James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

It's always a wonderful thing to open cases from the new vintages of any wine so when twenty of so different new wines arrive together it's rather like being a kid with a key to the candy store. Actually, this surprises me as I always rebuff any notion that the pleasure in wine has anything to do with anything other than what is inside the bottle yet I  seem to be saying that the aesthetics of the packaging, and in particular the label, brings something to the table. Yes, I was interested to see that the 2010 Broccardo is in a sloping 'Burgundy' bottle in contrast to the square-shouldered 'Bordeaux' bottle of the 2009 vintage and I noted the new look label which I admired for its more traditional look than the more modernist 2009 but what of it? I know the real enjoyment will come when, all too prematurely, literally, I crack open the first bottle for my first tasting of this magnificent vintage since I was at the winery back in April.  One of the other wond...

At last, after much deliberation (make that "tasting"), I have narrowed down the selection of wines from Nada Giuseppe (Barbaresco), Fabrizio Battaglino (Roero), Filippo Gallino (Roero), Grasso Fratelli (Barbaresco) and Crissante Alessandria (Barolo) to just three or four wines from each. The range of wines is quite something: some unusual but beguiling whites, a gutsy Dolcetto, Barbera ranging from easy, everyday drinking to serious, dinner party wine, super ripe Nebbiolo to classic Barolo (not forgetting the Barbaresco and Roero incarnations, of course) and two low-alcohol, sweet wines, one red, one white. Not bad for fewer than 20 wines! I really do think all these wines are stunningly good - normally I am no fan of Dolcetto but Enrico Nada turns out a beefy version that really works for me. However, the highlight of the range (for me) this year is the 2009 Barbaresco "Casot" which is so forward, I have already worked my way through several bottles. ...

Not a great start, as I subsequently discovered: I had got the wrong day! Mauro was busy for the first half hour but we had a guided tour of the cellars from his sister who has recently joined the Giovanni Manzone family estate. It is a fascinating place with an underground spring keeping the area naturally humid. We went through most of the wines: Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo and Barolo. Frankly, not a bad wine among them. Some highlights though: the Dolcetto 2010   La  Serra  is more complex and structured than most with good acidity and more tannin so can age well (10 years?). Good "purple" fruit, long and fragrant. The Barbera 2010  offers juicy fruit and a simple structure to back up the slightly sour cherry fruit: a good all-rounder. I still prefer the more complex Barbera Superiore 2009 La Serra  which sees 16 months in tonneaux.  It is a fuller, rounder wine with lovely juiciness and good complexity. The Nebbiolo 2010 Il Crutin   is quite evo...

Alberto Alessandria was in a talkative mood when I arrived just after 9.30 on Wednesday morning (25th July). He showed me round the winery before going into the tasting room which has magnificent views over the valley below La Morra (he is based in the small hamlet of Santa Maria, a couple of miles outside La Morra). We skipped the Dolcetto and went straight onto one of my favourite wines in 2007, the Barbera d'Asti "Ruge" 2006 . Alberto explained that it had been too acidic before so they had held it back until they felt it is ready. It has quite an evolved nose now with a warming palate, rounded and together. The tannins are soft and dancing around the slightly baked fruit. The acidity is balanced and the wine has decent length - can be enjoyed now. The 2008 won't be released until October and is different inasmuch as the oak used to age it gives the wine a different flavour profile to the wine at first. I didn't taste it with Alberto but took a bottle away w...

Last night I opened a 2007 Barolo "Bricat" by Giovanni Manzone . Everything was against this being successful: it is a very tannic wine which, on paper, needs another five to ten years and I was eating something that was never going to partner a wine like this even when it is mature. I just couldn't help myself. To start with, the tannins were a little immature but there is enough sweet Nebbiolo fruit there to cope with them even when the bottle has just been opened. Over the course of an hour or so, the tannins softened. Not completely, of course, but enough to bring the fruit out even more. Texturally, the wine is gorgeous with a velvetiness that makes you want to keep coming back but, at the same time, enough grip from the tannins to keep it pert. But what about the fruit? Classic Nebbiolo - sweet cherry, quite piercing, reminiscent of a very fine Burgundy. Some tar, tobacco and spice too. What's not to love?