Though most Italian white wines are produced to be drunk young, there are a few maturing wines like Batar from the Chianti Classico fine wine producer Querciabella, that age well with time and mature to gain complexity over a longer period, opines Subhash Arora
 It is a common sight to see a majority of 5-star hotels in India pouring white wines that are way beyond their peak and are already over the hill. Waking up to the importance of serving wines that are still fresh and young, many restaurants and hotels are now gradually adopting a hands-off policy for vintages older than 3 years for white wines.
Not all whites are drunk young
While this may be a good business practice for over 95% of light, young wines like Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, low-ended Chardonnay, Arneis, Pinot Bianco etc., about 3% of wines have a shelf life of 3-5 years. But there are 2% wines for whom the life begins after 3-4 years. It would be grossly unfair and short sighted to either sell such wines to the wary customers before they are really ready or block their entry at the gates.
Batàr white wine from Agricola Querciabella in Tuscany is one such glaring example. Fermented in 100% French barriques and aged for about 20 months before release, it needs to lay up for a minimum of 42 months and optimally 4 years before opening the bottle, as I found out recently.
History of Batar
Batar has seen 20 vintages undergoing name and DNA changes during this period. Born in 1988 as Bâtard-Pinot, it featured a blend of two Pinots- Bianco and Grigio. In 1992 the name was shortened to Bâtard as Chardonnay had been added to the blend. This created a legal conflict and confusion because of the existing Grand Cru wines- Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Criot-Bâtard-Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet in the villages of Puligny Montrachet and Chassagne Montrachet in Burgundy. It was changed to the present name in 1995.
Just as well. Imagine, having an Italian wine with a French name Bâtard which means 'Bastard'!
Batar has been praised to the hilt by noted wine writers like Hugh Johnson who in his Pocket Wine Book, called one of the earlier vintages of Batàr a dream of a white. Gambero Rosso pens it as the Best Tuscan White. Robert Parker takes it as sublime. Even Jancis Robinson is really enamoured with it.
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Late Giuseppe Castiglioni with Sebastiano Castiglioni & his son |
Mumbai based Vishal Kadakia who owns the Wine Park and imports Querciabella wines was ecstatic whenever he talked about this wine. I had tasted their Querciabella- Chianti Classico made from 90% Sangiovese and Camartina which is a Tuscan IGT produced from 50% Sangiovese, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot and Syrah and is produced only in good vintages; both excellent wines. But since Chianti Classico is predominantly a fine red wine region, I had not paid much attention to their only white wine in the stable.
So when I was at Vinitaly earlier this year I decided to go for a tasting of this wine. Agricola Querciabella was founded in 1974 by Giuseppe Castiglioni, an avid collector of French wines. The property is now managed and owned by Sebastiano Castiglioni. I was slightly biased towards the winery since their viticulture and wine making techniques follow strict biodynamic standards.
Tasting Batar with winemaker
Batar 2006 was up for tasting. One sip and my first impression was a white, medium full bodied Bourgogne that needs ageing. The wine had flavours of peaches and tropical fruits. But it was too tight and closed. The oak would not let go of the full flavours. It was not yet ready for drinking, I thought. Fortunately the winemaker Guido de Santi was around at the stand so I had the honour of chatting with him regarding the 14% alcohol- Batar 2006. Guido has been with the company for 20 years and knows the ins and outs of his winery and the Tuscan vines and wines.
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| Tasting with Guido de Santi-Winemaker |
'Due to climate change, the alcohol level in all our wines has increased during the last 20 years, he confided'. 'During the 1990s, for instance, the alcohol level used to be 13% in the Batar but now it is usually 14%. Similarly 20 years ago the Sangiovese wines would have about 12% alcohol. Today it is seldom less than 13.5%.'
In layman's terms, it is implicit that we need to drink 10% less wine, on the average to keep the alcohol content in our system same as 20 years ago!
'Pinot Bianco is very fat in Tuscany unlike in Alto Adige. Therefore we add Chardonnay to it,' informed Guido. Confirming my fear about the wine being too tight he said, 'this wine is too young right now and needs 3-4 years to open up. I believe it will be ready to drink in 2011. Our 2001 is ready to drink now. The 1998 Batar was ready to drink only last year'.
The 10 year old beauty with 13% alcohol took 5 seconds of my time to get a 5/5 rating- it was a perfect, harmonious, well-balanced fresh wine with acids giving it the live acidity. The fruity and citrus aromas had fully opened up. It is a serious food wine that would go well with Indian vegetarian foods and fish or poultry with sauces.Incidentally, Batar would be a great match with the Indian bater.
Waiting for 10 years to peak for a white wine; now that does create a new dimension and dilemma for our hoteliers back home as well as the consumers. To add to the complexity, many white wine labels from Italy, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and practically every part of the world make a decent number, though a very small percentage, of such fine wines.
My advice to them would be not to be single dimensional about the vintages, take a reference from the importers and check out the websites of the producers. People like me would always be glad to help.
As for the Batar, get a bottle of 3-4 year old vintage whenever you can lay a hand on it; I believe Vishal has a 2005 in stock and sells in Delhi, Gurgaon , Goa, Rajasthan and Mumbai ( where it is also available in JW Marriott, Grand Hyatt, Leela, Olive and Grand Maratha Sheraton) , and kill the white bastard. |
