Radici del Sud Press Tour Day 1
Let me begin with post with a small freak out about OMG MY FIRST PRESS TOUR/JUDGING!
Thanks to Katarina at Grapevine Adventures, I was asked last year to join the journalist contingent at Radici del Sud. However, due to Italy’s travel restrictions at the time, I was unable to do so in the end. Happily, the founder Nicola Campanile kept my name and invited me back this year.
botti at Cantine Rivera
I felt beyond thrilled and honored to be part of this. Not only was this my entrée to the world of wine judging, but I would be doing so alongside the likes of people I have only interacted with before online like Karatina and Lisa the Wine Chef…but also with people whose writing I have long admired including Richard Baudains from Decanter, Michelle Williams, Deborah Parker Wong, and Li Valentine. I also got to catch up with Matthew Horkey whom I haven’t seen in eons.
How does one go about being on a wine press tour? Step one: get over thinking you got invited by mistake. Step two: stop fan girling over the other people on the trip (who were all SO NICE). Step three: soak up the learning!
For those who know me, you know that I’m currently wrestling with the Wine Scholar Guild’s Italian Wine Scholar Central/Southern Italy program. For which I have studied almost not at all (have I mentioned that my book finally got released and I’ve been busy trying to sell it?!). This trip with Radici del Sud came at such an amazing time and I got first-hand experience with some regions and wines in the course.
Speaking of…
Cantine River and Nero di Troia
Our first stop was Cantine Rivera in Castel del Monte. Marco, grandson of winery founder Sebastiano de Cortato took care of us here. The winery has been around for multiple generations obviously. So, in 1971 when Castel del Monte earned its DOC status, they were ready.
The de Coratos are trying to make gastronomic wines that are elegant and drinkable. Beyond trying to make gastronomic wines, Marco said something that really resonated with me. The most important thing for him about his family’s wines, is that you finish the bottle.
We were privileged to taste through several of the winery’s wines and even older vintages including:
- Marese Castel del Monte DOC Bombino Bianco 2021
- Pungirosa Castel del Monte Bombino Nero rosé DOCG (interestingly, the only DOCG dedicated entirely to rosé!)
- Violante CdM Nero di Troia DOC 2019
- Puer Apuliae (which means “son of Puglia” in the dialect) CdM Nero di Troia Riserva DOCG 2016
- Il Falcone CdM Rosso Riserva DOCG 2016
- Il Falcone CdM Rosso Riserva DOCG 2011
- Il Falcone CdM Rosso Riserva DOCG 2005
- Il Falcone CdM Rosso Riserva DOCG 1999
- Il Falcone CdM Rosso Riserva DOCG 1994!
around Giovanni Aiello
Nero di Troia, aka Uva di Troia was a new grape for me. One I’ve been reading about as part of my Italian Wine Scholar program but never had before. How privileged was I to take part in this trip and get all this firsthand experience?! Generally speaking, I found the wines to be structured and medium plus bodied with notes of woodfire, raspberry balsamic, garrigue, violets, roasted tomato, black olive, and sometimes coffee caramel.
They fed us lunch as well here. Amazing (and I mean amazing) burrata, mozzarella, caciocavallo, and other cheeses, literally the best focaccia I’ve ever had in my life, orecchiette (Apuglian pasta), donkey salami, and donkey tartar.
From Cantine Rivera we went back to the hotel for a short rest then loaded back onto the bus to go to Giovanni Aiello where I learned about the Verdeca grape and that I love Burmese mountain dogs.
Cantine Giovanni Aiello and Verdeca
In Puglia, in land between Castellana Grotte and Alberobello, lies Cantine Giovanni Aiello and its vineyards. Here Giovanni aims to make wines that reflect the karstic land of Puglia where he grew up. Some vineyards he owns, some he rents, but all create wines defined by the land. In fact, his wines, all under the label Chakra, are so named because they represent the energy of the soil, climate, and grapes.
We tasted (after playing with their huge “puppy”) a vertical line up of the Chakra Essenza. He crafts these from 100% Verdeca sourced from a centuries-old vineyard lovingly cultivated by Tonetta and Toniuccio, a married couple in their nineties. Winemaking for this series is almost as special as the vineyard owners:
The first harvest A part of the grapes is harvested a few days in advance in order to obtain the “pied de couve”, so as to guarantee the rest of the mass a fermentation with autochthonous yeasts. The remaining part of the grapes is crushed and destemmed, then softly pressed, whereas the must is fermented in steel tanks at controlled temperature. One third of the mass is vinified with maceration of skins.
I found the wines to have a salty-sweet quality to them, like bread buttered with salted butter and topped with honey. Sometimes briny, sometimes floral with notes of tree fruit and citrus and lightly tannic. What a way to experience this grape!
To add that extra touch, in addition to handmaking small batch wines, Giovanni labels all his Chakra bottles with hand painted labels.