Notes from another lunch hosted by Jojo at his shop; the humble fare of pizza and roast chicken meant to complement the wines made with Italian grapes. Format was double blind, any country, any year, as long as grapes are Italian varietals. 7 wines tasted, each taster to rate only his top 4. Two wines tied for 3rd place and 2 wines tied for last place so although there were 7 wines, there were only 5 ranks.
Wine A - Good nose, slightly hot. Dark. Sweet fruit. Slight oakiness on palate. Good balance. Plum. Good acid on finish. Long. Very good but international in style. My #3, Group #1. Seghesio Rattlesnake Venom 2004. Only available at cellar door I'm told. Failed to take not of the grapes but I believe Sangiovese plus Cabernet or Zin.
Wine B - Good nose. Coffee. Sweet. Oaky. Very New Worldy. Rich. Oaky finish. Butterscotch. Didn't make my top 4. Tied for Group last. Heartland Dolcetto/Lagrein 2006 from Australia.
Wine C - Tea leaf, mint, tobacco, curry nose. Ripe fruit. Sweet. Medium-bodied. Complex. Very good. Good food wine. My #2. Group #2. Falesco Montiano 1999.
Wine D - Lots of wood on nose. Mint. Young, tannic. Lots of acidity on finish. Some cherry. Quite good. My #4. Group #4. Feudi Taurasi Serpico 2003.
Wine E - Nose of dried fruit. Olives. Prune and raisin. Soft. Aged. Still a bit of tannin on the finish. In decline. Didn't make my top 4. Tied for group last. Tasca d'Almerita Rosso del Conte 2001. My wine. I was very impressed with the 2001 Cygnus from this house which I tried over the weekend that I thought the top of the line must be really good. Big mistake! It might have been badly stored, though. Am willing to try another bottle before writing this off completely.
Wine F - A bit stinky. Lacks body. Blah, boring wine. Didn't make my top 4. Tied for Group #3. Leonardo Chianti Riserva 2002. Pretty good showing for such a modest wine and from a bad year, no less.
Wine G - Very nice nose. Fragrant wood. Cedar. Soft, sweet, perfect now. My #1. Tied with the Chianti for Group #3. Miner Sangiovese 2005.
Jojo was once again foiled, his Montiano just losing out to the humble Seghesio of Arnie. A gracious host as always, he brought out a bonus bottle:
Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 1986 - A wine with a reputation for having elevated levels of TCA, I was very interested to try this as I also have a bottle of this wine. Absolutely no problem with this pristine bottle. Very dark, young-looking. Good nose. Cedary. Good fruit. Still tannic. Very dry. Could probably age a few more years before peaking. Still some improvement likely but very good now.