WTN: Reds

Luigi Einaudi Dolcetto di Dogliani 2005 is a wine I'm not quite convinced about. The nose is fair with its herbal and tobacco-like ripe fruit. The palate just seems bitter and over-ripe and strangely lactic - as if the oaking went wrong.

Einaudi Barolo 2001 is a pretty nice wine - aromatic and rosy, tannic and gorgeously fruity. Not maybe the most traditional style, but at least in a big tasting like this, it's a very tasty style.

Einaudi Barolo Nei Cannubi 2001 is like the above, except more depth, and is more closed. Impressive and complex.

Alois Lageder Lindenburg Lagrein 2003 yes, yes, yes, Otto hates 2003s, etc. ad inf. A nice nose of tobacco and savoury herbs, yet the palate is just too sweet. A wine I'm happy to sniff for a long time, but I just don't like the taste. Sorry.

Elisabetta Foradori Teroldego Rotaliano 2004 is quite a nice wine. A nutty and savoury nose with a lovely herbal note. It is fruity but not over done and a teasing yet very pleasant bitter nuance to it. Nice!

Foradori Granato 2003 is raisiny. Yuck.

Romano dal Forno Valpolicella Superiore 2002 is massive, yet it has some savoury nuances to it. It is very impressive and hides its 15% abv very well. Nice tannins, but I still don't like the whole.

Romano dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella 2001 [Otto hides behind more intrepid tasters and whimpers pathetically] oh my! Big. Massive. Huge. Supermegaconcentrated. On the positive note, it does hide its 17% abv pretty well... but in my funny, little, narrowminded world it is never a good thing to have such an abv in an unfortified wine. Impressive but for all the wrong reasons.

Martin Códax Cuatro Pasos Mencia 2004 is an inoffensive, light yet fruity wine from Bierzo. Perhaps it isn't quite showing its best in a hurried tasting like this, so wouldn't mind tasting it again some other time.

Artadi Viñas de Gain 2004 is very sweetly fruity, jammy, with lots of all sorts of berries, nice and forward tannins. Not really my style of wine.

Artadi Pagos Viejos 2004 is big and sweetly fruity with nice tannins yet rather lacking in personality. Very forgettable.

Domaine des Lambrays Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru Les Loups 2002 is quite a nice drop: vegetal, ripe and red toned, savoury, earthy, mineral - very much Pinosity.

Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays 2001 Grand Cru is a also vegetal, earthy, bright and red toned, with nice acidity yet still perhaps a touch soft. Both the Lambrays showed much character that I really love, yet were curiously soft. How odd. I must acquaint myself better....

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 2004 is an oddity among the Vogüés I've so far tasted. This isn't at all as showy and flashy as the others, in fact it is earthy and restrained and vegetal and very much what I like to see in my Burgundies. This is the first Vogüé that I would like to buy for my cellar (were the price right, which it never seems to be with this producer).

Domaine de la Grange des Peres 2004 is nicely vegetal - almost Burgundian in this aspect -, yet very fruity and with all that black olive and garrigue notes I would expect from the South. Though a bigger wine than what I usually tend to go for, I expect I would enjoy this at my table.

Viña Leyda Pinot Noir Las Brisas Vineyard 2006 is some sort of cult from Chile. A very pinot-like nose, vegetal yet rather sweet and confected nose. Flat and not acidic enough palate. I liked the previous Leyda vintage available here, but this is just too lifeless.

Martinborough Vineyard Te Tera Pinot Noir 2005 is lifted and sweet and rather too soft.

Martinborough Vineyard Terrace Pinot Noir 2005 is identical to the above yet with more oomph - and therefore less to my taste. Why is it that "better" wines all too often have only more oomph and more price but no more finesse or elegance or harmony?

Pipers Brook Estate Pinot Noir 2004 is a rather confected Tasmanian, yet with a nice acidic and tannic structure. It is a curious hybrid of the Burgundian and non-Burgundian styles. Appealing, yet not something I want to drink as often as my Burgundies.

Brokenwood Pinot Noir Beechworth Victoria 2005 is sweet and not very pinot-like.

Brokenwood Hunter Valley Shiraz 2005 is sweet and brambly and tarry, yet extremely forgettable.

Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz 2004 is also from the Hunter Valley and costs much more but I again have to ask why the "better" wines all too often have only more oomph and more price but no more finesse or elegance or harmony?

-O-

Otto,
I like Foradori very much. The 'regular' is classic, delicious and cheap ($20), and the Granato has been very imressive in the past (though expensive). The 2001 was spectacular IMO, and the '02 very good, but in need of a long nap. I haven't yet tried the '03, but I imagine you've hit the nail on the head. The time will come when the 2003 vintage is indeed a distant memory. Have you tried Foradori's Bianco (Myrto? or something)?

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 2004 is an oddity among the Vogüés I've so far tasted. This isn't at all as showy and flashy as the others, in fact it is earthy and restrained and vegetal and very much what I like to see in my Burgundies.

Sounds like they were smart and gave it the treatment the vintage demanded.

I am waiting to taste this one, once I get my hands on the bottle ... what did you exactly not like in it?

Francesco

Otto,
I like Foradori very much. The 'regular' is classic, delicious and cheap ($20), and the Granato has been very imressive in the past (though expensive). The 2001 was spectacular IMO, and the '02 very good, but in need of a long nap. I haven't yet tried the '03, but I imagine you've hit the nail on the head. The time will come when the 2003 vintage is indeed a distant memory. Have you tried Foradori's Bianco (Myrto? or something)?

I wish the regular was available here other than in restaurants. I'd drink alot of it. The Granato is available in the special selection. I recently drunk the 1998 (bought ages ago) and 2001 and very much liked both of them. I'm happy to hear the '02 is good since that is now available. How long must one wait to open it? Is there no joy to it now? Never tried the Bianco. Interesting is it?

Sounds like they were smart and gave it the treatment the vintage demanded.

What exactly do you mean? I think they always make very competent wines, but they're usually in a style I don't terribly appreciate.

I am waiting to taste this one [Lageder '03], once I get my hands on the bottle ... what did you exactly not like in it?

My tastes in wines tend to be a little out of the mainstream. I hate raisiny fruit and overt oak but love high acidity. Here there wasn't a problem with the oak, but rather with the sheer over-ripe quality on the palate coupled with lower than hoped for acidity. So it seems a victim of the hot vintage. Yet it isn't the worst victim and it does have some very lovable elements to it, so if you aren't as sensitive to over-ripeness you might very well love the wine. I hope you report back on how you find it!

-O-

Romano dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella 2001 [Otto hides behind more intrepid tasters and whimpers pathetically] oh my! Big. Massive. Huge. Supermegaconcentrated. On the positive note, it does hide its 17% abv pretty well... but in my funny, little, narrowminded world it is never a good thing to have such an abv in an unfortified wine. Impressive but for all the wrong reasons.

Boy, do I understand that comment.

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 2004 is an oddity among the Vogüés I've so far tasted. This isn't at all as showy and flashy as the others, in fact it is earthy and restrained and vegetal and very much what I like to see in my Burgundies. This is the first Vogüé that I would like to buy for my cellar (were the price right, which it never seems to be with this producer).

Yep. Just stupid pricing for this house and, as you say, it is the rare bottle I want in my cellar.
Best, Jim

I hope it arrives soon.

Sounds like they were smart and gave it the treatment the vintage demanded.

What exactly do you mean?

They are often criticized for too much extraction and oak but in a crisp vintage like 04 it sounds like they didn't try to make this a "powerful" wine but rather stayed true to the crisp nature of the vintage. Which seems like a good decision.

They are often criticized for too much extraction and oak but in a crisp vintage like 04 it sounds like they didn't try to make this a "powerful" wine but rather stayed true to the crisp nature of the vintage. Which seems like a good decision.

Ah! I see. Thanks. From the ones I have tasted, I wouldn't put the blame so much on oak, but rahter on making a superficially sweet type of wine: it's flashy. But yes, I am happy they listened to nature this year.

Otto,
I like Foradori very much. The 'regular' is classic, delicious and cheap ($20), and the Granato has been very imressive in the past (though expensive). The 2001 was spectacular IMO, and the '02 very good, but in need of a long nap. I haven't yet tried the '03, but I imagine you've hit the nail on the head. The time will come when the 2003 vintage is indeed a distant memory. Have you tried Foradori's Bianco (Myrto? or something)?

I wish the regular was available here other than in restaurants. I'd drink alot of it. The Granato is available in the special selection. I recently drunk the 1998 (bought ages ago) and 2001 and very much liked both of them. I'm happy to hear the '02 is good since that is now available. How long must one wait to open it? Is there no joy to it now? Never tried the Bianco. Interesting is it?

The '02 is showing some angst and aggression now. It's a long term keeper, but five years in the cellar ought to teach it a lesson. Like many tannic young reds Otto, one man's pleasure is anothers whipping post. I found it impressive -truckloads of dirt and muck. I haven't tasted the Myrto, but will search it out -60% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Pinot Bianco, and 20% Manzoni -sounds like a treat.

[David M. Bueker]

It's interesting that you call out the vegetal character of a 2004 Burgundy as something you like. the vintage is being castigated elsewhere for every little hint of anything green. I happen to like a leaner wine as well, so I will enjoy the (small) selection of 2004 Burgs in my cellar for years to come. But overall it is very interesting to see how expectations have become so warped by years like 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

The minor vintages (as the Burghound calls them) have been pushed into obscurity.

It's interesting that you call out the vegetal character of a 2004 Burgundy as something you like. the vintage is being castigated elsewhere for every little hint of anything green.

I have been reading some notes that denigrate that delightful, fresh, savoury, green note also. But one man's fresh is another's unripe. I don't mind. It might just mean I can get these in the future at good prices.

Bill, thanks for the impressions on Foradori. I might just get an '02 to try - you've made me curious.

-O-