Our inagural wines were bottled in the Spring of 2009. We started with a Merlot, using grapes from Italy. We're Merlot fans here at Pianti, but this one failed to impress. The second was an Amarone also from Italy, which fell in the 'decent' category.
The Fall bottling featured a Pinot Noir with grapes from Italy, which was light and like the Amarone before it, decent. Next was a blend of four of the six Bordeaux grapes: Malbec, Carmenere, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, with all grapes from Chile. Our '4 of 6' still ranks as our best to date. If we knew all those fancy wine adjectives, we'd add a few of them here. Um .. it was terrific! We still have one left in our cellar.Our first vintage of 2010, a Rioja Ripasso made with grapes from Spain, has been dated as a 2009 wine. We were told by our wine shop guy Charles at Fermentations on Danforth Avenue that this wine would be potable immediately after bottling. He was correct! It is currently serving as our "first bottle" and supplies are already dwindling. Get yours today. Not available in stores.
Our second Spring 2010
vintage was our Cabernet Sauvignon, a double batch from
California grapes . Interested parties should subtly hint in person for a
taste or a take-home bottle. But alas we are down to one archive
bottle.
The Fall 2010 offerings are bottled and hitting the wine rack soon. Two similar wines from Chile comprise this season's vintages. First, a Carmenérč, one of the six Bordeaux grapes transported from France. Apparently, more Carmenérč is produced in Chile these days than in its originating country. Our second vintage is a reprise of last year's favourite, our 4 of 6 Bordeaux. Also from Chile, this wine has been carefully blended from four of the six Bordeaux grapes: Malbec, Carmenérč, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.
The vintages bottled in March of 2011 were three excellent wines from the 2010 harvest in California and Spain. Our first wine was the Old Vine Barbera, a fine California grape grown believe it or not, on old vines. A photo of the CIBC bank and Broadview & Danforth was used for the label, and hence the 'Danforth Reserve' designation. Next was the Zinfandel Shiraz, also from California, with an HDR photo of the Pianti building on Broadview Avenue. This full-bodied 'appropriate for Fred Flintsone steak eating' wine won't be ready for consumption until the summer. We're particularly fond of the California zinfandel grape at Pianti. Watch for subsequent vintages using this terrific grape in the future. Finally we had a reprise of last year's successful Rioja Ripasso, an excellent Spanish grape with added ripasso technique drying grape skins in the sun and re-squeezing the skins for added pizzazz.
Rosie, the Pianti corporate mouser, is an integral part of the Pianti aging process. Rosie is seen below warming the bottles in the early post-bottling stage, while the wine stands vertically for the first two weeks after bottling. This 'secret' technique is likely responsible or at least partially responsible for Pianti's streak of three consecutive Gold Medals from the prestigious Broadview Vintners Association of Toronto.
Pianti - origin of the word
Pianti is a made-up word. It's also a word in Italian that means "crying" .. we looked it up on the Google. But for us it is a phoenetic word from saying our first-name initials with 'and' in-between. Peter and Tracey, Pee and Tea, Pianti.
