At Vinitaly last year, I tasted a lineup of 2024-vintage Treviso reds that felt like a signpost.
Treviso, of course, is northern Italian Prosecco country, and not about full-bodied reds (with passito exceptions) at all. Plus, the wines were 5 euro entry-level things. But still, the shape of how those wines cut differently from previous years. They were extra taut, fresh, but very lean – it was red wine from a different era of vintages. Like we’d stumbled into a cool vintage in the early 90s.
Then, at a Ceretto masterclass here in Sydney a few weeks back, I had that same feeling. Here, with an entrée of 2024-vintage red wines across Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo on the table, the flavour/palate shape memories came straight back. That same sense of angularity popped in, with sharp bits where you expect to see fruit.
The vintage had spoken.
Of course, such vintage comparisons are simplistic junk, just like they are in Burgundy for the 2024 wines. It’s not a bad vintage, just fresh, and not every northern Italian/western French winery will make tangtown red wines, etc., etc. But vintages do have signatures, and I saw it.
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