Tasted at Vin Nature: Antiche Cantine de Quarto

Antiche Cantine de Quarto is another winery I tasted the afternoon I left Vinitaly for Vin Nature, a group of winemakers who eschew all kinds of chemicals and pesticides -- I sat down for what I thought would be a last wine before dinner, liked it, and tried another and another. Rather like nibbling on a bowl of cherries.

Antiche Cantine de Quarto Fiano Intenso IGP Puglia 2010
This is a Minutolo; it's elegant brilliant brassy gold with brassy reflections and has an intense bouquet with considerable goodeberry laced with roses and greenish vegetal accents, supported by acidity that has a definite mineral zing to it. A lot going on. On the palate it's full and rich, with powerful lemony fruit laced with some citrus, and deft greenish minerality that flows into a bright gooseberry citrus finish. Quite zesty, and will work very well with flavorful grilled fish and dishes such as a Tiella. Something to keep an eye out for.
2 stars

Antiche Cantine de Quarto Mucchio Primitivo di Manduria DOC 2008
Deep cherry ruby with almandine rim. The bouquet is rich, with jammy cherry fruit supported by some concord grape jelly and considerable sweetness. Voluptuous. On the palate it's full and rich, with powerful cherry plum fruit supported by plum sweetness and moderate acidity, while the tannins are smooth and fairly dry, and flow into a clean fresh prune finish. Very nicely balanced, and though it is fairly strong the alcohol doesn't disturb. A fine, fine expression of the varietal, and worth seeking out.
90-92

Antiche Cantine de Quarto Dionisio Primitivo di Manduria DOC Riserva 2008
This is made from the best bunches, ripened further, fermented slowly, and then aged in wood for a few months. Inky purple. The bouquet is rich, with jammy Concord grapes laced with sweetness and some petroleum, hints of gooseberry, and deft spice with underlying alcohol. Beautiful balance and complexity though I found myself preferring the linearity of the Mucchio. On the palate it's full and smooth, with rich red cherry plum fruit supported by deft berry fruit acidity and warmth that has savory balsamic accents, and by tannins that are dry and cedar laced, and flow into a long warm cedar laced finish. Very fine and quite approachable, and if you are of international tastes you may prefer it, but I find that Primitivo really doesn't need wood.
90

Antiche Cantine de Quarto Pozzella Lizzano Rosso Negroamaro DOC 2009
Deep cherry ruby with some almandine in the rim. The bouquet is fairly intense, with red berry fruit supported by lively acidity and some vegetal accents; it's fairly rich, and gives an impression of zestiness. On the palate it's medium bodied, with bright sour cherry fruit laced with minerality and some underbrush that flows into a clean rather fresh mineral finish. Pleasant, and will drink well with red meats or light stews.
2 stars

Antiche Cantine de Quarto Tarantola Lizzano Rosso Superiore DOC 2005
Again, Negroamaro. Deep pigeon blood ruby with almandine rim. The bouquet is fairly intense, with berry fruit laced with green leather and savory notes, as well as sweet underbrush and minerality. Nice depth in a mature key, and as it opens herbal accents also emerge. On the palate it's fairly full, with bright berry fruit supported by some sweetness from alcohol, minerality, and tannins that have a warm peppery burr and flow into a clean brambly greenish finish. It's a nice expression of the grape, and will work well with grilled meats or hearty stews, though I wouldn't age it for that much longer.
2 stars

Antiche Cantine de Quarto Albiria Primitivo di Manduria Dolce DOC 2008
Deep pigeon blood ruby with cherry rim. The bouquet is rich, with brown sugar and hints of leather mingled with caramel and plums, prune fruit and some vegetal accents, lacy sugar, violets and other blossoms, mentholated notes, and one could go on and on. Terrific complexity. On the palate it's full, rich, and sweet, with elegant prune cherry fruit supported by warmth and sweet tannins, and is beautifully harmonious, a wine that seems simple because everything is in its place, but that one can sip for hours without tiring of.
92-3

They also make a liqueur called Elisir di Primitivo, a digestivo of sorts, which was a very nice way to finish up the tasting. Extremely pleasant.

For more information, check their web site.

Tasted at Radici: Macchiarola

The nicest thing about Radici is the variety of wineries participating: Some established names, and others that are very, very new.

Macchiarola falls into the latter category; The estate belongs to a family that has a Masseria, or farm complex, with 6 hecates of Primitivo, planted in 2005 a spalliera, which is a trellis system. The first vintage was 2007, and in 2010 they began to make Negroamaro, using the grapes from a vineyard that belongs to a neighbor.

The didn't filter the 2007 and 2008 vintages at all, but now clarify and filter lightly to increase stability.

Macchiarola Negroamaro 2010
Tank sample
Deep ruby. The nose is spicy and rather exotic, with savory notes and berry fruit mingled with some sweaty blonde and some sea salt. Not bad for a first attempt! On the palate it's quite bright, with lively sour berry fruit supported by lively acidity and fairly bright tannins that flow into a fairly warm finish. A fine food wine that will be perfect at a cookout or with grilled meats. Freshness in a glass.

Macchiarola Primitivo di Manduria DOC 2009
This was a different vintage, with high acidity that they compensated for by allowing the grapes to ripen further (and going through the vineyard to eliminate imperfect buches); they did obtain balance, but with 16% alcohol. It's in steel because they are still evaluating the vineyard. Deep pigeon blood ruby with brick rim. The bouquet is powerful and sweet, with savory notes and plum berry fruit mingled with sea salt, quite a bit of spice, and scalded milk. On the palate it's moderately rich, with plum prune fruit supported by some sweetness nicely balanced by savory accents and dried prune, and by tannins that have some warmth to them. The vineyard is still quite young and as a result the wine, though promising, lacks the depth future vintages will have. In short, a wine to keep an eye out for in future vintages.

Torrevento: Fine Wines from Puglia

Torrevento is one of the largest Puglian wine producers, with holdings in all the major , and about 400 hectares under vine. Like most large Puglian wineries, they started out selling cistern wines, inky tannic things with high alcohol contents that other winemakers further north would buy by the cisterna (a tank truck is an autocisterna) to bolster whatever it is that they were making where they happened to be.

However, when the younger generation joined in, in 1990, they decided to start putting their own name on the bottles. It took a while for the established wine press to notice this new development, but with time a steady stream of successes has ensued.

Francesco Liantonio told us that they were among the first to work seriously with Nero di Troia, the northern Puglian grape that is currently attracting a great deal of attention. It hasn't always, however, because, by comparison with some of the other southern red varietals it gives low yields: At the most 95 quintals/hectare, and though this is a lot by the standards of quality wine making (especially further north, where the sun is less intense), those in the business of making blending wines needed more to turn a decent profit.

So while others were stripping it out, Francesco and his associates were among the few who were looking at it with a different eye, and liking what they saw. They also grow other autochthonous southern varietals, and in the course of a meal at Florence's Ristorante Oliviero we were treated to a very pleasant sampling of their production. We began with:

Matervitae Bombino Bianco Puglia IGT 2007
Brassy gold with brassy reflections. Rich bouquet with considerable citrus that gains depth from herbal accents and some green apricot. On the palate it's fairly rich with clean rather languid lemony fruit with green apricot accents flowing into a long green apricot finish. Pleasant in a direct, up front key, and will work well as an aperitif, or with fish or cheese-based antipasti, and also with fish-based pasta dishes or risotti, or with grilled or roasted fish or white meats. In short, versatile, and impressive for an entry-level wine.
2 stars

Followed by Reds:

Torre del Falco Murgia IGT Nero Di Troia 2006
This is another entry-level wine; it's deep pigeon blood ruby with cherry rim, and has a direct, fairly rich bouquet with jammy red berry fruit supported by some spice and hints of caramel from the grapes (no wood). On the palate it's medium bodied, with fairly rich dry cherry fruit supported by underbrush and moderate acidity, while there is also considerable graphite bitterness in the tannins that's typical of Nero di Troia, and provides both backbone and depth. Direct, up front, and will drink nicely with meat-based pasta dishes, simple grilled meats, and other like dishes. A wine that doesn't demand attention, but rather supports what it's served with, and will go quickly.
2 stars

Vigna Pedale Castel del Monte DOC Rosso Riserva 2004
This is a Nero di Troia, and is deep pigeon blood ruby with lively cherry rim. Poured ink; Francesco tells us some of the vineyards are 30 years old, and that they're trained in part to the traditional Alberello style (free standing bushes) and to Spalliera, rows with strung wires providing support. Returning to the wine, the bouquet is delicate, with fairly rich floral accents and clean forest berry fruit -- currants in particular -- laced with spice. Nice depth and pleasing elegance. On the palate it's ample, with clean rich forest berry fruit supported by moderate blackberry acidity and by tannins that are ample, with clean graphite bitterness that continues at length, becoming dusty as it fades, and this is a factor of youth; the wine will become silky with age, and has the capacity to age well for many years. It will work well with succulent, not too fatty red meats, or white meats too, for example turkey or roast beef sliced fairly thick. 200,000 bottles of this wine are produced yearly, and to be frank I'm impressed. This sort of quality usually comes in smaller volumes and at less favorable quality/price ratios (we were given cellar prices, which I am not passing on since the path a wine takes en route can have a tremendous impact upon price).
90-91

Sine Nomine Salice Salentino DOC Rosso Riserva 2003
A more southerly Puglian wine that's 90% Negroamaro and 10% Malvasia Nera; it's impenetrable pigeon blood ruby with cherry rim and has a vinous bouquet with jammy berry fruit and some gum Arabic mingled with wet earth and moderate spice. Very young. On the palate it's full, ample, and very smooth, with rich clean cherry fruit that has some balsamic accents mingled with underbrush, and is supported by clean sweet smooth tannins that flow into a smooth berry fruit finish. Graceful and elegant in a very approachable key; it doesn't have quite the depth of the Vigna Pedale, but is quite enjoyable and will drink very well with drier meats, for example roast turkey or an arista (roast boned pork loin). Again, excellent quality/price ratio.
88-90

Kebir Puglia IGT Rosso 2002
Puglia was one of the few parts of Italy not to suffer from the dreadfully wet summer weather in 2002 -- simply because it didn't rain, and hasn't rained much any summer since then either, with the result that Torrevento is sinking deep wells from which to provide the water necessary to keep the vines alive. Returning to the wine, Keber, which means sovereign in Arabic and is a bow to Federico II, the Holy Roman Emperor who was excommunicated for his openness with respect to Araby: It's their one nod to international tastes, a blend of Nero di Troia and Cabernet Sauvignon that spends 14 months in barriques, and is inky pigeon blood ruby with violet highlights. Deft bouquet, with forest berry fruit supported by some grassy herbal accents, spice, and hints of underbrush. Inviting, and the Cabernet is quite apparent, but doesn't overpower the Nero di Troia. On the palate it's smooth, with fairly rich red berry fruit supported by moderate spice and very smooth ample tannins, while there is sufficient acidity to provide direction, and it flows into a smooth finish. Quite elegant in an approachable international key, and is a wine you will enjoy greatly if you like large, smooth fruit driven wines. It will work well with flavorful, fairly dry meats, or also by the glass farther from the table. As with the others, fine quality/price ratio.
2 stars

And Finished With Another White:

Dulcis in Fundo Moscato di Trani DOC Dolce 2006
This would be more alcoholic, but they interrupt the fermentation when it reaches 12%, leaving sufficient sugar to produce another 3-4% alcohol were it to ferment. It's brassy gold with slight apricot highlights, and has a pleasant bouquet that combines rich honeydew melon with green apricot and quite a bit of sweetness. On the palate it's fairly rich, with languid full honeydew melon fruit that gains depth and contrast from bitter accents that gradually emerge, coming to overshadow the sweetness in the finish. Pleasant and will work quite well with dry patisserie, and is also a wine one could meditate over.
2 stars.

Bottom Line: I'm impressed. They have done a fine job of converting from vini da taglio, blending wines, to first-rate south Italian wines, and have done so while keeping a tight rein on prices -- though I won't give exact figures, everything we tasted sells for under 10 Euros, and most considerably under -- making the wines quite attractive to consumers.

In addition to making wine, Torrevento also makes olive oil, which they are not yet selling, and they grow durum wheat and make high quality pasta, which is for now aimed at the restaurant trade, though with time they hope to expand to quality retailers too.

Want to know more? Check out Torrevento's Site.