I had been thinking about it for a long time before making a decision, but eventully the desire take a risk got the upper hand. But let’s take one thing at time.
First consideration; in order to drink a good bottle of wine we can not just rely on the usual popular labels. I am referring to the good wines that, at least by name, everyone knows and that we already know everything about, since they have been written about again and again in every particularity, in every hint and every trace they have.
Second consideration; if it is true, as it seems it is, that you were born as a moscato producer and you became a red wine producer, it is always necessary to take small and cautious steps with the red wines of moscato producers, because we never know what on earth they will think to exctract from grapes that don’t have terpene.
Third consideration; the temptation to create a classification of the best italian vine varieties is strong and persistent, but i can resist it when I face the surprises that make the classifications themselves vane.
Fourth consideration; i could repeat the previous concept of substituting the grape varieties for the viticultural territories, but with the aim of emphasizing the outright cru rather than Docg.
Fifth consideration; when you have forgotten in the cellar a bottle of good quality, good level, reasonable price and with a life expectancy that is not that long, and you unexpectedly find yourself in front of this great wine, the satisfacion is not double but triple.
In fact, it happened last Friday when I discovered a bottle of Alladio Langhe Nebbiolo 1998, produced by Viticoltori Bera F.lli in the Azienda Agricola Cascina Palazzo in Neviglie in the provice of Cuneo. An intact bottle, well preserved; perfect crew, I pulled it out easily; an undefinable yet good fragrance suddenly came to me; I poured it in the usual stem glass you use at home and I notice that it had a perfect colour, still intense and ruby-red. Its fragrance had raspberry and other mixed berry notes, a slight scent of ash and burnt wood, a bit balsamic and fresh with a good peppery, intense and mischievous spicing. In my mouth it opened with a great sweetness of fruits and spices, but also offered a delicate tannic trace that was continuous and persistent, mature and dynamic. Complete in its essence, just evolved in its confident strut. A great wine, a bit unexpected, but not too much so. There is Nebbiolo of which we already know everything; there is a cru in Neviglie that has the same soil as Treiso; there is Valter Bera who is a fine moscato producer; there is a warm and generous vintage; there is the oak that has done an excellent job; there is also the fact that the bottle has been well preserved. It might not be the head bottle by Bera, but who cares. What else can you wish for but a great wine?
Gigi Brozzoni