Discovering the Wines of Colonnara

"Wine makes all things possible." George R. R. Martin, the Mystery Knight

Once upon a time in a small hill town in Italy's Le Marche region, there lived 19 wine makers.  The war that ravaged their homeland had ended, and they were trying to rebuild their lives and their wineries.  And then, out of the darkness  an idea came to light.  The 19 small producers decided to join together to create a cooperative.  Their cooperative, Cantina Sociale di Cupramontana, founded in the small hill town of Cupramontana in 1959, is today the Colonnara winery.  During its 50 plus years of wine making history,  Colonnara has grown to include nearly 200 producers spanning the length of the Marche region from the province of Pesaro/Urbino in the north to the southern province of Ascoli Piceno.  Today, Colonnara, one of the regions largest and most respected wineries, makes well over 1 million bottles of wine per year and 25% of their production is sparkling wines. 

A view of the beautiful hill town of Cupramontana in the province of Ancona, Le Marche, Italy

What ignited my desire to visit Colonnara on a clear, cold Thursday morning was my knowledge that they are a pioneer in the making of sparkling wines from the verdicchio grape. ( In a prior post I mentioned their Ubaldo Rosi sparkling wine made in the classic champagne method that has been recognized as the third best sparkling wine produced in Italy and the best south of the Po river. )  So, at 11:30 a.m. following our weekly Italian lesson, my husband, Jim, and I piled into our little Alpha Romeo Mito and headed off to Cupramontana with our friend, Cristina, whose husband Massimiliano is the winery President. 

We arrived at the winery in Cupramontana, the capital of the Castelli dei Jesi DOC,  around noon.  There a complex of diverse buildings, including a very large red and white stripped silo, boast panoramic views to the sea.  Cristina directed us to the cantina where we met Emiliano, the Export Director, who would be our tour guide.  Our first stop on the tour was the warehouse.  Here large quantities of wine were boxed and ready for distribution, but this was merely a diversion along the way to the cellars.  A room sized elevator took us down under the warehouse to a naturally temperature controlled place.  It's arched ceiling and mood lighting created an atmosphere of peace and harmony.  In this tranquil room the wines relax until they are ready for consumption.

The Colonnara cellar where red, white and sparkling wines age peacefully

As we walked through the large cellar, Emiliano pointed out an antique piece of sparkling wine making equipment displayed along one wall and gave us a brief history lesson in the making of sparkling wines.  Apparently 100 years ago a machine added carbon dioxide to the still wine inside the bottle to create the bubbles of a sparkling wine.  Of course, back then wine bottles were not as well constructed as they are today and many bottles exploded during the process - thus the need for a shield around the bottle. 

A 100 year old machine used to infuse wine with carbon dioxide to produce a sparkling effect

Back in the cantina, Jim and I along with Cristina and Massmiliano (who had joined us in the cellar) were ready to taste a few examples of Colonnara's sparkling wine.  The selections would be a brut made by the charmat or bulk method in which the second fermentation takes place in the steel tanks and the Luigi Ghislieri, a wine made in the classic champagne method where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle.  Both of these wines are made from 100% verdicchio grapes.  Verdicchio, the wine produced in the Castelli dei Jesi DOC area, is a white wine made from an ancient grape variety of the same name whose lineage some claim can be traced back to Roman times.  However, documented production in Le Marche is recorded back to the 1300s.  While still relatively unknown in America, Verdicchio is recognized by wine critics as one of the best white wine varieties in Italy. Verdicchio wines are characterized by a balanced acidity with flavors of lemon and grapefruit and maybe even bitter almonds.  But aging of the sparkling Verdicchio by the classic champagne method creates a more mellow pallet, and the wines  generally exhibit flavors of honey and almonds and even bread crust.  Verdicchio is a versatile grape whose rich acidity makes it particularly good for sparkling wine production.  In Italy, the still wines made from the Verdicchio  grape are extolled as the best wine for fish, and they are also an excellent accompaniment for white meat or other delicately flavored dishes. 

The verdicchio grape so named because of the greenish color

So now, it was time for the part of this adventure that we were anxiously awaiting - tasting some of the Colonnara sparkling wines.  Our first taste would be the Brut Verdicchio made by the charmat method (or martinotti as it is called in Italy).  As Emiliano poured the very pale yellow liquid into the glasses, I watched the energetic bubbles float rapidly to the surface.  I lifted the glass to my nose and inhaled the recognizable fresh and fruity scent of Verdicchio.  In the mouth, the fruit flavor comes across, but the typical citrus notes are somewhat mellowed by a bit of peach or almond.  I liked this wine.  I could imagine this competing with Prosecco for me as an excellent aperitif.  It is much lighter than champagne and very easy to drink.  As Prosecco, it scores at the top on my gulpability scale.     

Tasting the wines - Massmiliano, me, Cristina and Emiliano, our tour guide

Next, came the Luigi Ghislieri.  A wine that Colonnara began to produce in 2010.  It is one of their top sparkling wines and is dedicated to the Cooperative Chairman who in the 1970s restored the Cupramontana tradition of sparkling wine making.  This wine, made in the traditional champagne method, is bottle aged for no less than 30 months.  When we toured with Emiliano, he mentioned that one striking difference between wines made by the charmat method  and the champagne method is in the resulting perlage (the bubbles).  And now observing the brut and the Luigi Ghislieri back to back it is obvious that the bubbles in the Ghislieri are very much smaller.  Rather than bursting from the glass as in the Brut, they float with a mature dignity to the top.  The nose exudes warmer scents of honey and almond.  And the taste is elegant and soft with little trace of the acidity so typical of verdicchio.  This is a wine to be sipped slowly and savored, a more complex wine, a wine to think about.  I think about serving it with a baked salmon filet, and I cringe when I am forced to pour some of it out into the bucket so I can taste a still white wine for everyday drinking. 

Luigi Ghislieri, aged in the bottle for a minimum of 30 months

Colonnara Brut, a fresh sparkling aged in steel tanks

When the tasting was done and the purchases made, Jim and I headed back to the Alpha for the return trip home to Poggio San Marcello.  But on the road, the Ghislieri haunted me, and the taste remained on my pallet.  Now, I brooded as I considered waiting an entire week before I can share the Ghislieri with our 12 dinner guests next weekend.  I guess I should have bought an extra bottle just for me.

 Live and learn and enjoy some Italian sparkling wine.

You can find the Luigi Ghislieri sparkling wine for sale in the US on Amazon.com.  Here is the link  http://www.amazon.com/Colonnara-Cuvee-Ghislieri-Metodo-Classico/dp/B00GMLRRRK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424613800&sr=8-1&keywords=luigi+ghislieri.   

For more information about the Colonnara winery and their other products, visit them on line at www.colonnara.it.