On our recent trip to Italy, we wanted to experience the fine wines of Piedmont and Tuscany. We were introduced to the Burzi winery and their wine at our OMG Dinner at Osteria Arborina in La Morra, Piedmont, Italy.
We made an appointment to tour the Burzi vineyards and winery with Caterina Burzi, the co-owner. She was most gracious and spent three hours with us touring her grandfather's vineyards, showing us their winery, and sharing the Burzi wines.
Over many decades, I had the pleasure of tasting many wonderful wines from around the world. But the minute I walked out of a restaurant, I couldn't remember the brand or even the varietal of the wine. Maybe I could remember whether the wine was red or white. Twenty years ago my memory of wines changed once I started visiting the vineyards and wineries where the wines came from. Once I've set foot in a vineyard I can remember almost everything about the terroir and the wines.
Having enjoyed the Burzi wine at dinner, I knew I had to go visit the vineyards.
In the US, it is rare to get an owner to give you a tour. It is even rarer to find an owner that knows how to prune a grape vine to grow a fine wine. With Caterina, we found an owner who worked all year in both the vineyards and the winery. Her knowledge of her craft was a special treat.
As she gave us the walking tour she shared that her grandfather planted these grapes in the late 1940s. Her grandfather wanted to grow the grapes to sell to someone else to make the wine. After her grandfather died, her brother Alberto took over the business and decided to make wines as well as growing the fine wine grapes. While the vineyards were 70 years old, Alberto and Caterina have only been making wines for ten years.
As we walked the vineyard hillside, I asked Caterina if she pruned the grapes as well. She said of course, and reached down to show me one of the vines.
I asked her how she would prune this vine for the next year's harvest. I got a master class in pruning Nebbiolo grape vines.
Of course the real experience of a vineyard, shows up in the bottle after the multi-year process of turning sunlight into grapes and then into wine.
We enthusiastically bought a case of the Burzi wine. Each time we open a bottle, we remember the afternoon spent with Caterina and our continuing education of fine wines.
No comments:
Post a Comment