WINES OF THE WEEK:
IL POLLENZA, ELEGANT WINES STEEPED IN RICH, ITALIAN HISTORY
By Dwight Casimere
TOLENTINO,
Italy—Rising amidst the gorgeous landscape of the Macerata hills, is the
gorgeous 16th century building that is the centerpiece of the estate
of Il Pollenza winery, producers of exquisite and elegant wines in Italy’s
Marche region.
The history of the
estate goes back to the time of Napoleon and beyond. Spread over splendidly
picturesque hills in the Marche, the centerpiece is a beautifully restored 16th
century building designed by Sangallo.
The site of the
winery was the battlefield for the famous Battle of Tolentino, fought in May,
1815 with the Neapolitan army, led by His Royal Highness King Joachim Murat
pitted against Austrian troops led by Baron Federico Bianchi. The clash
resulted in the demise of the Napoleonic era and the repression of the struggle
to establish the great Italian Risorgimento. The land was lost and re-conquered
many times over the course of history.
What remains in Tolentino
are the gloriously restored buildings of the Il Pollenza estate and its state
of the art winery. Il Pollenza
exudes a sincere passion for the land and a commitment to the best cultivation
techniques, resulting in wines that reflect the highest in quality and flavor.
The real beauty of these wines is that they are not only rich and delicious,
but, for most, they also have an average price of $17!
Il Pollenza estate
was purchased by Count Brachetti-Peretti more than twenty years ago from the
house of Antici Mattei and its principality. The exceptional wines offered for sampling covered the
spectrum, among them a white wine, Brianello Bianco 2012 , Marche IGT. It is a blend of the
native Trebbiano grape combined with the international varietals Sauvignon
Blanc and Chardonnay. It is a crisp, clean wine, aged in stainless steel to
preserve its full fruit flavor. This was my choice with pheasant, roasted with
fresh truffles and a hint of fresh sage. Fennel salad with a lemon vinaigrette
dressing was the first course. The
meal was followed by Mango sorbet with fresh strawberries. It was truly a
delightful lunch that brought out the best in this well structured, evenly
balanced wine.
Balance is the name
of the game with the 90 points plus rated Il Pollenza-Cosmino Marche Rosso IGT
2008 $30. The wine is silky smooth with black cherries and blackberries
literally dripping from the corners of your mouth. There’s a distinctive back
note of licorice and dark Belgian chocolate with undercurrents of the rich, black
mineral soil from whence the grapes came. This is still a young wine, with
plenty of room for aging. However, gluttony ruled the day, and I wound up
consuming this one in a single sitting with a pound and a half Prime Aged
Cowboy Steak with Morel mushrooms and a dark brown sauce made with a splash of
the wine.
Il Pollenza DiDi
Marche IGT, also $17, proved to be one of the most interesting wines of the
sampling collection. A blend of red grapes normally associated with the
Burgundy and Rhone regions of France, Pinot Noir and Syrah respectively, it has
a delightfully bright pink color and a tantalizing, seductive flavor to match.
You wouldn’t expect such a vibrant color from the decidedly heavy, tannic and
spicy grapes involved, but, according to the winery, the practice of blending
the two grapes has been around for some time. Prior to the 1920s, when France began to codify its
byzantine rules on wine labeling, it was commonplace for producers in Burgundy
to strengthen their Pinot wines with a touch of wine from the Rhone Valley. The
Syrah was used to deepen the color of the resulting wine and bolster its
alcohol content, thus camouflaging a weak vintage. This is a terrific all purpose wine, great with salads,
fruit, cheese and particularly with shellfish. Lobster was my choice, drenched
in a white wine sauce infused with a reduction of some of the cooking liquid
from the poached lobster and a bit of the wine. Served with a side of linguine
topped with chopped sage, a few grinds of Sicilian sea salt and a dollop of
olive oil or melted clarified butter, the results were terrific!
Porpora-Marche Rosso
IGT 2012 $17 is another full-bodied red with silky tannins. It has a
distinctive flavor of dried rose petals, blueberries and a backbone of dark
minerals. There’s a hint of Godiva chocolate that gives it a seductive finish.
Veal piccata or sautéed Skate with capers, or Dover Sole in lemon and brown
butter sauce are my flavor matches with this lovely, violet-colored wine.
A brief note on the Marche. This is one
of the great undiscovered (to those of us here in the US) wine producing
regions of Italy. Located on the eastern side of central Italy, it isadjacent
to its better- known neighbors Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo and separated from
Umbria by only the Apennines mountains. It is ideally situated between the
mountains on the west and the Adriatic Sea to the east, which accounts for its
exceptional growing conditions for all types of grapes, from the indigenous
(and ubiquitous) Trebbiano and Verdicchio grapes to many international
varietals. Besides producing spectacular, fruit forward still wines, the region
is also becoming known for its delightful sparkling DOCG sparkling wine,
Vernaccia di Serrapetrona.
Chief among the reds
are the Sangiovese-Montepulciano blends. Other widely planted white grapes
include Pinot Bianco, Malvasia Toscana, Pecorino and Bianchello. There’s no end
to the blending possibilities and to the exceptional wines from the Marche, one
of Italy’s best-kept secrets.
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