Clivi "Galea" rosso 2000, D.O.C. Collio Orientali del Friuli.

Winescout.info Original & exciting wines from producers who deserve it to be better known

Navigation bar is missing? Please click home

and learn more about winescout.info - other original and exciting wines, criteria, opinions and updates.

Clivi "Galea" rosso 2000, D.O.C. Collio Orientali del Friuli

Color: dark and sombre reddish-brown.
Nose: very expressive, very mature and "old fashioned" with loads of etherical, earthy, phenolic nuances, mushrooms, leather, farmyard, smoke, graphite, herbs, cedar, "wet stones", elegant and remarkably fresh, complex, reminding me of an old fashioned classical, earthy, "cool vintage" classy Bordeaux with restrained fruit produced in the seventies of the previous century.
Taste: intense, very aromatic, but medium strong structure, very fresh acidity, medium body, good, classical, but also ripe and mature tannins, some alcohol, many earthy, mineral and nearly chalky impressions, smoke, wood (phenolic), mushrooms, spices, herbs, some distant fruit. The structure is more Burgundian (less tight and compact) in style than Bordeaux, aromatics on the other hand, are very clearly Bordeaux-like. The intense freshness evokes associations with Cabernets from the Loire. Quite impressive quality though.
Finish: very intense, very, very long, mature, with loads of earthy and phenolic nuances, mushrooms, smoke, manure, minerals, strong classical but mature tannins, fresh acidity, some alcohol, spices and herbs.

* An intense and expressive, mature and super classical wine: an intriguing mix of an earthy, classy Bordeaux (aroma's) with loads of phenolic and mature impressions of mushrooms, earth, cedar, farmyard and smoke and a structure of a classical Burgundy (less compact and tight than Bordeaux) combined with the elegance and remarkably freshness of a high quality Cabernet from the Loire. A wine from another era in the style of the 1970-ties, 100% naturally produced from very old Merlots, an absolute rarity.

- Drink this wine somewhere between now and 2010, it is not a keeper.

- This wine like the other (white) wines from I Clivi comes from another world. It is so different from the mainstream high quality wines so fashionable today. There is no sexy oak, no obvious fruit, but there is an immense quantity of mature and old fashioned aroma's so common in old wines of before the 1980-ties. This wine is all about terroir, but that also makes it very difficult to understand. It has three faces: Bordeaux, Burgundy and Loire. The Merlot grape is responsible for its Bordeaux-like character, I assume the climate and maybe the soils sign for the Burgundy-touch and the freshness of the Loire impression might originate from a chalky soil and or the specific climate in 2000. I do not know, but to me this wine is both fascinating and confusing. I can not help expecting to taste a Bordeaux structure because of its aroma's but I am presented with a mix of the etherical, hefty style and freshness which I associate with good- very good Burgundy and Loire-reds.

This wine is made from very old and low yielding Merlot vines, vinified and matured with as little as possible intervention, indigenous yeasts and maturation in used (not new) barriques, unfiltered bottling, vineyard care without synthetic sprays or herbicides, in fact organic practice, but not registered as such. Let's be glad there still are passionate winegrowers and wine makers following their own route to quality. What they produce never can be cheap, but tasting or drinking such a wine you can not but conclude you get an impressive amount of value for your money .