WTN: Off-Broadway nebbiolo

La Gatta Riserva Valtellina Superiore 2001, Casa Vinicola Triacca, Lombardia, Italy.

Colour is brownish red, like a mix of rasberry lemonade and tawny port. (At least in my head). Aged in botte.

Smells of mushrooms and cherry with a faint whif of fur. Also some sweet earth, or "dung" as some have described it.

Good acidity in the mouth with rasberry candy and cherrys. Some bitter tannins in the end. Will probably improve with 3-6 years in cellar. Mushrooms and a hint of oak/butter. Good wine at 175 NOK/ $28.

Havard,

I think 'sweet earth' and 'dung' are very different. The Triacca wines are very cleanly made, very good examples of their type IMO.

OK, what is dung then?

I'm just curious.

Havard, some use the term dung much more than I, but I use another term meaning the same. I sometimes use the term manure when the aroma is particularly strong, otherwise I usually say barnyard. To me using the term dung or the other 4 letter word which is slang for feces, I find to be beyond the pale. If I ever smelled a wine that made me use either term, I would pour the wine down the drain, or take it back to the store if it were expensive enough. And I still maintain that I like a goodly amount of barnyard on my Rhones, burgs, and many Italian reds too.