Wine as a true friend: Lazzari?s Bastian Contrario

2017-02-22 ?I can?t help agreeing with French geographer and historian Roger Dion when he says that wine is man?s friend, chosen for millennia ? wherever possible ? out of preference or sensorial empathy,? says Paolo Tegoni, a professional sommelier, expert on European wine-growing districts and oenological consultant of a number of Italian winemakers.
?It is a friend who gives us pleasure and invites us to share, with respect for the people who make it and the cultural value it represents; especially if it is a rare friend, met in a little-known wine-making district.?
Little-known places like the one Tegoni describes today, south of the province of Brescia, under the name Capriano del Colle, located above Monte Netto. Just one hundred and thirty metres above sea level, this gentle slope gets its name, “Netto”, because it is perfectly flat, representing a niche terroir where Lazzari has been growing grapes since the late nineteenth century.
?In the estate?s own organic Feniletti and Brede cru vineyards, red Sangiovese, Barbera, Marzemino and Merlot grapes are grown and are combined - in different percentages – l’ to create "Adagio Capriano del Colle Rosso” and a more refined version classified under the same denomination of origin, called “Riserva degli Angeli”.?
But white grape varietals also grow in the firm red clay of this low plateau: ?Chardonnay, and Trebbiano, harvested later, are combined to create fresh, pleasing “Fausto Capriano del Colle Bianco”.?
Davide Lazzari, the brave young grower, accompanied Paolo ?on a walk through the Guyot-trained Trebbiano vines, which are actually Verdicchio vines, and they find themselves in ideal terrain here, just as in Jesi and Matelica?.
With the most precious bunches of these grapes ? ?collected when slightly overripe, towards the end of October, often covered with a patina of noble rot? - Davide makes a wine called “Bastian Contrario”, an Italian expression with much the same meaning as ?the devil?s advocate? in English. ?It?s a Capriano del Colle Bianco Superiore, fermented partly in wood and partly in steel. It is then left to mature sur lie fine for about twelve months, during which it is subjected to enriching batônage.?
About a thousand bottles of Bastian Contrario are made every year, and, ?like a true enfant terrible, they face a lengthy refinement in the bottle?.
And so here is the friend Tegoni was looking for in this niche territory in Italy with its discrete, unostentatious Genius Loci of winemaking: ?tasting the 2014 vintage, I found Bastian Contrario to be sleek and brilliant. In the same way, I appreciated its mouth-filling qualities and extremely elegant flavour. Of course it has not yet reached its full expressiveness, but, true to its name, it will play the devil?s advocate by continuing to offer us an ever-new sensorial experience every time we taste it over the years.?

Mariagrazia Villa

Photos: Paolo Tegoni (3)
In the photo taken in the winery: from left to right, Giovanni, Davide, Fausto, Giordano and Dario Lazzari