WINE NEWS /
Associating Wines with the Terroir
Roberto
Cipresso firmly believes in the inextricable importance of the
land. This is the credo the winemaker emphasized at a recent
conference with the Consorzio Colli Orientali del Friuli, where
he spoke to local producers. Cipresso urged everyone in attendance
to liberate themselves from concerns about varietals and focus
on the unique characteristics of the environment and earth where
they grow their grapes: he promises that this path will lead
to equally unique wines that will express the production zones
where they were made and thus be recognizable to consumers. Dominating
the conversation at the conference were the various technical
developments in vinification of red wine that have appeared over
the last few years. Since the Colli Orientali is known mainly
for the great whites of producers like Bastianich and Ronco del
Gnemiz, Cipresso’s
opinions were taken as part of a considerable movement to produce
more
high-quality
reds.
The idea of “terroir” has long been entrenched in viticulture,
especially in France: earth, microclimate, topography, and related
interactions and reactions of the land where the grapes are grown
are considered to be the essence of any wine. Cipresso stressed the
potential of schioppettino, a native grape of Friuli that he believes
can bring out the unique inherent qualities of that region’s
land. The conference concluded with a tasting of three different
Brunellos
of the 1999 vintage designed to illustrate the influence
of the terroir on wine; responses varied.
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