Tre Bicchieri; The Best of the Best of Italian wines. The Tre Bicchieri World Tour recently came to Vancouver for us to experience their top rated Italian wines. This is only the second year this event has stopped in Canada, and only visits a few cities around the world each year, so we should be very proud to be selected for a visit. Wines from the Piedmont, Lombardy, Trentino, Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo, Puglia, Sicily, and Sardenia were all represented, covering red, white, and sparkling wines.
The selected producers offer for tasting their wines that have won Three Glasses, Gambero Rosso Italian Wines Guide’s highest award. According to Gambero Rosso “Tre Bicchieri® World Tour is the main series of events dedicated to presenting the best Italian wines. Launched in 1988, along with the first Gambero Rosso guide to Italian wine, Vini d’italia. No other Italian wine event has such a restrictive selection filter, a guarantee of absolute quality: from the 45,000 wines tasted, each year barely 400 achieve Tre Bicchieri recognition.“
About Gambero Rosso
Gambero Rosso® is the publishing and training leader in Italy in the field of wine and food. It is the only multimedia company in the sector that offers magazines, books, guides, a television channel – Sky 411 – as well as web and apps. For 27 years Gambero Rosso has been the institution that best represents Italian-made food and wine, testing and certifying the quality of products, telling the stories behind the flavours and traditions of the Bel Paese. In Italy, Gambero Rosso has Città del Gusto (City of Taste) sites in six cities (Rome, Naples, Lecce, Catania, Palermo and Torino), where courses at amateur, professional and managerial levels are held along with gala tastings and other wine-related events. (http://www.gamberorosso.it/)
How are Tre Bicchieri determined?
According to Gambero Rosso “Blind tastings are carried out each year throughout Italy, organized by local wine groups. The panel – composed of at least three tasters – meet to taste all the wines presented. The bottles are covered and the tasters know only the type of wine being examined and its vintage year. That is, they know they are tasting a 2006 Chianti Classico, but not the name of the producer. Once a panel has made its judgments, the bottles are revealed. Wines with scores that make them potential Tre Bicchieri winners go on to the next round of tastings, which are sessions that take place between July and August at Gambero Rosso’s Città del Gusto in Rome. The final tasting panel is made up of the editors of Vini d’Italia, a few special collaborators and at least one representative of the region in question. The wines that achieve scores of more than 90 points – a number obtained by taking the mathematical average of the panel’s individual scores – are awarded Tre Bicchieri status. All the other wines that have reached this level, considered just a step away from the peak, are awarded Due Bicchieri Rossi, that is Two Red Glasses, to distinguish them from the classic Due Bicchieri wines. Final tastings are also done blind.”
More information on the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchiero 2014 World Tour is at this link.
My Favourite Tre Bicchieri and Due Bicchieri Wine Selections
Picking my best of the best from Italy is a hard choice, as all of the wines are already award winners. Below are the ones that I really enjoyed. I was not able to taste all the wines during the event, so if you attended and liked a wine that I didn’t list, please leave a comment. I love feedback. Cin cin.
Sparkling Wine
- Ferghettina Franciacorta Pas Dose 33 Riserva 2006 (Lombardy) – Light honey and lees on the nose. Medium minus body with agressive, creamy small bubbles. A creamy feel in your mouth with the wine coating your tongue. Dry with red delicious apple flavour.
- Ruggeri & Co. Valdobbiadene Extra Dry Giustino B. 2012 (Veneto) – Nice light stone fruit nose. Very small bubble. Light body, dry, with nice citrus, stone fruit and apples on the palate.
- Cantina della Volta Lambrusco di Modena Brut Spumante 2010 (Emilia Romagna) – Lambrusco, at least what I have seen here in Canada has been a red sparkling wine. This is a white Lambrusco. The wine maker treated the Lambrusco grapes like Pinot Noir grapes would be treated for the production of Champagne. Oak and stone fruit nose. Light body and light, fine bubbles. Dry, with lemon and lees on the palate. Nice.
- Cantina della Volta Lambrusco di Modena Brut Rose Spumante 2010 (Emilia Romagna) – Very pale pink in the glass. Light raspberry aroma. Dry with light bubbles. Strawberries and bright citrus fruit flavours.
White Wine
- Umani Ronchi Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Cl. Sup. Casal di Serra 2013 (Marche) – Nice flowers and orange aromas. Sweet spice, nutmeg, stone fruit, and more orange on the palate. Light body soft and round mouth feel.
- Ottella Lugana Superior Moleco 2011 (Veneto) – This white wine is produced from the Trebbiano grape. It has a spicy and light orange aroma in the glass. Medium body, and round mouth feel, with sweet spices, nutmeg, orange, minerality and honey flavours. Off dry.
Red Wine
- Bel Colle Barbera d’Alba Sup. Le Masche 2011 (Piedmont) – Light ripe raspberry aroma. Medium plus body, round mouthfeel. Salty minerality and raspberries on the palate. Tasty.
- Bel Colle Barbaresco Roncaglie Riserva 2008 (Piedmont) – Light licorice and cherry on the nose. Light body and mouth feel. Light red fruit and tea leaves on the palate. Light tannins on the finish. A dry, elegant wine.
- G.D. Vajra Barbera d’Alba 2011 (Piedmont) – Nice ripe raspberry nose. Fully body, raspberries and pomegranate flavours. Round and soft in the mouth.
- G.D. Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo 2011 (Piedmont) – Very light raspberry nose. Medium body, soft mouth feel. Ripe raspberries on the palate.
- Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2009 (Veneto) – Light ripe sweet fruit nose. Medium minus body. Interesting flavour of stewed fruit, milk chocolate and vanilla. Soft mouth feel, with some tannins on the finish.
- Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva 2007 (Veneto) – Old wood/oak and dill on the nose. Full body, with ripe juicy purple fruit and vanilla flavours, followed with a hint of dill later on. Dry yet silky on the tongue.
- Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2009 (Veneto) – Old woo/oak and dill on the nose. FUll body with ripe pruny dark fruit, vanilla and dill. Soft and supple on the palate with long length. This wine is my OVERALL FAVOURITE of the entire tasting. Followed by the 2007 Riserva by Brigaldara.
- Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Campolongo di Torbe 2007 (Veneto) – Light purple fruit nose. Medium plus body. Supple on the palate with ripe purple fruit. Medium acidity.
- Colle Massari Brunelo di Montalcino 2008 (Poggio di Sotto) (Tuscany) – Pretty sour cherry aroma. Dry with perfumed violets and ripe cherry flavours with a hint of oak. Soft tannins.
- Poggio al Tesoro Bolgheri Sup. Sondraia 2010 (Tuscany) – Nice licorice and dark fruit nose. Round and full bodied. Dark ripe fruit and minerality, followed with some spiciness. A very masculine wine.
From the above wines, it looks like Veneto won my heart.
There was tasty antipasti to try with our wines, which really helped, especially when trying the red wines.
