Tara Weingarten
11/01/2004
Pliny the elder, the venerated author and scientist who lived from A.D. 23 to 79, was arguably the world’s first wine writer. In his greatest work, Naturalis Historia, an encyclopedia containing much of the knowledge of his time, he identified 80 superior Roman wines bottled especially for nobility. Two-thousand years later, writers are still lauding the same number of exceptional Italian wines, albeit a very different 80.
| VALUE JUDGMENT Italian viticultural traditions have attracted collectors to the country’s finest vintages for decades. Now a new generation of winemakers, often the offspring of traditionalist vintners, are exploring new regions and perfecting more modern processes. The revolutionaries are adding novel flavors to the country’s investment-quality bottlings. |
Far afield from the best-known areas, winemakers are literally putting other regions on the map, experimenting with modern processes. For example, Piero Antinori and Angelo Gaja are two of the high-end vintners who have planted new vineyards in the Maremma region along the southern Tuscan coast, an area that experts believe will overtake Montalcino as the next hotter-than-hot spot. Smaller producers in other regions are learning to make superb wines in very limited editions—as few as 7,000 bottles a year—that are already commanding rising prices from collectors well-connected enough to get their hands on them. (See “Appreciative Finds” at the end.)
Some of the more established vintners, in a quest to obtain a greater degree of personal control over their operations, are tossing aside the rules that once guided us to venerable collectibles. Since the 1960s, enthusiasts have purchased wines with the DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) or stricter DOCG designations. This latter label, Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, which is worn by an infinitesimally small number of wineries—about 24 in the entire country—guarantees that the grapes are grown exactly where the winery claims they are. For decades, the DOCG helped to steer us to the most desirable regions. In just the past few years, however, winemakers like Gaja, whose Piedmont wines command some of the highest prices in Italy, have flaunted the strict government guidelines by declassifying his vineyards and referring to his wines not as DOCG, but as single-vineyard bottlings. Gaja has done this with several of his DOCG Barbaresco wines. The discriminating buyer who is not aware of the discreet pleasures of Gaja’s Barbarescos stands to miss them entirely by sticking to the traditional dictums.
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| (Photograph by Kent Bancroft.) |
This is not to say that the centuries-old Italian winemaking traditions, aging the wine for up to 20 years in huge chestnut and oak casks, for example, are disappearing. Well-aged wines are still very much available. But a new generation of winemakers, often the children of the traditionalists, has become eager to release the fruits of its labors quickly. These young vintners are employing modern techniques, such as using small, new French oak barrels that communicate a rich, vanilla taste, and picking their fruit later in the season so that their wines are more lush, with intensely saturated flavors.
Tuscan Adolfo Folinari, whose family has made wine since the early 1800s and now owns the well-regarded Ruffino estate of Montalcino, says it is his generation that began to care about factors such as clone selection and the soil conditions. “We are trying to achieve the best concentration and complexity through modern ways,” Folinari says. “We care about getting the best root stock, clones and grape varieties for specific soils and climates. We are now calling it a science as well as an art.”
Sergio Esposito, co-owner of Italian Wine Merchant in Manhattan, which sells a well-edited collection of both fine artisanal and modern-made wines, believes that recent vintages are superior because they are the products of improved winemaking techniques. “My advice to clients is to put a lot of their money into the 2001 vintage,” he says. Indeed, 2001 is being hailed as a landmark vintage; even modern-made wines show potential for long cellaring.
Uncanny Tuscany
The newly styled vintages coming out of Chianti,
traditionally the most favored area of Tuscany, rank among the Italian wines
that future collectors are most likely to covet. Antinori, whose family has been
making wine there for more than 600 years, acknowledges that 1997 may have
captured wide praise from the wine press as one of the finest vintages ever, but
the 2001 vintage will age even better. “In the last decade, we have been very
lucky in Tuscany. It is the first time in my whole life that we have had seven
very good vintages in a row,” says Antinori, 65, who is the 25th generation of
his winemaking family and holds the family’s noble title of marchese. “But I
believe 2001 is the best of those vintages, and I think it will be among the
best ever produced.”
While Antinori owns several notable wineries, his
landmark Solaia lands on everyone’s collectible list as one of the first of the
ultrafull-bodied blend of reds known as Super Tuscans. Ever since the winemaker
mingled Cabernet Sauvignon with his Chianti-grown Sangiovese in 1970, collectors
have lusted for his Tuscan blends. Although the Super Tuscan entered the lexicon
two decades ago, the exact definition remains elusive. Not constrained by
traditional appellation rules, winemakers can blend any grapes they choose. Many
find the dominant Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot work best.
Even Antinori admits to having a passion for his new-style wine. “I do love the
traditionally made Italian wines for their restraint,” he says. “But with robust
meals, I love how the Super Tuscans hold up to the food.”
Modern vintages
have also shown their potency at auction. A 1985 Solaia, originally purchased
for $40, sold at a recent Sotheby’s auction in New York for $430. A 1997 sold
for $290, and was considered a steal. The Super Tuscan found most consistently
at the top of every collector’s list, however, is Sassicaia. At the same
Sotheby’s auction, a 1985 bottle went for $995 and a 1968 for $1,835. A
lesser-known Super Tuscan from Castello dei Rampolla, a winery that dates from
the 13th century, is also much prized among devotees: The 2001 vintage of Vigna
d’Alceo currently sells for about $179.
Montalcino, a fortified village south
of Chianti, is so trendy that it is hard to believe that as recently as 35 years
ago only 10 wineries existed on the hillsides surrounding the medieval city. The
growth of the area mirrors that of Napa Valley, which transformed itself during
the same period from a tranquil farming community to a patchwork of stylish
restaurants and cult vineyards. Both regions now support more than 200
wineries.
The Montalcino region first became famous for the outrageously
long-aging wines produced by the Biondi-Santi family, which has been making wine
here since the 1880s. But today vintners there are in a state of flux. Several
growers have adopted modern winemaking techniques that produce fruit-forward
wines with softer tannins. While a Biondi-Santi will always hold its own at
auction, the cult favorite, from a tiny Montalcino estate, is Soldera Case Basse
Riserva. Experts rate this as the leading Brunello di Montalcino, a wine
traditionally made from 100 percent Sangiovese, a grape that is regarded for its
upfront fruit, midlevel acidity and strong tannins. In the off years of 1991 and
1994, when other producers had trouble making a palatable wine, Soldera shined.
A 1999 is selling for about $200. The most promising collectible years for all
Brunellos, however, are 1975, 1985, 1988 and each year between 1995 and
2001.
Winemakers in the up-and-coming Maremma region have already produced a
standout in Tua Rita Redigaffi, a 100 percent Merlot. With a big, full taste,
the wine is made in the sun-drenched ancient town of Suverto, where there is
little rain and the grapes ripen with high levels of sugar. Made in the
new-world style, Redigaffi’s intense palate of coffee and licorice linger with
an extraordinarily long finish. The 2001 vintage currently sells for about
$300.
Pride of Piedmont
In the Piedmont region, the grand old wines still reign
as the most valuable. But the viticulturalists at the Gaja estate have produced
a particularly noteworthy less-aged wine: their Gaja Sori Tilden, a Barbaresco
with notes of sour cherries and spice. The 2000 vintage sells for about $269.
Piedmont also boasts some highly collectible new vintages of wines made
using old-world, well-aged methods. Giacosa Santo Stefano Barbaresco, a rich,
silky wine with fragrant red berries on the nose, has a highly desirable 1999
vintage selling at about $116. Traditional artisanal producer Bartolo Mascarello
ages its Barolos 40 years and beyond, using the same large casks year after
year, until virtually no wood flavors are detectable in the wine. Instead, look
for truffle, rose and violet aromatics. The 1999, which is extremely hard to
find, currently costs only $78.
The pedigrees of these highly affordable
wines virtually assure a future in which they will fetch lofty auction prices
similar to the finest Burgundies and Bordeaux. As investors, we should be
prepared to constantly monitor our collection for the most opportune moment to
sell, because these modern wines will most likely not have the decades-long
aging power of their traditionally made cousins. Closely examine auction prices
every seven to 10 years to sell at peak maturation.
Appreciative Finds
Oenophiles who love a treasure hunt should ask their favorite dealers to comb
the cellars everywhere for a few exceptional—and exceptionally priced—Italian
wines from a group of promising small vintners. For those of us lucky enough to
find them, these bottlings, produced in miniscule batches, are the kind of
bonanza that carries a rich promise of high returns and makes the search for
rare vintages so addictive.
Galardi Terra di Lavoro
This extremely small producer (10,000 bottles)
from the volcanic region of Campania uses the indigenous Aglianico grape, called
the Nebbiolo of the south, in a blend to endow its wine with age-worthy
properties. The complex wine requires at least a decade in the cellar. 2000,
$340
Quintarelli Alzero
Amarone-like in its raisin flavor from a predominance
of Cabernet Franc, this rustic, old-world-style blend from the Veneto’s most
acclaimed winemaker comes from very mature vines. Here, tradition carries all
the way to the handwritten labels. 1996, $340
Dal Forno Amarone
A modern take on a traditional blend, the rich, ripe
flavors of cherry and spice mingle with aromas of raisins and port. The very
limited production—650 cases a year—makes this a difficult find. 1998, $335