In this video, our sommelier Daniel Marcella talks about these fascinating wines from the North of Italy:
1) Beni di Batasiolo Gavi
✅ This winery is the centre of the Dogliani family’s story. Run by the family’s fifth generation in the Langhe territory, their vineyards have contributed immensely to making Italian wines famous worldwide.
🏔️ In lands of oblique light and veiled mists, the Dogliani family has lived through many changes in the history of these fields. Perhaps the current generation has seen more transformations in the last fifty years than in past centuries. In 1978, the Dogliani family purchased the historic Kiola winery with its seven “Beni,” or “estate,” in the internationally renowned zone for growing the celebrated Nebbiolo da Barolo grape. By tradition, the idea of “Beni” takes on tangible value: the vines, farmsteads, people living and working there, and the evocative landscape of soft, rolling hills and orderly vineyards.
🥂 Langhe’s Gavi has a fresh, floral nose with high acidity and outstanding minerality. Pale straw yellow with green tinges of almonds. Good intensity and persistence.
🍴 The perfect accompaniment for oysters, white sashimi, fish, white meat and vegetable-based dishes. Also excellent as an aperitif. Serve at 8°C.
2) Renato Ratti Marcenasco, Barolo
✅ Marcenasco is a vineyard in La Morra town and an unofficial crus or Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva (MGA or Me.GA) registered to Renato Ratti.
🍷 It is aged for approximately two years in oak barrels of 25 and 50hl, followed by a year in a bottle before release. It’s suited to very long aging. ⏳
🍴This Barolo is the absolute master of the dining room. It conquers the palate with strength, harmony and fullness and maintains its power at length. A great wine to pair with gourmet red meat dishes, flavourful pasta, game, or ripe cheeses.
👅 This garnet Barolo brings fragrance with notes of licorice and mushroom—full and elegant flavour. records show the noble Nebbiolo grape being cultivated in ‘𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒎’ as far back as the 7th century AD! 🙏🏽
3) 💛 Estate of Venissa, Venissa Bianco 2016
✅ One of the finest Italian wines; in fact, the Tenuta di Venissa, Venissa Bianco 2016 is a limited edition wine. 🥂
💛 It was made with the Dorona grape, a white variety native to the Venetian lagoon. This ancient grape variety was almost extinct until it was rediscovered in the early 2000s by the Venissa winery on the island of Mazzorbo.
💛 Culturing Dorona grapes is very challenging due to the high salinity levels of the Venetian lagoon, requiring careful management of the vineyards. However, the Venetian lagoon’s unique terroir and the Dorona grape’s distinctiveness have attracted the attention of wine collectors looking for high-quality, exceptional wines.
👃🏽 Venissa Bianco 2016 is bright, golden-yellow with citrus, honey, and white flower aromas.
👅The wine is full-bodied and rich on the palate, with flavours of ripe peach, apricot, and a hint of vanilla.
🍴The wine has a long, lingering finish with a refreshing acidity, making it a perfect pairing for seafood dishes, grilled vegetables, or creamy cheeses.
💛 Its gold-leaf label is made by the last goldbeater in Europe, with bespoke, hand-blown glass bottles from Murano. So, the perfect gift to that special person in your life (yourself included) or to showcase in your cellar. 😍
Have you tasted these wines? Comment about your experience below!