Punch: The Glories of Pelaverga

Interesting article in Punch about Pelaverga:

The few that I’ve had have been absolutely delightful wines. Obviously a grape they should
be planting all up&down the Coast in Calif.
Tom

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And in Oregon and Washington too! I recently finished off a few bottles of 2019 Burlotto Pelaverga. Some seems to make it to the Portland area every year in the mid-$20 price range. I got to visit Castello di Verduno many years ago and met Gabriella Burlotto. She was quite smart and very passionate about her craft. Thanks for posting this article.

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I believe that this is one of the varieties that Bryan Harrington brought back to California a few years ago for propagation and cleaning up at Foundation Plant Services in Davis. So it may not be long before you start seeing at least some of it planted up and down the coast!

Kind of humorous to me to see Freisa, Grignolino, and Ruché mentioned in the article as “fringe grapes” considering a lot of the wines we used to enjoy after a day’s work at Harrington Wines. Maybe that makes us “fringe wine drinkers”. [wow.gif]

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Well, Ken…we’ve been on the fringes of the wine world for yrs.
Tom

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As well as the Burlotto and Verduno versions, we also get the Alessandria here, which is delicious, too. We always have Pelaverga in the house!

Big fan of Burlotto’s Pelaverga. Great value too!

Thanks for posting this! Just picked up a bottle of the Castello di Verduno to try from K&L.

Love the Burlotto and Verduno – will have to make a point of trying the Alessandria some time. Thanks for the heads up.

I am curious to know what the CA version is like. I keep my Verduno Pelaverga in the same bin as my Bechthold Cinsault and Bohan Trousseau because I find that they drink similarly.

spicy light-to-medium weight reds are so useful with food.

I’ve spent my spare time waist-deep in Piemonte reports for other reasons, but I thought I’d let everyone know that the Vignaioli Piemontesi (a producers’ association) is saying the 2021 Pelaverga vintage in Verduno is a “leap to excellence,” with the third highest harvest quality ever (certainly their highest rated in the last ten years).

Feel this thread should be revived. I recently discovered this varietal and have found these (particularly the Fratelli Alessandria) outstanding and extremely versatile with food. Why does this varietal not get more attention?

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Had a Sordo Palaverga a few weeks ago, brought along by a winemaker who was very enthusiastic about the variety. It was rather tasty.

I just opened one ('15) after a tasting as a blind extra and it was raisiny, dull extracted and surprisingly tannic. Nothing like any other Pelaverga I’ve had. So while Pelaverga CAN be lovely, one needs to keep an eye which vintage the wine is. After a few experiences I’ve concluded that Pelaverga doesn’t really fare that well with warmer vintages.

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I love Pelaverga. The Gian-Luca Colombo version seems to me in a class of its own.