2007 Biggio Hamina, Pinot Noir Deux Vert Vnyd.:
Translucent; very high toned aromatics that seem just a touch under-ripe to me – not 2004 Burgundy green but just not quite full; elegant and pretty in the mouth with bright black cherry and mineral flavors dominant, moderate intensity and a trifle thin (but leaving the possibility that this will gain weight with age); medium length slightly sour finish. Given a year or two in bottle this may be an entirely different wine – the fact that I found no ‘green’ at all gives me hope. But today it comes across a little under-ripe and lacking concentration. 13% alcohol.
I have another bottle or two and will age them and see what happens. I will say that if a producer has to miss my mark, I much prefer it this way than some over-ripe, alcoholic, knock-off for syrah.
Once again I am convinced; this is a producer worth watching.
2006 Paul Bouchard, Pinot Noir Vin de Pays D’Oc:
Good, solid, Burgundy styled pinot with ripe fruit, mineral undertones and enough nuance to keep it interesting, Easy to drink.
On day two, it has gained complexity, integrated a little better and become even more pleasing both with and without food.
Buy this buy the case at $9/bottle.
2005 Pieropan, Soave Classico Calvarino:
I am a fan of garganega and have tasted through enough Soave to write an essay (just short of a book); as I see them, the players are Pieropan, Anselmi, Inama and, to some degree, Pra.
Inama’s low-end stuff is his best, the rest flawed by too much wood; Anselmi’s, Capitel Foscarino (no wood) is wonderfully fresh and alive whereas, his Capitel Croce (aged in wood), seems to make the grape’s essential character into a caricature. Likewise, Pieropan’s, La Rocca (also aged in wood), while delicious in its way, comes short by virtue of its barrel exposure.
But this is “it;” Calvarino – a single vineyard, fermented and aged in stainless and without question, a wine worthy of your cellar, year in and year out.
And this is the vintage – god wine – and the best example of the grape/AOC I have ever tasted. It’s powerful, closed, firm, structured, bright but incredibly deep and utterly endless. A wine that probably needs a decade to show well and maybe another to attain its peak. Nothing else even comes close.
One of wine’s great delights is this kind of discovery; a bottle that you absolutely know is a landmark example of what a grape and/or AOC can do.
And it’s nice to have the rest of a case of this to follow through the years.
About $24, full retail, delivered.
Best, Jim