I want to apologize for the stained label of this small white wine from Piedmonte, 2007 Cogno Langhe Bianco (DOC), but this was one of my first Italian white wine finds of the year, and the bottle has been setting next to my stove top all this time. It is made from the Nascetta grape - Anas-Cëtta in the local dialect. I found it in Portland in the early spring, before I ever decided on engaging on a semi-systematic quest for small Italian whites. I jotted down a few notes and stuck them in my desk drawer. When I started posting about these small grapes, my source in Portland seemed well stocked, so I concentrated on other wines. When I was ready to write about it, I was out of luck, until this weekend at Perbacco in San Francisco.
The Langhe DOC was designated in 1994 to aid the growers of many of traditional but lesser known grapes that had become overshadowed by major grapes of the region, including the reds Nebbiolo and Barbera, as well as the whites Arneis and Cortese. The Langhe DOC region overlaps some of the more famous Piedmonte DOCG and DOC areas, such as Barolo. For white wines the DOC designated Langhe Bianco could include one or more of these designated grapes along with any of the major grapes and the just then recently introduced Chardonnay. Considered to be a native of the area, Nascetta was once a popular grape that all but disappeared.
Just prior to the creation of the Langhe DOC, Elvio Cogno, a seasoned winemaker who had been the driving force for the Marcarini Winery in the Barolo bought a nearby, rundown, estate nearby on a hillside in Novello. With the help of his son-in-law Valter Fissore, Cogno refurbished the estate and vineyards, and with a reverence to tradition and modern winemaking tools they began producing stellar wines, including a Langhe Bianco made from 100% Nascetta, the grape for which this hillside had long been known. To the best of my knowledge, Cogno is the only winemaker producing a 100% Nascetta wine - that makes three small grapes in a row with only one producer, including Torbato in Sardinia and Roscetto in Lazio.
I had forgotten that it was the 2007 Cogno Anas-Cëtta that I enjoyed this spring when I ordered the 2006 at Perbacco to drink with our Crudo of Santa Barbara Ridgeback Prawns, a Salumi Misti that included no less than nine house-cured items and a Crispy Trotter Cake. Similar to the 2007, the 2006 vintage had a ‘shy’ nose, and this was compounded by the fact that as with most restaurants in this country Perbacco serves its whites too cold. I seem to recall that the 2007 didn’t truly open up until the second day, and I would definitely recommend decanting even the newest vintage (2008). After it began to open the 2006 was more austere than the 2007, with a nose that leaned more toward the floral, citrus, green herb - the 2007 also had light notes of honey and yellow stone fruit. This was also the case on the palate, with loads of citrus wrapped around a minerality that some describe as ‘white pepper,’ but this austerity made it perfect for all of the richness in our starters. The 2007 had a much richer open on the palate with floral notes, hints of honey and stone fruit and most of the citrus confined to the long finish. This wine is fermented partially in steel and partially in wood and then aged for a year in part in steel and then in oak before being bottle aged for three months. This wine clearly sees more oak than any of the other small whites I’ve tasted in the last year, but unlike say, the Roscetta, the oak does not seem to dominate the grape in anyway, and for me that is skilled wine making.
PS: I have created a summary chart of the small whites I’ve tasted and a photo album of the labels for those who are interested.
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