Luckily the heat came and went, thus prolonging beloved springtime in the New York piedmont. Good time to try a couple of new wines for me and revisit some old ones.
Caves Cooperatives de Donnas, Donnas, Vallee d'Aoste, 2005
A springtime nebbiolo, showing shitake mushroom, forest fruits and parmesan cheese aromatics. Definate alpine nebbiolo character, with bright acidity and red fruits and a fresh, lively body. Delicious now, for my tastes if I had another bottle I would wait another year. 13% B+/A-
Marcel Lapiere, Morgon, 2005
Floral nose with a slight raspberry-damson plum note. Very floral with a penetrating balsamic-raspberry finish, with fir or spruce needles floatign on top. Like drinking violet & rose essence. Lovely and pure, but not very gamay-like to me (e.g., no 'iodine' or 'medicine chest'), which is fine, but just...different. 13% A-
Question: does anybody know if Marcel uses little-to-no sulfur? Because this tasted about as sulfur-free a wine as there is outside of Allemand. I've heard something about the "Lapiere style" and wonder what that might be?
Vie di Romans, Friuli Isonzo, 'Flor di Uis', 2006
This is from the Gallo family. No, not that one, but the one in Gorizia. A blend of Malvasia Istriana, Rhein Riesling, Tocai Friulano, the color is a bright lemon gold. Aromas of lemon mint and an herbal garden. Rather thick and unctuous, with a bit of plodding dullness, this is well-made, but a bit heady with 14% alcohol. Has an interesting lemon-mint and jalapeno skin finish, along with slight bitter almond. Interesting, but a bit pricy (upper-$20's, and that's on sale) and unsure whether I would buy again. Perhaps in a less ripe year. B+/A-
Chateau Lagrange, Saint Julien, 2000
I'm beginning to consume my 2000's because I see this vintage nearly across Europe as an early maturing one, and I have multiple bottles to sample and gauge their progress. The color is a deep dark cherry-red. Has a dullish, heavy nose of black raspberry and blackcurrants. Rather soft and blocky, somewhat one-dimensional, with the same black raspberry and blackcurrant that was on the nose. A touch of sage on the finish. Bottle shows a little improvement (fuller and better integrated) on the 2nd day. Coates is pretty spot on in his review of this. B+
Saint Cosme, Cote Rotie, 2001
Fecal stink covers anything else you'll get out of this, which is hard to get past, but if you can this is actually showing better than a bottle I opened about a year ago, which would have garnered an "F" on my scale and was extremely disjointed and undrinkable. this is merely extremely unpleasant. D+/C
Poliziano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, 'Asinone', 2000
The eternal bottle of youth: does this thing ever AGE? My 3rd bottle, still showing quite primary. Blackberry, Italian plum, camphor, licorice/fennel throughout, amazingly dense and rich. Sweet tactile tannic grip on the end, like a strong man's handshake but from a gentleman wearing gloves to soften the grip, but the power's there. Heavy sediment. 14% A- [note: this will be too ripe for some of you, but it is very well made]