Ferrari Trento Tasting With Marcello Lunelli

We met up with Marcello Lunelli, who took us for a tour around the Ferrari Trento winery, exploring where the magic happens, the vast empire of stainless steel vats and walls lined with bottles of Ferrari Trento, aging away until it’s their time to represent the brand in the wine glasses of millions.

After the enlightening tour, we ventured back up into their dedicated Ferrari Trento Tasting Room, with a very generous display of wine glasses set out before us, we knew we were about to experience something remarkable. Under Marcello’s guidance we explored a selection of Ferrari Trento’s range from the Maximum, the Perlé’s and the much adored Giulio Ferrari, venturing back to my birth year, with a bottle of Giulio Ferrari 2001 in Magnum form, an incredible and simply unforgettable experience to taste such an incredible wine with equally incredible company, that’s what sparkling wine is all about, the experience, the people, the location, it’s just as much what’s in the glass as it is the circumstances outside of it.

Ferrari Trento 2017 Perlé

Aroma – “Oaky and toasty, with soft yellow stone fruits on the aroma, delicate and slightly dried apricots with peach juice and slightly glazed yellow stone fruits.”

Flavour – “Soft experience of oaky, toasty, yellow stones fruits and pastries on the palate, crisp pastry with glazed fruits, a mix of green apples with apricots and peaches.”

Ferrari Trento 2011 Perlé

Aroma – “A toastier expression, with well baked pastry, toasted baguettes, glazed fruits on well baked pastry, including rich peaches and apricots on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Rich and full bodied, with a very silky close, you’ll discover notes of finely baked pastries, luxury toast, glazed peaches and apricots, coated in a thin layer of roasted peanuts.”

Ferrari Trento 2006 Perlé

Aroma – “The toasty expression is toned down to display gorgeous examples of cashews, walnuts, walnut extract, almonds, almond extract, with nutty pastries with a blend of glazed and dried peaches and apricot on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Zingy on the palate, with nutty oils, walnut oils, almond oils, it’s very soft in fizz but complex in age, with hints of chalk and spicy white pepper, sea salt and minerals on the palate, it has a sweetness on the close.”

Ferrari Trento Perlé Bianco 2015

Aroma – “Refreshing in spirit, white pepper, chalky notes, minerals, white floral, white strawberries, white pears, and a hint of cooking salt on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Rich and light bodied, with notes of wild white floral, white fruits, white pears, pear fresh, mouth watering.”

Ferrari Trento Perlé Rosé 2016

Aroma – “Divine expression of red berries, strawberries, raspberries, red cherries, soft, ripe and sweet.”

Flavour – “Subtler, and more condensed, with richer and more mature red berries of strawberries and raspberries, with red cherries and a hint of black cherries sneaking in.”

Ferrari Trento Perlé Rosé 2012

Aroma – “A combination of oaky and toasty and summer days, oaky characteristics unite with soft strawberries and cream, raspberries, strawberry ice cream on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Slightly more mature, still displaying similar characters, but more refined and condensed, less on the Creamy ice cream and more on the Oaky and well done bakery notes on the palate.”

Ferrari Trento Perlé Nero 2015

Giulio Ferrari 2001 Magnum

Aroma – “Subtle toasty notes, hints of tuna pâté, dried apricot, dried peach, saffron, wild floral.”

Flavour – “Rich golden in character, tuna pâté, toast, saffron, golden fruits.”

Disgorged in 2013.

The first vintage bottle of Giulio Ferrari was produced from the harvest of 1972, only 30 bottles are left in possession of Ferrari Trento, Marcello Lunelli has only ever experienced the opening of 2 bottles in his life, one for analysis and one for tasting.

Although I did not taste this particular Ferrari Trento with Marcello Lunelli, I did get to enjoy it with Camilla Lunelli and Cyril Brun, so I thought I’d still include my tasting notes on their Demi-Sec:

Ferrari Trento Demi-Sec

Aroma – “Sweet, ripe, rich strawberries, raspberries, red cherries, slightly dried, Maraschino cherries, hints of bark, brambles, vanilla ice cream, and red berry sorbet ice cream.”

Flavour – “Delicately sweet with a moreish taste of ripe strawberries, raspberries, red cherries, calming pink rose petals and subtle rich brambles.”