2015 Puligny-Montrachet “Les Chalumaux”Comtesse de Chérisey
France | Burgundy
$120
Producers
This is the wine to carry in your rucksack on a fall hike when the warm days are starting to chill and a walk up a mountain trail needs a light coat. You stop to soak up some sun, not because of a need to rest. Instead, you’re ready for refreshment.
Like a vivid Burmese ruby in the glass, this Schiava from the Dolomite mountains in Alto Adige is bursting with raspberries and Montmorency cherries and sports a subtle floral quality. Low tannins, low alcohol, and high deliciousness make it the perfect foil for the country ham sandwich or spicy peanut noodles you also tucked in your pack. It’s downhill from here!
—Jennifer Oakes
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2019 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Schiava |
Appellation: | Vigneti delle Dolomiti |
Country: | Italy |
Region: | Alto Adige |
Producer: | Ferruccio Carlotto |
Winemaker: | Ferruccio Carlotto |
Vineyard: | Planted in 2013; .15 ha |
Soil: | Porphyry, Limestone, Clay, Alluvial stones |
Aging: | Aged in stainless steel tank |
Farming: | Sustainable |
Alcohol: | 12% |
Ferruccio Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Vigneti delle Dolomiti
Weingut Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Vigneti delle Dolomiti
Peter Dipoli Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Feruccio Carlotto and his daughter Michela farm a tiny estate of several hectares in the Alto-Adige town of Ora, south of Bolzano. The special of this village is Lagrein, a red grape that is native to the region. They chose to produce only one Lagrein Riserva that is aged in large oak casks. They also make a small amount of Pinot Nero that is made in a very fine, elegant style, with a feathery touch. We were pleasantly surprised when we were able to talk the Carlottos into selling us a pallet for the United States. Unfortunately there are not much of these finely crafted beauties to go around but if you can get your hands on a few cases, you will be experiencing some of the best of what Alto Adige has to offer the wine world.
In the heart of the Dolomites, Alto Adige is Italy’s northernmost wine region. Having changed hands multiples times in its history between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (it shares a border with Austria), it boasts strong Germanic influence on its culture, language, cuisine, as well as its wines.
The mountainous geography is the principal determinant of local winemaking styles, with the high-altitude vineyards and cool Alpine climate favoring primarily crisp, racy, aromatic whites from varieties like Kerner, Sauvignon, Müller Thurgau, and Grüner Veltliner. A Mediterranean influence on climate is channeled north up the valley until Bolzano, permitting the cultivation of certain reds as well, among which Schiava, Lagrein, Pinot Nero, and Merlot fare best.
Small growers who once sold fruit to the area’s multiple co-ops are now increasingly bottling their own wines. The arrival of many quality-oriented artisans on the scene caught our eye years ago, and we now count three estates from Südtirol, as it is also known, in our portfolio. These high-acid mountain wines make for a beautifully invigorating aperitivo with thinly sliced speck, a local specialty.
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Manni Nössing Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige – Valle Isarco
Ferruccio Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Vigneti delle Dolomiti
Weingut Carlotto Italy | Alto Adige | Vigneti delle Dolomiti
Peter Dipoli Italy | Alto Adige | Alto Adige
Tenuta Anfosso Italy | Liguria
Vignai da Duline Italy | Friuli | Delle Venezie
Sommariva Italy | Veneto | Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Superiore
Tenuta Anfosso Italy | Liguria | Rossese di Dolceacqua
I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.
Inspiring Thirst, page 171
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