La Spinetta Wine Tasting with Special Guest Giorgio Rivetti

Thoughts on the matter: “I like all paintings. I always look at the paintings, good or bad, in barbershops, furniture stores, provincial hotels. I’m like a drinker who needs wine. As long as it is wine, it doesn’t matter which wine.”

Pablo Picasso
Painter

I will not take just any wine and if I have a choice on my last supper one on the wines on the table that evening will be Nebbiolo from the Piedmont.  So, I was happy to hear that one of my favorite personalities from one of my favorite wineries in the Piedmont will be in town to host an event here in the wine Bar on Friday May 13th. 

We have sent a lot of our “Wine Drinking People” to visit La Spinetta winery and we have hosted dozens of events with our good friend Giorgio Rivetti over the years so this one should sell out quickly.  

In addition to the current releases we have a few older vintages on the table this evening and I have also included all the wines from Indigenous Selections, Giorgio’s import company where he brings in some great producers’ wines from his good friends all over Italy. 

Join us as we welcome Giorgio back to south Florida for an evening of exceptional wine and a special four course dinner paired to the wines by chef Toni Lampasone.  The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $325 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

La Spinetta/Contratto Wine Tasting with Special Guest Giorgio Rivetti
Friday, May 13th  
730 PM

Contratto Millesimato Pas Dose 2015
La Spinetta Timorasso Piccolo Derthona 2020
La Spinetta Chianti Riserva 2016
La Spinetta Langhe Rosso Pin 2017
La Spinetta Barbaresco Bordini 2018
La Spinetta Barolo Garretti 2017
La Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina 2015
La Spinetta Barbaresco Starderi 2015
La Spinetta Barbaresco Valeirano 2015
La Spinetta Barolo Campe’ 2015

Menu
Cheese and Charcuterie Selection
Baby red Bliss Potatoes filled with American Sturgeon Caviar, egg, Bermuda onion and creme fraiche
Prosciutto wrapped Burrata grilled in Romain Lettuce with Sundried Tomato Balsamic Vinaigrette
Veal Osso Bucco Ravioli with Sangiovese Natural Sauce and wild mushrooms
Chocolate Nutella Bomb

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $325 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food issues and Toni will be happy to accommodate you. 

A bit about La Spinetta Winery:

Located a tad north of Barbaresco towards Asti is the "modest" facility of the Rivetti family.   When we first became acquainted with Giorgio Rivetti, he was regarded as an up-and-coming producer of fizzy Moscato d'Asti wines.  Ask anyone in the Langhe who's making top Moscato wines and they'd always have Rivetti on their short list of producers.   Move on to the 1990s and then things changed.  Oh, Rivetti still makes some of Piemonte's best fizzy Moscato wines (Biancospino, Bricco Quaglia, Bric Lapasot, San Rumu and Muscatel Vej).  If you see them while traveling around Italy, don't hesitate to order these after dinner as they are really "fun" wines.   

La Spinetta makes 3 single vineyard Barbarescos; Gallina, Valeirano, and Starderi, all are very unique despite being from vineyards not very far from each other.  All three are 100% Nebbiolo as dictated by DOCG laws and all spend a minimum of 18 months in oak and one year in bottle.  The Gallina and Starderi are single crus in Neive and Valeirano is a single cru from Treiso.  The Gallina (green label) tends to be the softest and most elegant of the three.  The Valeirano (blue label) is more tannic and aggressive with a very impressive structure.  In blind tastings, the Valeirano is often thought to be a Barolo from Serralunga d’Alba.  The Starderi (pink label) is tannic with unimaginable complexity and layers upon layers of fruit.  The 2010 vintage in the Piedmont is the latest in a string of  outstanding vintages, each of them different but nonetheless producing very high quality wine.  The 2010's have a bit more structure and depth than the highly touted 2009’s which tend to be very forward and approachable wines.

The 2000 vintage was the first release of La Spinetta’s Barolo from the Campe vineyard in Grinzane Cavour.  Even though Grinzane Cavour offers one of the greatest terroirs of the Barolo region, given its exposure to the south and its microclimate, it has never been capable of producing world class Barolos.  Giorgio feels certain that this is because no producer has been able to interpret this land as it should be interpreted.  He is confident that he will be able to make Barolo from the Campe vineyard that will rightly pay tribute to its incredible terrior.  He compares it to what Elio Altare faced with his Arborina vineyard, a previously unknown area of production for Barolo that today thanks to Altare is one of the greatest crus of Barolo.  Giorgio is very enthusiastic about meeting this challenge and by the looks of it; he may very well have done so.  I have had an opportunity to taste every one of these Barolos and have to say that from the very frist one that rated (98 Points) in the Wine Spectator they have all been Most Excellent to KILLER.  This is one of the best Barolo’s that I have ever tasted and is quite drinkable even at this young age, the 2010 could be the best release of this wine to date!!  The Campe Barolo has quickly become one of the most sought after wines made in Barolo.  This wine is KILLER!

Pin is one of the first blends of its type from the Piedmont, Nebbiolo, Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon make up the blend with Cabernet Sauvignon making up less and less of the total, the new releases of this have no Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend at all.  Giorgio took this foreign varietal out of this wine completely as he has pointed out, the Piedmont is better suited to its native varietals.  Just a few short years ago producers in the Piedmont were planting Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and other popular varietals because it was fashionable at that time.  Today it's fashionable to make wines from varietals that are indigenous to the area and there is nothing like Nebbiolo from the Peidmont found anywhere on the planet, so why plant Cabernet Sauvignon which is suitable to grow in many areas all over the world.  This wine is more international in style, a touch of toasty oak spice and cassis berry fruit, and it is the most drinkable of all the wines except the Ca di Pian upon release.

Although La Spinetta focuses on native varieties such as Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Moscato, it does produce a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay.  Giorgio assures that because these international varieties are planted in such small quantities, their production does not distract from the estate’s attention and passion towards the local varieties.  The Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are made in a lean old world style.  They show strong terroir characteristics and pronounced fruit.  La Spinetta’s Bianco is 100% Sauvignon Blanc.  The vines are grown at a very hi-altitude that leads to crispness, freshness and a wonderful perfume in the glass.  This Sauvignon Blanc is very Loire like in style with good minerality and a strong sense of terroir.  In a blind tasting with Daganau’s Pur Sang, La Spinetta’s Bianco proved to by a far more complex and interesting wine.  The wine is 50% barrel fermented and 50 % stainless steel fermented.  La Spinetta’s Chardonnay is called Lidia, in memory of Giorgio’s mother.  It is 100% barrel fermented Chardonnay.  It spends a year in oak followed by approximately 6 months in stainless steel.  It is a rich and full-bodied wine with an elegance and complexity.  They have recently added a Vermentino from their Tuscan grapes to offer and entry level white to the portfolio of La Spinetta wines.

In 2001, La Spinetta acquired 65 hectares of vineyards in Tuscany to make three different Sangiovese based wines, and so the Rivetti horizon continues to expand. La Spinetta’s newest project lies in Tuscany in the village of Terricciola between Pisa and Volterra.  Here they make their Sezzana, a 95% Sangiovese from Casciana Terme, as Sangiovese is the ambassador of the Tuscan terrain. The remaining 5% are Colorino, another Tuscan indigenous grape variety, that gives a dark ruby red color to the wine. From the 65 hectare of vineyards we also make another 95% Sangiovese single vineyard wine, called Sassontino. These Sangiovese grapes grow near Casanova, Terriciola. The first vintage of Sassontino was 2003, released in 2006.

The newest thing is the acquisition of the Contratto winery in the Piedmont which means that the Rivetti's now own a premier Sparkling wine label.  Although they did make other wines in addition to methode champenoise sparkling wines at Contratto in the past they are focusing solely on the sparkling wines under this label now.