On the eyes the wine has a deep garnet colour. On the nose the flavour is very intense and, despite the 13 years, surprisingly fruity, with prune, black cherry and some cocoa. In the mouth very dry and raw. The finish is bitter and short. An interesting contrast to the opulence displayed to the eyes and to the nose.
Interesting, but to my taste not pleasant. Most likely this wine is better paired with some greasy food than tasted on its own.
This wine is made by Jermann with Pignolo, a dark-skinned grape native of Friuli, in the northeast of Italy. The word “pignolo” means picky in Italian. Judging from this top of the range wine, Pignolo is definitely a grape with a strong personality that delivers unique wines.
As a matter of fact, Pignolo is a difficult grape variety to cultivate and its abundance of tannins can cause problems during vinification. Both may explain why it suffered an almost fatal decline in plantings. Even Jermann seems to have given up, since from my online search it doesn’t seems like this very prestigious winemaker produced any vintage after 2006.
Probably not even the marketing appeal of being a wine produced in what the French would name “Clos” (in the past a walled vineyard, nowadays often used in the name of prestigious wines) is enough to sell this rough wine for some 50 CHF a bottle.
On a final and personal note, I would like to point out that although this wine didn’t give me much enjoyment, I highly appreciate the commitment of producers that try to create specialties and to give new life to out of favour grapes. Often they succeed, sometimes they don’t.
Country: Italy
Region: Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Grapes: Pignolo
Type: Red
Vintage: 2006
Producer: Jermann
Price range: Extra (50-100 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 2/5