They thought I was just drinking all day...

When I tell people that I need to prepare for a wine tasting event, some suspect me of drinking all day long just to select several bottles. Ah, if only it was true. But what happens in reality? I spend hours and hours reading, writing, consulting, and doubting my choices. To illustrate, this morning, I was a detective searching origins of the candidate for the upcoming event. I am talking about Cascina Bertolotto Spumante Brut Metodo Classico NV. Quite a strange selection. No, it has nothing to do with the wine itself. The reason is conflicting and unclear information about this wine scattered over the internet. So I had to figure out who was the actual producer of this wine.

According to the importer website, Bertolotto Brut is a project run by Taso. Of course, I questioned the crazy mind that added the word 'Brut' to their winery name. But I also doubted the relationship between Taso and this wine. Why? Because Taso is not mentioned on the wine label at all.

So as a modern person, I googled 'Bertolotto'. And luckily, I found some companies related to the door business. Wait, of course, I am looking for wine! And so I landed on the Cascina Bertolotto website. It turned out they produce Metodo Classico V.S.Q. "Bertolotto" Cuvée Brut, but its label is different.

Aside from the winery name, technical information from the importer's website matches information from Cascina Bertolotto's website. And then, somewhere in the internet cache, I found that Cascina Bertolotto's website hosted an image of a different label - one I have. Bingo!

Funny, though. Because according to the producer's website, this wine spent 12 years on the lees. But arithmetic is a brutal bitch. The label says that it was disgorged in January 2017. This means it spent on the lees 8 years at most. And since you have to finish the first fermentation before your sparkling is sent on its sparkling quest, I guess the actual number is around 5-7 years. In addition, despite sharing vendemmia, some bottles are disgorged later than others. This gives a perfect opportunity to study little differences.

Alright, so now you know how I spend my Saturday mornings. A bottle of water, background music, and myriads of sites in different languages. Just to bring a story and appreciation of wine. And I enjoy it, even if it stays behind the scenes.