My old blog

Great value, biodynamic, natural wines from Nuova Cappelletta in Piemonte

Tasted these three attractively priced wines from online retailer Piemonte Wines recently. They are from biodynamic estate Nuova Cappelletta, and two of them are made with no added sulfur dioxide. The prices indicated are valid to the end of the month.

Nuova Cappelletta Cortese Piemonte 2010 Italy
13% alcohol. No added sulfites. Full yellow colour. Rich, warm [...]

June 6th, 2012 | Tags: , , | Category: italy | 3 comments

A remarkable natural Barolo

Now this is interesting. I encountered it at the Oslo tasting I’ve been at for the last couple of days.

It’s a naturally made Barolo from Giovanni Canonica. He makes very little – around 5000 bottles – which all sell out very quickly. Much of the production is sold in Japan.

Canonica farms 1.5 hectares in the [...]

September 26th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: italy, natural wine | 3 comments

A remarkable Freisa and a delicious Montepulciano

Two excellent wines at dinner last night, here in Oslo. The first, a Freisa from Langhe made like a Barolo; the second, a warmer wine, much richer and obvious, but still with good definition and edges.

Giuseppe Mascarello Langhe Freisa ‘Toetto’ 2004
This is Freisa made almost in the Barolo way (15 months in slavonian oak), and [...]

September 25th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: italy | One comment

Fontanafredda Barolo 2006

Fontanafredda Barolo 2006

Leaving aside all the arguments about traditional and modern styles in Barolo, and small versus more commercial producers, this is a delicious wine.

Fontanafredda Barolo 2006 Piedmonte, Italy
This spends two years in oak: the majority in large botti, but some of it in small barrels. Quite full in colour with some bricking of [...]

July 13th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: italy | 4 comments

In Piedmont

So I arrived in Italy courtesy of the world’s worst airline last night at 10 pm. I was staying at a nearby hotel, but it’s proximity really upset the taxi driver who had been waiting for 3 hours for a fare into Milano (45 km away) rather than a quick 2 minute ride.

He was visibly, [...]

July 9th, 2010 | Tags: , | Category: italy | 5 comments

Conan the Barbera

This project wine, produced by a member of the Meridian wines team in conjunction with Araldica, is quite remarkable. The note below was written on the day I opened the bottle, but three days later it’s still dense, tannic, pure, robustly fruity and quite impenetrable. It’s Piedmont’s answer to Penfolds Grange – a wine that [...]

June 1st, 2010 | Tags: , , | Category: italy | Leave a comment