Torre Di Giano 2019, White wine from Umbria

 Torre di Giano is a white wine from the region Umbria in Italy.  The vintage 2019. It is made by the producer Lungarotti situated in Torgiano. Lungarotti was started in the beginning of the 1960s by Giorgio Lungarotti. Today the company is run by his daughters Chiara and Teresa. This wine consists of the grapes Vermentino, Grechetto and Trebbiano harvested in early September. The wine is vinified in stainless steel tanks.

This wine is named after the tower today still present in Torgiano: the literal translation of the name is “Tower of Janus”. It was originally dedicated to the Roman mythological god Janus (the god of war and peace). This tower is today the symbol of the village.

The taste is of pear, citrus and some minerals. The finish is full of pear. Nice, fresh and young. Drink it young and don't wait. 

 

Pinot Noir from France

It is not often that I get to drink a red wine from the French region of Languedoc, or even French wines. The wine is Ferrandiere and is from 2015. The grape is pinot noir and the ABV is 13,5%. The taste is spicy, some violets and some harsh tannins in the back of the throat. A decent wine.

So lets return to Italy after the short visit to France. Dogajolo is a white wine from producer Carpinetto in Tuscany. The vintage is 2015 and the ABV is 12,5%. The grapes used for this wine is Chardonnay, Grechetto and Sauvignon Blanc. Already in the nose I can feel the Sauvignon Blanc grapes. But it is the taste that I find lacking. It is fruity aromatic just lacking some acidity. For me it gets a bit tiresome after one glass.

Lamborghini centianni bottle and Sud Negroamoro

Lamborghini, that name brings a vision of cars. But when travelling in the sixties in Umbria, Ferruccio Lamborghini fell in love with the landscape and bought a winery there and abandoned car making. The winery Tenuta Lamborghini is situated on the edge of Lago Trasimeno and I have the fortune to taste their white wine Centanni, which is a 100 year anniversery bottling of Ferruccio Lamborghini birth. It is made of 100% Grechetto grapes. The taste if lemon and grapefruits with a big hit of acidity, definitely not for everyone. But it is a great food wine, I had it with fish and it went very well together. Buy one if you want to experience Lamborghini without ruining yourself.

Going to the south of Italy we find Puglia. Here there is a red grape called Negroamoro, this grape produces great wine. Sud from producer Cantina San Marzano is made of 100% Negroamoro and has an abv of 13,5%. The vintage is 2015. This wine has a good smell. This wine is young and one can feel it in the taste. It is red fruits, cherries and tannins. The aftertaste is of dark chocolate.  I quite like the young untamed character of this wine. Goes very well with food.

Wine from Marco Donati and Lungarotti

In Italy there are so many grape varieties and in the northern region of Alto Adige there are many that are indigenous to the region. When I hear the grape name Teroldego I always think of Alto Adige. And the origin of this grape is clouded in mystery but some its relatives are Syrah and Pinot Nero.

Producer Marco Donati makes a wine Teroldego Rotaliano, I have sampled the vintage 2015. This wine is made of 100% Teroldego grapes from the Mezzacorona-Campo Rotalino wineyards. The ABV is 13%. The colour is ruby red. The aroma of the wine is rich and intense. The taste is dry, dark fruits and cherries. It is rich and intense. A very good wine.

Going down to Umbria there are certain grapes that are only common here. One of them is the grape Grechetto. This is one of the grapes in the wine Torre Di Giano Vigna il Pino from producer Lungarotti. It contains the grapes Grechetto and Trebbiano. It is of the vintage 2010 so it is a white wine that can be stored for a very long time. The ABV is 13%. The nose is very good. The taste is deep and fruity. Some acidity with a bit of grapefruit in the aftertaste. This is definitely a food wine. A rare white wine that can be aged for a long time. Lungarotti produces so many good wines.

Vermentino from Tuscany and a Grechetto from Umbria

Codice V is a wine from producer Mazzei and is made of 100% vermentino grapes. I have tasted the 2014 vintage earlier and now the 2015 vintage is in stores. The smell is very good and the taste is of citrus, tropical fruits and the wine is very aromatic with good acidity. I like this vintage. Good quality over the years.

A grape which I have only tasted once before is the Grechetto grape. I tasted it when I visited Umbria earlier this year (2016). Sitting on the street in beautiful Norcia everything that one drink will taste good. On a sadder note I hope that Norcia will be completely rebuilt after the devastating earthquake a few months ago. But back to wine. Grechetto wine is almost impossible to find in Sweden. However on a rock cruise I found a bottle of San Giovanni Della sala from 2014 from producer Castello Della Sala (Marchesi Antinori). It consists of 50% Grechetto, 25% Procanico and 25% Pinot blanc and Viogner. Grechetto is a grape an Italian grape variety grown mostly in the Umbria region while Procanico is a local Umbrian clone of the Trebbianio grape. So this wine is very much Umbrian. The grapes used in this wine were picked separately and also fermented separately. The first impression of the wine that it is fresh and vibrant. The taste is of apples, light citrus, melon, peach, grapefruit and some mineral. I like this wine a lot. I hope that the next time I go on a cruise that they still have this wine on the shelves.

Beautiful Norcia in the evening.

The hills and mountains of Umbria.