Italian wines are having a renaissance these days in Hong Kong with their popularity soaring because of the consistent price structure of the wines, the availability of back vintages and the wines ability to match many different styles of food, especially local Cantonese food. Barolo is the new Bordeaux here with specialist Italian auctions and on line companies such as Slurp.Asia offering great deals on back vintage wines from the region.
One such wine, available only from exclusive importer
East Meets West is Vietti and Wine Times was fortunate enough to have lunch
with owner and winemaker Luca Currado in local Italian restaurant Trattoria
Assagio where we tried some of his current, and back vintage, Barolo along with
his Barbera d’Asti and Moscato d’Asti.
Luca Currado is an extremely humorous and
affable chap and his ability to describe wine the way he sees it is extremely
funny. He compares his Barbera to Angelina Jolie, his grapes to balloons and
seems to have an acronym for almost everything to do with his wine and his vineyards.
“Good wine is like a three Michelin-starred
restaurant”, Luca starts off the lunch by saying. “Everything needs to be
perfect”. And pretty much perfect his wines are! The intentional low yields from
his vineyards ensure that only the very best quality grapes go into his wines
and, bearing in mind he owns and makes his wines from 15 Grand Cru Barolo vineyards,
the wines reflect the hard work done in the vineyards over the year.
“You cannot make the best wines without having
the best grapes from the best vineyards”, he notes.
Vietti winery dates back to the 19th
century but the first wines were not made there until 1919 when patriarch Mario
Vietti started making and selling wines for the Italian wine market. Over time
the winery grew to be one of the top-level producers in Piedmont after the
Alfredo Currado (Luciana Vietti’s husband) took over in 1959. Alfredo was also
the first to select and vinify grapes from single vineyards and thus the tradition
started and is carried on by Luca these days.
The wines themselves are fantastic and are
adorned with art work – and have been since 1974. A series of the labels of the
wines has been on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the art work is
commissioned in Italy and is inspired by the wine of that particular vintage.
Works include lithographs, xylographies, etchings, silk-screens and linocuts.
Luca’s Barbera d’Asti Tre Vigne is superb,
certainly a food wine and is a blend of grapes from three of his vineyards. Vines
in each vineyard are different ages and the blend of grapes come from vines
that were planted in 1996, 1971 and 1932 respectively. The grapes from the
vines planted in 1932 go to make his top Barbera d’Asti, La Crena.
The irony of his Barbera is that they are
planted in Barolo. This was a big ‘no no’ and (in his own words) other winemakers
in the region thought that he was crazy to do so. I don’t think they think he’s
so crazy now and you’ll agree with me after you taste his wines!
“There are no second label wines from the winery
or second wines”, says Luca. “We only want to make the very best wines”.
The Barolo Castiglione is a blend of Barolo
wines that are taken from eleven of his Grand Cru vineyards, vinified
separately and then blended after fermentation. Of the wines that do not make
the final blend Luca makes a wine called Nebbiolo Perbacco about which he says;
“I created a little monster”! This wine could actually be classified as a Barolo
(as it is one!) but Luca himself has de-classified it and now it’s an extremely
affordable Nebbiolo.
Luca himself is convinced that he has the very
best terroir and that the wines reflect this. “Making a good wine is 70 per
cent about the terroir, 20 per cent the work in the cellar and 10 per cent luck”,
he says.
Tasting the Vietti Barolo Brunate is like
finding that needle in the haystack. Why? Well, there are only just over 3,000
bottles made each year and I have got to tell you, it’s an incredible wine! “We
make one of the most collectable wines in the world”, says Luca. “We only make
just over 3,000 bottles a year and each vintage demand is ten times what we
produce”. But if you can get your hands on this wine, then buy it! Number one,
it’s rare and hard to find and number two, it’s mind-blowingly good – elegant,
rounded and softer than some of the other Barolo’s from Vietti.
We tasted the Barolo Rocche 1999 which was
amazing (but not available here in Hong Kong so I won’t elaborate too much)
which was fantastic and still has decades left in it but it made Luca explain
youthful Barolo in a way I’d never heard before:
“Young Barolo is like a basket of Lego bricks;
heartful with potential but dis-jointed. With time, they combine and make a
giant wall that is well put together and stable”. Another nice acronym!
We closed out the lunch with a bottle of his
Moscato d’Asti, a superb wine that’s 5.5 per cent alcohol and has little bubbles
that dance around the palate and gently disappear. Luca describes them like a
cloud that slowly and gently dissipates. The wine is made in a very artisanal way
using traditional methods with no reverse osmosis and uses the natural carbon
dioxide to create the bubbles rather than carbonating the wine. “It’s a perfect
dessert wine”, Luca says. “Never too heavy, light in alcohol and very easy
drinking”. For sure that’s true and finishing the whole bottle was not a
problem!
It’s great to have these wines available in Hong
Kong and Luca himself is proud of the way Hong Kong has embraced Italy and its wines.
“The increase in numbers of Italian restaurants will only increase the popularity
of Italian culture and, of course, Italian wines”. Bravo!
Vietti wines are available from East Meets West
in Hong Kong and can be contacted by email at gregory.bielot@emw-wines.com or
you can give them a call on (+852) 39753353
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