Wines of the Giro Stage 12

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Stage 12 and we head from 155 kilometers from Seravezza to Sestri Levante.

Steephill tells me that:

Stage 12 is a medium mountain stage starting from Seravezza, a town in the Lucca Province, on the Tuscan Riviera. We'll then head north along the coast for 50 flat km until we hit the first of four categorized climbs. . .

For the final 100 km of this stage we'll snake our way, up and down, through the demanding Cinque Terre and Genoa regions, the most beautiful parts of the Italian Riviera, before the flat finish in Sestri Levante (nice town photo). Stage 12 of the 2006 Giro d'Italia (report) followed a similar route to Sestri Levante but took a more direct route to the finish with less climbing.

The final of the four categorized climbs, the cat 4 Villa Tassani, crests just 11 km from the finish followed by a technical descent and the straight run into Sestri Levante. A break succeeded here in 2006 and it will most likely succeed this year. 

And indeed, a break of 7 went up the road early, joined by 2 more. With 80 kilometers to go they had 1:40 on the main field. Eventually the gap shot up to 7' 00" with 38km to go, as no one in the peloton seemed to want to take on the job of chasing. Eurosport speculated that due to the early rest day during the transfer from Denmark to Italy, the peloton was even more tired than they normally would be at this point in the race.
With about 34 kilometers left, Liquigas came to the front to ride tempo and up the pace a little bit as the time gap began to drop.But at the end of the day: success for the brekaway as Lars Bak attacked out of the group and time trialed his way to the stage win.

MarkCavendish 9:49am via Twitter for iPad

Couldn't be happier for Lars Bak winning today @giroditalia. He's one of the hardest working & moral boosting men alive. Proper good guy.

Stage: Lars Bak
Maglia Rosa: Joaquim Rodriguez
GC:

1	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	51:19:08
2	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	0:00:17
3	Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat	0:00:26
4	Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team	0:00:32
5	Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team	0:00:49
6	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team	0:00:52
7	Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
8	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:57

Cork sniffing.

Wine:  Claudio Vio 2008  Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC Pigato

From the importer:

This is old-school, high-altitude (300mt.) Pigato from the hills of Vedone above Albenga. A steep and curvy ride up the hillside, and you arrive perched between sea and mountains. The sun sets there on the sporadic outcroppings of mountain scrub, olive trees, and, of course, vines. If you were a Giant, skipping regions from Piemonte to Liguria, it'd be a good place to cool off for a picnic lunch with some Pigato and Pesto before heading to sea.

Claudio Vio has taken the reigns form his father, Ettore, in what amounts to only a patch-work of vineyards, gathered from rows of vines that seems more like they're trying to walk off the steep hillsides than form a vineyard.

There's but two Hectares total; just drops of wine to be had; one bad hail storm can wipe out everything. It's a rare, magical, place, and we have Claudio to thank for this rare example of heroic viticulture in Liguria. Very Limited. Sustainable.

Tasting Notes:A subtle wine but with plenty of high-altitude nerve and mountain minerals to it. In fact, we reserve the wines a year in advance and wait to ship them; Vio's wines are always to tightly wound when young. Peppery salad notes: Japanese mizuna and watercress; slate fountain of lime. Grüner Veltliner comparisons will get you a one way high-speed train to Austria.

Vineyard:Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC. 12 km from the sea; 300 meters. Harvest mid-September.

Vinification:Heroically hand-harvested form mountain side. Steel. Wine is not released until it settles and unwinds.

I say: First off, I love the way this wine looks, it is a truly wonderful label. Golden lemon in color. Minerals, citrus peel. I paired this one with a puree made from our backyard, wine barrel grown fava beans and spring onions and I think that helped it to become a bit more rounded.  Melissa did not love the 09, so I would be curious to try another vintage to see if it changes significantly from year to year.