Day three: Out of La Morra…
With day three, we visited the last of the estates in La Morra and moved onto the winemakers from the other communes of Barolo, namely Barolo and Castiglione-Falleto.
The first stop of the morning was one of the newest in the portfolio, Grimaldi. Ferruccio Grimaldi had been making wine and selling it off in bulk until approached by the importer. After several successful vintages, he was able to quit his day job, as a cop, and commit himself to winemaking full-time. In 1996, he bottled the first wines under his own label. After tasting the wines, it’s hard to believe that juice of this caliber once had all of its greatness blended away. We all felt that it was a shame that wines of this caliber had once been going into blends. The particular highlight was the single-vineyard Barolo Le Coste, a wine of incredible depth and breed, that shows to perfect synthesis that is Cru Barolo. A magnum of 1998 tasted at lunch was stupendous, but more on that later.
After collecting a few tomatoes, we were off the first of two Piras. The estate of E. Pira is no longer run by the Pira family. It was sold to the Borgogno estate of the Boschis family. When the last of the Piras passed away the estate and its vineyards passed to the Chiara Boschis. She took full-time control in 1990. Included in the estate is a piece of the fabled Cannubi vineyard. The estate itself is a synthesis of the old and the new, an ancient barrel room is attached to a new state-of-the-art barrel room. Rather than standing around tasting the wines, we tried them over a light lunch. We were joined by Marco Marengo, Ferruccio Grimaldi, Enrica Scavino and Chiara’s brother Cesare of the Borgogno Estate. Lunch was a sampling of Piedmont staples; Carné Cruda (raw veal loin), Cured Meats, Agnolotti (little "pinched" ravioli), Cippolini Frittata and a light salad. We also tasted the 2000-2004 vintages of Pira’s Barolo Cannubi. Lunch was wonderful, our hostess charming and fun, the wines…were underwhelming. It’s a particular shame because the Cannubi vineyard is such hallowed ground. The wines simply saw too much oak, the elegance fruit and complexity were blurred by too much barrique. A real shame, but nothing compared to the atrocity that lay ahead.
We’ve offered the wines of Silvio Grasso at the restaurant; I’ve tasted them numerous times and always found them to be exceptional. However, at the estate the importer had a few interesting things to say, which he could only do because Mr. Grasso spoke no English. He told us that the estate had been improving for a long time, but the winemaker, Federico Grasso, had started to pursue some different ideas and approaches. One of these ideas, the Barolo L’Andre, involved making a Barolo “the old way.” This means a 40-day fermentation and aging in giant Slavonian oak casks. I think at some point these ideas were referred to as bleeping crazy. It was an interesting insight into how two people with a great deal of passion do business together. However, tasting the wines provided the most insight. In all we tasted 10 wines, of which one was excellent, three were very good and the rest ranged from poor to abhorrent. Aside from one wine which was ruined by finishing fermentation in bottle, the others had unacceptable levels of volatility.*** It was particularly hard to hide my revulsion with the winemaker sitting two seats away. Every winery we visited had at least one wine that was not up to snuff for me, but this was a winery with a problem. If it continues, I wonder how long Grasso will stay in the portfolio.
The next stop was a visit to the first of two Scavinos. The Azelia estate is run by Luigi Scavino and shares part of the famed Bricco Fiasco (or Bric del Fiasc) with family-member Paolo Scavino. Sadly, the Bricco Fiasco was the highlight of an otherwise un-exhilarating portfolio. Several of the wines were fighting against high levels of VA, and losing. On to the next and final stop of the night.
The estate of Paolo Scavino is nothing short of spectacular. Unfortunately, Paolo was out of town and we had to “settle” for his daughter Enrica. She has actually taken over a good portion of the winemaking from her father and was a more-than-capable tour guide. The size of their cellars and scope of the operation simply can’t be put into words. After passing the 10th bin of 2000 Bric del Fiasc, this time in 6-liters, I had to wonder how they had any left to sell. The above-ground portion of the estate is, for lack of a better word, a compound. It’s square-shaped with a wonderful open-air courtyard in the middle. We went into a small tasting room to try some as-yet unreleased wines. Although all were great the 2004 Bric del Fiasc, the 2004 Rocche dell’Annunziata and the 2001 Bric del Fiasc are all wines of legendary status. We retired to the courtyard for dinner, where we were joined by Ferruccio Grimaldi, Chiara Boschis and several whining cats. Dinner was again simple, honest and delicious. Prosciutto with melon, a chilled terrine of veal with Saprosatta, Vitello di Tonnato, tomatoes stuffed with parsley, garlic, anchovy and bread soaked in vinegar, Tajarin with meat sauce, sliced roast beef and cheeses. With dinner we drank 95 Azelia San Rocco from magnum, 96 Scavino Bric del Fiasc and 89 Grasso Ciabot Manzone amongst other things. We ate and drank well into the night and on one fateful trip back from the restroom, I nearly had my hand bitten of by a crazy white dog. That left me startled and speechless, but not like the customary kiss on the cheek from Enrica. I never felt giddy when I was a school boy, but that is what i assume it felt like.
***The term volatility covers a range of compounds. These include Acetic Acid (Vinegar), Acetone (fingernail polish remover) and Ethyl Acetate (non-acetone fingernail polish remover), Benzaldehyde(bitter almond) and acetaldehyde(cherry/almond). These compounds are present, in a limited extent, in all wines. In small quantities they can provide a pleasant lift to the fruit(it has been rumored that Australian giant Penfolds introduces VA to their wines to do just that). Individual tolerance varies, and some find high levels of VA enjoyable(ie. Robert Parker). Need proof, pick up a bottle of the bright purple industrial solvent labeled Clos Mimi Syrah Petite Rousse. Be sure to avoid open-flames and pregnant women when opening the bottle. If the overwhelming smell of solvents doesn't scare you off, take a sip. If you can feel or taste beyond the heat of alcohol, you'll get a strange, warm, artificial, candied-sweetness on the palate. That's the same thing that attracts dogs to anti-freeze..it has a slightly sweet taste and feel in the mouth. The manufacturer warns you to keep the anti-freeze away from your pets...Parker gives it 92 points and a "hats off to Clos Mimi."
