The intermediate wine shop is perfect

In my opinion, there are three types of wine shops.

1. Educational wine shops, where the glasses offered reflect the current oenological canon (Wein & Co in Vienna is a beautiful example). There you will find Bordeaux, Burgundy wines, some New World Cabernet Sauvignon, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and so on. It’s like going to a library: you don’t want to take the risk of buying a science fiction book that you might not even like, after all, you mostly read thrillers, so you borrow it instead. It’s just a glass, but it has the great merit of giving you references and opening up horizons. Long live educational wine shops. A good example of this wine shop is Wein & Co in Stephansplatz.
2. Indie wine shops, where you’ll find the usual parade of natural wines, organic wines, orange wines, and so on, with so much arrogance towards the producer who used selected yeasts and the ignoramus who buys them. In my opinion, there’s not much difference between an indie wine shop chasing the current keywords and a Scientology church. I go to both only if I feel like getting fleeced (I found a terrible example in Campiglia Marittima, while a positive and peculiar one is La Cave in Vienna).
3. Intermediate wine shops, which, even in terms of size, choose the third way: some educational wines, which may provide something new to a clientele accustomed to monotonous wine lists, and some indie producers, unearthed from who knows where. And that’s precisely the skill of the most capable wine shop owners: finding wineries that guides, blogs, and competitions haven’t yet identified. In short, the educational wine shop draws the map, the intermediate one takes you into the territory. In my opinion, Ferronato in Pordenone is a great example of an intermediate wine shop, an example that, for biographical reasons, I know very well.

For me, the best time to visit a wine shop (understood as a place for tastings, not a wine store) is at the beginning of the week, in the late afternoon. It’s that time of day when the clientele is scarce and you can dedicate yourself to the glass and conversation.

In this case, the evening was also rainy. Classic Pordenone. It almost felt like a romantic encounter between me, my wife, and the wine list. Here’s what impressed us the most.

The sparkling wines

We started with the Tradition Brut Champagne N.V. by Charpentier, fruity but also very rocky, vertical. Power and precision that we liked. Also among the bubbles, the Cabochon Brut by Monte Rossa (Franciacorta) was definitely the second wine we liked the most, also fruity but infinitely softer, with an eternal finish.

The whites

Vignai da Duline is the classic example of the producer you meet in a good intermediate wine shop: very far from the mainstream, both in vineyard and cellar practices, with a lot of personality and included in a few but important circuits (the winery is on Kermit Lynch’s roster). In this case, we tasted the Chioma Integrale Malvasia, with beautiful scents of wildflowers and Mediterranean scrub, accompanied by a dense body and powerful acidity that harmoniously blends with the fruit.

The Perleo winery, despite being located a few kilometers from Pordenone, is even more inclined towards those wineries from the area that you won’t find on maps (or even on the internet, to tell the truth), but you only know because the wine shop takes you there. Their Chardonnay offered us a heavy experience, with notes of apple, mango, and barrel, but unfortunately unbalanced towards an excessive dominance of wood and alcohol.

The reds

Even the blend (Pinot Noir and Zweigelt, an uncommon Austrian grape even in Alto Adige) Loach by Radoar is stuff for the initiated: a small agricultural business (they also produce grappas, ciders, and I imagine apples) in Velturno, province of Bolzano. Just a look around with Google Maps makes you want to go there. Judging by their wine line, also not obvious varieties (Kerner and the already mentioned Zweigelt), huge focus on organic, but forgiven at the first sip. The Loach is characterized by notes of meat, blueberries, and raspberries, with a silky tannin and a spicy finish that left a very defined impression. It was among the best wines tasted and a purchase will have to be made.

A purchase that will also have to be made at the Gradis’Ciutta winery, represented by its Merlot Collio characterized by earthy depth, lively acidity, and dominant dryness, which dehydrates the mouth. It’s a territorial wine, deep and humid like Friulian reds are. The winery is well-known, well-established, and based in San Floriano del Collio. The owner, Robert Princic, deserves credit for also producing the classic method SineFinis with his cross-border partner Matjaz Cetrtic (Ferdinand). Some time ago, I also tasted their Ribolla Gialla, which I liked without great enthusiasm. I will visit, buy, and understand more.

The wine we liked the most is the No Name by Borgogno. I’m not crazy about the idea, however nice, of calling wines that can no longer be called, for bureaucratic reasons, Tocai or in this case Barolo, “No Name”, but here it’s not about labels but about a great wine. The palate, as always, has aromas among the clouds and powerful tannins perceived under the teeth. Beautiful acidity, but above all, an incredible density of fruit that squeezes rumtopf and pomegranate. Very long and coherent finish. An assertive Barolo that balances tannin with juicy and exuberant fruit. A sure purchase.

We concluded with the Dolcetto d’Alba by G.D. Vajra and the Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore by Terre di Leone, which offered vegetal and decisive experiences (the former) and dense and overripe ones (the latter), although not memorable.

Do vintages matter?

Obviously yes, and one thing that immediately catches the eye is that the wine list doesn’t show them, as in other contexts. But we can live without because the intermediate wine shop is an invitation to discovery rather than an exhibition of values. In the past, Ferronato introduced me to producers from whom I bought great bottles: Meyer-Fonné, MarcoSara, Podere Ranieri, Vignalta, Tiefenbrunner among others; falling in love with a wine in a wine shop and letting it open the doors to a winery and a territory is a great way to drink.

Read about our second tasting at Ferronato and how the pleasure in wine works and about our third, less exciting, visit to Ferronato. If instead you want to discover the best wine bars of Vienna, click here.