Praepositus Gewürtraminer 2018 Abbazia Di Novacella

 Abbazia di Novacella is a monastery in Alto Adige in Italy that produces very good wines. The monastery is surrounded by vineyards.

The monastery is also very beautiful and is worth a visit.

The wine series Praepositus is their prestige wine. This line shows off what the best growing areas can do with grapes. The grape for this Praepositus wine is the grape Gewürztraminer and the vintage is 2018. The ABV is one of the highest that I have seen and it goes up to 15%. The growing area is the Bressanone valley basin. The elevation sis 600-650 meters. The grapes have been grown in south to south-west. The fermantation and ageing has been done in steel tanks.
On the nose I get aromatic fruit notes. In the taste I get tropical fruit, grapefruit and some apple and gooseberry in a wonderful combination. This is an excellent wine.

Amber One, Natural wine from Sicily

Amber one is a natural wine (orange wine) from Sicily and the producer is CR Spa Soc Agr Marsala. It is made with 100% Catarratto. The maceration was for three days and only "natural" yeasts were used. Will this natural wine be the first natural wine that I like. So far I had one decent natural wine and then several bad ones. 

Grapefruit and peach on the taste and a lot of yeast on the aftertaste. Feels very unripe and is not to my liking. Probably needs another year of storage to get rid of the over dominating yeast taste. Yet another bad natural wine.

Masi Costasera Amarone Classico 2012

Time for another Amarone. This is the Masi Costasera Amarone Classico from 2012. The ABV is 15%. Deep taste of cherry, leather and some tobacco. Very strong but nice but quite expensive.

Palagetto Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Vinosia Falaghina

 Palagetto is a producer of wine situated in San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy. The winery was founded by Luano Niccolai in 1978 and today the winery is run by his grandchildren. Many asks if Tuscany can produce good white wines. The answer is yes, and from San Gimignano comes the grape Vernaccia di San Gimignano. For their wine Palagetto uses only 100% Vernaccia di San Gimignano grapes and the vintage is 2019 and the ABV is 13%. The altitude is 300 meters above sea level. Fermentation is done in steel vats and then at least two months of ageing in the bottle. In the taste I get apple and pear with some gooseberry and citrus. A very good young fresh Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is also know for the many towers in the city.

 

The next wine is a Falanghina wine from the producer Vinosia located in Campania in Italy. Vinosia is a quite new producer in Campania and the owners have had a history with the big producer Feudi Di San Gregorio. Falanghina is a native grape from Campania. For this wine 100% Falanghina has been used. The vintage is 2017 and the ABV is 13%. The altitude the grapes has been grown on is 200 meters above sea level. The fermentation has been done in steel vats before bottling. In the taste I get minerals, stone and citrus in a very nice combination.

Il Roncal, wine from Friuli, part 4

I thought that I had reviewed all available Il Roncal wines available for me but going through my old reviews I saw that  had forgotten to write about their wine Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. But first, who are Il Roncal?

Il Roncal is a wineproducer situtated in Cividale del Friuli in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia close to the border of Slovenia. This wine producing area is know as Friuli Colli Orientali. Il Roncal own 20 hectars of vineyards on the Montebello hill. The winery name comes from a local Friulian expression meaning “estate on a hill cultivated in terraces” (also known as “ronchi”). Il Roncal was founded in 1986 by Roberto Morealo and is run today by his wife Martina Moreale. They produe several different wines and here I will focus on the red wine Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso of the vintage 2015.

Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso is a red grape variety that is mostly grown in the are of Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy and from what I have read it looks like this grape is indigenous to Italy. It seems to be related to such grapes as Teroldego and Lagrein and is one of the parents to the grapes Corvina for example. For the Il Roncal wine the grapes are grown at 180 meters above sea level and only Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso is used. The wine is stored in Bottis of the size 25hl for a year before being bottled and stored on the bottle for at least three months. The ABV is 13,5%.

The colour is ruby red with some violet colour. The taste is of black cherry, black currant, some plum and tannins in the back. Everything is very well integrated and the aftertaste lingers a long time. This is an excellent wine ready to be drank now. I should buy some more of his vintage so I have in the upcoming years.

Amarone x 2, Castelforte and Ca'Mantini

 Amarone is a popular wine in Sweden but I don't drink it that much. It is from the Veneto region and is made by partially dried grapes of the varieties Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella. This process will give a wine that has full flavours and has an high ABV around 15%. The first Amarone wine is the Castelforte Amarone Della Valpolicella from 2010. It has been stored for six years before being drunk. The ABV is 15%. In the taste I get cherry, black currant and rose hip in a good mix. Quite elegant after six years of ageing. Very good.

The next wine is the Ca'Montini Valpolicella Della Amarone. It is of the vintage 2014 and has an ABV of 15%.In the taste I get black cherry, red cherry and tobacco. Very good also. Although this has more power while the Castelforte is more elegant.