Franchetti Vertical...

The front but technically the back!

Possibly the wine that Andrea Franchetti is least well known for is the very one that actually bears his name. Andrea is famous for his Tuscan wines at Tenuta di Trinoro and for the wines made from Nerello Mascalese at Tenuta di Passopisciaro on Mount Etna. BUT there is another red made on Etna from a combination of varieties that Andrea brought with him from Tuscany. Franchetti is an ever-oscillating blend of Petit Verdot (richness and depth) and Cesanese d'Affile (lift and elegance). It was a wine first made in 2005. With Andrea in town last week for a dinner and another tasting, more on which in later blogs, it seemed a good chance to taste four vintages.

Franchetti 2008 (60% Petit Verdot, 40% Cesanese d'Affile)
Some rubber and cheesecloth here, a savoury degraded fruit, a definite food wine. There is good but bruised dark fruits on the palate. An intense and rich quality with lots of leather, some iodine and a good dollop of tar. 15-16/20

Franchetti 2009 (80% Cesanese d'Affile, 20%  Petit Verdot )
A much lighter colour which reflects the switch in varietals in the blend. Brightness and violets on the nose then a good bit of citrus and grapefruit. There is a grippy feel and a definite nod to Nebbiolo here. To my mind a far more vibrant wine than the 2008 but then the 2009 vintage was not a blockbuster on Etna. 17/20

Franchetti 2010 (100% Petit Verdot)
Just to show Andrea doesn't follow a particular plan, 2010 is almost the opposite in blend to 2009. Very dark, tar and leather, a wine for the Northern Rhone fan...there is depth and some sweetness on the palate which has a red-berried freshness to the finish. I like this. 17.5/20

Franchetti 2011 (50% Petit Verdot, 50% Cesanese d'Affile)
And then the "middle ground" in terms of the blend. Cooler fruits on the nose, a little muted, then a lovely texture on the palate. There is a lot of the three crucial components here, ripe sweetness, good tannin and then a vibrant drive of acidity. It strikes me the two varieties complement each other well. 17.5-18/20

I feel I understand the wine far better now. For me, the drinking window looks to be in the same zone as serious Barbera i.e 4-7 years after production. Thanks for the tasting Andrea.

The back but technically the front!

Tenuta di Passopisciaro - red 2013's and white 2014...

Now clearly I am biased here but I love these Passopisciaro wines from Sicily, from 100% Nerello Mascalese with the exception of the white that is 100% Chardonnay with no new oak.

The best way of thinking about these Wines, not in taste terms, but organisationally is to think of Passorosso as the village wine like Gervrey-Chambertin villages. Then the different sites or Contradas, as they are known, are like individual sites. Possibly with Chiappemacine as a lieu dit and the other Contradas as 1er Crus. It's simplistic and I dislike lazy analogies but it Works in this instance. So to the tasting:

Passorosso 2013 - Formerly know as Passopisciario, this is Italy and rules change every year. Really extrovert aromas jump from the glass, a dash of volatility but not at all problematic. Tangy red fruits with a little of darker fruit too. The aromas make one think of sweetness but there is a balancing citrus side also. 17   

Contrada Chiappemacine 2013 – A slight note of pencil shavings and graphite, more structure than Passo, quite mellow with good acidity. Less remarkable than the Passo. It could well be this is just a little muted but on this showing only 16.

Contrada Rampante 2013 – Lovely, more berry fruits and a little darker in character, expressive, sweetness and more volume, good herbal lift and that almost citrus tang. 17.5-18

Contrada Sciaranuova 2013 – Creamier texture, good freshness but rounder as a whole. Crisp red fruit and a herbal dimension. 17

Contrada Guardiola 2013 – Needed a bit of coaxing to come out of its shell but it did come forward. More tannin, more structure, the keeper of the bunch so far, still has the lift but this is tightly wound. 18

Contrada Porcaria 2013 – Nose is stunning. More succulent, more ripeness and as with Guardiola there is more volume and intensity here. There is a lovely slate like mineral finish. Impressive 18+

Passobianco 2014 – This was known as simply Guardiola Bianco until thsi year. It is a wine I buy every year, in fact I have just bought some more magnums of the 2013. This is so primary at this young stage, the palate is a lovely blend of fruit and soft minerality with a saline freshness…so moreish. 18

Tenuta di Trinoro vertical

I am a little overdue on posting about this cracking tasting. A colleague - Sara Guiducci - has done a far more in depth post on the C&B Blog but I wanted to get my brief notes down. I hosted the evening by introducing Andrea Franchetti who spoke and as well as ever with his own brand of savage honesty to the fore as always. Also for me it had quite a large overlap with this other Vertical in Oxford at the start of the year.

I won't go into too much background but this tasting took us back to the very first vintage, 1997, although there was a wine (Cupole di Trinoro, now the name of the second wine) produced in 1995. Andrea made his way to creating wine via Bordeaux and his passion for Cabernet Franc in particular stems from a bottle of Petit Cheval 1990 he once had. The estate picks very late, even in November on occasions with 125-135 days of "hang-time" not unusual. 

As the tasters assembled we had a glass each of the Guardiola 2012 from Andrea's estate on Etna. 100% Chardonnay but totally unoaked this is a wine I have enjoyed from the start but to be honest the 2012 is a serious step up on the good vintages before. It manages to be both unctuous and fresh, rich and delicious. There is considerable and enjoyable complexity to this wine. With that we started the reds and it was only the principal wine - Tenuta di Trinoro itself. All the wines were pre-poured and questions came along as and when. No fixed "flights" so to speak.

2012
Cabernet Sauvignon predominant which is rare. Rich and full, drought was less of a problem here than previously. It is a deep dark wine but a wine with opulent balance. The Cabernet Franc that wasn’t included was of good quality but just did not make the blend (there was a new wine made called "Magnacosta"). Opulently beautiful…time will treat this very well...


2011
A real favourite of Andrea's, a “monster” was how he described it– red fruit, cherry and almost elegant on nose then bold and generous – it is a cracking wine of extremes. It fermented for about a year which is remarkable…overall there were 12 pickings of Cabernet Franc (the predominant variety in contrast to 2012). A hot year like they used to get...unique.


2009
This is a vintage I know quite well from tasting over the years. Until the 2011 came along I considered it the most extrovert of the Trinoros. A riper, higher toned wine than previously, but elegant and in balance, it now has an ever so slightly chalkily enticing palate…Andrea commented that it was an easy vintage (a little like almost all of Europe then!).

2007

"Dry leaves being raked" was Andrea's comment as it was a very dry vintage. To my palate this was the one wine that may be showed less than I expected, it is slightly in an "in between phase". Oak a little too obvious, high octane and opulent but in a more vegetal style. I'd love to re-assess in a couple of years.

After this point everything was served from Magnum simply because there are very few bottles of these vintages at the estate (not that there are many magnums!!)

2006 Magnum
I can't quite remember the context but there was a comment about the “Disease of ripeness” this had an exoticness, balance on palate, new leather with a refreshing greenness (I can never explain what I mean by this) – more corrupt but in a good degraded sweetness fashion!

2001 Magnum
To use Andrea's own words "The best I have made". I asked around the room at the tasting and afterwards and if people were asked for 2 or 3 favourites then they all included this wine. It has a simply superb balance of sweet, slightly degraded fruit, tannin and a refreshing acidity, complete.

1999 Magnum
This was a really interesting vintage, far gentler than many. Mellow notes of herbal water, cucumber water, a lightness, delightfully mature with some sweetness still. Drink and enjoy.

1998 Magnum
“Smaller and neat” was Andrea's comment. I found a little dark fruit then some mint and iodine. A savoury saline edge gave complexity. More masculine than the 1999. I really liked this.


1997 Magnum
So the first vintage and from vines planted, amazingly, in 1993. The vintage is one that in many ways put Italy on the modern fine wine map. This was mature but with some good dark fruit, Iodine showed as well, mellowness. Very good right now!

The overall standard was very high, the differences were very encouraging with all the wines having their own personalities...I just can't wait to see what a trio like 2012, 2011 and 2009 taste like in 10 years (or for that matter the brilliant 2001)...

Tenuta di Passopisciaro - The Contradas 2012

Tenuta di Passopisciaro Contradas 2012

Having Andrea  Franchetti in town to talk through his wines from Sicily is always fascinating. Here we are talking about Nerello Macalese from the slopes of Mount Etna. The work Contrada means “cru” though technically they can’t be referred to as such.

Picked 6/7^th November

Passopisciaro 2012 – Andreas generic wine from Etna, from various different parcels and may include de-classified selections from the Contrada’s. Light colour and delicious fresh raspberry and strawberry fruit. Made in an almost white wine way and it shows. 16/20

Contrada Chiappemacine 2012 –A site near the river. Berry fruit and with some sweetness and fruitness also. Very good but not too defined stylistically. 17/20

Contrada Sciaranuova 2012 – A very high, 850ft site. Quite heady, more full more round, quite a bit of tannin and acidity…good all round really. 17.75/20

Contrada Guardiola – 900 ft up , this is an amphitheatre where the winery sits, deep gravel with 80-100 year old vines. Lovely nose, balance with a good fruit side as well as a very good savoury seriousness. 18/20.

 Contrada Rampante – The very highest site and picked 2 weeks later. More depth than some, red fruit still but generous roundness, a dash of grapefruit acidity. Good. 17.5

I am sure I have a picture but I just can't find it anywhere!!!

Two Tenutas - Passopisciaro & Trinoro

The wine world is full of passionate winemakers and characters and a few people who market their wines very well. Andrea Franchetti is all, and none, of these things at once. He tries to keep things simple so when asked "what have you changed at Trinoro recently in the wine making, in the cellars?" he pauses for 45 seconds or so (that's quite a while in a room of twenty five people) and just replies "nothing". He's a thinker and a do-er at the same time. More hands on than ever in both Tuscany (Tenuta di Trinoro) and in Sicily (Tenuta di Passopisciaro). Having Andrea in the office to show some of the new releases was great and massively informative. The wines from the two estates are very different and should be dealt with as two different estates, something Andrea himself is keen on. So to the wines:

Tenuta di Passopisciaro (Etna)
"Sicily is one thing Etna another". This is a unique environment it can be cold in August due to altitude. So although you have sun and heat you also have freshness. The wines:

Guardiola 2012 from 100% Chardonnay. As an interesting aside Andrea really doesn't like discussing grape varieties very much, in fact he loves it when a wine has become a wine alone rather than a wine made from a specific variety. This 2012 is the best yet from this plot or Contrada as they are called in Sicily. A Contrada is specifically termed "a terrain that is different", this is 1000m above sea level. The 2012 is the result of 19 passes though the vineyard. The 2013 will be released in 2015. This wine has a richer denser texture than the previous vintages but at the same time somehow still has an elegance of fruit. 17.5-18/20.

Passopisciaro 2011 from 100% Nerello Mascalese. This wine is perfumed, persistent, light and lithe. In technical terms it is made like a white wine with juice not skins. The 2011 is a great vintage as everything went smoothly. The wines comes from a variety of sites at 500-900m above sea level. I often think of these wines in a simple way as approaching Pinot Noir fruit with Nebbiolo structure. I think they will eveolve but Andrea feels they are not wine for the long term. Say 2-6 years. 17/20.

At Passopisciaro there have been single vineyard sites "Contrada's" made since 2008. For 2011 there is a new addition with Guardiola making a red (not to be confused with the white above). These brief notes are actually from a separate tasting but I wanted to include them here:

Rampante 2011
Fresh, reddish fruit, nice savoury and sweet balance, acidic lift to the finish. Nice. 17/20.
Chiappemacine 2011
Slightly darker, more meaty with deeper fruit, more bramble, less sweet. 17.5/20.
Sciaranuova 2011
Classy, poised, refined, more red than black fruit with great focus. 18/20.
Guardiola 2011
Softer, looser, less refined, a good finish after a less stunning middle. 16.5/20.
Porcaria 2011 
The most complete of all the sites, very balanced and together. 18.25/20.

These are fascinating wines and any wine lover should try to do this range. Especially those who love the concept of terroir and in looking at the small differences that result. Right, off to Tuscany now...

Tenuta di Trinoro (Val d'Orcia)
"Like being on a larger planet than being at Passopisciaro" is how Andrea put it. Four wines from this site:

Le Cupole di Trinoro 2011
This is essentially a second wine in Bordeaux terms. A rich, hot year with high levels of alcohol. From a plot on Limestone and Clay. A little like a hot year on the left bank on Bordeaux but with redder and higher toned fruit. A little like the 2007 was but even better in balance terms. Less extreme that the 2011 Trinoro. 17-17.5/20.

Magnacosta 2012
This was first made in 2011. It is 100% Cabernet Franc from a vineyard that went into Trinoro in most years, a specific site by the river. The cuttings are from Vieux Chateau Certan in Pomerol. The translation of the name is "eating the ridge", as it is from the remainder of the erosion. The 2012 was picked in Mid-October but was in no way over ripe. The wine is richly expressive with a slight savoury dryness, the tannins are there but in balance, impressive. 17.75-18.25/20.

Palazzi di Trinoro 2012
100% Merlot picked in one single picking. Only 13.5% Alcohol (very low for Palazzi). Juicy with less tannin that the Magnacosta, almost a sweetness, this has a very vibrant fruit. 17.5-18/20.

Tenuta di Trinoro 2012
As Palazzi and Magnacosta were made in 2012 this has a much higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon than usual (60%). The resultant style is deeper and darker in fruit character, the nose is classical Cabernet but with no extrovert mint or eucalyptus. A very classy structure, more savoury. A slightly different style of Trinoro than previously. Amazing wine 18.5-19/20. I think this could be an absolute star.