VIA Verona 2025 Guided Tasting with VIA Faculty: Session One
VIA Faculty Member Sarah Heller MW guided students through the first of 3 VIA Tasting Sessions, focusing on mineral and semi-aromatic whites, Barolo & Barbaresco, 6 different styles of tannins, and then sheer reds from across the country, for a total of 28 wines (plus 2 blinds as a warm up). VIA puts strong emphasis on the practical tasting component of the course and all the wines for the academic sessions are carefully selected for their "benchmark" quality. The textbook for the course, "Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0", deliberately includes suggested benchmark wines for each "must know" grape, in order to give students and wine lovers the best opportunity to find and taste quality Italian wines on their own.
Beginning with the blind wines, Sarah explained the specifically designed VIA Tasting Grid and terminology, and how to use them for best results on the exam. The grid was created to take into account characteristics that are particular to Italian wines, such as texture in white. Students tasted and discussed the two blind wines, revealed to be Albana and Aglianico.
Neutral white wines came first in the practical academic tasting session. Sarah reminded students that keys to success in identifying Italian whites include assessing the texture and level of acidity. "Aromas in Italian white wines can be restrained, which is when the structure becomes even more important for identification", she commented. Classic "tannic" Italian white grapes include Greco, Verduzzo, Ansonica, Grechetto and Albana, all of which have a "harder" texture. She warned students to "beware of Etna Bianco", which is struggling to find typicity, due to the huge popularity of the region and the explosion of planting Carricante. When faced with neutral white wines, the default Italian descriptors don't help as much with identification. Terms such as green almond, wet stone, hydrocarbon and so on, are applicable for these wines but don’t make it easy to distinguish between them.
Wines tasted:
La Mesma: Gavi DOCG Tranquillo del Comune di Gavi Monterotondo 2022
Federico Curtaz: Etna DOC Bianco "Gamma" 2021
St. Michael Eppan: Alto Adige DOC Pinot Bianco "Sanct Valentin" 2022
La Colombara: Colli Tortonesi DOC Timorasso "Il Montino" 2022
The second flight of white wines included Verdicchio and Lugana. Sarah reflected, "Some Verdicchios are currently being made to resemble Sauvignon Blanc, although the best ones still reflect the sense of place". She pointed out the soft and gentle character of the wines from the low, rounded hills of Castelli di Jesi versus the tension created by higher alcohol and higher acidity in the wines from Matelica, with its harsher climate and higher altitude. She described Lugana as "an ambitious region that is commercially very successful", with some producers currently making wines in a Bordeaux style using oak.
Wines tasted:
Tenute San Sisto: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC Classico Superiore "Massaccio" 2022
Provima: Verdicchio di Matelica DOC 2023
Zenato: Lugana DOC Riserva "Sergio Zenato" 2021
The third flight focused on aromatics and the differences of texture, acidity and alcohol between grape varieties. Sarah spoke about ripeness, savoriness, and the overuse of the term "saline" as a replacement for "mineral". She also discussed current consumer trends and a revived taste for Nascetta and Timorasso as interesting whites from Piemonte with potential for ageing.
Wines Tasted:
Di Meo: Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2023
Inama: Soave DOC "I Palchi" 2022
Vie di Romans: Friuli Isonzo DOC Pinot Grigio "Dessimis" 2022
Marco Felluga-Russiz Superiore: Collio DOC Friulano 2023
Elvio Cogno: Langhe DOC Nascetta del Comune di Novello "Anas-cëtta" 2023
Cantina Tramin: Alto Adige DOC Gewürztraminer "Selida" 2023
The first flight of reds focused on Barolo from 4 different areas. Sarah made it clear that Barolo has really focused on site specification, particularly since the MGAs were certified. Having said that, she commented, "Everyone says Barolo is all about terroir, but it's not. It's about the producers". She explained that Barolo producers no longer feel the need to make dark colored Nebbiolos; instead, they are all garnet, but still show a huge impact of winemaking techniques. Producers say they have stepped back to let terroir show through, but this is just not true. Producers are aiming for gentler extraction, less color, lower alcohol, and are using stems in some cases to absorb alcohol, with the risk of adding tannins. Overall, tannins in Nebbiolo based wines have gone down in recent years, creating a "pos-modern" style of wine. Regionality is definitely a hot topic in Italy, with everyone wanting a site-specific identity, but Sarah said, "I think in the Langhe there is a legitimate history where there are traditionally favored sites, like Cannubi".
Speaking about tannins, Sarah emphasized the lack of graininess in Nebbiolo wines, which tend to have a "clay-like, contiguous texture". Sangiovese, on the other hand, is decidedly grainy and the tannins "fall like a stripe on the tongue, compared to Nebbiolo where you can’t feel the separate grains of tannin". Sarah's use of terms such as powdery, chalky, grainy, pebbly, gravelly and others helped the students distinguish between the wines.
Wines tasted:
G.B. Burlotto: Barolo DOCG Castelletto 2020
Marchesi di Barolo: Barolo DOCG Saramassa 2020
Parusso: Barolo DOCG "Perarmando" 2021
Ettore Germano: Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2020
The second flight took the students from low to high tannins. Starting with Schiava, Sarah described the level of tannin as low, but the type of tannin was sandy and gritty. The Cerasuolo di Vittoria had a slightly higher level of tannin, with a pebbly, woolly, rounded style of tannin. The Nebbiolo from Valtellina Superiore had the highest tannin level, although not as high as Barolo, but the type of tannin was sandy once again.
Wines tasted:
Girlan: Alto Adige DOC Schiava "Gschleier Alte Reben" 2022
Valle dell'Acate: Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG Classico "BDN" 2021
ARPEPE: Valtellina Superiore DOCG "Il Pettirosso" 2022
The third red flight continued the discussion of tannins, this time looking at all high tannin wine and concentrating on the various style descriptors. Starting with Etna Rosso, Sarah described the tannins as fish scales, plates of armor, or pebbled leather. Barbaresco had high tannin that "almost shrink wraps your mouth", with a style of tannin that won't allow us to feel individual grains. Pignolo presented high tannin with gravelly, rough, coarse tannin.
Wines Tasted:
Pietradolce: Etna DOC Rosso Feudo di Mezzo 2020
Produttori del Barbaresco: Barbaresco DOCG 2020
Jermann: Venezia Giulia IGT Pignolo "Pignacolusse" 2018
The fourth flight focused on pale, sheer red wines, looking at acidity and tannins in each wine to consider balance. The Ciliegiolo proved to be low acid, low tannin and therefore too "soft" to be balanced. On the contrary, the Grignolino was high acid and high tannin, so too "hard" to be balanced. Freisa was deemed well balanced, while Ruchè had more aromatic intensity, more tannin and more alcohol than the Cornalin.
Wines tasted:
Petra: Toscana IGT Ciliegiolo 2023
Accornero: Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese DOC Riserva "Bricco del Bosco Vigne Vecchie" 2019
Balbiano: Freisa di Chieri DOC Secco "Vigna Villa della Regina" 2018
Grosjean: Vallée d'Aosta DOC Cornalin "Vigne Rovettaz" 2023
Montalbera: Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG "Laccento" 2023