| No winery visits today but we did once again have a great time at the market in Alba. Today's haul was not quite as extensive as last week's, but still it did include a dozen cheeses, lamb, pork, fruits and vegetables. The hardest item to obtain these days are the fresh organic eggs. Our allocation was cut to 6! We found another five at another stall. We have survived. The day passed without us doing much of anything. Cooking, writing, reading filled this lazy Saturday, a very pleasant and well deserved break from the week's work of tasting wine. |  |
 | Dinner was at home this evening and a bit of an affair since Kerin and her husband were to be joining us. It was a vegetarian affair, in deference to Kerin, and the kilos of carne cruda we have all been enjoying. The menu consisted of peperonata, freshly made from today's haul, grilled eggplant stuffed with scamorza and nettle pesto, grilled zucchini, and a wonderful risotto lightly flavored with summer black truffles from the Alta-Langa. There was more served, but that's what I recall, as well as the wine, Produttori Barbaresco: 1978 Ovello, 1978 Montestefano, and 1971 Torre Barbaresco. The Montestefano was the strongest wine on this occasion, though all three wines showed well. |
It was a great evening, though admittedly little of the conversation should be shared here, much less anywhere for that matter. Let's move on. Though one final word on the wine, the Produttori wines of the 1970s are almost all drinking at peak now and represent great values, though you should leave the 1974s for me! They are showing brilliantly these days and are my favorite vintage of the decade, at least for drinking right now.
Sunday brought a bright and pleasant day, perfect for a hike so off we went. After last weeks jaunt through Cascina Francia this week we chose something a bit more challenging. Our plan was to walk through Brunate, Cerequio, and Sarmassa, an expanse of vineyard that spans the border between Barolo and La Morra villages while covering two main ridge lines that can be difficult to differentiate.
I have always been fascinated by this small corner of La Morra, abutting Barolo as it does. Brunate is of course well known, and justly so. This side of the ridgelne, with it's great southern exposure, has produced many great wines from producers such as Marcarini, Vietti, Rinaldi, and Oddero. Cerequio, just to the south, has become associated primarily with Gaja and their Conteisa wine, though in the past Marengo-Merenda produced a rather elegant, full, and complex wine from these fine plots, while Sarmassa has been producing impressive if not spectacular wines in the hands of producers such as Brezza and Scarzello from further down the slope under Cerequio.
I have always been fascinated by this small corner of La Morra, abutting Barolo as it does. Brunate is of course well known, and justly so. This side of the ridgelne, with it's great southern exposure, has produced many great wines from producers such as Marcarini, Vietti, Rinaldi, and Oddero. Cerequio, just to the south, has become associated primarily with Gaja and their Conteisa wine, though in the past Marengo-Merenda produced a rather elegant, full, and complex wine from these fine plots, while Sarmassa has been producing impressive if not spectacular wines in the hands of producers such as Brezza and Scarzello from further down the slope under Cerequio.
We started our trip from the Ceretto vineyard on the Brunate ridge, just across the street from the famous painted Sol LeWitt and David Tremlett Chapel. Ducking down the path directly to the north of the winery we began our journey through the Brunate vines of both Ceretto and Marcarini. Here the slope is rather gentle and sweet, with a bowed gentle curve to the east. The transition to Cerequio occurs at the base of a soft valley which forms the border roughly from northwest to southeast.
Bruante and Cerequio as seen from Ceretto
As one walks across Bruante the soil seems to be fairly compact and rich in clay, it's smooth and solid. The transition to Cerequio, at least across the path we took, revealed a sandier soil, with more or less limestone appearing as we passed the Cascina Cerequio and turned down slope. Walking across the southern tier of the appellation the soil seems to lose its sandy nature and turn more calcareous. The slope of Cerequio is also with noting, decidedly convex, with slopes pitched toward Brunate, as well as towards Casa Nera, with a false peak centered roughly north of the Cascina Cerequio, this is a well ventilated cru.
Cerequio and Saramassa as seen from the Saramassa/Liste border
We just barely clipped Sarmassa at it's northern most extension, walking through Scarzello's Vigna Merenda, two large plots of which remain fallow. Here the soil is a mix of limestone with some increasing percentages of clay to the northwest of the cru, and sand towards the bottom. Like Cerequio, Sarmassa can be roughly devided into two halves, the slope running down towards the bottom of the valley, and then the second half facing towards the west as the cru continues up from the valley floor towards the village of Barolo and the hill of Cannubi. A fairly expansive cru, it's easy to see why this is not that well known. Even today with warm but not hot springtime temperatures you could feel the heat accumulating here, and the relative stillness of the air.
Sarmassa, Rue, Liste, and Barolo village from Brunate
We made our way down towards the small stream that cuts through the bottom of the small valley here, though Sarmassa continues on the other side and up the slope a ways before we entered the Liste cru. This stream crossing is where we began to climb up from this lowest point of the day, at roughly 240 meters above sea level. Liste is a small cru, little known except for the bottling done by Borgogno. It's steep, with soils that are rich in clay. Facing east, and with some air moving down from the woods to the north, I expect that Liste does well in warmer, drier vintages. It is certainly a steep vineyard with an interesting exposition. As we made our way to Borgogno's Cascina in Liste I came across a rare site. three generations of vines.
As you can see in the picture, on vine has been mothered over to form a neighboring vine, which in turn had a cane buried underground to propagate a third vine. Very rare to see this here in Piemonte, and further proof that life is full of surprises if you're paying attention.
Once we arrived at the cascina Liste we stopped for a bit of a rest, it was noon by this time, hot and a long moment to take in the view was appreciated. We still had to walk up to the top of the woods separating Fossati from Case Nere in order to get to the car in Bruante. Skirting the woods the soil remained quite rich in Clay, and moderately steep, though leveling out as we briefly crossed into San Pietro. Here we began roughly a straight walk across the vineyards, arcing from an eastern exposure through to the full south that is to be found on the northern ridge line that marks the border of Brunate.
Once we arrived at the cascina Liste we stopped for a bit of a rest, it was noon by this time, hot and a long moment to take in the view was appreciated. We still had to walk up to the top of the woods separating Fossati from Case Nere in order to get to the car in Bruante. Skirting the woods the soil remained quite rich in Clay, and moderately steep, though leveling out as we briefly crossed into San Pietro. Here we began roughly a straight walk across the vineyards, arcing from an eastern exposure through to the full south that is to be found on the northern ridge line that marks the border of Brunate.
Cascina Cerequio and Cascina Mereneda as seen from Cascina Liste
Through Fosati the breeze picked up a gain, and soil was progressive more calcarious, with even a nice chunk of fossil rich rock found roughly at it's midpoint. I wonder if the name is derived from these fossil rich rocks? The slope became a bit steeper as we walked through La Serra and on to the top point of Brunate. At a little over 400 meters this would be the apex of our route today. Here we joined the road that was to take us back to the car, passing along the way a lovely little house that I intend to buy someday, and the restored, and yet once again in need of restoration, Cascina Fontanazza.
Cascina Fontanazza Soprana
We traipsed through the vineyards for roughly 4 miles taking 2:15 hours to complete at a slow, meandering pace. There is no better way to understand a vineyard than to walk it, and today my knowledge of these crus is that more more complete. I'm a little pooped after the fact, but making these maps, looking at these pictures, and thinking of the wines that come from these lands all comes together with such clarity that it is entirely worth the effort and then some!
Sarmassa, Liste, San Pietro as seen from Montanello
The rest of the day was suitable low key, with a great shower and rest following a well deserved lunch. Dinner was... to be continued
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