Tag Archives: wine tasting

Piemontefestival

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Barolo and Friends had another great event in Oslo, this time it was a Piemonte Festival at Nedre Foss Gård. Some wine producers joined us, like Roberto from Malvira, so I got to practice my italian! I had the opportunity to try over 80 wines (but I didn’t, because we all know I don’t spit).

Piemontefestival Malvira

My favorite “stand” was Malvira; mostly because he was so much fun to talk to. I had never tried the Malvira wines before, and I know very little about Roero, so it was a very educational evening.

Roberto Damonte runs the winery with his brother Massimo. Massimo is responsible for the vineyards, while Roberto works in the cellar. The winery started production in 1950, and now makes over 20 wines.

There was a contest where you could win a 2 night stay in Piemonte. The one who picked the lucky winner was Daniele Manzone, the director of I Vini Del Piemonte, who also helped organize the event.

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Wines round 1 Barolo Night Oslo Edition

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Barolo Night 2.0

A few weeks ago, Barolo Night 2.0 took place in Oslo. Overall there were 9 wines, tasted in 3 rounds and here are some tasting notes on the first round. Round 2 and 3 to come!

Barolo Night Oslo

Mauro Molino Vigna Gancia 2008

Reddish brown. Flowers and dark berries on the nose. Round tannins, long finish

Enzoboglietti Riserva 2004

Reddish brown. Earth tones, leather, dark berries and dill on the nose. Tannins present, fruity.

Mauro Sebaste Prapo 2011 

Reddish brown. Some petroleum on the nose. A little thin, tannins present.

In this round I was surprised by the Mauro Molino and the Enzoboglietti. Tobias (@tobias_wineandfood) loves Molino and is trying to make me love it too. And he’s not far away from his goal. Enzoboglietti was so impressive that I decided to visit them when I was in Piemonte in March. When it comes to the Mauro Sebaste I was not that impressed with the wine, nor had I heard of it before. Maybe I will learn more about it in the future, but your now I am sticking with the wines I already know and love.

Barolo Night Oslo Round 1

Winery Wednesday

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Aurelio Settimo

During my visit to Piemonte this time around I decided to visit a few new wineries. Aurelio Settimo was one of them. The winery started making their own wine in the 1950’s, after having been farmers for decades.

Today, the winery is run by Tiziana, the daugther of Aurelio, and the philosophy of the winery is to focus on quality while keeping with tradition.

Aurelio Settimo 2

Aurelio Settimo only produces red wine and among those is the Rocche dell’Annunziata.

The winemaking follows the traditional method with big botti and no toast. The majority of the grapes are nebbiolo, 5.7 hectares and the rest is dolcetto, about 1 hectars.

Aurelio Settimo

During my visit I tasted 6 wines, a wonderful lineup. First up the dolcetto, one of my favorite grapes! Then Langhe Nebbiolo followed by 4 Barolo’s. I was lucky enough to taste their Rocche Riserva 2009 and Rocche 2005.

Aurelio Settimo 1

If you want to visit the winery or learn more, you can go to their website. 

Wine Night at Cascina Nuova

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Wine Night a la Piemontegirl

Remember I asked you for advice on how to run a Wine Tasting? Well, here is how it went!

Wine Night 3

My very talented friend Elena Baseotto made me some tasting sheets, and I decided to go for 3 wines next to each other: dolcetto, barbera and nebbiolo. The knowledge level among the participants varied a lot, so this was a nice way to show them the different grapes and their characteristics.

I chose a dolcetto from Andrea Oberto, a barbera from Burlotto and a langhe nebbiolo from Trediberri. These 3 producers are different yet they share the same philosophy (and are people I care about). It was very interesting to see which wines the guests preferred and why. I like all three, but in very different ways. Dolcetto is very easy to drink, not a lot of structure, but very pleasant. Barbera tends to be bigger (in comparison to dolcetto) and tastes better with food (in my opinion). And langhe nebbiolo is tannin free and smooth, yet has more structure than the dolcetto. All in all good wines to try.

Wine Night 1

I think maybe next time I will do a comparison of the same type of wine but either from different producers or different cru. I think it is interesting to see the different producers interpretation of the wine. Any thougths?

Wine Night 4

Barolo Weekend in Sweden

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Barolo Night in Gothenburg

6 people, 10 barolo, 1 night: does it get any better? (Yes I know one of them is technically a Barbaresco, but it’s not my fault someone cheated!) The deal was: bring one (or three) bottles of barolo and we’ll taste them blind. So, blindtasting gallore!

Barolo Sweden 2

The bottles were a little too cold when we started, which made it even harder to taste and try to differentiate and eventually guess the wines. But we had some good conversations around all the wines, and after they warmed up and opened up they were all pretty much incredible.

Barolo Sweden

The way we did it was: 3 bottles at a time, random order. To help us remember which was which I brought my Wine Glass Writer along. Genius way to assist during a blind taste. I also sometimes use them for seating arrangements at dinner parties. You just write the guests names on the glasses instead of on a card. Safe to say I use mine all the time!

Man surprises during the night. What was difficult was that some of the older bottles outshone the younger ones, even though the younger ones were also very good. Example: 2013 Alessandro Veglio is a very good wine, but for me too young and therefore the 2009 Barbaresco and 2010 Enzoboglietti came out a little stronger. I had also set my mind on the Marengo (without label) and so any wines after that were sort of put in second place.

Top 3 wines of the night: Aurelio Settimo Rocche dell’Annunziata 2009, Marengo Unknown Barolo and 2005 Renato Corino Vecchie Vigne. Outstanding. Looking forward to the next Barolo Night!

Barolo Sweden 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winery Wednesday – Legendary visit with Andrea Oberto

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Winery Wednesday is back! Last October I had the sincere pleasure of meeting Andrea Oberto! It was probably the most legendary winery visit I have ever had.

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It started with just me and Andrea, speaking ONLY Italian. He showed me the cellar and we tasted his wines. Then, this swiss couple show up. And guess what? They only speak German and very little English. And Andrea does not speak any English or German. So, the Norwegian (me) had to translate. So, I did the visit all over again! 4 hours later, I left with wine for my cellar and a dinner invitation!

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Andrea Oberto started his winery in 1978, and in 2003 the new wine cellar was finished. You can now find Andrea near the town of Verduno, in the outskirts of La Morra. He has 16 acres of vineyards, among them are Barolo Brunate, Barolo Rocche and Barolo Albarella. 

 

winery wednesday

If you ever have the chance to visit with Andrea, you should! I can come as a translator! To make an appointment you can email the cantina obertoandrea@libero.it or call 0173 50104. If you go, say hello from me! And stay tuned for more Winery Wednesday!

Looking for a winery to visit this summer?

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Alessandro Veglio’s winery is on my list of places to visit

You may have heard of the winery Mauro Veglio’s, and you guessed it: Alessandro is related to Mauro. Just below Mauro’s winery you will find Alessandro Veglio. He is a fairly new to the business, but his wines are excellent. And it always helps that he’s a great guy!

Winery Wednesday

Alessandro Veglio

His lineup includes Gattera, a cru barolo located near the famous cedar tree. I recently drank his 2008 Gattera; a fabulous wine! If you visit him you might be lucky enough to meet his english bulldog Poldo. However, he only sticks around for a few minutes before he retreats to take a nap. Quite a character.

Norwegians, you will find the wines at Vinmonopolet as he recently started shipping wine to Norway! Yay! However, I am uncertain which of the wines will be available, but hey; a few wines are better than none!

How can you book a visit to the winery?

Alessandro doesn’t seem to have his own website (which reminds me I should talk with him about that) but you can contact him through the Agriturismo next door to the winery. Check it out here. If for some reason that doesn’t work, you can always as Manu at Cantina Comunale to call him for you!

Wine of the Week

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Cappellano Nebbiolo d’Alba

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Wine: Nebbiolo d’Alba

Producer: Cappellano

Region/Appellation: Piemonte, Italy

Grape varieties: Nebbiolo

Vintage: 2012

 

Eye: clear brownish red

Nose: roses, violets, earthy, cherries, some tar

Mouth: raspberry, red fruits, good acidity

 

 

Price Point: $27

Available at Vinmonopolet: no

Available at Systembolaget: no