raffaele Mastrovincenzo

Weingut Clemens Busch From Punderich in the Mosel; a small town in the north part of the river. The Gross lage vineyard in this village is named Marienburg and in this slope vineyard you find different slate color which divide the Marienburg vineyard in different aspect. This are Rothenpfad which are red slate, Felsterrasse grey and rocky vineyard,  Fahrlay and Fahrlay Terrassen are blue and stony slate, Falkenlay on grey schists slate soil. Clemens Bush is a byodinamic producer with a great understanding of the slate soil of Mosel as Heymann Lowenstein from Winningen in the top north part of the river. Clemens make all the differents slate aspect of Marienburg and labeling separately. He macerated the whole bunch for 8/12 hours, than oxidize the must for 7 days with spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel which can go up for 3/4 months. Elevate on lees in old Fudree at least 10hl. The 2010 for Rothenpfad section in Marienburg was peachy and lime, honey, slaty, steely with

Lammidia Abruzzo a green region in the middle of Italy along the coast of Adriatic sea the cultivation of vine has been a long, long tradition::. Pliny the Elder mention Abruzzo a few times in his books just because was fashion; other intellectuals were talking about the most beautiful region of Italy. However currently a new stars of vignerons is born: Lammidia located in a small town up to 700 metre above sea level called "Villa Celiera". I have been in this town and seems like time has been stopped just after the second world war, lots of sheeps around and the main job is the cultivation of the land in many crops; outstanding! Marco e Davide are the mind and the hands behind this fantastic project, Montepulciano and  Trebbiano or Procanico this is the way they like to call it. Experimental vineyards are planted with Pinot Noir and later they are thinking of something like Poulsard or Trosseau. These guys are really open mind they are not related with the ancient

Last week I went to visit the most underground producer of Etna; Mr. Cornelissen. We met at the church of Passopisciaro in the afternoon, with us there were other couples from NY and Italy. Soon we went in the new temporary winery build in two floor, on the ground floor there is the aging, upstair is use for the vinification. Frank dreaming in a proper winery in tree floor with an underground cellar with natural constant temperature, currently need use air-con to be able to monitor-ate the ambience. He reckon this new winery will be ready in 10 years. As soon we came into the winery I notice a certain amazing hygiene, the cellar was super clean and while Frank show as and explain the steps of the vinification I understood how is important from him to keep the ambience quite sterilized. Here there is only ambience yeast and nothing is added to the wines. Plastic bucket in reasonable size are used for fermentation. Thus the perfect material as Frank reckon for the aging is th

MONTALCINO VIEW  Montalcino a great town in Tuscany in the provence of Siena, people all over the world know this small village for their incredible wine made with Sangiovese actually a particular clone called Sangiovese Grosso; due to the fact of concentration of terpene and flavonoid and small black berries a bit different of the other type of Sangiovese. Some producer made this wine travel in the old days all over the world and gave it a strong personality, Biondi Santi perhaps is the father of it. On my small trip in Montalcino I did try to understand why it is so good, I visit many wineries and I choose them in regards to their way to work the soil and the attention on mother nature which belong to my philosophy of drinking.. I need to drink something which I can put a face of a person behind it, thus means company and big corporation even if their wines are amazing, they don't attract me. I always loved the growers and family businesses. I'll not pretend to sa

                                          A small vigneron in the center of Monforte make a really interesting barolo for the Dardi Cru in the big Lieu Dit Bussia just below Bussia Soprana; they are the Fantino Brothers Alessandro and Gian Natale. Ancient vines planted on steep, southeastern slopes in a reasonable environmental friendly farming. Their cellar is one of the gem in Monforte. A charming house with a cave underneath for fermenting and aging the wine with perfect natural temperature and constant humidity. Alessandro and Gian Natale working the grapes to show the pureness of the fruit without build any unnecessary third aspect from wood aging; fermentation is taken through vats oak and stainless steel, aging are done in Barrique for a very short time and then aging in the classic big slavonian italian barrel. We tasted different wines a beautiful Barbera d'Alba from 2010 clear and brilliant in color, lots nice red and blue fruit hints of spice, finesse and e

A week in Barolo has been a magnificent experience, the people are warm, friendly and welcoming to show us their gem of product. We stayed at the Giovanni Canonica place a great vigneron in the center of Barolo, a very cool place to enjoy the town of Barolo. The first winery we visit was Giuseppe Rinaldi, we had an appointment at 11 am and on the dot we were there. Amazing house with extraordinary view of Le Coste cru  outside of Rinaldi winery We were led through the visit by one of the daughters of Mr. Rinaldi, Miss Carlotta a charming girl with lots of knowledge about her land and through the world. She did stage's in many places overseas in the southern hemisphere gaining experience and different points of view. We taste the current vintage release 2010 and some barrel tasting, was an amazing experience. Rinaldi aging the different parcel in different container "called "tini" in italian"... after the vinification has been done, ev

Last weekend I spent a few days in london for the Raw fair an artisan wine fair. There were more than 150 stands with wines from all over the world. The location was the Old Truman Brewery in Brick lane; very central and an awesome spot. I did taste lots of wines and there are always great producers present there, the vibe at the fair was subliminal, friendly atmosphere with two very sunny days. The organization was very efficient, between the stand there was enough room to chat with the growers  or the person/sommelier in charge. However I'll tell in this post the wine I hadn't drunk before and thanks to the Raw I discover:  From one appellation  I really like lately, always I spoke about in this blog is the Mount Etna in Sicily. In the fair I find this amazing artisan called Etnella. They are located in the north west part of the Volcano between the town of Presa, Linguaglossa and Passopiciaro at the altitude  of 600 to 1000 meter above sea level. 13 hectare in total