Le Sincette, Chiaretto DOC, Italy; Where Have you Been All of My Life?

UPDATE:

Thanks to Jane Nichols, a reader of this blog, she sent an update to me, regarding La Sincette’s appellation:

I was so interested in the wine you wrote about that I did a bit of research and happened to find out….the appellation of the wine is actually the Valtènesi  DOC…which (amazingly/confusedly) has been discontinued as of 2017 when this happened: the Vigneti Valtènesi Riviera del Garda Bresciano DOC, Valtènesi DOC, and the Classico subzone of Garda DOC were combined as Riviera del Garda Classico DOC. Technically, Riviera del Garda Bresciano DOC was renamed, and it absorbed the other two. As of June 2017, the Valtènesi DOC no longer exists as a separate DOC, but is considered part pf the Riviera del Garda Classico DOC. The Garda DOC still exists, but without the Classico subzone. (Information via the brilliant Italian Wine Central website).

As you read below,

I will remember Le Sincette… Why?

1. Because I got to taste this 12.5 percent alcohol wine, with two varieties from Italy I had never heard of, and were used in this most unusual Le Sincette blend:
2. Namely, the indigenous, Italian varieties of Groppello and Marzemino. (More about them further down in this story.)
3. I got to add two new varieties to my Wine Century list, bring me to 175 varieties tasted in my life time of wine.
4. This wine was a highlight for me, because it reminded me of journalist and wine writer Kevin Begos’ book Tasting The Past, and that’s what we were all doing.

So many mental connections to this wine were made, so there are now many triggers for my memory of Le Sincette.

When we explore why wine traveling in the world gives us much better cognitive references, experts have come to define that there are more memory connections made there, and that’s to our advantage. The more connections, the easier it is to recall more exact details. Seems simple enough, and yet when do we ever focus on what makes our brains work better and quicker? Memories are not simply a spelling word connection with no context. Experiences become memories with history connections, and we can then recall what the tasting experience was all about, for some even the exact taste. (I’m not that good at it, until I taste the wine again a few more times.)

From, The Human Memory:

After consolidation, long-term memories are stored throughout the brain as groups of neurons that are primed to fire together in the same pattern that created the original experience, and each component of a memory is stored in the brain area that initiated it (e.g. groups of neurons in the visual cortex store a sight, neurons in the amygdala store the associated emotion, etc). Indeed, it seems that they may even be encoded redundantly, several times, in various parts of the cortex, so that, if one engram (or memory trace) is wiped out, there are duplicates, or alternative pathways, elsewhere, through which the memory may still be retrieved.

THE WORLD OF WINE IS ON OUR DOORSTEPS

The sample of La Sincette was provided to Wine-Blog for possible inclusion in a story. This Le Sincette, Chiaretto DOC, Italy. [According to Jane Nichols above: the appellation of the wine is actually the Valtänesi DOC] definitely qualifies on the level of being unique. It’s grown in the heart of Brescia’s traditional wine-growing region. But, it’s also on our doorstep for a wine being sold in the US. You, too, can taste from that far away!

PREFACE 

1. HEART ~ THE WINERY: This information came from the wineries’ notes.
2. SCIENCE ~ WINEMAKING ~ From the winery.
3. SOUL ~ Jo’s Musings

HEART

Le Sincette is the name of the plots on which the vineyards and olive groves are cultivated. It is individual and unmistakable, bearing positive connotations through the reference to something precious and gracious.

The estate of Le Sincette is located in the municipality of Polpenazze del Garda (Brescia), at Picedo, in the area known as Valtenesi, a land of glacial moraine hills, and southwest of Lake Garda’s Brescian shore. In the heart of Brescia’s traditional wine-growing area, it enjoys a mild climate. The estate covers a total of 86 acres: 27 acres of vineyards and 12 acres of olive groves. The rest is land cultivated with a rotation of Alfalfa, wheat, and barley.

SIDE NOTE 

It’s located where?  Polpenazze del Garda is a comune (financial location) in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, northern Italy. It is situated near the western shore of Lake Garda.

[PHOTO: Rodica Ciorba]

Okay, DEEPER

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA: Brescia, Latin Brixia, city Lombardia (Lombardy) region, in the Alpine foothills of northern Italy at the lower end of the Val (valley) Trompia, east of Milan. It originated as a Celtic stronghold of the Cenomani that was occupied by the Romans c. 200 BC; the emperor Augustus founded a civil colony there in 27 BC. Plundered by Attila the Hun in 452, it later became the seat of a Lombard duchy. In the 11th century it became an independent commune, and it was active in the Lombard League from 1167. After falling to the tyrant Ezzelino da Romano in 1258, it was held successively by the Veronese Scaliger family and the Milanese Visconti before passing to Venice in 1426. Read More

GOOGLE MAP

SCIENCE/GROWING WINEMAKING

Mission
We are a small company on the shores of Lake Garda. Thanks to our daily hard work and nature’s gifts, we seek to produce a unique wine. This bestows wonderful sensations on those who know how to respect nature and its rhythms, and who love quality of life, simplicity and balance.

This Rosé is a blend of Groppello, Marzemino, and Barbera. All of the varieties in this blend are from biodynamic cultivation. The production philosophy of Le Sincette wines is based on respect for the balance of nature, and inspired by the principles identified by Rudolf Stainer, founder of the biodynamic approach to agriculture. This involves environmental ethics: the complete exclusion of fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and synthetic fungicides; protection of the land extended to all forms of life (biodiversity).

The BLEND: Groppello, Marzemino, and Barbera.

• EASY: Barbara, plenty of it grown in California.  From Wine Folly: if you don’t know about this Italian variety.
• NOT SO EASY: Groppello. From Wine-searcher.com: Groppello is a red-wine grape variety grown all along the southwestern side of Lake Garda in northern Italy. The Garda DOC that makes use of the variety straddles the regional border between Lombardy and Veneto, and is one of very few DOCs to cross over from one region to another. This may seem very forward-looking and collaborative (it should not be forgotten that Italian regional unity was only achieved in the late 19th Century), but divisions remain: on the Veneto side of the border, Groppello retains its local name, Rossignola.
• NOT EASY AT ALL: Marzemino.  From Wine-searcher.com: Marzemino is a late-ripening, dark-skinned grape variety grown mainly in Trentino-Alto Adige but also in the Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna wine regions of Italy… Marzemino’s most prestigious role is as the key ingredient (95 percent) in the sweet Colli di Conegliano Refrontolo passito wines, for which grapes are dried out in the winery (traditionally on straw mats) for weeks or even months after harvest. In Lombardy it is almost never used for varietal wine, but is instead blended with the likes of Sangiovese, Barbera and Merlot, notably in the wines of the Capriano del Colle and Botticino DOCs.

[PHOTO: 소희 김]

SOUL

The art on the label totally gives it away, in so many ways. And, this is a biodynamic wine, details here by VinePair.

The official definition of biodynamic farming according to the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association is “a spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture, gardens, food production and nutrition.” Biodynamic wine is made with a set of farming practices that views the farm or vineyard as one solid organism. The ecosystem functions as a whole, with each portion of the farm or vineyard contributing to the next. The idea is to create a self-sustaining system. 

While biodynamic might seem sketchy to those not connected to their core intuition, it’s the most primal way of feeling nature, acting and reacting. Did you know, for instance, that ancient ancestors used travel the seas for long journeys, with only their own biological compasses. Between the skies visuals, handed down for so many generations of time, and wooden charts they created, they “knew” where land was, because they also followed cloud formations… Clouds were always formed over land.

So, that intuition is brought back, with rhymes, reasons, and rituals. It just makes perfects sense to me. I rely heavily on intuition. Tasting a wine that’s only 5-percent alcohol let’s me know that this is an excellent appetizer wine, for a long night of indulging, or swapping off to it, when you know you’ve just about had enough.

It’s also a perfect wine from a wine initiate.

[PHOTO: Brent Hofacker]

Among the crowd, remember Le Sincette for any of the reasons listed above.

• Appetizers
• Swapping off to something lighter, as you are winding down from a long night of indulging
• You’re just starting out and you really want to enjoy wine

Find it in that crowd, it will be worth your time, energy, and pairing with your favorite foods… All of these wines are wonderful, by the way. I’ve enjoyed each of them and they are to follow.