Lago di Garda 11/08 - II - Azienda Agricola Provenza

Azienda Agricola Provenza
http://www.provenzacantine.it/

The Lugana region to the south and south west of the Lago di Garda is famous for its stylish, elegant Lugana white wines. However, some producers, like Provenza in Desenzano del Garda, not only excel in whites (their flagship scored three glasses in the recent Gambero Rosso) but can also offer some truly interesting reds. So, with our prejudices against the chic Lugana whites fully engaged, we mainly concentrated on the reds on our visit to the winery.

(view from Manerba - south over the lake to the Lugana region)

The Lugana DOC Superiore Molin at least deserves honorale mention, with its typical cleanness and freshness of citrus aromas backed up by a beefed up body and alcohol content.

The region's reds are typically made from Groppello, Marzemino, Barbera and Sangiovese, with the usual suspects of international varieties rounding the pantheon up. While Barbera and Sangiovese are big players all over Italy, Marzemino is a rather provincial grape commonly found in the Trentino and usually advertised more for its mention in a Mozart opera than for its qualities as a grape variety. Groppello is one of those countless regional grapes in Italy that are rarely heard of outside of their native vineyards, but in this part of Lombardy, it usually makes up the lion's share of reds.

(the Provenza vineyards right next to the winery)

In the Garda DOC Classico Groppello, it shows its typical fragrant nature of fresh strawberries and flowers with a light but pleasant body. Certainly a nice table wine, but not one that would help to propagate the name of Groppello.

The other style of Garda red is exemplified by the Rosso Tenuta Maiolo, where Groppello is joined by Barbera, Marzemino and Sangiovese. It is medium-bodied with darker and more concentrated fruit and a pleasant texture.

Its reserve counterpart, the Garda Classico Negresco, already offers much more at a not much greater price: dark, rich and concentrated with finely integrated oak notes, it was our first eye opener to what Garda reds could be.

Nevertheless, our favorite wine was probably the one that possesses the least provincial charm, the Cabernet/Merlot blend Giomè. Instead it delivers a great balance of the peppery and bramble berry notes of the two varieties, with a smooth oak-infused body that is at the same time fulfilling as well as fresh and moreish.



The pinnacle of the estate's red wines is unquestionably the Garda Classico Selezione Fabio Contato, both in quality and in price. Like the Tenuta Maiolo and the Negresco it is a blend of Groppello, Barbera, Marzemino and Sangiovese, and it is a tribute to the wine maker's craft that selection and oak ageing can elevate these into this rich and concentrated effort of international class. Dark berries join a fine spicyness without the extended barrel time ruining things, but instead integrating itself beautifully.

If there is one negative thing that can be said about Provenza's fine reds it would have to be that for all their quality, they lack a certain distinctiveness or regional uniqueness. The Fabio Contato, for example, reminds more of a fine Spanish red or one of the modern Bordeauxs than it does of the sunny hills of the southern Lago di Garda. Then again, that's not too shabby at all, it it?

Lago di Garda 11/08 - I - Griesbauerhof Georg Mumelter

Griesbauerhof Georg Mumelter

http://www.tirolensisarsvini.it/


This small (3 ha) and family-owned estate lies in the heartland of the north Italian Alto Adige wine region, just 3 minutes from highway exit Bolzano-nord on the outskirts of the provincial capital.


In its elegant-rustic tasting room with its heavy wood furniture we were greeted by the amicable artisan winemaker Georg Mumelter (far right), not a man of show and excessive marketing, and perhaps a good example of the type of seemingly scruffy and tight-lipped but soon warming people of Alto Adige.

The wines are the range of typical Alto Adige varieties, with only one white, but showcasing the regional stars Schiava (Vernatsch in the commonly spoken German) and Lagrein.

The Pinot Grigio is a heavy weight fighter of a white wine despite the absence of oak. Clocking in at 14.5% alcohol it delivers blows of ripe pear and apple and possesses the length to go to round 12.

The two Vernatsch wines are different examples of this style of grape: the Grauvernatsch green and spicy-peppery, relatively light-bodied and perfect with the Alto Adige cheeses, salami and cured meats.
The St. Magdalener, the estate’s most produced wine, is fragrant with flowers and red berries, smooth and medium-bodied on the palate. Both are good wines for different occassions.
The IGT Isarcus was born out of a somewhat desperate experiment: to make a modern, trendy full-bodied red wine, but having only Schiava vines. Today it shares the variety makeup of the St. Magdalener, 90% Vernatsch and about 10% Lagrein. Extra late harvest and barrel aging for several months create an interesting super-Vernatsch with oak notes, green aromas and fresh fruit in excellent balance and condition. This may just be a one-of-a-kind wine in the region.

Earthy and inticing the Lagrein 2007, promising dark berries and fine marzipan notes in the future after further aging. As it is, it’s a rather closed young wine still.
The Lagrein Riserva is also very young, but even a short time in the glass shows the wine’s potential: full-bodied but perfectly velvety tannins, whose dryness promises a great future after aging in the bottle. A certain earthiness or “darkness” – for lack of a better word – reminiscent of dark chocolate or malty black Assam tea vies for the spotlight with dark berries (especially thick, pure blackberries), while a beautiful soy sauce/Asian spice component elevates the bouquet.
A picture perfect Cabernet that only suffers from being one of countless of Cabernets rounds up the producer’s line.

Then there’s the special wine Tirolensis: the 8 members of the Ars Vini Tirolensis association cooperate by contributing one barrique each of their best wine to make this cuvee. A blend of several Alto Adige grapes – Pinot Noir, Lagrein and Cabernet, it is round and soft, with many Burgundan influences; prominent berries and sour cherries, fine subtle oak notes and a very long finish elevate this very limited outing into a special category, both in quality and in price.

Welcome to Gone Viniferal and thanks for reading!

What is this? I’m a guy from Germany and I like wine. This is the place where I am going to write about wine.

Everything else should hopefully become clear with the first few posts on here: for example, I will start off the blog with an account of the trip I took with a couple of friends to the Lago di Garda, Italy from November 21 to 23. On our way down, we stopped in Bolzano to sample the Alto Adige wines of Georg Mumelter’s Griesbauerhof. On Saturday, we paid a quick visit to the Lugana region south of Lake Garda and then made our way to the Valpolicella, where we had been several times before and are always glad to return. A short sojourn at Lake Caldaro on our way back rounded up the tour of wineries and tastings.

That’s the bones – stay tuned for the meat.