Tenuta Il Bosco Oltrenero Cuvee Brut
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Wine
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Wilfred
Wong
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Oltrepò Pavese is the land that lies just beyond the river Pò, one if Italy’s most important rivers, in the north-west Italian region of Lombardy. Oltrepò Pavese DOCG Metodo Classico (traditional method for sparkling wine production) is a specific denomination, reserved for the finest sparkling wines of Italy. Made with 100% Pinot Noir, this world-class sparkling wine is in the same class as the best Blanc de Noirs of France. It has subtle undertones of toasted bread, white flowers and pleasant hints of citrus. Fresh with focused minerality, it is an excellent aperitif and pairs well with cured meats, risotto, sushi, ceviche or grilled chicken.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of hawthorn, fleshy white-stone fruit, strawberry and a yeasty whiff of pastry dough form the nose. Bright and tangy, the palate offers apricot, yellow apple and orange zest alongside crisp acidity and a lively, refined mousse.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Tenuta Il Bosco Oltrenero Brut is elegant, refined, and beautifully balanced. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits lively beads that lead into palate flavors of light minerality and a suggestion of ripe fruit and nuttiness. Pair it with grilled white fish. (Tasted: July 9, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
Tenuta Il Bosco is situated in the Oltrepò Pavese, the area of choice for the legendary Pinot Nero variety in Italy. The origins of Tenuta Il Bosco date back to the Middle Ages, when Benedictine monks restored life to the land here following a period of abandonment. Vines have been grown in the Oltrepò Pavese for a very long time indeed, with the first written documents referring to them dating back to Pliny and to Strabo who, 40 years before Christ, passing through the area with a Roman legion wrote about the “good wine, hospitable population and very large wooden barrels.” It was in this zone, also known as “Old Piedmont,” that sparkling wines were first produced in Italy at the end of the 19th century. The great quality of Pinot Noir yields aristocratic sparkling wines produced in the Classic, or Traditional Method, where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle.
The property was purchased in 1987 by the Zonin family with only 30 hectares of vines at the time. Following years of investment by the family, today the estate has 152 hectares of vineyards. In the midst of verdant vineyards, on the outskirts of Pavia and only 40 kilometers from Milan, Tenuta Il Bosco is an ideal meeting-point for all wine lovers. The elegant and comfortable wine shop is open to wine enthusiasts who are interested in visiting the vineyards and tasting the estate’s products.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Containing an exciting mix of wine producing subregions, Lombardy is Italy’s largest in size and population. Good quality Pinot noir, Bonarda and Barbera have elevated the reputation of the plains of Oltrepò Pavese. To its northeast in the Alps, Valtellina is the source of Italy’s best Nebbiolo wines outside of Piedmont. Often missed in the shadow of Prosecco, Franciacorta produces collectively Italy’s best Champagne style wines, and for the fun and less serious bubbly, find Lambrusco Mantovano around the city of Mantua. Lugana, a dry white with a devoted following, is produced to the southwest of Lake Garda.