Today was one of those lucky days when Italy and New York join and I feel that I can have both of my worlds in the same place. Luca Maroni was in New York promoting his tasting method at an event held at the Astor Center. Luca Maroni is one of those famous luminaries on the Italian wine scene together with Luigi Veronelli and a handful of others. Each year he produces an enormous guide which I buy and bring back in my suitcase. It weighs at least three kilos and is chock full of tasting notes on wines. He also holds a huge wine event in Rome which I can never get into because it is always too crowded. This year the event is the last weekend in November for anyone traveling to Rome.

I confess I wasn’t all that clear before today’s event what his tasting method was and why it differs from that of the other well known tasters. I myself have written many a tasting note and ventured to give wines specific ratings based on a point system I learned in Italy when I was studying at the Associazione Italiana Sommeliers or AIS. Every wine was around an 85 if memory serves. While at the WSET or International Wine Center I rarely used a point system but did write complete tasting notes with conclusions.

Maroni’s method is actually quite simple and he stressed something that I completely agree with, you need a methodology and that methodology must be the same for all of your tasting notes. I find that this has not always been the case with me.

His method uses three components – consistency, balance and integrity and is based on the senses. Infact, he calls himself a sensorial analyst. I do not want to misrepresent his method but my understanding of it is that consistency is essentially the extract of the wine or its volume if it were to be reduced to dust. This is then offset by a wine’s balance which is a synthesis of sweetness, acidity and bitterness. A wine is balanced if its softness is equal to its acidity and bitterness. Maroni noted that the only sensation which can sometimes be out of balance but in a positive way is the sweetness factor which can be overwhelming but still harmonious say in a late harvest wine or a Tba.

In terms of integrity, he refers to the absence of defects in the wine which can put it out of balance such as a faulty malolactic fermentation which can leave a yogurt aroma or too much sulfur which can smell very smoky or like rotten eggs. We then proceeded to rate the components based on a numbered scale of 1 to 99. He doesn’t use a 100 point scale because he pointed out that no wine is perfect and I frankly agree. There are wines that are perfect for me on a certain day in a certain mood but I have never found a wine to be flawless. At least not yet. Maroni said that all of the best wines in the world, from different countries, have almost the same numbers on his scale. I found this very interesting.

I spoke with him a bit after the event about how he started and what he thought were upcoming trends in Italy. Early on, Maroni worked with Veronelli in Bergamo but after a few years set off on his own. His wine guide has no advertising because he doesn’t want to be linked to any producers but wants to judge the wines without any of the complications that advertising brings. In terms of future trends,he foresees a move towards wines with lower alcohol and more aromas. People will continue to look for freshness and rich aromas or will drink with their noses…. He also made an interesting point about how the Italian wine world is one of the factors which protects Italy’s natural landscape and beauty. Where wine brings in money, new construction is not allowed. “You don’t see any awful construction on land where good wines which bring a pretty penny are produced. Take Frascati and the Castelli Romani.” Interesting indeed. Maroni will be back for an event with Alta Cucina Society in February.