Dublin Wine Festival @Morrison Hotel
Last Sunday the 1st of October at the Morrison Hotel in Dublin took place the Dublin Wine Festival organized by the “Brianza Wine Club”, an Italian private association. The idea behind this event was to promote and develop the meeting between new producers with importers and people involved in the local wine industry in order to share and stimulate the passion for good and unknown wine.
Despite being a relatively “small” event there were around 20 wineries presenting more than 100 wines overall. We have to say we have been really impressed (in the positive way) of course for the great quality that we found in many of the exhibitors. Above all an oenologist from Trentino which fell in love and subsequently bought in 2002 a 5 ha of land in Scicli (in Ragusa province -Sicily) . Here Michele -that’s his name – planted 4.8 ha of Nero d’Avola and 0.1 ha of white muscat and decided to create only 3 wines of the best quality: Curma, Siclys (2 reds) and Salipetrj (white). The harvest is manual and it takes place in the first half of September; the fermentation occurs in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature(28-32 °C), with extended maceration of the grape solids (20 to 25 days), transfer in wood at the end of winter. They don’t filter.The 2 red wines age in French oak barrels and then also in the bottle.Current vintages are 2009 and 2010 on the market and they are both gorgeous.
Other great wines were brought at the fair by Fabrizio Forconi from Podere dell’Anselmo in Tuscany. He is continuing the viticultural tradition of the Forconi family who were already working their vineyards since the start of the 19th Century. The family estate control the entire cycle production from vine-plant to corkage. The results are wines with a distinctive bouquet, strictly linked to the indigenous strains, and the scrupulous cultivation and oenological practices.
Another remarkable one was Corte Sermana. Those guys (which estate took the name of the location) own few hectares on the shore of the lake of Garda (probably the closest winery terrain to the lake) and enjoy a unique micro-climate which makes the grapes of Trebbiana di Lugana unique. These grapes yield an outstanding Lugana called Cromalgo that has an incredible minerality, it is very harmonious and perfectly balanced.
