On the return leg from Lambrusco country in 2018, I planned a catch up with three friendly winemakers in the Colli Piacentini region. Never heard of it? I don’t blame you. This green and hilly corner of northern Emilia-Romagna doesn’t trouble many wine textbooks or travel bucket lists. Its main claim to fame is that it’s the birthplace of Stradivari, AKA the most famous violin-maker the world has ever known. Nearly three hundred years after his death, his name lives on around Cremona, and the area remains steeped in classical music.
But I was there to visit craftsmen of a different nature. Alberto Anguissola (Casè), Massimiliano Croci and Andrea Cervini (Vino del Poggio) make some of the most joyful orange wines I know. Their secret weapon? Malvasia di Candia Aromatica: a white grape that produces a marvellously stinky, dried flower bouquet when fermented with its skins – as of course it damn well should be.
Over dinner, I learned that all three of these passionate vignaioli owed their inspiration to the same mentor: Giulio Armani. It wasn’t an unfamiliar name. Giulio is the long-time winemaker at La Stoppa, an iconic and sizeable nearby estate. And La Stoppa produces one of Italy’s, if not the world’s most seminal orange wines – a wild, tannic beast named Ageno, after the lawyer who formerly owned the land. Armani also has his own label, Denavolo. The Denavolo cuvées, all white skin-fermented blends, are similarly rustic and headstrong.
The character of the wines and the surname Armani had
This Article was originally published on The Morning Claret
