Tasting Reggio Emilia

Where the Apennine ends, on the slopes of a soft ridge on which a non specified entrepreneur produces conventional wine, stands the small Cà de Noci, a winery in the province of Reggio Emilia which produces following organic regulations, even though in this case perhaps one could say they’re following and organic “choice”, rather than regulation. Alberto Masini, an architect who has preferred designing vines and vineyards – together with his brother Giovanni – instead of buildings and construction sites, welcomes us in the patio in front of the winery in a friendly way. The family home, named after their walnut forest, is next door and it doesn’t take long to understand that, here, vineyards are a family matter. Two guys who arrived before us are already tasting their white wines and seem perfectly at ease.

"There’s no water here, there are no wells. And we don’t even bring any water". Vines are plants that know how to look after themselves, more than we would imagine. The vines of spergola, lambrusco, malbo gentile, sgavetta, cabernet sauvignon, moscato and malvasia aromatica need to make do with the rain. "Over here, vintages are very different from each other". And we believe them, since if the ground and the vines are forced to work for themselves, what they will manage to produce will greatly depend on the conditions in which they can “work”. After mentioning two difficult topics such as downy mildew and powdery mildew, we understand the importance of grass, which is almost a side-cultivation to vine. "We never cut it, only when it starts to dry up and it gets up to our knees, in June. And we leave it on the ground so it can act as a natural shield for the ground. Grass is good for the vineyard because it recalls and it transmits some elements and organisms which invigorate it".

Having returned to the patio, nature follows its flow even in human dynamics. The young man turning his back to us, whom we hadn’t particularly noticed, was Andrea Ugolotti, a young but very experienced sommelier we met a few weeks earlier in Villa Favorita during a tasting of wines from volcanic soil which he guided. While the first encounter had been curt and seasoned with excessive extremism, in front of Riserva dei Fratelli '09 (refermented in bottle), made with spergola grapes, the impetuosity of the previous small and tasteless scoops leaves place to the illustration of his life and his passion, with no attention given to roles to be defended or coalitions that need to be respected.

Andrea is a free spirit, one who left the dining room of ultra-conventional starred restaurants to produce wines in the fields. And, to be honest, this is not really natural, at least not now. More than faithful to a philosophy, after having drunk with him, he appeared faithful to a line of vines, and the same goes for Alberto and his brother with their own favourites. The result of this approach is in the wines which we enjoyed over a visit that lasted longer than two hours and that made us feel like old friends.

The '06 Querciole spergola, re-fermented in bottle, impresses thanks to its fruity recalls of apple skin. "There’s a kind of oxidation which is an expression of wine". Andrea speaks with moderation, which perhaps surprises him too. One must say that this white wine, despite not being perfectly round, is full of character. The Gheppio, a red wine made with cabernet sauvignon and malbo gentile grapes, is again an extreme wine.

Alberto offers us a 2007 and a 2005 vintage. According to Andrea the 2005 was perfect, in our opinion it was border line with sorry-this-wine-has-something-wrong. The 2007 vintage, on the other hand, had some plum notes and appeared to be much more balanced. Did we start to quarrel? Not at all, in fact we agreed to meet for another drink while we agreed in praising the surprising passito Aresco made with Moscato, Malvasia aromatica and spergola grapes. Hardly honey-sweet, in fact almost dry, it’s an acrobat, balanced between the sweetness of a dehydrated apricot and the minerality of the soil. Without even calling each other we agreed to let nature take its course and let us meet again in some other winery. Ok, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, we could text each other, after all.

Ca' de Noci
via Fratelli Bandiera, 1/2
Vendina
Quattro Castella (Reggio Emilia)
+39.0522.282321