BuonViaggio Italy! Andy's Final Journal Entry!
On the Road to Barbaresco!
On the Road to Barbaresco!
My last full day in Italy started with a groan. I got some sleep, nearly 7 hours, but it didn’t seem to be enough for my sleep deprived, alcohol soaked body. It seemed like getting almost 8 hours of sleep was enough to remind my body of what it was needing, but not enough to give it what it required. All day I was distracted, my mind wandered. I was hitting a wall. After numerous cappuccinos (it was before 11:00 so it was ok, according to Dominico), I was resembling a normal human being again. We boarded the bus and headed for Barbaresco.
When I was learning about wine, I thought that Barbaresco was sort of like “Diet Barolo,” useful for when you feel like drinking Barolo, but you don’t have the money for it and you want something cheaper. This is not the case at all! Barbaresco is a small commune to the Northeast of Barolo, also growing high quality Nebbiolo there. Barolo is known as the “King of Nebbiolo” and Barbaresco is the “Queen.” Compared to the Barolo, the Nebbiolo here tends to be slightly more delicate, elegant and pretty, but still retaining that core of leathery tannin that characterizes Nebbiolo. It took me a while to realize this about myself, but I like Barbaresco better than Barolo. I realize that is a controversial statement. Barbaresco is like a ballet dancer or an Olympic Gymnast; lithe, elegant and beautiful but with a power and strength that you wouldn’t expect from such a thin, elegant creature.
We drove to Marchesi di Gresy, one of the most iconic and old wineries in Barbaresco. They actually own all of the sub appelation Martinenga, making them a Monopole, which is very rare and special. We were met by the youngest generation of owners, a brother and sister, who took us on a tour of the winery, and then tasted us on their wines.
As predicted, the wines here were excellent! For whites, they showed us a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay from Langhe, which were elegant and mineral driven. I was reminded of Sancerre and Burgundy. We then tasted the Dolcetto, Barbera and several different Barbarescos. All were lovely, the Martinenga Barbaresco was one of the best I have ever had.
After the tasting, we were allowed to walk through the steep, hillside vineyards. I was impressed by the white, chalky soil throughout the vineyard. No wonder these wines had such excellent minerality! After our walk, we had a leisurely lunch until about 4:00 in the afternoon, and then headed to the ancient Medieval town of Alba for some shopping and, believe it or not, dinner and more wine. We arrived at the hotel in Milan around midnight again.
As I am writing this, I am sitting in the Milan airport waiting for my flight back to the USA. I got about 5 hours of sleep and I’m actually glad to not be tasting wine today. Yes, you can actually have too much of a good thing. Before I left the USA, I joked that this trip might be similar to when you catch your kid with a bag of pot in their bedroom and force them to smoke all of it as punishment. Except in this case, instead of pot, it’s Italian wine. Fortunately, I haven’t lost my taste for Italian wine, although I may take most of the day off from drinking today and dry out a little. I feel certain that tomorrow will see me uncorking a bottle of Chianti or Nebbiolo again.
This trip has been something I will think about for the rest of my life. I learned so much, and being able to set foot in the actual vineyards of these famous wineries was an almost religious experience for me. I made a lot of new friends from around the country; brilliant, funny and extremely knowledgeable about wine. It was fun to be able to make some really nerdy statements about wine like, “this reminds me of older vintage Madiran” or “this wine drinks like a St. Joseph, but this other wine is more like a Cote Rotie” and have a room full of people know exactly what I was talking about! I sincerely hope we are able to stay in touch and that our paths will cross again one day.
For now I’m looking forward to getting back home and sharing my adventures with all of you, after about 36 hours or so of sleep! Arrivederci a tutti!
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