Following this year’s Istituto Grandi Marchi tasting in London, which featured a masterclass on the 2004 vintage, the year that this institute was formed, Berkmann Wine Cellars hosted a lunch at two-Michelin star Alex Dilling at the Café Royal. It was an opportunity not only to taste wines from the six Grandi Marchi producers Berkmann sells and distributes in the UK, but also to help celebrate 60 years of Berkmann.
Berkmann's purchasing director, Alex Hunt MW
The company’s purchasing director, Alex Hunt MW kicked off proceedings, calling this extraordinary event “a family lunch” stressing that of the 1200 years of winemaking expertise that the Grandi Marchi represents, it is the “excellence, continuity and family-owned” essence that is key to these wine producers he described as “visionaries and leaders.”
It is hard to argue with that sentiment for, in the 20 years since these 18 estates first came together to celebrate the finest Italian wine in both their domestic market and on the international stage, they have stayed true to their aims of promoting and giving direction to it – not solely through the wines themselves but as part of wine culture in its broadest sense... and, of course, Italian cuisine.
The Grandi Marchi and the regions the wineries represent
The six producers present – Ca’ del Bosco, Jermann, Umani Ronchi, San Leonardo, Tenuta Guado al Tasso and Masi – showed current and aged wines from a variety of vintages and formats. Each of these were served alongside one of Alex Dilling’s stunning creations in what was an extension of the institute’s online content series Il Gusto Nella Sfida in which the 18 Grandi Marchi estates challenge a chef online to produce a dish to pair with a specific wine.
Exceptional wine pairing
The result was mesmerising – the wines were on song and the cuisine was exceptional – and to be sat amongst so many Italian wine buyers and sommeliers was simply a delight.
I was sat between Michele Bernetti, Umani Ronchi’s CEO, who was named Gambero Rosso’s Italian Winery of the Year 2024 and Luigi Buonanno, Berkmann’s head of sales (London) who is also a wine judge and columnist for Doctor Wine.
Larger than life: the irrepressible Luigi Buonanno, Berkmann’s head of sales (London)
The rest of the table was made up of Italian buyers whose enthusiasm for the food and wine pairing was on another level with everyone clearly gastronomes as we debated, with much hand gesticulation (!), which combination of ingredients had been used in the dishes and how.
Wine number one was Ca’ del Bosco Vintage Collection Extra Brut 2018 which was served with Canapés. This Chardonnay-led Franciacorta is world class of course, vinified in oak casks for seven months before four years secondary fermentation in bottle. The point was made that the vineyards were planted at 500-560m 25 years ago and the freshness of acidity as a result is paying off in spades. Fine, fresh, classy, wisp of smoke, wild flowers, creamy finish – yum. I can’t remember for the life of me what was in the extraordinarily complex canapés but this wine married the cornucopia of flavours with aplomb.
Next was the latest release of Jermann Vintage Tunina 2022, the pioneering blend of five international and indigenous grapes that was first launched in 1975 – all five varieties are picked on the same day, two weeks later than usual, and pressed and fermented together.
The wine is obviously complex with each variety bringing something to the party – for example, aromatics from Sauvignon Blanc, fruitiness from the Malvasia and texture and weight from the Chardonnay – and the pairing with aged Kaluga Caviar with brown crab, buttermilk and long pepper worked very well, although a later vintage of the wine would have been better to understand the real nuances of the blend.
Ageing was the key ‘take home’ of Umani Ronchi Plenio 2007 (served en magnum) – 17 years of Verdicchio no less. Whoever thought that this seminal white grape couldn’t age should have tasted this beauty, which had butterscotch nuances, texture and longevity leant by the 30% that is aged in oak (Bernetti said they are pulling back on this a little now). The wine was served with Red mullet with tomato, English pea and burrata and was one of the wines of the lunch.
The other stand-out was the new San Leonardo 2019 which is a real humdinger of a wine and will be revered for decades to come as a classic. 60% Cab Sauv, 30% Carmenère (not Cabernet Franc!) and 10% Merlot – old vine fruit, vinified in concrete, plenty of pump-overs then two years in first and second fill French oak. Oodles of ripe red cherries, blue plum, mulberry, with ripe, fine-grained tannins some spice and a pure fresh core that brings elegance and life to the wine.
Hunter chicken from Alex Dilling at Café Royal
Sensational with Hunter chicken and sauce Albuféra whose complexity would have been lost if Alex Dilling himself hadn’t come round and explained what it was and how he had made it. The San Leonardo 1999 was also generously poured and had aged sublimely but the 2019 won the day for me. You really have to check this wine out.
Alex Dilling explaining the Hunter chicken dish
The beautifully pure blackcurrant notes of the Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) in Antinori’s Tenuta Guado al Tasso Bolgheri Superiore 2021 is the main driver behind this Bolgheri blend, blessed as it is on an excellent site for the grape and a vintage that was damn near perfect in the region. The rest of the blend comprises Merlot and Cabernet Franc (20% each) with the latter increasing in share at the expense of Petit Verdot and Syrah which used to be in the wine. Spice, oak, black olives and tobacco complete the layers in this wine. The mouthfeel was young, for sure, but there was a beautiful purity to the fruit here - framed by structured, firm acidity. The 2008 showed where it can go with age and felt content and settled compared to the 2021’s almost precocious beauty. Both wines accompanied a precise tower of sous vide Brittany pigeon meat which combined perfectly.
Masi Campolongo di Torbe Amaraone Della Valpolicella 2007 (en magnum) is made through 100% natural appassimento – the berries allowed to dry for 4-5 months on bamboo racks in an old building situated in the vineyard. No technology or controls are in place – the process being 100% natural. Although there is 6 grams/ litre residual sugar in the wine, the botrytis gives the illusion of much greater sweetness in this iconic sup. Baked fruit and spice tin lead the aromatics, while the complex palate has Mon Cheri, cinnamon and vanilla. Decadent, luxurious wine that hits all the right notes. The pairing with a strong Bleu de Gex, celeriac, Granny Smith apple and hazelnut didn’t work for me as a pairing but each component was wonderful in its own right.
To the wonderful six producers and to my host Berkmann grazie mille!
