Vinokammer Vol.1 – Italian Red, clearly indicated a need to re-enter the chamber for some intensive palate-training. The following data has been locked away (A BIG thank you to the Vol.1 – Italian Red Crew for sharing the wealth):

Wine 1.  Valpolicella Ripasso: beefing up Valpolicella (mainly Corvina variety) by re-fermenting the young wine on the unpressed skins of Amarone wines (dried grape wines). So you’d expect some serious astringency and possible bitterness? If the grapes used for Amarone are dried correctly, polymerization of tannins in the skins lead to a rich, balanced blending partner for the Valpolicella (Corvina).

Wine 2.  Nero d’Avola (also known as Calabrese) is at home in Sicilia. This bold red wine supports  naturally high tannin levels with adequate acidity. Our 2010 example from Lamera was showing signs of excessive oxidation which encouraged most of us to push it back a few years on the vintage scale…..Jan and Tom seemed to know something the rest of us did not. The lads found some youthfulness in there somewhere and positioned it correctly.

Wine 3.  Barolo continues to make cracking examples of Nebbiolo.

Wine 4.  Negroamaro (native variety to DOC – Salento in Puglia) is a dark-skinned grape which produces really enjoyable, primary fruit-driven wines.

Wine 5.  Sagrantino is a vicious protein-binder. I haven’t experienced tannins like this for a long time. The 2006 Fongoli example was surprisingly youthful on the nose and palate. Add this to the  glue-like tannins and you can easily mistaken these wines for a recent vintage.

Wine 6.  Brindisi is a DOC in Puglia which also produces some interesting Negroamaro. Our 2008 example from Conte di Campiano was well-balanced and looking very youthful.

Wine 7.  Primitivo came back on to the scene thanks to it’s DNA similarities to Zinfandel. Also grown in Puglia, thought to have been introduced from Croatia. Unfortunately our example was green all over.

Up next from Vinokammer Vol.2 – >100g/L Restzucker….

Vinokammer Vol.2 - >100g/L Restzucker