The wines produced by Marco Buvoli, in Gambugliano, about 10 kilometers northwest of Vicenza, in the Castellari Mountains, between the Lessini and the Berici, have been for about fifteen years one of the most prestigious expressions of Italian sparkling Pinot Noir. Marco, on the other hand, is the son of Nevio Buvoli, one of the first Italian sommelier, who trained him to recognize the difference between a mediocre wine, a simply good one and an excellent one. Despite this passion has remained hidden for a long time, in the second half of the 90s began to take shape, thanks to the management of a hectare of land of Conegliano wine institute, cultivated with Pinot Noir, a grape variety that Marco had always preferred.
The first harvest dates back to 2001, when Marco was still divided between the vineyard and the commercial work in the automotive sector, thanks to which he had the opportunity to travel the world and, in his free time, to visit the most important wineries and farms, studying its characteristics and filling notebooks with notes. Gradually, also thanks to the achievement of economic independence with the work in the vineyard, Marco began to reduce the time devoted to his first employment, until he abandoned it permanently in 2015 to devote himself to his land that, in the Meanwhile, become 7 hectares, distributed in the hilly area between Vicenza and Padua.
The agronomic practices adopted were soon converted to the biological approach and, subsequently, biodynamic, with a deep respect for the natural ecosystem, combined with a manual, and maniacal, care of the vineyard. The vines are all French clones, personally chosen by Marco, cured with very strict pruning, which lead to very low yields, and manually harvested only when they reach full ripeness.
Despite Marco has linked his fame to sparkling Pinot Noir, over the years he has decided to dedicate himself to the production of his still version that comes from grapes planted on its clayey soils, the best habitat for this type of wine. It is a total of one hectare and seventy are divided between two vines, planted with clones personally chosen by Marco in the land par excellence of this vine: Burgundy. After a couple of weeks delayed harvest, made possible thanks to the adoption of a latest generation technique, which allows to have richer berries without losing acidity, the grapes arrive in the cellar where they are fermented spontaneously, at low temperature, in steel conical vats. The lower temperature choice leads to a lower extraction (therefore less polyphenols but also less “hard” parts of the wine) balanced by the great richness of the harvested grapes. The obtained wine ages in various-pass tonneaux (3/4) and barriques (1/4), spontaneously performing malolactic fermentation, for 14-15 months, before bottling without filtration or clarification. Another 3 years of glass refinement and, finally, the wine is ready for marketing.
The 2017 vintage shows a light and delicate ruby color, with an olfactory range that opens on notes of creme de cassis, red currant, red tarocco orange and vinyl, followed by dried violet, nutmeg, black pepper and roasted coffee, with final echoes of carpentry and empyreumumatics. The palate impresses with an elegant citric freshness and silky tannins that, slowly, turn on a balanced hint of softness; all enriched by the return of fruit and the more austere spicy side that accompany the sip to an excellent length closure.
Rating: 90/100
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