by Gareth Groves
It was melanzane parmigiana that started it. A simple tweet telling the world what I was having for dinner (the world was clearly on tenterhooks waiting to find out) led to a conversation with Chiara Martinotti from Cascina Gilli in Piedmont. Chiara was also about to eat the world’s finest aubergine, tomato and mozzarella based dish and recommended a vivace red as the perfect accompaniment.
The only problem was I didn’t have the faintest idea what Chiara was talking about.
She patiently explained that vivace is a style of lightly sparkling wine, not as bubbly as a frizzante or spumante, but ever so gently frothy. The style is apparently very popular in Piedmont where the underrated Freisa grape is often used to produce a simple, undemanding, off-dry wine . Chiara went on to explain that Cascina Gilli take the style more seriously than most, believing it has more to offer than just fun, fruity, frippery – and would I like to try a bottle?
Would I? Hell yeah.
Cascina Gilli’s Freisa d’Asti Luna di Maggio 2009 is made from their finest Freisa grapes and is fermented dry in the same way as the estate’s still red wines. Just before bottling (in the May following the harvest) a small amount of sweet wine is added to allow the wine to referment and for the winery to capture some carbon dioxide in the wine.
Unlike an Aussie sparkling Shiraz, the wine doesn’t explode with bright purple bubbles as you pour it into in the glass, instead it pops and fizzes quietly. The first sip is odd, the bubbles take you slightly by surprise. Underneath the CO2 is an intense, bitter-edged red with ever-so-slightly firm tannins, bright acidity and savoury black olive and wild hedgerow fruit but the fizz distracts you from its depth giving it terrific lift and energy.
As we approached the end of the bottle, we wondered why there weren’t more wines like this. Once the initial surprise has subsided, and the third glass drunk, it made perfect sense that a dry, structured Italian red should be fizzy, especially when paired with a rich, oily dish such as melanzane parmigiana.
Will the style catch on? Probably not, but the world of wine is all the richer for bottles like this and they deserve a much wider audience.
The Freisa grape itself is fascinating – one of Piedmont’s unsung heroes – and if you want to know more read Winewomansong’s fabulous blog post on the subject.
Tags: Cascina Gilli, Freisa, Italy, Piedmont, sparkling red wine, Sparkling Wines, Vivace
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bibendum, Joel Mack, JM Darkly, cascinagilli, cascinagilli and others. cascinagilli said: RT @bibendumwine "it was melanzane parmigiana that started it..!" on #btimes: Tasting vivace Freisa from @CascinaGilli: http://bit.ly/af7pAC [...]