Each spring, thousands of wine professionals descend on Verona for Vinitaly—Italy’s largest and most influential wine trade fair, and one of the most important global events on the industry calendar. Amid the tastings, deal-making, and ceaseless buzz, a standout seminar this year invited participants to shift focus from flavor to feeling. In “The Grammar of Tannin,” Italy’s first Master of Wine, Gabriele Gorelli, led a deep dive into the texture of red wine—where grip, grain, and phenolic nuance became the language of expression.
Rather than focusing solely on chemical components, Gorelli structured the seminar around twelve wines with twelve different descriptors, presenting a comprehensive sensory map of tannin that reflected both tradition and innovation in Italian red wine.
Participants were invited to explore how tannins behave and evolve across wines with different varietal identities, winemaking choices, and regional expressions. Each wine served as a case study for a specific tactile or structural quality, with Gorelli introducing terms to help frame the experience—including descriptors for strength/astringency, maturity/evolution, and texture.
Tannin Strength / Astringency
-High Tannin: Astringent, Harsh, Firm, Dry, Marked, Persuasive, Angular
-Moderate Tannin: Firm, Dry, Balanced
-Low Tannin: Soft, Smooth, Mellow, Round
Tannin Maturity / Evolution
-Young/Unripe: Green, Unripe, Unmellow
-Mature/Ripe: Mellow, Round, Velvety
Tannin Texture
-Rough / Coarse: Granular, Rough, Unpleasant
-Smooth / Silky: Silky, Velvety, Pleasant
The tasting prompted attendees to consider not only what they were tasting, but how it felt, as if language itself could serve as a bridge between the intellectual and the tactile.
The Wines
The 12-wine lineup was selected for its geographic breadth, stylistic contrast, and textural diversity. Wines from heritage appellations stood alongside newer interpretations, chosen for their distinctive “punctuation marks”—tactile signatures that underscored Gorelli’s thesis.
-Ar.Pe.Pe, Valtellina Superiore DOCG Riserva “Rocce Rosse” 2016
-Biondi Santi, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019
-Catabbo, Tintilia del Molise DOC “Tintilia in Anfora” 2021
-Graci, Etna Rosso DOC “Arcuria” 2021
-Mastroberardino, Taurasi DOCG Riserva “Stilema” 2017
-Morella, Salento IGT “Primitivo Old Vines” 2020
-Piantate Lunghe, Conero “Rossini” 2019
-Tabarrini, Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG “Campo alla Cerqua” 2020
-Tenuta Olim Bauda, Nizza DOCG Riserva “Bauda” 2016
-VikeVike, Cannonau di Sardegna DOC “Ghirada Fittiloghe” 2021
-Zenato, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG 2019
-Zorzettig, Friuli Colli Orientali DOC “Myò” 2019
Among the standouts was the 2019 Zorzettig “Myò” Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso, from Friuli Colli Orientali DOC. Gorelli highlighted the importance of not overlooking Refosco, calling attention to Friuli’s “peculiar” status as Italy’s northernmost Mediterranean climate, with volcanic influence and Ponca soils lending structure and minerality.
“Refosco has a lot of energy,” he noted. “It has vibration and tension.”
The tannins here were described as prickly, but not aggressive—tempered by judicious oak use, which helps balance the variety’s naturally high acidity and brings out its spicy, fuller character. With its bright acidity, forest fruit notes, and a mineral-y, ash-y earthiness, this was a wine that spoke in texture as much as flavor—a tactile expression of grip, with a clear sense of place.
Another memorable pour came from VikeVike, with their 2021 Cannonau di Sardegna “Ghirada Fittiloghe.” Gorelli used this wine to illustrate the adaptive nature of certain grape varieties to soil, noting that Cannonau—widely planted across Sardinia—shows significant variation depending on its site. This expression, grown on coastal, sandy-clay soils from 20-year-old vines, offered a full-bodied, high-alcohol profile characteristic of the island, with a distinct tactile personality.
“There’s a greenness here that scratches your tongue,” Gorelli explained, “giving a little bitterness—letting you know it’s there.”
The tannins were described as powdery and rustic—firm, but not coarse. Gorelli emphasized their adhesive quality: they stick to the mouth, present and persistent, but never drying. The texture felt lived-in, earthy, and elemental—matching the sun-drenched, windswept origin of the grape. It was a lesson in how tannins can announce a place just as clearly as flavor.
The lineup also included a striking expression of Nebbiolo—not from Piedmont, but from Lombardy. The 2016 Ar.Pe.Pe “Rocce Rosse” Valtellina Superiore Riserva was chosen precisely to challenge assumptions about the variety’s identity and show how altitude and soil can reshape tannin expression.
“I didn’t pick Nebbiolo from Piedmont—I picked it from Lombardy,” Gorelli noted. “Because here, in the absence of clay and with these Alpine conditions, you get way fewer polyphenols, and the delicacy of the wine is improved, even in its youth.”
Ar.Pe.Pe, a historical producer with a renewed and meticulous approach, delivered a wine layered with aromas of smoky charcuterie and fresh alpine herbs, but it was the tactile grace that truly set it apart. The wine’s sweet fruit and supple tannins created a textural profile that was quietly present, never dominant—a whisper rather than a grip.
The tannin, Gorelli emphasized, came not from density but from time: over 50 days of maceration brought structure that was subtle, delicate, and persistent. It was a reminder that tannin doesn’t always need to be loud to be powerful.
“I had the opportunity to taste this wine back to 1984,” Gorelli said. “It keeps going. Delicacy, dilution, and persistence—it’s all here.”
If Ar.Pe.Pe opened the seminar with restraint, Tabarrini’s “Campo alla Cerqua” Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG 2020 brought it to a dramatic close. Gorelli introduced the wine with characteristic flair:
“Sagrantino is the most tannic variety you can imagine in Italy. There’s a culture—almost a cult—of tannin here. A cult of textural drama.”
This bottling, from a small production of one of the region’s most respected producers, exemplified what makes Sagrantino such a compelling study in structure. The tannins formed what Gorelli called a funnel shape: broad and layered on the palate, tapering into a drying, abrasive finish that “sands the tongue and the top of the palate,” lingering long into the aftertaste.
Despite the intensity, the wine wasn’t all structure. It wine carried richness and depth, with a densely packed, mouth-filling concentration of flavor. It was tannin with architecture—not just power, but precision—a fitting conclusion to a seminar built around the textures that define Italian red wine.
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Photo Credit: Michael Franz