Daily Archives: August 18, 2013

Coppo: The Winery that Reinvented Barbera

The US importer of the well-known Italian winery Coppo has been kind enough to send me samples of most wines in the Coppo lineup (those that are currently imported into the US) for me to taste and review: thank you, Rebecca, Brittany and Mari!

So, let’s start from the beginning, with some information about the producer, the estate, and the Coppo lineup.

About the Producer and the Estate

Coppo‘s 56 HA estate is located in Italy’s Piemonte region, in the Monferrato district, near the town of Canelli (Asti), an area where traditionally Moscato grapes had mostly been grown, especially for making sweet Asti Spumante using the Charmat-Martinotti Method (for more information, check out our previous post about Charmat-Martinotti sparkling wines).

The Coppo family has been making wines at the estate since the early XX century, but the turning point took place in the mid Eighties, when the family extended their product range to encompass, beside Moscato, Barbera and certain international varieties such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and modernized their production line.

Specifically, 1984 marked the first vintage of Coppo’s probably most famous, revolutionary wine: the Pomorosso, the successful result of efforts and investments aimed at coming up with a high-quality Barbera that would be meant for aging and be a tribute to such variety and its territory.

About the Wines

Coppo has been recognized as one of Piedmontese winemakers that have focused on high-quality production and preservation of the local traditions. Nowadays, the full Coppo lineup encompasses 16 wines:

  • 4 Barbera‘s
  • 1 Barbera-Cabernet Sauvignon blend
  • 1 Barolo (from Nebbiolo grapes grown in a vineyard outside the geographical boundaries of the appellation, but grandfathered so as to still let them use the Barolo DOCG appellation because production predated the creation of the appellation)
  • 1 Freisa
  • 1 Gavi (from Cortese grapes grown in a separate vineyard within the Gavi DOCG appellation territory)
  • 3 Chardonnay‘s
  • 4 Classic Method sparkling wines
  • 1 sweet Moscato

Out of those 16 wines, Coppo’s US importer was kind enough to send me 9 to taste and review, namely those 9 that are currently imported into the U.S.

Considering the number of wines to review, in an effort not to just focus on one producer for an extended period of time, I will review them over time, so in the next months you will see posts coming up devoted to each of such 9 wines, mixed up with posts on different wines, so please stay tuned!

The Coppo Wines We Are Going to Review

The 9 wines in the Coppo lineup that I am going to review are the following:

  1. Barbera d’Asti “Pomorosso” DOCG
  2. Barbera d’Asti “Camp du Rouss” DOCG
  3. Barbera d’Asti “L’Avvocata” DOCG
  4. Barolo DOCG
  5. “Alterego” Monferrato DOC (a Cabernet Sauvignon/Barbera blend)
  6. Chardonnay “Monteriolo” Piemonte DOC
  7. Chardonnay “Costebianche” Piemonte DOC
  8. Gavi “La Rocca” DOCG
  9. Moscato d’Asti “Moncalvina” DOCG

To get the series started, I am going to launch “the Barbera Trilogy” 🙂 that is I will review the three Barbera’s in the Coppo range, starting from the entry-level “L’Avvocata” and culminating with the flagship “Pomorosso”, which I had already reviewed on a previous post. The other wines will follow later on.

As always, let me know if you happened to try any of the wines in the Coppo range and, if you did, how you liked them!

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