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Revisiting Italy; Venice and Verona

 

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While I have been extremely lucky during this COVID pandemic, in that I have neither been sick and have kept my job; it is not to say that I’d not getting itchy feet.

Some borders are opening back up and people are tentatively planning travel. I cannot wait to get out of Istanbul having missed planned trips to Hungary and Greece. However, I believe I’ll be stuck a little while longer yet. Europe is slowly opening but restrictions on people coming from Turkey are strict. And fair enough. The government here did a crap job to control the spread of COVID-19 internally. I’d isolate us too.

Knowing that actual travel may take more time then; I’m traveling through my memory instead. I’ve dug through books and books of wine notes for notes about the European wines I drink but so rarely post about and am ready for a trip down travel and sipping memory lane.

Since one of my most recent trips was to Italy; I start there.

Sorelle Bronca Particella 232 Nature, NV

I bought this Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG Prosecco last fall when I took my mother to Venice. It was her first trip to Italy and she fell in love with that city. She also decided that, while she does not particularly care for wine, she does love good Prosecco. This was a good one.

Sorelle Bronca is a family winery with a passion for organic viticulture and quality winemaking. Sisters Antonella and Ersiliana run the winery with their families having inherited this passion for wine from their father. They began experimenting with single parcel Prosecco some time ago and recently released this Particella 232. A blend of Glera, Bianchetta, and Perera grapes grown on soils of clay and rocks carried there by an ancient glacier, the wine aged on its lees for four months and, as the name indicates, has no added sugar.

Alcohol: 11%

Color: pale platinum, bubbles bubbles everywhere

Nose: Citrus, lemon flowers, pastry crust, baked apples, mineral

Palate: Dry but less so than I imagined a brut nature would be. Light plus body, linear acidity, and mouth filling foam that left flavors of lemon blossom and white flowers that transition into ripe pear. So much prettier than I can capture with my notes.

Le Contesse Treviso DOC Extra Dry Prosecco

Le Contesse was opened by the Bonotto family in 1976. Family patriarch and winery founder Loris Bonotto slowly went about building a Prosecco empire and now has a multi generational family winery business. They make both still and sparkling wines. This particular wine was made with 100% Glera grown in the Treviso DOC.

Alcohol: 11%

Color: soft straw with fine bubbles

Nose: Red apple, pear, brioche, and acacia flowers

Palate: Frothy bubbles released delicate fruit and floral flavors reflective of the nose. Very pretty and delicate wine. Despite the 15 g/L of residual sugar it was not noticeably sweet; the sugar balanced by lively bubbles and acidity.

Campagnola Soave Classico, 2016

A few years ago, I spent a very brief couple days in Verona. I was thinking to move to Italy at the time and Verona was my target city. Unfortunately because I was there on recon rather than visiting, I did nothing touristy and took no wine tours (assuming there would be time in the future). I’m still in Istanbul and haven’t had a chance to revisit Verona. I bought this Campagnola Soava in Istanbul ironically enough. While I haven’t had a chance to revisit Verona, at least I can get some of the region’s wines here.

Established in 1907, the Campagnola Group is now in the hands of the family’s fifth generation to follow founder Carlo Campagnolo’s passion for wine.  Grown in the Soave Classico DOC, this wine is a blend of Garganega 70% and Trebbiano 30%.

Alcohol: 12.5%

Color: pale lemon

Nose: A little shy on the nose with delicate citrus, tropical, and floral aromas

Palate: Sipping revealed a dry with with fresh flavors of melon, apple, and lemon fruits highlighted by soft fruit blossom flavors. Medium body, acidity, and finish balanced nicely with the delicate fruit flavors.

Tinazzi Ca’ de’ Rocchi Bardolino DOP, 2016

Of course I cannot reminisce about the Veneto and its wines and not also talk about a couple red wines! Despite the irony that this wine I also bought in Turkey… The Tinazzi family has been producing wines in the Veneto (and Puglia) for over 50 years now. Not an especially long time for an Italian family winery but long enough that they’ve perfected their craft. The Ca’ de‘ Rocchi line is the family’s “international” line intended for audiences not accustomed to the often in your face tartness of Valpolicella wines. Which makes sense then as to why I would have found this one in particular in Turkey.

The wine blends together the classic Valpolicella grapes Corvina (75%), Rondinella (10%), and Molinara (15%) from the Tinazzi family’s Tenuta Valleselle vineyards in the rolling hills of the Bardolino Classico region.

Alcohol: 13%

Color: pale brilliant ruby

Nose: Fruity and spicy, with red fruit aromas of cranberry and cherry kissed by floral and spice notes

Palate: How much juiciness do you like in your red wines? If the answer is “a lot” then this is your wine! Tart cherry flavors exploded in the mouth while racy acidity blazoned a path along my tongue, making my mouth water for more.

Casa Bottega Ripasso Superiore DOC, 2014

As I mentioned above, my mother is not a wine drinker. But during our trip in Italy I ordered something for her at every dinner. If she didn’t like it, I drank it! The one red wine I ordered for her that she actually liked was a glass of Ripasso.

Ripasso is often seen as the “little brother” to Amarone. Less intense (and less expensive), Ripasso wines like this one from Bottega, made with a blend of Valpolicella grapes Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella; give wine lovers a chance to dabble in the richer Amarone style before deciding if they want to drop that kind of cash on a bottle.

The family behind Bottega SpA have been vintners since 1635. A proper long time that. A large wine producer, the company (still run by the Bottega family no less) has wineries and distilleries in the Veneto, Valpolicella, and Tuscany.

Alcohol: 14%

Color: medium intense garnet with a brownish rim

Nose: I know I should have been getting maybe some dried fruits/raisins on the nose here. And I did sense some red plum fruits. But this wine was all about the tomatoes for me. Aromas of tomatoes roasted with dried herbs and savory dominated the bouquet.

Palate: Palate flavors initially mimicked those rustic tomato aromas I got on the nose but the longer the wine breathed the more the fruit came through with black plums evolving into spicy clove. Round and lush with high acidity and a solid medium plus finish.

I cannot wait to get back to Italy.