| |
The Greatest Feeling (con't from Home page)
Consider Recioto-Master Tommaso Bussola, who, along with Giuseppe Quintarelli and Romano Dal Forno, is the Veneto?s top producer of Valpolicella, Amarone and Recioto. Essentially a one-man operation, Bussola spent an entire day pinned beneath a tractor in his vineyard before his wife, Daniela, and a group of friends realized that he was missing and set out late in the evening to find him. Tommaso and Daniela joke about it now, but you cannot understate the perils of working an entire winery by yourself. In fact, as I drove up to his winery in Negrar last April, Bussola was operating a forklift, quite masterfully I might add, as he loaded an order bound for New York onto a truck.
On its face, it seems simple. You grow grapes, you crush grapes, you ferment the juice, put it in a bottle and ship it off. How hard is it to make wine? Many people make it in their basements. If you go by the mass produced generic offerings that seem to dominate the market, it is not that hard. But these generic wines are not made by winemakers. They are manufactured by lab techs under the direction of marketing departments, board rooms and shareholders. The real winemakers are farmers and artists who take a tremendous amount of pride in creating wines of personality and passion. The glamour is not a jet-set lifestyle or selling wine to movie stars, but instead getting their hands (and arms, and faces, and clothes) dirty to create unique and distinctive wines that can be enjoyed and appreciated by the consumer.
So you still think you want to be a winemaker? Well, they come in all shapes, sizes and personalities. The good ones all seem to have a Zen-like confidence. Take Pablo Harri. Perhaps the most under-rated winemaker in Italy, the shy and humble Harri of Montalcino?s Col D?Orcia is adamant that his job is simply not to mess up what has been accomplished in the vineyard. Every winemaker I have ever met has ranked good vineyard management as the most important controllable factor (Mother Nature being the uncontrollable factor) in making a good bottle of wine. Harri?s philosophy is to try and transfer the grape to the bottle, losing as little as possible in the process. "The quality is in the grapes, the less you lose, the more you have in the final wine." Oldfield is more succinct, "It?s the grapes, stupid."
Upon graduating with a business degree, Oldfield grew tired of selling dresses at Macy?s and landed a job in the tasting room of Sonoma winery Rodney Strong. A harvest spent in the lab proved to be the impetus for her future career. She attended UC Davis, met her Canadian Husband-to-be Ken, and they both ultimately found their way to the Okanagan as co-owners of Tinhorn along with Calgary oilman Bob Shaunessy. She is an extremely down to earth person and it shows in her wines. Oldfield strongly believes that wine is simply a beverage to be enjoyed. By elevating its importance, the average wine drinker becomes intimidated. Almost all of Oldfield?s wines retail for under $20 a bottle. She is doing her part to ensure that good value and quality wines are readily accessible to the everyday consumer. Her favourite part of the job, and the most crucial, is deciding when to pick the grapes, perhaps the only decision she makes entirely on her own. Outgoing and possessing a great sense of humour, Oldfield loves speaking with consumers, but she cannot stand "stuffy" winemakers events where the people are too intimidated to ask questions or converse with her. The toughest part of her job is the criticism that comes with the territory. She likens it to an artist standing incognito at a showing of her works, having to listen to both the positive and negative reviews of her art. Although Oldfield has acquired a thicker skin over the years, she combats the criticism by just trying to make better wine year after year.
Pablo Harri studied agriculture at Zurich University in Switzerland. When it was time for him to decide his path, he had to choose between potatoes, cattle and wine. Fortunately, for everyone, he made the right choice. (Although, knowing Harri, he would have excelled in whatever path he chose).
He worked under the legendary Ezio Rivella at Banfi, until Rivella?s retirement, when Harri moved , quite literally, across the road to Col D?Orcia. It seems that there is nothing of the winemaking process that Harri doesn?t love. To him the hardest parts, vintage variation and the limited time frame in which the grapes must be picked during harvest, are also the most exciting. In fact, he is humbled and inspired by the opportunity to allow people to "taste the weather of each vintage" in the glass. If there is an abundance of sun, you should be able to taste the ripe fruit. If there has been too much rain, the wine may not be as concentrated, but it can be more elegant. Harri?s only frustration are people who produce and market commercially motivated wines that lack passion and identity.
More of a Jack (or rather Jacomo) of all trades was Tommaso Bussola before finally committing to the wine industry. He studied structural engineering and worked in everything from a shoe factory to a plastics manufacturing company to a friend?s pizzeria. His uncle Giuseppe Bussola owned a winery and Tommaso, after briefly working for him, reached a deal with him to become partners. Upon marrying Daniela in 1985, Tommaso was given total control of the winery by his then 81 year old uncle. Bussola continued to make wine in virtual anonymity until the mid 1990's when Amarone legend Giuseppe Quintarelli tasted Bussola?s wine.
Quintarelli was amazed as he had no idea that Tommaso was creating wine of such high quality. Sometime later, British wine journalist and retailer Nicolas Belfrage, while visiting Quintarelli, asked who else in the region was producing great wine. Quintarelli recommended Bussola and in 1997, Tommaso sent 5 cases, his first to be exported, to England. Truly a warm and gentle man, Bussola enjoys the simple pleasures of life. His family, his wines, a good game of foosball (he beat me 3-2), and good food give him comfort. His quiet zest for life is evident in the care he takes to create his wines.
Long maceration periods (68-78 days) - fermenting with the stems to add tannin structure, but aging the wines long enough prior to release to allow the resulting green-ness to dissipate - and cutting production per vine to as little as 2 or 3 bunches all contribute to wines of incredible concentration, complexity, structure and elegance. His biggest concern is having every cent he owns (including a lot of the bank?s money) invested in a 15 hectare property he recently purchased to add to his existing 9 hectares. His challenge is to increase production, maintain quality, make the payments on the property, and keep his wife Daniela happy.
Although they possess very different personalities and backgrounds, Oldfield, Harri and Bussola share the traits of passion, patience, perfectionism, industriousness, and humility. They view the difficulties they face as challenges, uncertainty as variety, and extreme vintage variation as an opportunity to learn. And through all the hardships, they can?t imagine doing anything else. |
|
