Luca Pianta

A friend that likes whine but still doesn't understand what his palate is, asked me to help him shop. I feel like we did a good job (we are based in Italy)

The Barolo 2021:
By chatting with producers they say that this vintage is on par with 2016, some say even better.
Most Barolos were very enjoyable out of the gate. And even the 30€ ones were great.

Timorasso:
Incredible wines all great from the bottom end to the single vineyards. Incredible consistency and developing tertiary aromas even after a few years. My GOAT for this year.

Alta Langa sparkling:
Great potential and great consistency among producers. All very good, edging great for aged examples. The vibe was creaminess and power.

Friuli and White blends:
1 in 4 producers have a white blend as they are hard to market but what I had was very good and very affordable. Great value region.
The wines are complex and layered. Some are too oaky but that's fine.

Campania whites:
Quality is inconsistent and most of the Fiano tasted the same. Selected yeast ruins the party IMO. I found only 2 good producers for whites.

Vinitaly report:
Managed to check out about half of what I had planned, but that's life.

Oltrepó Pavese: quality is consistent and value is great.
If you want a mineral driven sparkling here you find it.
Also some lovely surprises.
Lots of "very good" but few greats.

I'll be attending Vinitaly 2025 on Sunday, I have a schedule of what I want to try.
But if someone is curious about a producers, grape variety, region. I can gladly report back my thoughts.

Great sword boy is back?

I found Malanotte such a unique wine, so much power but so much freshness. So much oak but so much fruit.
Yes, it is definitely delicious.

2/2

Wine Fair season is back.
This one focused on North East Italy. These are the standouts in the ~70 wines I tasted. 1/2

Always loved aged brunello.

I might be ~5 years too late.
It smells of fresh mushrooms, dried roses and dried cranberries. But leaning more on the tertiary.
Some VA but non overbearing and after some time to open up, a pretty distinct blueberry jam aroma.
Still good acidity and lots of soft tannin, great length.

Last night's bottles.
Fuoripista is one of the best representation of Pinot grigio (forgot to take a picture of the bottle).
Champagne was good but not great.
Zanchi is a powerful barrel fermented trebbiano which is very unique (delicious).
Not an Amarone guy but I can't deny the amazing quality.

Starting to get more into natural wines, I personally love the level of exploration some producers are doing.

This is a good example. A bit short on the finish, but great texture and aroma. Plus it's just looks pretty.

Finally some good red burgundy for the price, I guess you just need to go to the south.
This had pretty fruit, earthy minerality, and good structure.
Also fermented with native yeast and unfiltered, bought it for 30€.
Worth it.

This is becoming my whole identity

I bought their Malbec a while back, it was the first Argentinian wine I had, I suspected power and extraction (very common in the new world), but it was very elegant, subtle and balanced.

Last night dinner with my somm association. Plus the Riesling I brought. Good stuff.

The number of times I had champagne without the proper glass keeps rising.

I personally enjoy CellarTracker for "bookkeeping", the reviews aren't many, especially for affordable wine, kind of the opposite of vivino. But I'm hopeful that it can change if people with a smaller cellar star using it and contribute.

Sometimes I scare myself on how better I am at doing stuff without thinking about it.
Sometimes I'm just worse, balance is key.

Very fun to see Amarone labeled first as "Recioto", I guess it was the start of Amarone's history, and the name wasn't still recognized as much as it is today.

Pianta-luca's Member Profile CellarTracker is the world's largest collection of wine reviews, tasting notes and personal stories from people who love wine.

Here's what's in my humble wine fridge
www.cellartracker.com/user.asp?iUs...

I'm still at the start of building my cellar. Personally, I use CellarTracker to organize it.

What do you personally use to track your cellar?

Great, it's exciting to start a community.

I'm just waiting to binge watch it once everything is out.

In a world where the only way to find affordable old wine is auction sites. Go for Riesling, great with age and resilient.
Can't wait to pop these ones open.

Left- Single Vineyard Turasi, Campania Italy (Aglianico grape) Center- Rosso di Montepulciano, Tuscany Italy(Sangiovese grape) Right- Bonnezeaux, sweet wine, Loire France (botritis cinerea chenin Blanc)

Since I see there isn't much wine content on this site yet. I'll start posting some.