Opus Italy - Bocelli Family Wines

Bocelli Wines Come to Australia

goodfood.com.au - by Jeni Port

As far as celebrity wine launches go, this one was a low-key, family affair. Bocelli lived on the family vineyard until he was 35. The man does enjoy his wine. He made that clear. I am very serious," he said, during one of his breaks during the lunch in which he sought refuge outside from the high noise levels of the invited crowd. Highly sensitive to sound, he confided that Melburnians were so much louder than his Sydney guests last week. "First of all I love wine. Unfortunately, I can't drink it often but when I do, I drink very, very well." The Bocellis have a long history with the grape. The family vineyard in Tuscany at Lajatico, 50 kilometres south-west of Florence, has been producing wine for almost three centuries and today Bocelli's younger brother Alberto and his wife, Cinzia, take care of its day-to-day running. Bocelli lived on the vineyard until he was 35. Today he lives closer to the sea at Forte dei Marmi. "It's good for my lungs." With the death of his father, Alessandro, in 2000, the decision was made to lift wine quality, which is possibly why the family is now branching out to export into the US, China and now Australia. A new cellar is also about to be built. I don't produce wine for money. I produce for passion. I produce wines for the memory of my father," the tenor said. "He was proud of what he produced."

Hence, the flagship wine in the Bocelli portfolio is dedicated to Alessandro: "Terre di Sandro." It is clearly the most serious, a charming 100 per cent sangiovese from the 2011 vintage with firm structure, boasting the scent of flowers and the flavours of the earth. The Bocelli wine range is surprisingly extensive. Wines are made from the family estate as well as with a small group of partners. The non-vintage prosecco is made with the Trevisiol family in the Veneto region and plays up the grape's natural vivacious citrus qualities but comes with a high-ish level of residual sugar producing a wine with texture and great drinkability. Another sparkling non-vintage brut rose offers a drier contrast with delicate, red berries to the fore. A 2013 sangiovese is a sweet, lolly bliss bomb of a wine with confection and fruits and no oak whatsoever. It is a wine made to please the broadest possible audience. You'll have to search for the vintage on the front label of the Poggioncino sangiovese blend (with canaiolo, malvasia bianca and colorino grapes) but it's there, hiding on the back label. It's 2011. I'm told labeling will be updated and made clearer for Australian drinkers. The Poggioncino offers a step up in flavour, complexity and structure to the sangiovese with dark, dense earth, blackcurrant pastille and dried herbs and black cherry.

Photo: Arsineh Houspian

Bocelli at OTTO Restaurant

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The Italian tenor and his glamorous wife Veronica Berti arrived at the exclusive event, hosted by restaurateur John Fink at his Woolloomooloo restaurant, in dramatic style. When a glass was knocked over soon after, Fink, never lost for words, said the maestro had made “smashing entrance” and proceeded to lead an attentive restaurant crowd in a round of applause. Bocelli had earlier that day joined Delta Goodrem at a photo shoot. Goodrem has been joining the Italian tenor on stage to sing duets during his current Australian tour.The pair performed together in Brisbane on Tuesday night as he kicked off his Australian tour.Critics and fans praised Goodrem’s vocal talents — with lyrics in both English and Italian. She performed It’s Time to Say Goodbye and When I Fall in Love with Bocelli and the pair also slow danced on stage.Bocelli had his audience mesmerised by the time he welcomed his wife and baby daughter Virginia to the stage at the end of the show.At Otto the day after, Bocelli was not touching the excellent wine on offer.“I can’t drink, because in Italy, they say, ‘Drink makes you sing, but not very well’,” he joked.The lunch was almost at the point of being cancelled as the Bocelli wine shipment was held up by customs, only to be released yesterday morning.For nearly three centuries, the Bocelli family has made classic Italian wines on their small estate in Tuscany. Edi “Mamma” Bocelli, still works in the fields, carefully hand-tying vines along with Andrea’s younger brother Alberto.

In Canto - BOCELLI