The place for all things wine, focused on serious wine discussions.

FR & IT

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Florida Jim

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

1253

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:27 pm

Location

St. Pete., FL & Sonoma, CA

FR & IT

by Florida Jim » Mon May 15, 2006 7:46 am

2004 Masi, Valpolicella:
A thoroughly quaffable wine that took about 15 minutes to open and weighed in at 12% alcohol. I’m not buying a bunch for the cellar but would be happy to drink this anytime in the next 6 months or so. $25, on a restaurant wine list; likely half that at retail.

1993 Rodet, Gevrey-Chambertin:
Although recognizable for its Gevrey earth tones and friendly in demeanor, this is pretty tired; not gone, but going.

2002 La Chablisienne, Chablis Cuvée LC:
Clean, straight-forward, authentic Chablis that, until I started drinking the 2002 V. Dauvissat village wine recently, was enough to quench my Chablis thirst. No longer; while this is representative and nothing to sneeze at, it is not in the same league as the Dauvissat. About $14.

2004 Tua Rita, Rosso dei Notri:
70% sangiovese, 15% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 13.5% alcohol; opens over about two hours to a smooth, concentrated, focused wine with outstanding balance; mostly black fruit and cocoa on the nose with hints of dried sage and gravel; tactile on the palate with noticeable but very fine tannins, depth, character, complexity and, after airing, integration that belies its low price tag; excellent length. At $18, this is a find and although the maker says it’s from young vines, you couldn’t prove it by me.
[A word about Tua Rita; their flagship wine is a 100% merlot named Redigaffi which, IMO, is more CA in style than Italian and outrageously expensive ($200+). The Giusto di Notri (at about $100) is 65% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot and 5% cabernet franc and is clearly a wine meant to be cellared – my tastes of it on release have not been especially pleasant and, of course, I haven’t had one with any age on it yet. The Perlato del Bosco is 100% sangiovese and hideously over-oaked (about $40).
But here is a wine that certainly has a cellar life, tastes terrific now, is made almost entirely in tank and is priced well below its quality.
Very highly recommended.]

Best, Jim
Jim Cowan
Cowan Cellars
no avatar
User

David M. Bueker

Rank

Riesling Guru

Posts

34257

Joined

Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:52 am

Location

Connecticut

Re: FR & IT

by David M. Bueker » Mon May 15, 2006 8:23 am

Jim,

Something I have always wondered about: how do you go about finding all these nice "little" wines? Do you just buy lots of things one bottle at as time and see what's what, or is there a grand strategy?

David
Decisions are made by those who show up
no avatar
User

Florida Jim

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

1253

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:27 pm

Location

St. Pete., FL & Sonoma, CA

Re: FR & IT

by Florida Jim » Mon May 15, 2006 9:23 am

David M. Bueker wrote:Jim,

Something I have always wondered about: how do you go about finding all these nice "little" wines? Do you just buy lots of things one bottle at as time and see what's what, or is there a grand strategy?

David


David,
When I am in NC for the summer and fall, I drink out of the cellar as there are almost no wine stores in my area.
When I am in FL for winter and spring, there is a GREAT store here called Wine Warehouse that has deeply discounted wines. Then I follow the one bottle at a time buying deal you mentioned and my cellar, which stays in NC, gets time to mature.
Best of both worlds, Jim
Jim Cowan
Cowan Cellars

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: AhrefsBot, ClaudeBot, Dale Williams and 4 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign