also speeding up aging, by increasing the contact surface of the wine with the wood for aeration. Until then it has been used “botti” (400 liters and above).

The innovation movement sparked a revolution putting on debate how much culture and tradition should give space to innovation (at least when it comes to wine). 

Aging as part of the experience

There is still a lot of marketing and speculation when it comes to aging potential of  wines. The point on the higher price sometimes is, are you ok on paying more for an old wine or you’d rather pay less for a younger version and keep it in the cellar until the right time comes? If it’s all about the flavors and curiosity, investing in an old bottle and drinking it now could be an interesting option (especially if building a wine collection in the cellar is not your goal).

Having said that, it’s not always true that old wine taste better than young ones. They sometimes are just different. Age contributes to changes in the wine that you need to wait and see the results.

Wine appreciation is also about context and environment. The waiting and expectations raised on the process add story and romance to the bottle, besides the tertiary flavors.

Sometimes, the older the vintage the heavier the weight of memories attached to it. And that’s when aging finds a way to add a perception of value that is personal to each one.

Aging becomes part of the value when you bring home a crate of Riesling from your memorable trip to Alsace. You will be reviving the trip every time you open one of those bottles, through the years. Or the crates you bought on your wedding and that you keep on opening at each anniversary. Celebrating, remembering and enjoying how that vintage is evolving over time… together with your relationship.

The evolution inside the bottle and the savoring of the memories attached to it will have a taste that only the patient touch of time can build.