New president, new glass and new vintages out in the market
Overcomed the covid pandemic Alta Langa consortium have decided to show its news in Piedmont, at Italdesign headquarters location very close to the Turin city centre.
Surrounded by the Giorgetto Giugiaro creations like the Lancia Delta, the iconic Fiat Panda, the De Lorean DMC-12 (chosen by Robert Zemeckis as the ”interpreter” of time travel in the film Back to the future), the Bugatti EB118 and many others, last June, over 1200 operators of the Ho.Re.Ca store attended the presentation of ”Terra”. A special event to introduce the new Alta Langa vintages and the new institutional glass of Consortium. The line up was composed by 115 cuvées made by 46 different producers, many from 2018.
”Terra” is a glass of wine dreamed to being first a design object, trying to combine style and functionality, it keeps the features of a classic one; ”Terra” is different from others by its weight and lines; its peculiar triangular shape holds 300 ml of wine. ”It expresses the high value of Piedmontese savoir-faire” – underlined the president of the Region Alberto Cirio, who spoke at the event.
A very successful event, which coincided with the first public appearance of the new president of the Alta Langa Consortium: Mariacristina Castelletta, was satisfied with the tremendous public response from the first capital of Italy.
The name ”Terra” given to the glass is an homage to the entire denomination wine production process. As a backdrop, its enclose the land, th emembers of the Consortium jealously guard through the ”Pact with the Earth” ideally signed in 2018; the pact express models rigid conduct, ”severe” selection criteria followed by producers in compliance with the ”high hills” of Langa.
Soils are showed in wine, in the name and the consortium logo: three circles that are the three provinces (Asti, Cuneo and Alessandria) ”furnished” by representations of hills and the Monviso mountain range in the background. Made by Nicola Guelfo and Riccardo Matera, of Italdesign, the ”Terra” glass tells a story with the shape, it is an evolution of the previous glass; the design, in its essentiality, returns information, which in this case contemplates vineyards, woods, hazelnut groves, vines, bunches and the time in which the wines rest on the pupitres and in the glass.
What about the wines?
In the wines produced in the 2018 vintage – a rich vintage, both from an aromatic and gustatory point of view – we noticed sips already pleasant even if many of them culminates with bitter sensations. Considerations that are not always possible to produce, given the pungency, marked acidity and hardness to which the Alta Langa have accustomed us; as for the bitter components, the generous vintage, also from a production point of view, influenced the grapes and their processing. Sensations are perceived above all in low-dose cuvées, in which the sugar does not fully balance these finishings. However, the level of wines tasted remains high, with great energy, both in the Reserves, with at least 60 months on the lees and in single variety cuvées in which the goal of an Alta Langa is more understood. We have found tension, power and persistence.
Beside that, the use of chardonnay is rising both in blends with pinot noir, and in single cuvée 100% made with; this trend probably confirm a research for an immediate softness.
The tastings to remember for persistence, personality and interpretation of the 2018 vintage are those of Sara Vezza, Paolo Berruti, and Rizzi (who inserts pinot noir for the first time in the assembly), Casa E. Mirafiore, and Garesio. From other vintages, we tasted an excellent Pianbé 2017 Pianbello, a great Totocorde 2016 Cocchi; then, with more period on the yeasts, material concentration, depth and a fine but present bubbles, the novelty – just released – in the Ettore Germano House stands out, the Blanc de Blancs 2015, followed by the 60 months of 2012 by Gancia and, finally, 2009 by Enrico Serafino, a real cuvée de prestige made in a few specimens, which encompasses the entire research and stylistic definition of the Canale winery, today among the leaders of the Alta Langa market.
by Erika Montovan
