Today’s wine was handed to me in a glass, no bottle in sight, with the admonition that there was “no way” I was going to identify it blind. Being the Italian wine specialist around here, I often get “blinded” on Italian wines, so I was predisposed to think Italian—except that as I smelled and tasted I became convinced I was drinking a Right Bank Bordeaux with real breed.
Maybe they were throwing me a curve? Elegant, silky, mineral, persistent…this wine would not be out of place in Saint-Émilion or Pomerol, except, as it turned out, it hails from the northern Italian region of Trentino. And it only costs $24! And it’s from Cesconi, a small property I first visited 20 years ago and have followed with interest ever since. I can still picture their bucolic spot high in the hills above the Adige River, many of their vines trained on the tall pergolas so popular in Trentino and Alto Adige. Like most of their neighbors in this spectacular mountain region, the four Cesconi brothers—Lorenzo, Roberto, Alexander and Franco—are no strangers to the so-called “Bordeaux” varieties: The likes of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon have been important components of Trentino red wine for generations (perhaps most famously in the “Sassicaia of the north,” Tenuta San Leonardo). Cesconi’s 2015 “Moratèl” brilliantly melds Merlot (60%) and Cabernet with the distinctive local varieties Teroldego and Lagrein, the latter adding the perfect amount of dark-fruited, mountain-borne minerality to an otherwise silky and refined red. In addition to its obvious class, it has another thing in common with so many of the Right Bank Bordeaux we offer here—its quality for the price is astonishingly high!
Situated at about 300 meters’ elevation in the vine-carpeted hamlet of Pressano, the Cesconis have lived and farmed in the area since the 17th century. The brothers who run the estate today, along with their father, Paul, were in the midst of constructing a winery when I visited them back in 2000, and when their first wines started arriving in the US shortly thereafter, I was an early adopter: Whether it’s a white or red wine, the Cesconis can be counted on to deliver great varietal precision and cool-climate energy. Their vineyards are some of the oldest in the region, with some plots topping 100 years of age in the silty, sedimentary clays of the Trentino hills. For the “Moratèl” bottling, vine age averages 25 years; the Lagrein and Cabernet come from sites in Pressano, in siltier soils, while the Merlot hails from clay and limestone soils (insert Saint-Émilion comparison here!) further south near Lake Garda. All the Cesconi vineyards are certified organic, and only used oak barrels—mostly French oak barriques for Moratèl—are used for aging.
The 2015 Moratèl carries the “Vigneti delle Dolomiti” (“vineyards of the Dolomites”) geographic indication, or IGT, on its label, and it packs a tremendous amount of complexity into a modestly priced bottle. I was a little shocked to learn how inexpensive it is, but of course that quickly turned to delight: In the glass, the wine is a deep, bright ruby moving to magenta and pink at the rim, with perfumed aromas of blackberries, red and black currant, black plums, violets, juniper, tobacco leaf, and some meatier, Syrah-like notes of black pepper, coffee, and roasted meat I attribute to the Lagrein/Teroldego. It is medium-bodied, with beautifully fine-grained tannins and great freshness on the mid-palate—a little bit of bottle age has done it wonders, lending it tremendous persistence on the finish and broadening its aromatic profile. Decant it about 30 minutes before serving in Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees and I’m certain you’ll be mightily impressed with the result: It’s lively, it’s elegant, and it’s got the perfect dose of mineral, earthy savor for steak
au poivre or, if you’d like to be more regionally authentic with the pairing, serve a classic Italian-style
ragù over soft polenta. Just don’t pass it by—it is a really exciting find from a great family-run estate. Enjoy!
