Believe it or not I finally visited the oldest wine shop in London – the charming Berry Bros & Rudd on St. James Street. If you haven’t been there yet, then I strongly advise to do so. Every wine connoisseur visiting London will be enchanted by this wooden-inlaid store where you savour history in each room. You can buy outstanding wines there, you can dine there on one of their wine dinners (your purse will feel like after Christmas shopping for a 10 member-family; depending on your generosity of course) or you can visit one of the wine tastings as I did.
My dear Czech friend who works for Fields, Morris & Verdin invited me for an Italian wine tasting. The three producers present there weren’t humble and unknown Italian wineries, but the stars of the three most famous regions there – Tuscany, Piedmont and Friuli.
What fascinates me about tasting wines is that it reminds me how we human beings forget about single although remarkable occasions in our lives. Overwhelmed with endless choices if something doesn’t happen again, we often just open the shelf of our unconsciousness and put the moment inside. However, as we can open the shelves later, the same happens with our memories. The trigger to open it can be any cue connected to the event.
That is exactly what happened on this Italian tasting. I have tasted wines from Castello di Ama many years ago on my visit to Tuscany. I knew I liked it, but how much compared to…? I guess, this is what happens to many of us occasional or frequent wine lovers who are open to tasting anything made through fermentation of grapes. We cannot simply remember each wine we have ever tasted, we often just know if we liked it or not, but how it tasted exactly?
Different year, different vintage – different taste; this is what makes wine even more fascinating. If you taste the wine at the winery you try certain vintages, then you come home and one evening or afternoon (I presume not many of you drink wine for breakfast, even though we all have a unique way to add some ‘spice’ into our lives) you order a bottle of that wine at a restaurant. Though….it might be slightly different as not every restaurant has just that one vintage you have already tried, and there we are – almost like a vicious circle.
Good news is that there is a way, how to get out of it – by approaching your wines systematically or by drinking various vintages of your favourite wines regularly.
I still remind in the vicious circle with my Italian favourites, but this tasting was an eye-opener for me.
2004 Vigneto Casuccia (RP £72.25) from Castello di Ama stroke a chord into my unconsciousness – it was incredibly deep with an interesting story to tell. My taste butts were listening straining their ‘taste ears’. Vigneto Casuccia is a single vineyard blend based on Sangiovese grapes with blackberry and cherry notes. Castello di Ama is renowned for its Chianti Classico made there for over 35 years. I was surprised with their slightly bitter rosé Rosato 2009. Bitterness brought down the often over-perfumed character of pink wines. They have been making it since 1980 and since then it became one of their most popular wines.
The wine of the day was for me 2009 Fiore di Campo IGT – RP:£11.80 per bottle – what a discovery! This white blend of Tokai Friulano, Sauvignon Blanc and a touch of Riesling from area of San Lorenzo is something that its producer Lis Neris from Friuli can be proud of. Aromatic Tokai plays an interesting sonata in your mouth – orange peel on a roller coaster ride in salted water ends up well-rounded in the ocean of your belly.
2007 Gris Pinot Grigio (RP: £14.20) surprised me as well. It was much better than most of Pinot Grigios which I often find too simple. Perhaps it was the 10 months in an oak barrel prison, which set this wine just right. Light oaky nose triggered my palate. Lovely weight with oak flavour was in harmony with mature bitter almonds and all in all refreshed by a splash of ethanol leaving a long and pleasant aftertaste.
The last winery was Sandrone from Piedmont. Although, I am not a big fan of Barolos, therefore my taste is a bit biased in their case, I found their 2005 Barolo Le Vigne (RP: £57.95) Christmassy enchanting. My nose told my brain, hmm, I am going to have some mulled wine – I smelled cardamon, cinnamon; but some violets and deep red roses aromas reminded me that there are so e Nebiolo grapes in it. Great tannins promise longevity of this Barolo. Drinking it was like having a bouquet of deep red roses coated in melting chocolate.
Indeed, I enjoyed this tasting very much!
For upcoming wine tastings, dinners and events at Berry Bros&Rudd look at their website.
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