James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

When I first tasted the 2007 Barbaresco from Nada Giuseppe it was alongside the 2008. The younger vintage was tighter and harder with more overt acidity - fair enough, it was the younger wine but this year I visited the family and tasted the 2008 against the 2009 which was ripe and forward.  Incredibly drinkable already, in fact.The 2008 remains more classic (I hope that's not just a euphemism) with a harder edge although this is a little more approachable than this time last year. Last night provided an opportunity to taste the 2007 and 2009 to see how they stack up. The 2009 was true to recent form. The tannins are very soft and the fruit forward and rich. It's hard to see where this is going or, to be more precise, why you would want to take it on a long journey when it is so good now. I really can't fault it. The 2007 is still more approachable than the 2008 but has more obvious guts than the 2009 with some zingy acidity and dancing tannins. The fruit it quite simila...

Having been alerted to a new phase in the life of Raymond Usseglio's 2001 Cuvee Imperiale (Chateauneuf-du-Pape) I checked out my own stock to find I had enough of this to give it a try. Previous bottles have all shown good promise but they have all stopped short of actually delivering. Not so this one. The wine has put on a good deal weight since last time (when it seemed almost Beaujolais-like) and now has a rich but pure texture with full mouthfeel and tannins that wrap the wine perfectly. Now it is more Burgundian (and I am talking Grand Cru). The fruit has turned a corner or two too with richness and depth where there was once a question mark. This wine is now eleven years old and it has taken over ten of those years to get to this point. That's old school and, certainly, Stef Usseglio is making wines that show their promise much more obviously at an early stage so it is great to rediscover a classical wine - they don't make 'em like they used to!

Ciaran left Domaine des Anges last October after 13 years but not before he had vinified the 2011 vintage. Most of the wines are not ready for proper assessment yet (I did taste the white and rose back at Easter) but yesterday popped up to see his old boss, Gay McGuinness, and the new estate manager, Florent Chave, formerly of Domaine Brusset, to have a chat and taste any new wines. The one most interesting to me was the 2011 Viognier "Cherubin". I have had an on-off relationship with this variety over the years, sometimes finding it exotic and frustrating at others. I used to abhor the oaked versions then find un-oaked wines too acidic. When Ciaran told me he was making Viognier starting with the 2010 vintage, I wondered how I would find the wine. That first vintage was aged 50% in third year barrels and 50% in stainless steel but I never got to taste it from the bottle as it sold out quickly (there wasn't a lot of it) so the 2011 is the first bottled Viognier from DD...

Wednesday evening saw my last full estate visit - the rest of the time in Italy was more or less holiday (although a trip to Acqui Terme necessitated a visit to the Enoteca Regionale to familiarise myself better with the local Barbera di Monferrato wines amongst others). We got a bit lost in Canale - should you ever visit, look for signs to Valle Pozzo and you'll be OK. When you arrive at Filippo Gallino , there is the feeling of the Deep South - a distressed row of houses with balconies overlooking a yard where the children amuse themselves by throwing up bottle tops and seeing where they land. It seems all the money is spent on the cantina  and all the family must live here, several generations together. Laura had driven off to look for us but returned just as we were trying out our Italian on her sister. Little English is spoken here except by Laura's husband Guglielmo who doesn't work for the family (except to help out with hapless English people like us). We went i...

I had been bombarded with emails so eventually investigated and found there is an interesting selection of wines made here. But what about the quality? Having a confused SatNav meant I was late arriving but Katie Pattinson was relaxed as we talked about our attitudes to wine and the wine trade. The wines were al interesting but some stood out more than others for me. Of the whites, I enjoyed the full and fairly complex Gavi  with its minerality and white fruit characters (apples and pears). The simple Barbera 2010 Caj  offers fruity, juicy, easy fruit and good acidity; a decent, straightforward Barbera. The Nebbiolo 2009 Accerto   has good mouthfeel with fairly low acidity and soft tannins - tastes right, feels good. I rather liked the Dame e Fuet 2007 , a blend of 50% Nebbiolo and 50% Pinot Noir which has a great, plush nose which lets some Pinot Noir character through. Good mouthfeel. The final two wines of the tasting were a Barbaresco 2007 Gaia Principe , a sing...

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...