Blind tasting group turned out to be Italian wines this month. I shall remember it as the ‘Ripe Italian’ tasting as so many wines showed such ripe noses.
2017 Feudi di San Gregorio Albente – light yellow colour, faint nose, so so wine. Too bad, maybe just a mute bottle. I enjoy Falanghina – the 2015 Fontanavecchia Falanghina del Sannio Taburno has been a fave since release.
2016 Giuseppe Quintarelli Bianco Secco – this Trebbiano blend, on the other hand was delightful. Waxy tropical fruit nose, tasty and balanced.
1970 Enrico Serafino Barolo – small not normally notable producer, but this wine showed very well – Dark wine with garnet edges, a nose of ripe raisiny fruit and tomato with raisiny orange peel as well. Atypical but interesting.
1990 Lungarotti Umbria San Giorgio – this was released in 2000 to celebrate the popular misconception that the new millennium began with the start of that year rather than midnight of New Years Eve 2000. Still quite dark in colour with a nose of earthy red fruit, full bodied, still showing soft tannins and ending with good length. My wine and my last bottle.
2004 Mascarello Barbera – sadly, this wine was corked, although only two of us were able to detect that immediately (there si a wide range of sensitivity to TCA). The fruit level was still pretty good, so mildly affected, but as in all these cases, impossible to know what the wine would have been if unaffected. The good thing was that the person that brought it immediately opened the next wine.
1974 Giovanni Sordo Barolo – not normally a producer to be sought out, this ws an outstanding wine with light garnet edges, a spicy nose with the usual (but not always present) rose and orange hints, smooth entry, dried fruit on palate, juicy balance and good length. A winner!
1989 Antinori Solaia Toscana – II have drunk up my 88 and 89 Solaia so it was nice to be able to revisit one of them. Dark slightly spicy claret nose (as should be expected with usual blend being about 80/20 cab sauv/cab franc). Sweet fruit on palate, with a silky smooth medium length finish. I have done comparison tastings with this wine and Sassicaia several times and always prefer the Sassicaia, but for an international style cab blend with little sense of origin/terroir, this drinks well.
2011 Cappellano Barbera d'Alba Gabutti – dark red, slightly ripe nose with cherry and cocoa, sweet fruit on palate medium length. Lacked the acidic spine that used to carry traditional Barberas for years, but it was so tasty no one cared. Like a Barbera made by a California vintner – not a criticism, just an observation.
2003 Rocca delle Macìe Ser Gioveto – another IGT wine, this time a wine that is mostly sangiovese laced with a bit of cab and merlot. Dark with a pronounced vanilla nose, clearly no stranger to oak, tasty and smooth on palate and perhaps a tad warm in the finish. Good fruit levels.
2007 Tenuta Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva – another ripe nose, all red fruit and spice hints, but on palate it seemed dried out, although there were some decent flavours. We wondered if it had been heat damaged.
1997 Fabiano Amarone – the ripe nose of any recioto wine, but not over the top, soft tannin and decent length, but ultimately falling a bit short – an Amarone Light. Thought it might have been a Masi Grandarella, an appassimento (dried grape) wine made with brief drying and from the Refosco grape, rather than the Corvina/Rondinella of Amarone, that yields a significantly lighter style than a full appassimento Amarone does.
2005 Il Poggione Vin Santo del Sant' Antimo – medium amber, quite sweet but balanced and not cloying, The honey and apricot aromas are pleasant and the wine had quite good length. Made one want a biscotti to dip! Another mat-dried wine, this time from trebbiano and malvasia grapes.