Spring is in the air?
Spring is (maybe) in the air although the vineyards around Europe still stand naked, waiting for their first green leaves. Some wine producers are doing the pruning of their vines, an important activity. You have to know what you are doing. The vine must be cut and shaped in a way that suits the grape variety.
There is probably some activity going on also in the cellars at this time of year. Maybe a racking, maybe some bottling. In Champagne they are doing the blending.
And, not least, the producers need to find the time to participate in some of the many wine fairs that take place in the spring. It is not enough just to make a good wine; it needs to be sold as well. So to be present at wine fairs is important.
We will ourselves go to VinCE Budapest next week and Britt has just come back from a few days in Umbria, Italy, where she, among other wines, tasted Montefalco Sagrantino, an exciting wine that she will tell you more about in a later Brief.
This grape, Sagrantino, is one of the most tannic in the world. And therefore with a very good ageing potential. There are not many wines today that really require ageing. Some wines made from the grapes malbec and tannat, Barolo maybe. And still some Bordeaux wines of good quality. Sagrantino can join this illustrious crowd. But if you get a good bistecca to go with it, even a very young Sagrantino is very drinkable.
Britt & Per
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief!
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