There are personalities that stick with you long after they have left you; people who impact your life suddenly, with purpose.  People who, through sheer kindness and humble friendship, have the ability to change the way you see yourself, or a place, or such a strange thing as wine.  I have found one of these people to be Fabiano Giorgi.  Owner and winemaker of Giorgi Winery in Oltrepò Pavese; oft-time considered the producer of the best sparkling wines in all of Italy.  He is also acting president of the Consortium for the Protection of Oltrepò Pavese Wines.  By resume alone he is quite literally the King of Oltrepò Pavese.

I first met Fabiano Giorgi on the patio of the Savini restaurant before our very first lunch in Milano.  The regal Savini is packed within the massive Galleria Vittori Emanuale II.  A four-story monolith of a shopping mall, one of Europe’s oldest, set in the heart of Milano city center.

Fabiano is a man who sees you before you see him.  A handsome, tall man, impeccably dressed, he is ready with earnest smile and a firm handshake long before you realize the magnitude of the moment you are in, or of the man you are about to meet.  His connection to you and his unflinching hospitality are both immediate and gracious.

There is an openness and truth in his quiet, deep voice that puts one at ease.  And his habit of yielding many of the answers to our questions to his wife Ileana and sister Eleonora speaks volumes of the man he is— that even though he is the perfectly booted and suited face of his illustrious winery, without his family standing right beside him, it perhaps might all be for not.

The morning of our second day we toured the Giorgi winery and vineyards.  We ran up the sun-soaked slopes of the vineyard rows chasing the perfectly-ripe, nearly-black clusters of warm Croatina grapes.  We snacked on the grapes happily, knowing this beautifully rich fruit would soon become one of ABC’s most popular, sweet sparklers: Giorgi CostaRosa.  A wine known not only for its decadent sweetness and popping effervescence, but more for its elegance and balanced character.  The tannic skins and sugar-sweet pulp of the grapes hummed softly of their terroir.  A hum to be transformed into rapturous harmony at the hands of Giorgi’s cellar team.  There is real comfort in knowing that an incredibly high demand wine like CostaRosa can still come from such high quality, low yield fruit.  Fabiano has figured out how to produce wines with mass appeal without sacrificing tradition or quality of the fruit.  An idea that has fallen on many a deaf ear these days in wine production.

We moved from the vineyards to Fabiano and Ileana’s home where we were greeted with pure surprise.  We were to have a sit-down vertical tasting of five vintages of The Giorgi 1870: a blanc de noir sparkling wine made from 100% Pinot Noir, produced in the raditional Champagne method.  The flagship of the Giorgi winery, this wine deserves its chance to be spoken of along the like of some of the great Champagne houses.  This is a wine to surely transform Giorgi’s image in the States.  Soon enough the words we speak will be less about the wines of Franciacorta and more of the elegance being produced in Oltrepo. 

Our tasting was led by wine journalist and professional taster, Francesco Beghi.  We began with the current 2009 vintage of the 1870 and moved back into the 2005.  Each vintage showed something different; though a common thread of freshness and herbal complexity was shared by all of them. 

Of them all, the 2008 vintage hung with me the longest.  Aged 48 months on its lees and two years in bottle, it was noticeably fresher than the 2009 and it hailed its terroir louder than the others.  Aromas of star fruit, passion fruit and pink grapefruit pulp envelope the nose; accompanied by complex, evolved notes of wild rosemary blossom and thyme.  Also a gossamer thread of salinity runs the length of the palate through to the finish.  Refined silky ropes of tiny elegant bubbles pass quickly through to the top of a bright, golden wine, completing the 1870’s gorgeous presentation.

What Fabiano has been able to do with the Pinot Noir in these wines is something magical.  He reigns in the region’s wild expressiveness, capturing the subtle beauty and elegance thrumming within.  He understands that his wines are made in the vineyard and it is his job not to bend them into perfection, yet to quietly persuade them in that direction.  It is within the dark, heavy glass of the Giorgi 1870 where Fabiano’s personality speaks in its purest form.  More than any word one could write of him. 

Wid Kever

Wine consultant at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits - Cocoa Beach