This past weekend, we visited the wine country around Alba, in the Piemonte region. We visited a winery called Fratelli Mossio in Rodello, near Alba, and it was incredible. Claudio, from the Mossio family, who is also in charge wine-making, gave us a personal tour. Our hotel for the night (Ca' del Lupo, which I'll post about separately) arranged it for us.
The family has owned the winery for three generations, and land has a rich history. Grapes have grown there since the 16th century, as far as they can tell from the oldest written records. The foundation of the building was originally a monastary from the 10th century. Funny: the family owns about half of the long, old building - the left end and the right end - and someone else is hanging onto the middle. So, the middle of the building looks as old as it is, but the Mossio's have renovated the two ends. The Mossio's have been trying to buy the rest of the building for decades because of the ancient cantinas within it (where they'd age more wine under ideal conditions). You can see the division between the renovated and the old sections. I find it kind of funny.
Two Roman plaques were found on the grounds. One is at the winery (sitting by the door against the wall, lol!), and one is in a local museum.
Claudio spent almost two hours with us, showing us around the vineyard, explaining the process, the history of the land and of the vineyard, and tasting wines with us (this was his favorite part, too!). Claudio and Peter (who was translating) had a good laugh over "old cheese." Claudio knows a little bit of English and explained that a particular wine was "good with old cheese" - we knew what he meant, but Peter explained to him that the correct way to say it is "aged cheese." Claudio asked why this is, and Peter explained that it is like saying "formaggio vecchio." I know enough Italian now to have gotten a good laugh out of it with them:)
We think we might be closer to knowing if a bottle is corked! He explained that you can spot a "corked" bottle by smelling the cork - if it smells musty, the wine may be bad. But all is not lost! If the wine is a newer vintage, it may be ok to drink it immediately upon opening, if it smells and tastes good, but you must drink it before any mold is able to grow from the exposure to oxygen. He felt that one of the bottles he opened for us may be compromised, so we were able to compare a good cork with a bad one... we became convinced that we could smell the mustiness of the "bad" cork and freshness of the "good" cork. No one will ever know if we did for sure - not even us!
This winery keeps things slow. They do not use any pesticides; instead, they welcome birds to eat the insects. Roses are an old technology that foretells diseases that will effect the grapes next - allowing time for intervention. Roses have been replaced by more modern means, but they are still planted at the end of each row for tradition.
This cantina is about 1,000 years old. ONE THOUSAND.
The wine is kept at a constant temperature, naturally, in the cantina. Claudio explained that temperature is critical. They even change the temperature on purpose at one point earlier in the process to separate out undesired residuals.
The materials used for fermenting and aging are important throughout the process. Stainless steel brings out the sweetness, and oak (obviously) creates an oaky flavor. American Oak is a bit "vanilla", and French and Slavic oaks have their own aromas as well. Some of their older containers were fiberglass - they let in a little light, which effects the flavor in a different way. They use all these different containers to achieve a different taste.
Our guide was happy to open seven bottles for us to try... And he figured he'd better test out his product with us. He described himself as his own best customer. We became customers as well and look forward to enjoying the bottles we purchased!
