Earlier in the month, fellow wine lover Charles Weiss arranged to have our boisterous group descend upon a poor, unsuspecting neighborhood trattoria near his home for an Italian-themed tasting. They took very good care of us there despite our ruckus, and I hope we return one day soon. The wines:
1989 Pommery Champagne Louise. I arrived late and this bottle to me seemed like it must have been considerably better early on, based on some of the really positive comments I heard. What few bubbles there are rise slowly from the bottom of the glass. This Champagne is very nutty on the nose, with praline candy, ginger snap and dark honey aromas. In the mouth, it is rich and honeyed, fairly advanced, with flavors of old fashioned ginger ale, honey, dried grapefruit and fleshy tree fruit. I find the finish to be nicely layered but not especially long.
1985 Heidsieck Monopole Champagne Diamant Bleu. Again, I think I was cutting against the grain of the rest of the table, but I liked this much better. It offers up a mature, complex nose of butterscotch, paraffin wax, dark honey, and ginger. In the mouth, it has much better acidity and lift than the Pommery, coming across as fresh and vibrant, with a fine frothy mouthfeel, good cut and fine balance. The flavors are very clean, featuring pear and Fuji apple, grapefruit and smoke. It finishes fine and long.
2002 Vollenweider Riesling Spatlese Wolfer Goldgrube. Initially, the nose is full of petrol notes and burnt matchstick, but it soon folds in very nice aromas of apple, pear, graphite, forest ferns and a lilting floral note. In the mouth, it again shows a lot of petrol, but underneath that is a reservoir of deliciously sweet fruit in a moderately open, big and juicy framework. It shows very good body throughout and plenty of clean tropical and orchard fruits in the mid-palate. The finish is clean, delicious and lasting.
1996 Weingut Willi Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Alte Reben. The sweet nose of mango and other tropical fruits is a bit of a disconnect with the palate, which is dry, crisp and metallic—with lemon/lime zest, quinine and mineral flavors. It is a style I sometimes do like, but it hit me the wrong way this night, perhaps due to my trying to drink it after a Spatlese Riesling.
1995 Domaine des Baumards Savennieres. I did not get to try much of this on the night of the tasting and the leftovers I brought home were OK but probably not reflective of the overall quality of the wine right out of the bottle. Not rated.
1998 Paolo Scavino Barbera d’Alba Affinato in Carati. This Barbera has a wild yet lovely mix of aromas, including roasted dark fruits, leather, dark earth, dried blood, mulling spices and a big hit of chocolate. Unfortunately, it is not nearly so good in the mouth. It is a bit austere, and feels like it has lost much of its fruit. It feels watered-down in the mid-palate and the acidity seems sharp and disjointed. There are some dark fruit, chocolate and earthy flavors, but the overall package appears to be on the decline.
1999 Brovia Barbera d’Alba Sori del Drago. This is the mirror image of the Scavino, showing tight and subdued on the nose, but impressing in the mouth. As noted, the nose takes a while to show much, but does eventually yield some savory aromas of cured meats, dark fruits and earth. It has excellent presence in the mouth, with very good levels of concentration and good length, featuring rich, dark fruit and Baker’s chocolate flavors. Too bad I could not have the nose of the Scavino and the palate of the Brovia…
1997 Antinori Tignanello Toscano. CORKED.
1998 Azienda Agricola due Portine (Garelli) Brunello di Montalcino. The lone Brunello on the table has a pretty, candied red-fruit bouquet, with scents of dried leather, dried cherries, faint incense, and high-toned red currants. On the palate, it is nicely mouth-filling, yet maintains a good sense of precision. Flavors are mostly dried cherries, and woody spices. Tannins are refined and not too intrusive. It is medium-bodied and is drinking easy right now, yet seems like it could go for a while.
1998 Paolo Bea Montefalco Rosso Riserva Vigna Pipperello. I really like how this hits the nose, with fabulous aromatics of leather, dark cherry, tobacco, persimmon and iron. This shows a lot of personality. In the mouth, it is dark-fruited, with excellent density and an easy sense of concentration. The dry, spicy tannins are pretty big, but do seem to fit into the texture well. There is a juicy streak of acidity running through, as well. It feels young, but with awesome potential.
1997 Fratelli Revello Barolo Vigna Giachini. The nose is a bit reticent at first, indicating that a good decant would very likely have helped this along. Letting it sit in the glass for a while, it begins to show very nice aromas of macerated cherries, tar oil, plum, dark rose hips and cedar wood. Even later, with aggressive swirling, it begins to really shine--bringing in added notes like salami, cracked pepper and raspberry compote. In the mouth, it is similarly tight initially, but probably needs more cellar time to come out of its shell. Right now, it shows dark red fruits over a medium to full-bodied frame. Tannins are highly evident throughout, but feel fine-grained, and the finish bodes well for the mid-term future.
1990 Parusso Barolo Mariondino. This wine went through a lot of changes during the evening. The nose is full of roasted fruit, chestnuts, persimmon and dried leather at first. Later, the fruit seems more decaying than roasted. Then, faint notes of acetone seem to pop up. And every once in a while, one gets a whiff of something one taster described as dead mouse. In the mouth, it features cool dark cherry fruit and a good acidic streak, with a bit of gaminess. It is on the big side, with good full mouthfeel. Tannins do come in on the finish, which features browned butter notes in addition to dark fruits. From comments I gathered, this was a polarizing wine, with me on the side of liking it.
1997 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. This was my second encounter with this wine in about a month. The nose here shows aromas of coffee grounds, spice cake, deep black currants, dried plums and sawdust. In the mouth, it is plush and rich, with a big whack of spicy dark oak, dark roasted coffee and hints of bitter chocolate and fruit cake flavors. It is long through the mouth, but drying tannins do clamp down toward the finish, which also shows a hint of alcohol. Not quite as good as previous bottles, but I am happy to drink it any day.
After dinner, back at Charles’ (temporary) bachelor pad:
1922 D’Oliveiras Madeira Boal Reserva. Charles had a little bit left in the bottle sitting on his counter. I got one big gulp thanks to Philip, who saved it for me. The nose is all pecan pie and toasty nuts. The palate has an absolutely massive shot of acidity that carries along flavors of raisins, fig paste and old nuts. It has a very long finish, and really one sip feels like enough.
1997 Dr. Loosen Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr. This has an excellent nose reminiscent of petrol, Napolean lemon candy drops, burnt matchstick, butterscotch, honeysuckle and foresty nettles. It is rich and relatively full on the palate, with fine sweetness level that does not go over the top. Actually, it feels nicely-balanced. Flavors are in the family of fleshy apricot, nectarine pit and peach skin, along with a hint of smoke. It feels almost tannic on the finish, though there is also bright acidity to carry it along quite nicely.
2000 Rosenblum Cellars Late Harvest Zinfandel Dutton Ranch Russian River Valley. Aromas here are pretty much about dates, prunes, yellow raisins and a sort of boysenberry syrup. In the mouth, it has sweet spiced fruits that are heavy but not quite ponderous and it even shows some tangy freshness buried in there. Not too bad.
It was a lovely evening, and it was nice to add a new place to our collective BYO options. We will have to dine/drink there again soon!
-Michael