La Dama Pet Nat 2020
Gabriele Ducalinel is a lovely man, passionate and intense and in love with his calling in life. His relatively new estate (old vines) is an up-and-coming star of the region. But, my advice, if you ever have a visit to his small estate in Valpolicella, make sure you've eaten first!
We arrived for an appointment in the late morning. Lunch was planned after a short tour and barrel tasting.
Three hours later, after an amazing tour of his two sites - one in the historic centre of the commune, Negrar, and the other overlooking Lake Garda in the sub zone of Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella followed by a cellar tasting of Valpolicella and Amarone at different stages of evolution we sit down to lunch.
On the way down to the cellars we'd glimpsed the array laid out on the table - cured meats, breads, cheese. Alas it was but a glimpse. Fair to say we were hungry!
So we start to eat, it's all typically fantastic. Mortadella, prosciutto, foccaccia, freshly baked, dotted with sea salt and rosemary. Cheeses that range from subtle hard to stronger and soft aimed at the Amarone that's on the sideboard.
Do we actually care about the wine at this point? Well not really, well not at all. Feed me man and lets talk wine later, is the general vibe.
The first wine is poured and it's Gabriele's sparkling rosato - a petillante naturelle style. At least I know I don't have to worry about this wine so much and can keep eating until my blood sugar returns to normal.
??????BUT, it's delicious, it's joyful. Red berries, flowers circle from the glass. Flavours are subtle but insistent; berries and the faint pull of savoury herbs slide across the palate. All of it held together by a fine bead lending the wine precision and a fragility that is quite special.
Bastard! I have to concentrate on wine now.
It's all clearer when he starts by telling us he was once one of the winemakers at the famed Ferrari sparkling house in Franciacorta. The guy knows his bubbles and it's clear. In other Pet Nats you might find a host of unresolved flavours, remnant fermentation impurities and bead issues. Here, everything is so beautifully lithe and precise. Not only that, drinking it with a slice of Mortadella is as good as life can get...or maybe I'm just hungry. A little of both perhaps.
It's 100% Molinara, The thin skins and pale colour make it the perfect varietal for the style which many in the region are now following suit with similar releases.
Cutting to the chase. I wouldn't closet this as strictly Pet Nat style (for the reasons above) but I wouldn't call it a traditional sparkling either. It has a foot in both camps.
To be honest, who cares. The wine is just delicious summertime drinking; inviting and relaxed and best served with something like mortadella or poultry.
It's time to throw off the shackles a little, that's what summer invites you to do.
Cheers
Michael
We arrived for an appointment in the late morning. Lunch was planned after a short tour and barrel tasting.
Three hours later, after an amazing tour of his two sites - one in the historic centre of the commune, Negrar, and the other overlooking Lake Garda in the sub zone of Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella followed by a cellar tasting of Valpolicella and Amarone at different stages of evolution we sit down to lunch.
On the way down to the cellars we'd glimpsed the array laid out on the table - cured meats, breads, cheese. Alas it was but a glimpse. Fair to say we were hungry!
So we start to eat, it's all typically fantastic. Mortadella, prosciutto, foccaccia, freshly baked, dotted with sea salt and rosemary. Cheeses that range from subtle hard to stronger and soft aimed at the Amarone that's on the sideboard.
Do we actually care about the wine at this point? Well not really, well not at all. Feed me man and lets talk wine later, is the general vibe.
The first wine is poured and it's Gabriele's sparkling rosato - a petillante naturelle style. At least I know I don't have to worry about this wine so much and can keep eating until my blood sugar returns to normal.
??????BUT, it's delicious, it's joyful. Red berries, flowers circle from the glass. Flavours are subtle but insistent; berries and the faint pull of savoury herbs slide across the palate. All of it held together by a fine bead lending the wine precision and a fragility that is quite special.
Bastard! I have to concentrate on wine now.
It's all clearer when he starts by telling us he was once one of the winemakers at the famed Ferrari sparkling house in Franciacorta. The guy knows his bubbles and it's clear. In other Pet Nats you might find a host of unresolved flavours, remnant fermentation impurities and bead issues. Here, everything is so beautifully lithe and precise. Not only that, drinking it with a slice of Mortadella is as good as life can get...or maybe I'm just hungry. A little of both perhaps.
It's 100% Molinara, The thin skins and pale colour make it the perfect varietal for the style which many in the region are now following suit with similar releases.
Cutting to the chase. I wouldn't closet this as strictly Pet Nat style (for the reasons above) but I wouldn't call it a traditional sparkling either. It has a foot in both camps.
To be honest, who cares. The wine is just delicious summertime drinking; inviting and relaxed and best served with something like mortadella or poultry.
It's time to throw off the shackles a little, that's what summer invites you to do.
Cheers
Michael
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La Dama Bollicella Rosato Pet Nat 2020A gentle fine bead cuts the cassis and cranberry fruit that underlies a subtle chalky and delicate spice lift. Fine and breezy in style it still packs in plenty of flavour. Crisp and vivacious. Lovely poise and precision too but never straying away from its easy-going nature and trying to be something its not. What every pet-nat should be.2020Corvina, Molinara, RodinellaItaly499$39.00 As low as $35.10