Powerfully Personal Wine: Tantini Ettore 2018
It’s been a year full of ups and downs, with the whiplash of news stories, on-again, off-again, and back on-again tariffs, and also the myriad visits to old friends, exciting new places, and the discovery of new winemakers and friends. And here we are, at the end of the year; the joyful gathering of friends around the table, laughing and sharing stories, has taken hold.
As the year draws to a close, I’m reflecting on how grateful I am to do the work we do, with the incredible support of customers like you, and the hardworking, genuine winemakers who craft the wines we so enjoy sharing with you. The vignerons we work with don’t put on formal tasting, or show us PowerPoint sales presentations. They usually invite us to hike through the muddy vineyard with them, before ushering us down into a frigid cellar to taste straight from the barrel or tank, followed by the most human of impulses--share a meal.
Truly, one of the great joys of working with small, family-run wineries is sitting down across the table from real, hardworking people and sharing a meal, getting to know them better through conversation and the wines they make. They share the fruits of their labor without pretense, and we try to do them justice by sharing their story and their craft with you.
No one better encapsulates that generous spirit than Giovanna Tantini. I still recall the epic meal Dan & I had with her and her husband, Marco, last year. It was a sprawling meal, at a table large enough for 10 or 12 people, yet we barely had enough for the four of us, and all the wine they brought for us to taste and the food they ordered.
It started with an enormous antipasto platter, then salad, pasta, followed by roast meats, and lots of cheese, all accompanied by Giovanna’s warm conversation, stories of harvest, that never-ending smile, and bottle after bottle of her wines, capped off with a simple almond cookie called sprisolona, and a round of grappa.
What an evening! But this wasn't just a business meeting. No, we were welcomed into Giovanna's world with the generosity and warmth you'd expect from family. For Giovanna, creating moments like this is deeply personal, just like everything she does. Why else would she name the wine she makes after her children?
Today, on offer, a very special bottle of wine. Unique production method, rare and deeply personal, as indicated by the name, Ettore, after her son.
• Giovanna Tantini Ettore 2018 •
Dedicated to Giovanna’s son, Ettore is made a little like Amarone (an appellation just 12km away), though Giovanna enthusiastically stands by this wine's individuality.
At harvest, Giovanna sets bunches of Corvina grapes aside to dry for nearly 3 weeks. It is then fermented and blended with Merlot for a little plumpness and roundness. The result is a bold, complex, and intense wine unlike anything, without the overly stewed or dried fruit and mouth-puckering tannin of Amarone. The nose is bright with red fruit, complemented by exotic spices and a touch of balsamic. The palate is powerful and persistent, with silky tannin, thanks to a long bottle aging before release! That's right--Ettore always waits for a minimum of 5 years after bottling before it is released for sale. And we have just a few dozen of the mere 1000 bottles produced each year headed our way
As you can see, we don't get a lot of this wine...it is laborious to produce, and drying the grapes means dramatically reducing yield... at just about 1000 bottles annual production, this wine is rare indeed. Our allocation of just 36 bottles is set to arrive in the new year.
Sébastien & Dan