Verdicchio en Rosso Piceno van Villa Bucci

Mijn tips donderdag, 11 november 2010

Zojuist een interview met Ampelio Bucci ingeleverd bij een van mijn opdrachtgevers. Ampelio Bucci is wijnmaker van Villa Bucci in de Italiaanse provincie Marken (Marche).

Ampelio Bucci is een charmante man met veel gevoel voor humor. Hij is niet alleen wijnmaker, hij is ook professor in de economie aan de Universiteit van Milaan en tevens consultant marketing in de design- en fashionwereld.

Villa Bucci maakt Verdicchio Classico dei Castelli di Jesi en Rosso Piceno. Beide zijn erg mooie wijnen. De Rosso Piceno geeft zich snel gewonnen. De Verdicchio vraagt tijd en aandacht, maar dan grijpt de wijn je ook voorgoed bij de strot.

Ik geef een paar quotes uit het interview en mijn proefnotities van de wijnen.

Ampelio Bucci:

“I don’t like to put ‘organic’ on the label. I don’t want the customer to think that it might be intended as a marketing tool.”

“You know the strategy of McDonald’s is: think global, act local. They make a global hamburger and locally in Italy they sell Italian sandwiches. Small Italian producers should do the opposite: think local, act global. Make a good quality local product that is special and impossible to imitate, then sell it globally. Italy has many indigenous grapes, around fifty varieties are very good. Verdicchio is one of them. The grape and the terroir can make the difference. You can grow Verdicchio in China, but you can not move Castelli di Jesi.”

“I’m not a fundamentalist. We help nature when necessary. We have been working without any machinery until 2003. Our cellars are well underground, they used te be cool enough to keep the fermentation process under control. But the summer of 2003 was like Africa! Now we have a small refrigerating machine. If I need it, I will use it.”

“Small producers like us need to find a way to differentiate. We need to go the artisanal way. The industrial producers cannot do that because they mix grapes and wines from different regions. Territoriality of wine and the link between the wine and the land is the true strength of European wine production.”

Bucci, Verdicchio Classico dei Castelli di Jesi, 2008

100% Verdicchio grapes, no oak aging.

Fruity and floral aroma. Blossom, fennel, marzipan, citrus, coconut, apricot, almond and mineral notes. Good structure and length.

Villa Bucci, Riserva di Verdicchio Classico, 2006

Special cuvée, 100% Verdicchio, matured for six months in oak.

Perfumed, complex aroma. Floral, dill, aniseed, spicy, mineral, nutty, apricot, caramel, sweet butter. Fierce but soft and oily structure, concentrated, well balanced. Long dry mineral finish.

Tenuta Pongelli, Rosso Piceno, 2007

50% Montepulciano, 50% Sangiovese, aged one year in oak.

Fruity and floral aroma. Cherry (amarena), strawberry, blackberry and plum fruit, violet, eucalyptus, liquorice, caramel. Firm tannins and fresh acidity. Well balanced, structured and complex.

Villa Bucci, Rosso Piceno, 2006

70% Montepulciano, 30% Sangiovese. Produced only in the finest vintages. Old vines. Aged at least one year in oak.

Cherry, blossom, white pepper, liquorice, pine. Intense and very soft on the palate, fine-grained tannine structure. Very elegant, delicate, layered and well balanced.

Importeur van Villa Bucci is Pallas Wines, in de retail te koop bij onder meer Chabrol.