Jancis on Gravner, I Clivi

I thought I'd give you this extended quotation from an article Jancis Robinson wrote on her site in 2005.  Here is the link to the entire piece.  I quote this to show that Mario Zanusso, whose comments on Gravner have generated some mail and commentary, is not a whingeing wannabe but an accomplished winemaker.

There are many driven, small-scale producers in the region. Gravner’s wines are highly individual, but perhaps just a bit too individual for me. But I came across recently the wines of Ferdinando Zanusso of I Clivi in Corno di Rosazzo who has 12 hectares/30 acres of particularly old (40 to 60 year-old) vines from densely-planted hillside vineyards in both Collio and Colli Orientali which he seems to transform into the entrancing wines. He apparently leaves them for two years on lees in stainless steel before bottling – and they certainly taste super-natural. No low-temperature fermentation aromas or evidence of any extraneous yeasts. I tasted his Clivi Galea, Colli Orientali del Friuli bottling of old Verduzzo and Tocai Friulano from the vintages 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1997 the other day and was extremely impressed by all of them – even the eight year old was still going very strong and the 1999 was quite stunning for current drinking. The wines are apparently imported into the US by Kermit Lynch of Berkeley and Ballantynes of Cowbridge are considering importing them in to the UK. They say they would charge between £15 and £20 for these vintages, truly rewarding essences.

I will follow up with some of my own tasting notes and impressions in the near future.

Comments

[Marko]

Another perspective from Slovenia:

@ Jack
Antonio Galloni gave 90 - 92 points for 2002 Gravner wines. This rating is very close to what I think of Gravner wines - definitely very good to outstanding (more latter then former) wines (89 - 92) but by no means extraordinary wines (96 - 100). So far I have tasted Breg and Ribolla Gialla from 1999 to 2002 and it is very difficult for me to compare Gravner wines with the best white burgundies (Leflaive Chevalier 1999, 2000, 2002; Bouchard Montrachet 1999, 2000, 2002; even Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne 1999, 2000, 2002; not to mention Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne 1996, which I had privilege to taste a while ago). Your 10 best white wines so far?

@ Jack & Terry
Speaking of Movia and gimmicks - what do you think of Movia's Lunar and Puro? By the way here is also Jancis Robinson's opinion of Lunar (http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/20080226_1).

Regards
Marko