The Inside Story from Italian Wine Merchants

A Night of the Academy Awards of Wine

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | Written by Frank Sansotta | 1 Comment

The Oscars kept me up late last night—in part to celebrate a timely agreement between Cablevision and ABC7 and in part to revel in the joy of the biggest night of American films.  In the middle of the Oscars, I was struck with a thought: wouldn’t it be great if wine had a night like the Oscars? Which wine would be Sandra Bullock in the stunning gown? What wine would be the epitome of production, of editing, or of costuming? Who, in short, would be the George Clooney of wine? There are many wine awards given out each year by authorities like Decanter and Wine Spectator, but wouldn’t it be nice if there were something like the Oscar Academy who could come together and vote to choose a wine of the year?

2009 was an interesting year for the Italian wine world. Some great wines hit the scene in a major way—in specific, 2006 emerged as what could go down as the greatest Super-Tuscan vintage ever. But the 2006 wasn’t alone; Brunello di Montalcino grew up and overcame its 2003 scandal to produce a set of fantastic wines in 2004. And much like Meryl Streep is a nominee for Best Actress for the sixteenth time, the Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva 2004 showed its longevity.

Although it’s hard for me to choose a wine for each category, and although I’m just one man doing the hard work of a whole academy (not to mention the glamorous accounting job of Price Waterhouse Coopers), I want to realize my idea for an Oscar of Wine. You’re free to battle it out in the comments, but in the meantime, to the awards we go….

Best Supporting Actor: Playing a secondary role to not just one but two of the most sought after wines in the world—Masseto and Ornellaia—is no easy task. And yet this wine displays the very best of the Ornellaia estate Tenuta dell’Ornellaia; there’s no question that Le Serre Nuove 2007 and supports Ornellaia and Masseto in a charming way.  This estate’s ability to produce three stunning wines every year suggests what an all-star cast is on display. The emergence of a fourth wine, Le Volte, sets this estate apart from all other Bolgheri estates in 2009.

Best Supporting Actress: Bruno Giacosa is on a roll for his magnificent group of wines in 2004, and the Bruno Giacosa Spumante Brut 2004 is a dark horse winner. The perfect complement to his Barolo and Barbarescos, the Brut Spumante has surfaced as one of the best unknown sparklers out of Italy. Subtly delineated by scents of fruit and yeast, Giacosa’s Brut is elegant and marked by a persistent perlage, and it’s dry and lively on the palate. Mo’Nique, you want to celebrate your victory with this sparkler!

Best Original Screenplay: Taking us back nearly 4,000 years, Josko Gravner defies conventional winemaking and produces wines from clay amphora. Much like Quentin Tarantino, Josko Gravner takes the high-risk, high-reward approach and always seems to come out on top (at least by those cognoscenti who love his work).  If you’ve never tasted one of Gravner’s wines, you are in for a shock—and a treat. It’s best to prepare yourself ahead of time by decanting his wines for several hours. Once you taste a Gravner wine you may never go back to a traditional white wine again—it would be like watching Pulp Fiction in chronological order.

Best Actor: Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto 2006 – Italy has certainly emerged as a contender for the best Merlot production in the world. Many have labeled this wine the Petrus of Italy, beating out the likes of Galatrona, Redigaffi, and Messorio for supreme Tuscan Merlot. This 100% Merlot has reviewers falling out of their seats and collectors going crazy to find this gem.   And like Jeff Bridges, it only gets better with age.

Best Actress: Barbaresco, known as the Queen in Piedmont, gave a masterful performance in 2004. Lead by Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva 2004, this vintage made headlines, displaying a powerful performance combined with graceful exuberance. Much like what we’ve grown accustomed to from Meryl Streep, we see that with age a wine can become more beautiful and representative of place.  A classic beauty that will last for decades, Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva 2004 is a wine that all wine buffs should consider for the cellars.

Best Film: Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2006 – In this monumental role Sassicaia plays an adolescent Bordeaux who is lost in Bolgheri trying to find his way to the big city. After 25-plus years of struggle in the gravely soil, Sassicaia emerges in 1968 to produce its first vintage. Through some struggle in the 70’s and early 80’s, this young Bordeaux look-alike gives its first great performance in 1985. A little more than 25 years later, Sassicaia proves that its Lafite cuttings can make a wine that will last for the ages. Packing the punch of The Hurt Locker, the beauty of Avatar, the whimsy of Up, the passion of Precious, and the intelligence of Up in the Air, this wine has dazzled its followers with its superb depth and quality. Like great films and many Oscar winners in the past, people will watch and rave about Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2006 for the next fifty years!

Like all Oscar presentations, there were tears and there were surprises in this Oscars of Wine. There were upsets and there were bottles whose win you saw coming miles away. There may even be choices you disagree with—in which case I invite you to weigh in below. What wine did you expect to take the podium, note-cards in hand, to thank its producer?

Category: Italian Wine Merchants

Comments

One Response to “A Night of the Academy Awards of Wine”

  1. Kerry-Jo Rizzo
    March 9th, 2010 @ 12:27 am

    great idea Frank!

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