Guerrieri Rizzardi, Montebaldo Bardolino, Delara, 2022

Empty Points Tre Riccio                                

"What are you drinking now that you're out of the trade?" Toby's faithful words that clearly landed harder than intended [gestures to the trappings of another bloody wine blog]. A moments reflection on it and it's obvious in many ways I have gone back to square one but with years of hindsight on my back. 

What I am falling for all over again is classic, well-made wines on one hand and people pushing outside of tradition and delivering well-made wines. It's well-made wines, that's what I am falling for. 

With the benefit of hindsight, and maybe a long stint watching the UK Craft Beer Scene often eating itself with terrible quality control in the pursuit of fervently denied but categorical homogeneity, I do not yearn for the fashionable. It would be too easy and lazy to level the wine equivalent criticism squarely at natural wine (mind though, a couple of glasses in my mental work ethic will dip to the required depleted levels). The truth is, lots of wine isn't well made, and yet it fills a very noble role of selling the people what they want. That could be semi fermented, characteristically off wine or it could be price led, tank space clearing bulk wine with a faux-trendy label. Both have their place. Let folks drink what they want. It's about how much it matters to the person swirling the glass.

For me though, after years of poking my head up from a laptop of e-mails haggling over pennies on a HL of beer, one thing I used to poke at has stuck. "What's the point of this?". It's remarkable, that when you ask the people making your drink, or even just yourself, this how often you'll realise, there really isn't any point to a lot of the slop (good and bad) out there. Often at best, it's a pale imitation of someone else's work, an ode to better peers - a bit pathetic, but there are worse crimes. It could be a question that has blissfully not been asked, all questions of why a distance loser to a balance sheet stacking up to look healthy while some poor fools liver sits on the other side of the scales to tally. It's a drug all this alcohol, and it can be a particularly nasty one - we need to derive some meaning from it.

How about a wine that's exploring the incredible terroir of a major lake side region within mountains rising up into the alps - that's sounding like a reason. A winery that walks tradition and sensible development hand in hand - again, that's sounding like a reason.

The Wine                                

Bardolino, a Corvina focused DOC that offers, refreshing wines that reward youthful consumption, there's some staying power, but not much - and that would miss the point. Recently they have designated three crus within the the region; La Rocca, Sommacampagna, and importantly here - Montebaldo. 

The point? To show the unique characters that sit under the umbrella of the DOC which produces some of the most chic takes on "fun playful" wine.

Guerrieri Rizzardi are a family with an inordinately long and starry history in the Veneto, and what feels fitting is that the wines capture a sense of this. They are not afraid of change or continuous improvement, but it has to make sense. Ten years ago the winery in Bardolino was driving toward renewable energy, the introduction of modern techniques and approaches well embraced at this point, but none of this has ever been driven at homogenising the wine. Everything makes sense, it has a point all their wines are about telling the story of the Veneto. A Cru Bardolino from people like this? That's a fine good reason to have vinified these grapes. 

I popped a slight chill on this, and the nose threw every classic youthful note that Corvina can throw. And yes - Maraschino Cherry's abounded, in a frivolous romp. That wasn't all, touches of strawberry, a very soft mint/basil herbaceous note, and a refine note of pepper. Despite the chill - the aromatics were a chorus, there was no way this wine was going quietly, and all was done in good order - no cacophony of chaos, strictly organised fun - if only organised fun held a candle to this. The palate was light, and fresh, the acidity was in a good place, I'd say about medium. It's a lively fresh cuvee, but there's some depth of character that lifts it - if you've ever had good single origin high cacao content chocolate you'll know that 85% cacao chocolate's not bitter and harsh - it's an ever flowing and ebbing flavour of all the fruit and classic flavours of chocolate. This is soft, fruit confident wine with enough pepper bite and chocolate complexity to really dance the line of fun and serious expertly. It does in it a joyful character of corvina that is singing just now. It simultaneously offers more than just the primary fruit, that reminds you just how serious this youthful wine is. Drink now, find more. Absolutely one of the nicest expression of my favourite thing to drink that I have had in a frighteningly long time. 

Where'd I get it?                                

Bizarrely, I got this reduced to clear for £16 from Drinkmonger, Edinburgh. I cannot understand why you would want this off your shelf for any reason other than the next vintage. 

It's normally £20 a bottle and I cannot fault a single penny of that price point. A search results for it turns up the Secret Bottle Shop. 

Show me the Bottle

Thanks for ogling my fine words my good friends - Robert