Giro Stage 17 Feltre-Tirano

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2011/5/25/2189327/giro-ditalia-stage-17-live-second-thread#comments

 Another day, another mountain stage at this Giro d’Italia. This final week of racing is all about the climbing, and stage 17 sticks to the pattern. It’s a long stage running from 230 kilometers from Feltre to Tirano with two significant climbs and a descending finish. Sure enough, the stage was dominated by a large break that stayed away.

Diego Ulissi won a controversial sprint crossing the line in second place but Giovanni Visconti was relegated to third for improper sprinting, having pushed Ulissi rider off his line. Visconti attempted to pass on the blind side but reached out and pushed Ulissi just before the line and managed to cross the line first. The UCI judges ruled in Ulissi's favour. As they say: polemica! 

Stage: Diego Ulissi

Maglia Rosa: Alberto Contador

Region: Lombardy

Wine: Castellazzo Gugiarolo PN Bianco 10 $19.00

They say: Gugiarolo is a wine produced by the white vinification of the Pinot Nero grape belonging to the omonimous vineyards which have been owned by Vercesi del Castellazzo since the 16th century. The place name, of Longobard origin, was often noted in the archives of the Barnabite monks for "la buona esposizione a meridione e la naturale protezione dai venti del levante" the good south-facing position and natural protection from the wild east winds.

The Vercesi del Castellazzo estate is located 30 miles south of Milan - in Lombardy- in the heart of Oltrepo' Pavese on the hills overhanging the city of Stradella, south of the Po River. The winery was founded in 1808 when the great-grand father of the present owner bought the "Castellazzo"; until Napoleon's army took it, it was a monastary of Barnabite order built over the ruins of a Beccaria family castle.

The nose begins with white flowers and tart unripe peach. As it opens up it reveals notes of lanolin and soft apricot fruit. On the palate the wine has weight and structure with subdued spicy stone fruit and pronounced minerality. This wine is very dry and rich but in an indescribable, almost masculine way. Its a man's white.

I say: One I have been looking forward to. A man's white?  Hmm. . . That aside, perfumed and balanced. Looking forward to spending more time with it tonight.