Discover The Wines Of Central Italy in HD

Welcome to the second program in our series on Italian wine styles. In the first episode, we looked at southern Italy, from the island of Sicily, through the volcanic soils of Campania, to the rocky vineyards of Puglia. In this program, we're going to be traveling through central Italy, tasting some of the great wines of Le Marche, Brunello, Umbria and of course, Tuscany. Central Italy for me is all about connections. We'll explore the story of Italian wine and the link from the vineyard to the wine in your glass. Sangiovese is the main red grape variety here and we'll discover its many expressions, from simple everyday table wine to the icons. This is Italy's eastern coastline along the Adriatic Sea. The resorts and beaches fill up every summer as Italians escape the heat and congestion of the cities. This is also the gateway to one of Italy's best-kept secrets, the region of Le Marche. Le Marche is a land of infinite variety, described by the Italians as all of Italy in one region. I get the sense that this is the unspoiled part of Italy and that's why we're here. I mean, look at these hills, they're beautiful. On the hillsides, the soils are thinner and the vine must send its roots deep into the ground for water and the vineyards are planted for the best exposure to the sun. The Apennine Mountains create a rugged spine through this region. The landscape has a wide range of terroir, hillsides perfectly suited for Verdicchio, For me, Le Marche shares the beauty of its neighbors, Tuscany and Umbria. However, it's relatively undiscovered and is still free of the crowds and bus tours you find in other areas. Michele Barnette is CEO of Umane Ranchi Estate near Ossimo, a quality leader in the region. Marche is a region that can be summarized in the touristic slogan it's saying, which is Marche, Italy in one region. Really here you can experience a bit of everything from the mountains to the beach, you can experience the ancient village, you can experience the history, art, great wines with great value and of course very very good food. Michele has worked alongside his father Massimo since the 1990s in a family business that goes back 50 years. Recently, they expanded their operation into the neighboring region of Abruzzo. In the DOCG appellation of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Massimo's vision and experience in the vineyard led to the search for better plots and vineyard techniques. Their state-of-the-art barrel cellar in Ossimo is constructed below the vineyards. It's here where barrel aging gives the white varietals richness and softens the tannins in the reds. In this region we have two very important varietals. We have for the white Verdicchio which is sometimes underrated gray but very versatile from which you can make great white wines and on the red we have Montepulciano which is another versatile great varietal which you can make more simply everyday wine but very very important serious red wine. I'd like to introduce you to the two key grape varieties for Le Marche. For white wines it's Verdicchio for red wines it's Montepulciano. When we look at Verdicchio it produces a delicious white wine and there's a range of styles and you can see with this one it's light straw gold color a nutty characteristic on the nose with the mineral element underneath it. On the palate it's velvety really nice mouthfeel clean finish. At the other end of the spectrum when you introduce this variety to a little bit of oak aging you can see you get a much deeper gold color more complex nose and you get you get that vanilla characteristic. You know this will remind you more of a Chardonnay than it will of a Verdicchio and when you talk about Verdicchio and letting them age this is the style that goes the distance. For our red wines with Montepulciano this produces a simple easy drinking red wine great for Friday night pizza. It has a classic cherry-like character on the nose it's soft well-rounded on the palate with you know soft tannins which makes it really easy to drink. Montepulciano when it's grown at higher elevations and from single vineyards you get a much more complex wine. With this you get more plummy flavors and blackberry fruit and a really intense complex nose. Well-rounded on the mouthfeel this is going to remind you more of a New World Merlot or maybe a Shiraz. Soft velvety tannins beautiful long finish these are wines that you can drink now but if you're patient you'll be well rewarded. We've now crossed over the mountains into the very center of Italy. Umbria is a beautiful region that is sandwiched between Le Marche and Tuscany to the west. The well-preserved medieval towns of the region are a popular tourist draw. The surrounding countryside of Umbria is perhaps best known for its olives used for oil and the crisp white wine Orvieto. I always associate the soft hills of Umbria with another wine the smooth round style of the region's Rubasco. Ciao Michael! Hello how are you? Very very welcome to Umbria. We've come to Perugia to meet the women behind Umbria's first family of wine the Lungorotti sisters Teresa and Chiara. What a beautiful fountain. This is the Fontana Maggiore is the major monument of Perugia and all around there is the description of all the agricultural operations done in the different months and you can't believe what's in the September months. It's got to be harvest. That's it. You know that detail is the one who inspired our label of Rubasco wine. That's really nice it brings it all together. Yes art and wine. Again territory and Umbria. Catalin here we are in the heart of Umbria. What is so special about this part of Italy? Oh it's magic. Umbria's fantastic is the green heart of Italy and you can see how rolling our landscape is. How smooth and of course this can be reflected into the wine with the two great red varietals of Umbria. Sangiovese that we grow here in our Torgiano estate and Sagrantino that we grow in our Montefalco estate. Usually our Sangiovese based wines are extremely smooth and round and very very fruity but very gentle and elegant at the same time. On the opposite the Sagrantino based wines you can find all the power of this very unique varietal. Part of the magic is it's it's the two varieties and it's it's kind of that balance. It's the balance between the two varieties it's the balance between the two cells of Umbria is the balance between our contemplative cell on one side and between our very active cell on the other. It's all a question of balance for us as well as the wine. Definitely. Chiara talks about the two souls of Umbria and this is where they meet in the company's aging cellar in Torgiano. Teresa is the winemaker here and one of Italy's first female oenologists. So you see this is where we age our wines especially the reds is the bottle aging cellar. Now why do you go to that effort? What does the aging in the bottle? This is a very important part of the vinification. I like to say that here wine is sleeping and dreaming and you see right temperature, humidity, darkness and quietness. The right condition to have the best out of this time in the cellar. Perfect place to have a little rest and I guess when the bottle is aging like this that lets everything come together and more harmony. Yes more yes and velvety and keeping a potential for a longer life. Heritage is very very important but also you have to be very up to date in the latest techniques and so the good combination is always respect for tradition and innovation. Wine fits in the Italian culture since always. We cannot think of a life without wine and a food without wine. Of course never an overuse and abuse of wine but always taking the best and this land in Umbria is able to give you the best. I would like to introduce you to two classic wines from Umbria. One of the better known wines from the region is called Rubesco. What I have for you today is the Rubesco Reserva. This wine spends a year in wood and over three years in bottle before it's being released for sale. It's a single vineyard selection. It's a blend of Sangiovese and Canaiolo. The Canaiolo softens the astringent character of Sangiovese. On the nose you still get that classic telltale cranberry and cherry aromas. On the palate the Reserva is much more intense. It's got a lot more complexity, wonderful soft tannins, great finish. This is definitely a food wine and it's ideal for the beef from the area. The second wine I want to share with you is Sagrantino. This is a grape that's really growing in popularity. This wine is made from 100% Sagrantino. You look at the color on this wine, it's very very deep, intense. On the nose you get cherry, raspberry, blueberry, all those deep dark red fruits. It's quite mouth-filling on the palate. Lots of tannin but they're soft and velvety. This is a wine that would reward some aging and it's ideal for grilled or roasted red meats. The change of season in the vineyards of Tuscany signals the beginning of harvest. This is one of Italy's most popular regions and people come to experience the romance of the countryside. For wine lovers, a big part of Tuscany's appeal are the Sangiovese based wines that come from these vineyards. Sangiovese is the grape behind Tuscany's famous trio Chianti Classico, Brunello and the Super Tuscans. It's a perfect complement to the region's simple but flavorful cuisine. I'm in the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany. I like to think of Chianti as a flower with Chianti Classico in the center, surrounded by eight other areas that can all produce wines with the name Chianti. However, this is where it all began and for the export market, it's the wines from Chianti Classico that dominate. Chianti is located in the heart of Tuscany with the Classico region in the center. There are a broad range of styles within Chianti's Some light and fresh, others with a touch more acidity, and then the Classico. The Classico Riserva must be made of a minimum 80% Sangiovese, aged in wood for at least two years, followed by at least six months in the bottle. In the 1970s, Chianti was known more for its bottle shape, a Ambrogio Follonari set out to change that perception, evolving the bottle and his reputation as a producer of fine wines. The Follonari family goes back for centuries in the wine business and today they own seven properties throughout Tuscany's wine producing regions, focusing on Sangiovese. The Sangiovese is giving to the Chianti Classico wine a taste of violet, which is very, very elegant, very, very delicate. Ambrogio believes it's not only the grape varietal that contributes to character, but also the place in which it has grown. Nobody can understand why from here is one character 500 meters away is different. Mister, is this the fantastic legend of the wine? I'd like to introduce you to two classic wines from Tuscany, both made from the same grape variety, Sangiovese. We have Chianti Classico Riserva and Vino Nobile de Montepulciano. The first one is Chianti Classico Riserva. Now, Sangiovese is a thin-skinned grape. It's got a beautiful light ruby color. On the nose, you get great cherry, cranberry, hints of violet, and a little bit of earthiness. On the palate, medium-bodied, soft, sweet tannins, and a lovely finish. The second wine I want to show you is Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, which is as much fun to drink as it is to say. Let's not get this confused with the grape Montepulciano that we saw earlier. Again, light ruby color. You can see right through the center of the bowl on this one. Quite elegant. On the nose, you get more raspberry, blueberry, redberry fruits. You still have that violet character. On the palate, you know, this is a very direct-tasting wine. Unlike Cabernet or Merlot, which kind of can be mouth-filling, very lean. Beautiful, beautiful finish. This would be perfect with pasta and a tomato sauce. In a cellar in Tuscany lies an important part of Italian wine history. I've read about the treasures locked away down here, and now we're following the legendary Franco Biondi Santi into the ancient family cellars to see one of the world's most renowned wines, Brunello. In 1888, the first vintage of Biondi Santi Brunello was laid down. Today, it's still drinkable and probably priceless. Over the years, the brilliant ruby color of this wine has taken on a delicate transparency. Brunello is probably the greatest of the Sangiovese wines. Here at Biondi Santi, they own a unique Sangiovese clone called BBS 11, propagated over many generations. Franco and his son Jacopo have invited me to taste, and although the wine is patient, I can't wait. This is a wine, and it's one of the few of the area that's 100% Sangiovese. So from a taste characteristic, how does it differ from other wines of Tuscany? It's 100% Sangiovese, but I think it's better 100% BBS 11, and the characteristic is a wine who can live in bottle for a long time. The regular Brunello, the Annata type, can stay in bottle until 60 years, and the Riserva type can arrive at 130, 120 years. That's a long time. So we can put it away for future generations. Absolutely. The wine is not sort of ready to drink in the first two, three years in bottle, but because it's a wine who can have a very big life. It's quite a powerful wine. It's very powerful. The acidity is very high. The tannin is intensive, but in bottle, after two, three years, everything comes to be very, very elegant. For someone who's never had the Riserva Brunello, tell me what they should expect when they taste it for the first time. The best time to taste the Riserva is between after 10 years old. This is the perfect time to taste the Riserva in the first 15 or 20 years. It's very interesting to taste the wine one year after the other one, because the wine changes completely. So I should buy it by the case and try one bottle every year? No, one bottle a month. This is for the clients, because in this case, they can do that. One of the things I like about Sangiovese is the range of styles of wines it produces, and at the top end, we have Brunello. You look at this wine. It's a beautiful garnet color. On the nose, you get that wonderful cranberry and fresh cherry with hints of rose, and as this wine spends time in oak, you also pick up those vanilla flavors, and over time, they evolve even more complexity. On the palate, it's medium to full body, and one thing that really stands out is the acidity and the tannin. Now don't be afraid of the tannin. Tannins in this case are velvety and soft, and over time, they get even softer. That's one of the things that give Brunello its wonderful character. If you're impatient and you want to try them in their youth, you certainly can, and they're best enjoyed with hard cheeses, game, or a mushroom risotto. This is Florence, capital of the Tuscany region, and one of the world's major tourist destinations. Birthplace of the Renaissance, home to the Uffizi Gallery, the Duomo, and the glorious Ponte Vecchio. Florence, ruled for centuries by the powerful Medici family, was the center of art, thought, and business, including the great Tuscan wines. Super Tuscan. The word itself is powerful and noble. These are wines of elegance and finesse that have captured the imagination of wine collectors around the world. The movement to Super Tuscan began in the 1970s, and to really understand these wines, there's only one person I can think of to tell us that story. This is Palazzo Antonori, serving as the official office and family palace since 1506. Michael, how are you? I'm great. Thank you very much for seeing me. No, not at all. It's a pleasure, as usual. Thank you for being in Florence. Marchese Piero Antonori is the 26th generation to oversee this winemaking empire. This is the story. The story of the family tree, which at a certain point stops, but anyway, it's a long story. The first member of the family, you can see it's 1180 something. When did the family start in the wine? It started in 1385, the first official document which we have, which proves that this ancestor of mine was an active member of the guild of the wine producers in Florence. And since then, generation after generation, there have always been at least one member of the family involved in wine production. Florence at that time was the financial center of the civilized world at that time. The price of gold was set in Florence. The interest rates were decided in Florence. The Medici family, the Strozzi family, and also the Antonori family was part of that group of bankers. But at a certain point, they went broke. As you know, in the financial world, it can happen. So since then, agriculture and viticulture and winemaking became the most important activity of many families, including the Antonori family. How many rooms are in this building? I have no idea. I find it interesting that one of Italy's oldest wine families also had a hand in developing one of its more recent wine styles, coveted and collected by oenophiles around the world. Super Tuscan, it's not an official appellation of the wine. It's a way of defining a certain category of wine, which has been very important, I think, for the evolution of Tuscan wines. The appellation of origin used to have some regulation, which were very, very rigid. If we wanted to experiment new things, we had to go out of the official appellation, which happened to us, for instance, with a wine like Tignanello. In 1970, Italian winemakers were limited to one of three quality designations. The lowest was table wine, called vino di tavola. Then DOC, denominazione di origine controllata. And the highest level, DOCG, or denominazione di origine controllata e garantita. Tignanello is a blend of San Giovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Faune, and according to the rules, had to be labeled as a table wine, along with other brands using international varietals. The superb quality of the wine defied the description of simple table wine. They were sought after by wine collectors, who referred to them as super Tuscans. Finally, in 1992, a new quality standard was added to the existing designations, IGT, or This gave Italian producers the freedom to experiment and broaden the scope of their wines. The most important characteristic of Tignanello is the fact that Tignanello, it's not what we call a monumental wine. We are looking more for elegance rather than, you know, dimension of the wine. But that doesn't mean that the wine is not intense. So it's a wine which combines a certain elegance and lightness with a great intensity of flavor. So wines from Tuscany, and in particular Tignanello, are wines which are, in my opinion, ideal to be combined with food. It's hard to think of a region that is more blessed from a cultural standpoint, and this timeless allure has created a flourishing wine tourism movement here. For me, these wines come alive when enjoyed in context with the simplicity of the foods of the region. The glory of the Tuscan diet rests in local ingredients, seasonal variety, and above all, freshness. I believe that food is the secret to enjoying and ultimately understanding these wines. The lifestyle, iconic wines, and imagery of Tuscany deserve all the attention they get, and we've seen the rolling hills of Umbria are symbolic of the wines of the region, and Le Marche, underappreciated and waiting to be discovered. Join me in the next episode of our series as we explore the wine styles of northern Italy. We begin in Veneto, home to Valpolicella and the famous Amarone. We will learn the secrets of and the white wine styles of Friuli and Alto Adige in the foothills of the Alps. Then we travel to the famous hills of Barolo and Barbarasco, home to some of the greatest red wines in the world.