Friend, is you eudeixa euno Southern Brazil wine plays a fundamental role in gastronomy and has increasingly conquered the world. Although recent, there are several awards and medals that we have won year after year, demonstrating that our industry has done a speechless job.
This is more evident on a trip to Serra Gaucha where favorable conditions give rise to grapes that give rise to wines among the best in the country. Terroirs are unique and we can try them by combining gastronomy with the gifts at the table. They enter this sparkling account, natural wines and a table full of local ingredients.
This was a taste of my passage through Bento Gonçalves and surroundings for the recordings of the CNN Viagem & Gastronomy: Flavors of Brazil in the South where I left in the vineyard and met with local chefs in search of the region’s flavors.
The sparkling pinto flag
After a work of over a decade, the seal From Altos de Pinto Bandeira It came to light in 2022. It is to be celebrated, as this was the first name of origin exclusively of sparkling wines in the “New World”.
The delimited area of the DO COVERS Much of Pinto Bandeira, but also has fragments in Farroupilha and Bento Gonçalves. The wineries are between 520 and 770 meters above sea level and should use the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Italic Riesling grapes.
Sparkling wines should be prepared according to the traditional method, or “Champenoise”, where there is a second fermentation in the bottle for at least 12 months.
Within this scope, four are the wineries able to have the seal of: Aurora, Don Giovanni, Geisse family and Valmarino. “Few regions of the world are able to elaborate high standard sparkling wines. And this is the natural vocation of Pinto Bandeira. Thanks to that we had the do ”, tells Daniel Geisse owner of the Geisse family winery.
Geisse family and sparkling
The denomination of origin attested to Pinto Flag’s ability to make sparkling wines. But, after all, why is the region so special?
“We need the grape to mature completely, retaining a level of high acidity and low sugar. This is difficult to find. The art of a good sparkling wine is precisely to find balance. And this region is phenomenal to that, ”says Daniel as we walk in the winery, open to Different Visits.
Daniel’s father, Mario Geisse he understood this potential a long time ago, when he came to Brazil to direct Moët & Chandon in the 1970s. In 1979, he kicked off Geesse winery pioneer in sparkling in Pinto Bandeira.
As we talk, Daniel takes me into the factory and shows me where fermentations occur, which result in a base wine. Then the drink goes to the cellars for the second fermentation. The bottles then go to the remuge.
“It is the removal of yeast. First we make a decantation of the pupitres: the bottles are rotated every day to detach the yeast of the belly of the glass, to slide and accumulate in the beak. Then we go to DégorGement, which is a freezing process of the beak, so that the ice block attaches the yeast, which will be expelled with the pressure, ”he explains.
This is the Traditional method of making sparkling which has been improved over the centuries. Today, new technologies help in other parts of production. One example is the satellite monitored hail protection system. In geisse vineyards, a crash can be heard when time closes.
It has explanation: When the hail cell is approaching, the satellite mapping and automatically triggers a cannon, which causes the hail cell to dissipate and thus does not affect the vineyards.
But the best part of the visit is, in fact, to taste the sparkling wine. At the time, Daniel opened a Cave Geisse Nature which takes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, being very light, creamy and with subtle gasification. He is in the house of R $ 160 and takes to the Altos de Pinto Bandeira.
Natural Wines
The cool thing is that the region goes beyond tradition and also embraces wines with little intervention. One of the strongest names is the Wind in Bento Gonçalves, which is at the forefront of orange wine production in Brazil.
“They are made with white, but macerated varieties. This means that the fermentation of white castes occurs with the peels, ”he describes Luís Henrique Zanini founder of the winery.
Low intervention wines are a rule in the winery. But what does that mean? “The first thing is that the vineyard has to be located with other species. We cannot have a natural wine with monoculture cultivation, for example. ”
In addition, it means intervening as little as possible in the vineyard. “We always say that our vineyard is part of the biodiversity of property,” says the victor Talise Zanini . In Bento, the couple maintains what they call “crafts”, since the place where the wine is made has no stainless steel tank or large machines. In place, I only see barrels and wood structures, with manual work and rescue of old techniques.
Production is limited, with about five thousand bottles per year. “It’s not just a winery, it’s a life project,” says Luís. After the chat, the tasting: in the cup, he served me a rosé from the Teroldego grape, planted there in 2004.
In addition to the wines to be great, the couple’s passion shows each sip. Poetry also accompanies us, since the back They are adorned with verses written by the victor himself.
In the end, a toast
To finish my passage through the region, I went to a dinner at the restaurant Rustic Valle from the chef Rodrigo Bellora which commands two other restaurants in Bento Gonçalves. The experience occurs in steps, in a provocative menu that uses local ingredients, but in an inventive way that shows us the plurality of the state.
One of the surprises of the night was a pine nut with guancing and fermented tomatoes. It’s those different dishes, but everything is talked about. And of course, harmonization with region wines is guaranteed.
This is the differential of the address: show a modern gastronomy loaded with inheritance and tradition, but the peculiar way of the young chef. Thus, Rodrigo also commands expeditions through Rio Grande do Sul in order to connect ingredients and people. “The expedition was born for over 10 years, when I joined my cooks and we would understand where the ingredients we used from,” says the chef.
We follow your trip to Pampa which has an invaluable wealth for southern flavors. The meeting took place at Fazenda Paraíso, in Bagé. “The cultural formation of what is the gaucho is printed in this environment,” says Rodrigo.
This is a study on -sitebut it is still a meeting of friends around local cuisine. When night falls, meat cannot be missed. Pampa cheese not either. And the expedition ended exactly how our south journey began: with a beautiful ground fire.
South of Minas gains geographical indication for wine production
The post delight yourself with sparkling wines, natural wines and a banquet with the best of RS APPEARED FIRST ON CNN BRAZIL V&G.
Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
