Other Italian highlights

My recent trip to Italy involved tasting (and more to the point drinking) plenty of great wine, but that wasn't the only aspect I enjoyed while visiting such a culturally diverse country.

Bolzano brewpub

beer

Here's a phrase I never thought I'd write - I enjoyed the Italian beer. The craft beer movement has found its way to Italy, meaning there's finally an alternative to bland mainstream products like Peroni and Nastro Azzurro. Many of the towns I visited had small local producers making a range of beers from California-style IPAs to dark, malty German beers.

Given its connection to Austria, it was no surprise that Bolzano in the Alto Adige had a brewpub called Hopfen & Co making good, malty, creamy beers - my favourite being a seasonal chestnut beer. Further south in Tuscany, the trend is for hoppy IPAs, similar in style to California though not quite as big and extreme. These beers aren't in mainstream bars or restaurants, but they're not too hard to find in more independent minded places.

restaurants

Less surprising was the quality of restaurants. It's not hard to find good-value food in Italy, though look a little bit further and there are some extraordinary meals still at affordable prices. The key is freshly made pasta, as well as dishes based on local tradition and food. If you're travelling around Italy, here are some standouts:

Osteria a Due Spade, Trento

Like being in an underground cave hiding out in the Second World War. Small, atmospheric, great food, and a fantastic - and reasonably priced - wine list.

Restaurant Zur Kaiserkron, Bolzano

How does food get better than this, we asked ourselves in Trento, and then two nights later we ate in this superb restaurant in Bolzano. The attention to detail - regarding food, design, and service - is astonishing, and again another very good wine list.

Il Leccio, Sant' Angelo in Colle, near Montalcino  

fantastic mousse au chocolat

A clear sign of a good restaurant is when it's full on a Thursday lunchtime in November - even when it's in a small village in the middle of nowhere. A simple but freshly made pasta dish with mushrooms was a perfect lunch, especially with a wee half bottle of Brunello di Montalcino.

Locanda Amordivino, Asciano

Asciano is a village that has little but a museum with ancient vases decorated with prominent phalluses. Next to the museum, though, is this extraordinary restaurant where steaks are cooked on an open fire in front of all the guests.

All of these restaurants were magnificent: the truly crazy thing is they were all easily affordable too. Why anyone bothers to cook at home in Italy, I don't know. 

truffle beer

truffles

While visiting Siena, I had a truffle beer which had intense, stinky aromas of, well, truffles. These are underground fungi often confused with mushrooms and are highly prized as well as very expensive. When I was visiting it was truffle season, which meant plenty of pasta dishes topped with the earthy aromas of truffles. Italy's truffles are white, in contrast to France's black version, so they sit very nicely on top of pasta. Still not sure I want such earthy aromas in a beer though.

polenta 

This is a speciality of northern Italy, made from maize and found on many menus as an alternative to potatoes. Restaurants in Italy often have identical looking menus but each one has its own take. So with polenta, which can look and taste like mashed potato or be hard and firm like a potato cake. It doesn't quite have the complex texture of potatoes, but it goes well with the meat and game dishes common to the north.

grappa

One of the most difficult spirits to get right is grappa. Made from the pomace (leftover grape skins, pips, and stalks from fermentation), many producers don't take it seriously enough leading to pungent, unpleasant aromas of turpentine. However, if a producer handles the pomace carefully then grappa can be a sophisticated drink. In the north of Italy, grappa is often made from one grape variety, from Chardonnay to Gewürztraminer (black grapes are particularly difficult to make quality grappa out of), though it's hard to discern varietal character. Grappa has grapey, floral aromas with a perception of sweetness which makes it great for washing down heavy Italian food.

hilltop villages

view from Montepulciano

Tuscany abounds in beautiful hilltop villages. Some of them are tourist magnets, others are sleepy one-street towns. Either way, each has its own character with a different reason for visiting - the views, the history, a weekly market, or an unexpectedly fantastic restaurant. San Gimignano is one such village, attracting crowds of tourists for its beauty and its crisp, clean white wines. Another village is Montepulciano, again known for its wine. Visiting these villages all depends when you turn up: there may be hordes of tourists or you may be the only people there. In which case, head to the next village in time for lunch...

Montalcino

My second week visiting Italy saw me take the long drive down to southern Tuscany and the famous village of Montalcino. Brunello di Montalcino, made from the Sangiovese grape, is one of the great wines of Italy, but one which I don't get to taste that often in large part due to its expense (in the words of my father, a wine you want someone else to buy for you). Just a few days here taught me a great deal about the region: its beauty, the extraordinary diversity of the wines, and the surprising youthfulness of such a renowned winemaking area.

the hilltop village of Montalcino

styles

The village is located just over an hour south of Florence and the vineyards of Chianti, producing more austere, mature, and long-lived expressions of Sangiovese. The wines must be 100% Sangiovese, called Brunello here, and to be designated Brunello di Montalcino the wine must have been aged for at least five years, two of which have to be in barrel.

However, these rules allow a lot of flexibility, leading to a variety of styles. The traditional rules stipulated four years in barrel, usually old and large, and some producers still follow those historic guidelines. This ageing results in pale, garnet-coloured wines, with a hint of oxidation, and earthy, mushroom aromas. More international producers prefer new French oak barriques, which lead to heavier, darker-coloured, and spicier wines.

Further differences come from where the grapes are grown. Although Montalcino is a small growing area, there are distinct sub-zones - which, frustratingly, the local authorities refuse to map and classify. These differences come from proximity to the sea, aspect, altitude, warmth, and the chances of rain. All of this means Brunello di Montalcino is a difficult wine to pin down. 

history

view over the southern and eastern vineyards

Given Italy's long history, one would think that these many differences have arisen from centuries of winemaking experience. There is, indeed, plenty of history here. The property of my new favourite producer, Sesti, features an eighth-century church that stands on a pagan site dedicated to the Roman god, Janus. However, the modern history of Brunello di Montalcino dates back to just the 1880s, when the region's oldest winery, Biondi-Santi, were the first to make wine solely from Sangiovese (in contrast to Chianti, which has historically been a blend). Until after the Second World War, Biondi-Santi was the sole producer in the region and, although their wines no longer stand out as they once did, they laid the benchmark for the standards and practices of the area. For thirty years after the Second World War, Montalcino was a deprived and unpopulated rural ghost town, until the 1970s saw gradual investment followed by a boom of interest in the 1980s. Now, there are over two hundred wineries. It's astonishing to think of this beautiful area, dominated by prestigious wineries, and attracting visitors from all around the world, as neglected and poverty-stricken, but that's how far Montalcino has come in just under fifty years.

the other Montalcinos

The wines are expensive, and require patience on the part of both the producer and the consumer. There is a younger wine, though, called Rosso di Montalcino which only requires a year's ageing before release. The temptation is to dismiss it as a younger, fruitier, and inferior version of Brunello, but Elisa Sesti evocatively described it as an opportunity to "herald the new vintage," a chance to taste the region's wines three or four years before the Brunellos are released. On the other scale is Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, which is aged for at least six years before release, three of which must be in barrel. These are substantial, oaky, tannic wines which are not for the faint-hearted.

There a few whites made, but the only one to fall under an official Montalcino classification is Moscadello di Montalcino, which can be still, sparkling, or sweet, and is made from the high-quality strain of Muscat, Moscato Bianco. Despite the contemporary dominance of Sangiovese, Moscadello is the historic wine of Montalcino, dating back to at least the 1500s.

wines

Capanna Moscadello di Montalcino 2014 (€11; ✪✪✪✪)

The sweet, late-harvest version of Moscadello, which must be aged for at least a year. Low in alcohol (9.5%), rich in floral, grape aromas, but light bodied, refreshing, and high in acidity. Despite the low alcohol and light body, the sweetness of the wine stood up to chocolate. As testament to the friendliness of the locals of Montalcino, everyone at my table was given a complementary glass at the end of a delicious meal. 

Sesti Rosso di Montalcino 2014 (€19; ✪✪✪✪✪)

This is a superb example of a Rosso: youthful, fruity, approachable, but with complex layers beneath that fruitiness, with grainy tannins, lively acidity, and depth of flavour. This is Montalcino at its youthful best. 

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino 2011 (€40; ✪✪✪✪✪)

The latest release across the board of Brunello is the 2011 vintage, which saw a very warm summer, resulting in wines with very ripe, forward aromas. What's astonishing about the wines, including this one, is the high acidity despite the warm vintage. It's tingling, offsetting the ripeness of the wine and balancing the tannins and spices from the oak. The fruitiness of the wines makes them very enjoyable now. 

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino 2008 (€50; ✪✪✪✪✪✪)

I tasted the 2008 and 09 side by side. The latter (✪✪✪✪✪) was noticeably spicier and riper, while the 2008 was subtler but still very expressive with aromas of smoke, earth, red cherries and raspberries, figs, dates, and prunes, with grainy tannins and a long, gradual finish. Sesti are one of the traditional producers who use large, old oak barrels (as well as closely following ancient lunar calendars), and it's this more restrained style of Brunello which I prefer.  

Tassi Selezione Franci Brunello di Montalcino 2004 (€120 in a restaurant; ✪✪✪✪✪✪)

Due to the long ageing before release, as well as the naturally high tannins and acidity of Sangiovese, Brunello is a wine which will develop maturity and complexity with time. At twelve years old, this is a wonderfully expressive wine, still with fresh red fruit, herb, and spice aromas, on top of earth, mushroom, and dried fruits. The tannic and acidic structure hold the wine together, and will do so for some years yet. This 2004 was drunk alongside white truffle pasta and guinea fowl - an indication of the rich foods that Brunello will soften. 

There are perhaps few greater, more memorable experiences in the world of wine than tasting older Brunello. There's a sophistication, a subtlety, and a beauty to these wines which is best not described but simply tasted and enjoyed. I know I will be drinking a lot more Brunello than I used too, and my life, if not my wallet, will be richer for it. 

Alto Adige

For the first time in eighteen months, I found myself in Europe exploring and tasting the wines of northern Italy, where the Alps fall down to the great lakes for some of the country's most famous and stunning scenery. After a brief stop in Franciacorta just south of Lake Iseo, I firstly concentrated on one of Italy's most geographically extreme and unusual regions, the Alto Adige where some of Italy's highest vineyards are located. At the beginning of November it was cold and wet, with snow falling on the peaks, giving an indication of how non-Italian the region is. 

geography and history

Alto Adige/Südtirol

The Adige river flows down from the Alps into a valley surrounded by the Dolomites that somehow have vines growing on their steep rocky slopes. This is Italy at its most Germanic - it belonged to Austria-Hungary until the First World War and it's now a semi-autonomous region that shares as much with its Austrian neighbour as it does with Italy. The place names are in German as well as Italian (Südtirol instead of Alto Adige); both languages appear on wine labels, and locals switch between the two languages, confident and certain in German, gesticulating with self-doubt in Italian. In either language, the accent is staccato and sharp, and quite hard to understand.

vines falling into the town of Bolzano

This is one of Italy's most distinctive regions. Vines are planted at altitudes of 250m up to over 1,000m - these highest vineyards are already covered in snow. The weather is extreme, hitting heights of 40˚C in the summer, with cool, fresh nights, followed by cold, snowy winters. Warm breezes flow from Lake Garda to the south, with cool air in the north where Riesling and Sylvaner are planted at altitude. These conditions produce aromatic white wines with notably high acidity, and light reds, all of a consistently high quality.

grape varieties

Just a look at the grape varieties grown here shows how Germanic this region is. Gewürztraminer most likely originates from the local town of Tramin, from where it made its way to Alsace and found some added spice aromas (Gewürz means spice). The wines here retain more acidity than is often the case, and they're not quite as full bodied.

Perhaps the two most interesting wines from German varieties I tried on the trip came from Sylvaner and Kerner. Sylvaner is a quality grape that gets overlooked both in Alsace and Germany, so it was refreshing to try some good examples here in Italy. Again, the wines were marked by high acidity, with herbaceous, citrus and stone fruit aromas, and not as earthy as wines from Franken in Germany. Kerner, which is a crossing between Riesling and Trollinger (a black grape grown locally as Schiava) was a bigger surprise, with plenty of body and structure to counter the high acidity. 

wines by the glass

These aren't the only varieties grown, with up to 25 planted in the small valley (Alto Adige produces less than 1% of Italy's wines). By far the most interesting and distinctive of the non-German varieties is Pinot Bianco (or Weißburgunder in German), a grape variety again often overlooked elsewhere. Surprise, surprise, the wines have high acidity, but with nutty, spicy, stone and tropical fruit aromas that provide body and structure and some ageability. There is also Chardonnay, which at its best can be like a creamy, spicy Chablis.

As for the black grapes, Lagrein is common, with rich, chocolate, ripe black fruit aromas. It can be a little too much, although Franz Haas does a lighter, more considered example. One of the more extraordinary wines of the trip was from neighbouring Trentino; Merlino 1400 (€25; ✪✪✪✪✪), was a fortified wine displaying all the young, fresh, fruity characteristics of Lagrein, but moderated by the added alcohol. The wine is from 2014, while the brandy is from 2000, leading to a very integrated fortified wine - and it's great to see such a quality fortified wine from an area of Europe not associated with that style.

Alto Adige also makes Italy's most consistent Pinot Noir (or Pinot Nero or Blauburgunder - the number of names for grapes and places can be bewildering). It's deceptively light, with red fruits, spices, and acidity. It's often planted at altitude - Franz Haas is experimenting with a vineyard at 1,150m - which adds to the intensity of the aromas. Fruity when young, the Pinot Noirs of Alto Adige can mature into earthy, sophisticated wines that retain the fruits and the acidity even after a number of years.

These wines are especially worth looking out for as they display the unique characteristics of this varied region. With different altitudes, exposures, and microclimates, Alto Adige can be a surprisingly hard region to pin down, meaning that it's a region always worth re-exploring.

tasting at Franz Haas winery, showcasing the many grapes grown in the region

 next blog post: the incomparable wines of Montalcino