PV Tasting Notes
The 2006 Harlequin is another majestic wine; whilst at this moment in time, the 2003 is far more enjoyable in every aspect, I think this 2006 has all the attributes required to become a reference point for this style of wine. This is big, a towering effort of remarkable depth, fully expansive on the palate, with tons of ripe plum, black cherry, sweet tobacco leaf, liquorice, tar and aniseed, but it’s all very compact. My feeling is, this is a little bit like cashmere wrapped in a steel glove, will need some time for the tannins to fall away, but there is more than sufficient fruit to develop into something ethereal here. Tasted April 2010.
Independent Review97 Points Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate Feb 2011
The 2006 Harlequin is one of the most exciting, viscerally thrilling wines I have tasted in a while. Sweet aromas of roasted espresso beans lead to wild cherries, mint, licorice, blackberry jam and star anise as this opulent, full-throttle wine shows off its inimitable class and pedigree. Today the oak remains a touch intrusive, particularly in the tannins, but there appears to be more than enough density in the fruit to provide balance. The finish is eternal. This is a profound effort from Celestino Gaspari and his team. Harlequin is made from as many as fifteen different varieties. The grapes go through a brief drying process prior to being vinified. The wine is then racked into French oak, where it spends two full years with no subsequent rackings. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2026.
Proprietor Celestino Gaspari was once the heir apparent at Quintarelli. He has since struck out on his own at Zyme, where he spares no expense in his quest to make rich, textured wines. With this set of new releases it appears Gaspari has begun to achieve some of his lofty goals. These are simply fabulous wines. It will be interesting to see where the estate goes from here, but the direction seems pretty clear.
Zyme, is the ancient word for Yeast or ferment, and Celestino Gaspari chose it as the brand name for his own dream project located in Valpolicella. The fifteen hectare estate and was founded in 2003, The aging of the wines continues in beautiful and quite dramatic underground cellars which are carved out of a sandstone quarry dating from 1400AD although winemaking activity precedes this date. Celestino was the winemaker at Quinterelli for a period of eleven years and is married to the daughter of Giuseppe Quintarelli, widely considered the heir-apparent; but he has a deep sense of individuality and felt without adequate expression here, wanting to stamp his own mark on the world of wine, decided to work on his own project; Which included, developing new and unique grape varietals introducing different growing techniques and bringing back almost extinct species.
Gaspari is a quiet and very determined man, technically highly proficient and totally in touch nature, he wants his wines to have strong individuality drawing from the best of nature and with his skills creating something on a higher plain. He is clearly very ambitious and has struggled within the bounds of tradition in both previous employment and working within the rules of the DOC, because of this, his and unlike many other top producers of the region his top wine is not the Amarone, but is in fact quite simply Vino Rosso IGT (red table wine); however, there is nothing simple about this or his other wines; Above all else - one thing is certain, Gaspari is an Artist.
In order to pay the bills over last few years Gaspari has been assisting some of the most exciting young properties in the north Italian provinces, but has totally scaled back the consulting work now to concentrate more on his own dreams and I simply cannot believe any of these other projects will be nearly as exciting as this.