Wine Jabber

Two 1996 Barolos

2011-05-11T15:25:00-06:00

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while. I am now a resident of Monforte d'Alba, Italy - I decided to move here to keep working on my book in a more serious manner and because I love this area. I'm fortunate to have sufficient work and many friends here, and one of them poured me his 1996 Barolo today: Luciano Sandrone. Luciano is an old friend - I first met him 1999ish and he is now like a second father to me. 1996 is a difficult vintage to evaluate at this point. It is generally considered to be one of the great "classic" vintages - a cooler year that led to terrific acid development, which is a hallmark of the wines. Many 1996 wines that I have had in the last few years are incredibly perfumed in the nose, hinting at great potential, only to be still-shrill with tight acidity in the mouth. A few of the great wines of the vintage have begun to come around - especially in Barbaresco - but for the most part these wines still require patience. I have begin to wonder if the fruit will ever outlast the acids. Great surprise on the 1996 Sandrones: they are beginning to open up. I tasted then after they had been open an hour and then again after 4-5 hours. These are both very savory wines - they have terrific acidity and minerality; the antithesis of the fruit bomb. Here are brief notes: 1996 Barolo Cannubi Boschis: Open an hour, this was incredibly perfumed, lots of dark berries, crushed rose petals and tobacco. Aromas are beginning to take on secondary characteristics. In the mouth, still tight but losing the shrillness I remember from a bottle 18 months ago. After 4 hours, the acids have mellowed even further, and the aromas are open and expressive. Nose of dried and fresh black cherry and dried blueberries, rose petals, hints of licorice and woody notes, with a tarry and espresso-bean center. In the mouth,it has softened considerably, with good dried fruit braced up by not-excessive acidity and soft tannins. Very long finish, ripe and focused. This is not an opulent CB, but a leaner, more precise and focused version. (4.0nb) 1996 Barolo Le Vigne: At one hour, this was still tight and bright - though the nose was deeply expressive, the wine was still too acidic in the mouth. After 4-5 hours open, the palate has caught up with the nose - Le Vigne is made from 4 different sites around the Barolo zone, and this wine shows the characteristics of higher-altitude fruit from Monforte. The nose is floral with black cherry/cranberry/pomegranate and tarry minerality, licorice and river rocks. In the mouth, bright acids frame complex and layered dried and fresh fruit. I generally prefer Le Vigne to the Cannubi and 1996 is no different. An excellent wine, and if you have a few more years of patience, this will be a great one. (4.0+nb)

Trattoria del Bivio, 6.11.10

2010-06-13T10:44:26-06:00

Met Elio and Lucia for dinner on Friday at the Trattoria del Bivio in the hamlet of Cavallotti outside Cerreto Langhe. New experience for me – I had only driven through this town, never stopped, but both the Altares said it was one of their favorite restaurants in the region. I’ve never spent much time in the Alta Langha, or High Langhe – this is too high for most grapevines (too much cold and snow late into spring) and so the dominant activites are cheesemaking (Robiola is from this region) and hazelnuts. Amazing how much cooler it is up here: whereas at the Sandrone winery it was beastly hot and the air still, up here it is cool enough for a sweater and there is a fabulous breeze going. Not even Monforte, known for its constant winds and gusts, was this fresh. Barolo is the oven, Cavallotti is the fridge. Waiting for the Altares outside on the terrace, I wish I’d brought a sweater. I pass the time with a book and a glass of wine. Originally we had said 8, then they had called to push it back to 8.30 … which means closer to 9 around here. It is still light when they arrive and we head inside. Chef Massimo is ably assisted by Selia in the dining room. The place is bright, but homey. (A digression on Italian restaurant lighting: It’s always too bright by half, at least compared to what we are accustomed to in the US. I suspect this is an old custom of letting your customers see what they are eating – in effect, to make sure that people can see that the braised rabbit on the menu is actually rabbit and not artfully cut donkey. So the lights are usually up at full brightness in many restaurants, much to the irritation of someone looking for some “atmosphere.”) Menu is traditional, straightforward and unsurprising, with two verbal additions – this last part is a rarity. The concept of the “daily special” is not universal. The wine list is a wonder, though. For a place out in the middle of nowhere (ok, only 16 kms from Monforte, but over narrow, windy roads) there is a great selection of wines not just from the region but also from Veneto, Alto Adige, Toscana and even other parts of the world. The champagne list is deep and I want to dive in but there are only three of us … I will come back. The meals are lovely: my tajarin with porcini is lovely and subtle – the egginess of the hand-cut noodles setting the earthiness of the noodles off beautifully. Lucia’s rabbit salad looks amazing. Elio starts with tiny hand-formed gnocchi with a sauce of castelmagno, a piedmontese cheese. Main courses are equally lovely: my roast suckling pig is delicious, with a crunchy skin and cut-with-a-fork tender inside. Lucia has baccala (salt cod) with fresh tomatoes and potato puree, but the star is a whole Merluzza (Mediterranean Sea Bass) that Elio orders: the chef has completely deboned the fish before cooking without cutting it apart … so the whole fish that shows up at the table, with a gorgeous crispy skin still on, is entirely without bones. Wow. And Delicious! We enjoy a bottle of Bruno Gottardi’s outstanding 2007 Blauburgunder (Pinot Noir) Mazzon from the Alto Adige. This tiny producer is barely exported to the US, but should be a rock star: the wine is an amazing balancing act, all its elements precisely focused and wound together with skillful harmony. It is a deceptively quaffable wine – it is so shimmeringly silky that it’s entirely possible to miss the underlying complexity and nuance. Elio and Lucia tell me about their new project: rehabilitating a tiny hamlet in the Castelmagno area. They and three other partners bought this hamlet, abandoned since the late 1940s, and want to restore the village, underwrite the return of a few dairy farmers and renovate the houses into an isolated but comfortable place for getaways, meetings and vacations. At about 1500 meters above sea level, it has just been out of the snow for about 6-7 weeks, so they doubt that many will want to live there full-time. But as a summer residence, it would be heavenly. Elio claims to be mostly retired by now (I will respectfully hold my tongue) and says this is his dream retirement project. If he can bring it to fruition, it will be amazing. A few desserts to finish up with a glass of Paolo Saracco’s most excellent Moscato (more on Paolo here); kudos to Massimo and Selia for the excellent work they do here. This is a lovely restaurant, and away from the madding crowds in the Barolo. As much as I love the Barolo, it has changed with the influx of tourists over the last decade – there are far more indifferent and even downright bad restaurants in the zone. Proprietors know they will be full during the season and see no reason to improve. Too bad, as many locals complain that the restaurants have generally gotten worse, and they only go out to support the restaurants who buy their wine. Interestingly, many of the same locals drive out of the zone for eating out, as the food is an order of magnitude better 5-10 kms away. Go figure! Other great places outside the Barolo zone: the Marsupino in Briaglia, Il Verso del Ghiottone (the sound of the Glutton) in Dogliani, and La Cochinella in Serravalle Langhe. All worth repeated visits. Finally, the windy drive back to Monforte for me, where I have a last glass of wine in my apartment while reading “The World as I Found it,” Bruce Duffy’s marvelous fictionalization of the life of Wittgenstein.

Life of a Pro Lush: Busy Wine Week, end of May, Part 1

2010-06-04T07:49:07-06:00

A week of tastings, late May 2010. Big week. Lots went on, wine-wise. Tuesday, a dinner with a friend who knows loads about Italian wine. Wednesday, the “Planet Pink” party and tasting of Rosé wines put on by DiVino wine store on South Broadway. Thursday, the Masi dinner at Luca d’Italia. Friday, a dinner with wine friends at Il Posto. Tuesday May 18. Talyor is up for dinner. He’s the husband of one of my best friends (who I’ve known since college; she was a freshman when I was a senior). We all used to be neighbors in Colorado Springs. He’s traveled with me to Italy numerous times, to Switzerland and Sonoma as well. He lived in Italy for several years while with the Air Force, and then completed a master’s in International Business in Milano. He knows Italy, and he knows his wine stuff: he is the stone-cold badass maestro of Italian wines. We start with an otherworldly Trimbach Clos St. Hune Riesling from 1996. This is like rolling pear essence-dipped gravel around in your mouth. Insanely long and pure. We follow with an Emidio Pepe Monepulciano d’Abruzzo from 1985, then finish with 1993 Amarone from Quintarelli (tasting notes at end of post). Amazing night, except I forget to drink enough water until the end of the evening and am waking up every 15 minutes to pee. Wednesday May 19. K, my gorgeous girlfriend, comes up for the night for the Planet Pink event: she loves rosé. The party invite specifies “pink attire required” but neither of us is big on that color, especially where sartorial choices are concerned. I find a pink shirt on eBay. I look like a late eighties prep. Ugh. (I almost wrote “perp” … whoops, Freudian slip.) Dave, the owner of DiVino and a bone-fide wine geek extraordinaire, greets us at the door – he has dyed his hair bright, bright pink. These people are serious about rosé. We taste our way through about half of the 65+ offerings. Some thoughts: Rosé has become cool in the last decade. There are lots of offerings – most are at least drinkable but there is still an alarming bit of the sticky-sweet character of many bad rosés. It’s as if producers, as a whole, had some trouble letting go of the cotton-candy notes; that they just couldn’t let go of a hint of sweet; their collectively addled collective unconscious decided that anything pink must have noticeable residual sugar. These are the producers who should have some sense slapped into them with this simple rule: if it’s not for dessert, don’t leave noticeable residual sugar. If they still don’t get it, well, off with their heads. (I guess I’m pretty serious about rosé as well.) Thankfully, many of the offerings are bone-dry and delicious. That’s how I likes them, I do. Standouts: the seriously cheap Casal Garcia “Vinho Verde Rosé” from Portugal. K tells me it makes her want to peel off her clothes, pour this all over her body, and go running naked though the woods. Wow, all that for only 8 bucks? I order a case. The Iberian peninsula shows well: currently they are making really great cheap rosé. The Capcanes “Mas Donis Rosat” is excellent. Animus from Portugal gets a nod, as do Marques de Caceres, Bodegas Muga and the sparkling Marques de Galidia Brut Cava. Lovely all. Slightly sweet, but balanced with decent acidity, is Denver’s own Infinite Monkey Theorem Rosé. The US is sadly underrepresented with dry rose, many having noticeable residual sugar, which throws off the balance, doesn’t work with food, makes them cloying, yadda yadda yadda etc ad nauseam. Gruet Brut Rosé from New Mexico, though, makes the cut, as does the surprising Dusted Valley Vintners from Walla Walla. Waters (another Wallyworld denizen) shows brilliantly, though a bit heavy – this is made from 85% viognier, colored up with 15% syrah. Interestingly, the Germanic wines do very well as well – Lucien Albrecht’s Brut Rosé from Alsace, and two bottlings from Allendorf in Germany are knockouts: the Spätburgunder Rosé and the sparkling “Festival Rosé.” Lastly, a really lovely bottling from Valdobbiadene, Italy wraps things up: a Prosecco Rosé from Bortomolino. Great stuff. Sated and a bit loopy, we head off to dinner at Tamayo – an upscale Larimer Square “Latin” restaurant about which I have heard decidedly mixed reviews – and find it quite excellent. Lovely flavorful guacamole, with good bite from onions and lime juice, a delicious ceviche of halibut, and a exceptional grilled octopus salad … great way to sop up the excess rosé in the system. Of course, we overdo it by ordering a bottle of Las Rochas Garnacha from Spain – one of the great wine values of the world and 100% delicious. Thursday, May 20: the Masi Dinner at Luca d’Italia. I am not a big fan of Italian restaurants in the US – too many seem like living, breathing compromises. Luca is no different, but at least its food is far better than most. I’ve never had a flat-out bad experience here, but never a great one either. My primary beef with Italian restaurants in the US is, for lack of a better, or more tactful way of saying this … their cowardice. A digression: The great beauty of Italian cooking, for me, is the utter simplicity of it. Because Italy never had a unified court like, say, France, which dictated the taste, aspirations and style of a cuisine clearly, Italy is a land of home or “housewife” cooking – what’s commonly called the cucina casalinga. When you go to restaurants in Italy, they typically have the same menus everywhere in a given region – I’m not kidding. It’s as if they all agreed to save printing costs by offering the exact same menu everywhere. Once, with a friend on his first trip in Italy, I was talked into going into an “ethnic asian” restaurant in Rome because he was tired of going to places that “all had the exact same goddamn thing in every goddamn place.” True enough, but the key to appreciating Italian cooking is discovering the subtle differences between kitchens preparing essentially the same foods. Italian Cooking is best appreciated in the same way as jazz – a form of art that depends on a repertoire of standards, all interpreted in subtly different ways. When you hear “All of Me” you recognize the tune, the structure, the changes. What makes jazz so fascinating is that Miles, Ella, Duke, Sarah Vaughan Bird, Ornette Coleman, Satchmo, whoever, will interpret it in a slightly different way so as to make something intimately familiar and recognizable absolutely their own. That’s the essence of Italian cooking. So when I am eating In Italy, I will literally order the same things 5 or 6 days in a row: Vitello Tonnato, say, in Piedmont. Or a pappardelle al sugo di cingiale in Tuscany. Or grilled cuttlefish in Sicilia. Whatever it is I order, I like to try a lot of examples. And slowly, the essence of the dish emerges, as do its variations. It’s the essence of Plato’s discussion of the nature of things: what are the characteristics that make something recognizable, and what are the accepted variations allowed in that definition? Bach, it is told, used to play approximately the same thing daily, just keep improvising a new set of harmonic relationships on top of a fixed base. That became the Goldberg Variations, one of the most beautiful sets of music ever. Get it? Good, now go out and EAT. Then both sides of the brain will get it, and the tongue will really, really, really appreciate it. Be sure to get some exercise and drink plenty of water in between, though – it is serious calories. Pic: Pancia di Maiale in La Morra, Italy. Basically roasted pork belly - all bacon. You begin to understand what I mean about the water and exercise ... Back to the issue at hand: Italian restaurants in the US. It’s a bit of a quandary: I love Italian food, but rarely eat it in the states. The problem, as I said, is cowardice, or, more tactfully put, a certain lack of nerve. Chefs in the US want to tart things up. They put mascara, eyeliner and rouge on something that is both plainly beautiful and beautifully plain. Usually, if I am eating at an Italian place in the US, I just get irritated, and need to tell myself it is an interpretation, not the real thing. Like a postcard of St Peter’s instead of standing in the nave of the church itself. Full admission: I have the opportunity and resources to make these distinctions. I can, and do, travel regularly. Not everyone does. But since I do, and can, why not be precise and exercise the full mental and critical faculties? Why not push myself to understand these things as best I can? So then. It was with a wee bit of trepidation that I made my way to Luca d’Italia that evening. And I will say I was pleasantly surprised. Not everything was awful, in fact, much of it was good. But a Scottish Salmon Carpaccio? C’mon. It was good, but hardly a match for an innocuous Pinot Grigio – the oily fish and meyer lemon totally overwhelmed the wine. Next course, roasted pork belly, was decent, but marred by the sweetness of balsamic vinegar, which threw the dish out of balance. Yes, the Masi Campofiorin Valpolicella 2006 had good richness and though not made in the ripasso style (as I understood it), had a hint of sweetness to it. But the wine would have been better served by a completely savory dish that set off the sweetness and richness of the wine rather than something that competed with it. The best dish of the evening, and also accompanied by a very nice wine, was a “Buffalo Milk Teleggio (sic) Ravioletta” (Jesus God, before you print, please spell-check!) which had the great virtue of being simple, direct and unadorned, with a decent and at-the-edge-of-overdoing-it flavor of garlic elevating this dish to almost excellent. (“Almost” because I thought the pasta was 30 seconds overcooked and mushy at the edges.) (I am a nitpicker, yes.) The lovely bite of acidity from the tomatoes set off the 2006 Masi Brolo di Campofiorin beautifully – this is a wine that needs its opposite to fully express itself (30% passito for richness). The combination of the flavors went in a totally different direction than the rest of the dinner – they soared together, rather than feeling chained to each other. The next course was a letdown after the brilliant simplicity of the ravioli – roast lamb chop with fava bean spaetzle (did we just move to Austria? Even in Friulia this is a curiosity, and once again, misspelled as “spetzel” on the menu) and morels. Lamb is a classic combination with Amarone, as the gaminess of the meat can set the wine off beautifully. This dish was good, correct, but unexciting. Somehow less than the sum of its parts. The 2006 Masi Costasera Amarone was my favorite wine of the evening, and the last drops went far better with the cheeses served for the last course than with the lamb. Though not their top wine, this bottling was my favorite for the purity of aromas, the well-integrated flavors and aromas of dried and fresh fruit, minerals, tobacco and forest floor, and the relatively low level of residual sugar. (Even though Amarone is nominally a dry wine, it often has a few grams per liter residual sugar – the same or usually less than Champagne, for example – so it still seems dry.) Lovely wine. Another Digression (please excuse me): the best lamb dish I’ve had with Amarone is a plate of grilled lamb chops at the Bottega del Vino in Verona: the meat is served simply grilled (no marinade, just salt, pepper and olive oil, the holy trinity) with a “pesto” of rucola, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan and olive oil. (No Basil!)). The bite and heat of really fresh rucola (arugula) sets off the wine and meat beautifully. Really: they both soar. I had this dish most recently in February 2010 with a bottle of 1985 Masi Amarone; possibly one of the finest meals I’ve had. Not for its complexity and “wow” factor, but for its utter simplicity. Last course, the aforementioned cheese, was interesting: the restaurant claims to make all these cheeses in their basement, in the style of their Italian counterparts. (Why? How is this better than the original?) (The Taleggio used for the pasta course was also made in-house, according to the waitstaff). While decent, none of these were spectacular, and the 2001 Masi Serego Alighieri Vaio Amarone was a disappointment. I’ve had this wine from this and other vintages in the past, and this bottle was very rustic, a bit reduced, and it didn’t clear up with aeration. Too bad, as I have a six-pack of this wine in my cellar – I think this was a poorly stored bottle and really didn’t show well. I’ve had this before and it should be better, so it gets the benefit of the doubt. Off into the clear Colorado night, there’s a hint of a chill in the air but spring is here – it is still almost warm! I could have ridden my Vespa! Friday night’s dinner at Il Posto and wines will wait for a future post: Part 2. This has gone on long enough! --- 1996 Trimbach, Riesling “Clos Ste. Hune” Alsace, France My first thought: amaaaaaaaaazing. Like river gravel, dipped in pure essence of green pear then rolled around in your mouth. The aromas of clean fruit – pear, apple and hints of citrus – are completely dry, precise and focused, and only a little of the telltale petrolic notes of Riesling remain, but the mineral aspect is off the charts. In the mouth, bone-dry, long dry fruit – no sweetness here – amazing minerals. Finish is a touch short fro a wine of this intensity (only 30 seconds or so …), but hey, it’s almost 15 years old … Drink now-2016. 4.0- 1985 Emidio Pepe, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy At first, all cherry cold medicine – I thought we had an off bottle, it was so medicinal, but this burns off with 6-7 minutes of air. What emerges? A combination of dried and fresh black fruits, great slate-y and charcoal-y minerals, musc, leather, tobacco – and the fruit just gets better and better. Licorice and earth on the finish. Drink now-2015. Coming to the end of its drinking life, but lovely. 3.0+ 1993 Giuseppe Quintarelli, Amarone dell Valpolicella, Italy In answer to the first question I always get about Quintarelli: Yes, absolutely, it’s worth it. Even if you only do it once. The combination of the fresh and dried plum, blackberries and raspberries in Amarone is so seductive – and this bottling is so clean and fresh after 17 years it boggles the mind. Still a baby – aromas soar, the flavors linger, the wine is not tannic but still seems unevolved – like a ride down a silk waterslide, but instead of water, it’s raspberry puree. Lovely. Drink now-2025. 4.0+

Back in Barolo

2010-06-03T11:16:00-06:00

Made it back to Barolo last weekend and am here for a few weeks working with Luciano Sandrone on outreach for the US market. Lovely to be back - I've seen old friends and am loving the warm sunny weather. Last night, from my apartment window, the sky was amazing - probably because of all the ash from the Icelandic volcanoes. We tasted through the tank samples of the 2009 Dolcetto today - six in all. Luciano, Luca and Mario are working on the "assemblaggio" for the next release in September. Some of the samples are a bit reduced, but we taste through them and a clear winner emerges - one of deep berry and strawberry fruit, very soft and ripe tannins and good freshness - essentially, a super-drinkable Dolcetto that will be easy to enjoy from day one but has sufficient acid to make it a good food match. I also like another version with a bit more tannin and structure, but who wants to wait for Dolcetto? Not me. I vote for drinkability, as does everyone else. Out of curiosity, we try a super-rare bottle from the winery's library stock that is due to be re-released in their "Sibi E Paucis" program later this year ... the 2002 Le Vigne Barolo. '02 was an unmitigated disaster in the western part of Barolo, where hail destroyed almost 100% of the crop in September of that year. Even though vineyards on the eastern slopes were often almost untouched, there is such a toxic vibe about the vintage that many didn't release any wine at all that year. But now Roberto Conterno at Giacomo Conterno has decided to release a Monfortino 2002, and so Luciano is cautiously eyeing the market for his remaining 1200 bottles of Le Vigne. His wine was made that year from 3 instead of 5 vineyards, all on the Serralunga side of Monforte: Conterni, Merli and Cerretta di Perno. The wine is not one for the ages but is surprisingly fresh and vibrant. Lovely! 2002 Sandrone Le Vigne. On first whiff, a wallop of vanilla, milk chocolate and cherries: holy toledo, it's a chocolate cherry pie with whipped cream! In the mouth, smooth mouthfeel shows lovely cherry fruit, very smooth and sweet but the oak is initially forward in the mouth. As it airs for 10 minutes, the vanilla - oaky - chocolate recedes, leaving a core of dried cherries surrounded my mint and thyme notes, with lovely fresh acidity and good length. Very focused aromatics and nice silky finish. Not one for old bones but will be a lovely addition to a vertical tasting of Sandrone's wines, showing that the vintage might have been if hail had passed over: charming, lighter and aromatic, not unlike 1995, but with good structure. Drink 2011-2016. 3.0+

2010 Tasting Trip, Day 9: Bartolo Mascarello

2010-05-14T20:15:24-06:00

3.2.10. What can be said about this winery that hasn’t already been said? Bartolo Mascarello was a legendary figure in the Barolo, one of the few producers who categorically rejected modernist winemaking, acting as a cultural memory of historical Barolo. He’s a larger-than-life figure who has assumed mythic figure since his death in early 2005. I never met him. But I’ve loved his wines and have a pretty serious collection of his bottles going back to 1958, and I’ve continued to add to this collection every vintage. He spent many winters hand-drawing labels for his friends that expressed his artistic and political leanings: “No Barrique, No Berlusconi” has become a classic of subversive wine etiquettes.

I am content to leave the legend alone. There’s lots of fawning accounts of meeting Mascarello by wine writers and wine makers alike, as if having the chance to “meet the legend” bestows some degree of authenticity on the visitor. Unfortunately, the cult of personality that sprung up around him as a de-facto leader of the traditional bloc in the battles between modernists and traditionalists in the seventies and eighties has obscured the unfortunate variability of some of the wines made in the last decade of his life.

These are some of the most prized bottles in my collection, but I have learned to approach them with a degree of trepidation, no matter how good the provenance (I bought many on release, but some of the older bottles are from the secondary market; a bottle of 1964 that came through a broker directly from the winery for my 40th birthday was amaaaaazing; others less so). Luckily for all of us, Bartolo’s daughter Maria-Theresa has taken over the reigns of the estate and has produced two of the best Barolo in recent memory. Her 2005 is a remarkable achievement in that variable and difficult vintage. Her 2006 is gorgeous and a refutation of all the pundits on the web telling you to avoid wines from that vintage.

Maria-Theresa is a tiny, lovely woman with nerves of steel. She is direct and strong and knows how to get the best possible performance out of her tiny team at the cantina. Her mother is still in the old family home (M-T has an apartment across the cortile) and the two of them share a vision of a great wine. Italy is still a very paternalistic culture; M-T is one of the first women to be groomed to take over a winery of this stature in the region. Every time I visit, I’m amazed that this petite, bright woman more than holds her own. I suspect she scares the bejeebers out of many of her peers.

At a dinner in Alba in March, she told me that growing up, she never drank wine. In fact, she hated it – I thought to myself at the time: what a perfect teenage rebellion. (I have a great friend, from a longtime Colorado family, all Democrats, who rebelled by being a preppy glow-in-the-dark Young Republican during her teenage years … kinda the same situation here; she, also, came to her senses in college.) M-T and Luca Sandrone grew up together. After she had finished her studies, she slowly came to like wine (we drank an Austrian Riesling with dinner; she professes to detest Piedmontese whites: “Per favore, Emilio, no no no no Arneis!”), and with time, learned the workings of the winery and winemaking. 2005 was her first vintage from bud break to release without her father’s guidance; it is a great wine and an incredible personal and professional success by any measure.

Hand-applying labels in March 2008.

Vineyard management and vinification here is resolutely traditional. The wine has always been a blend of various vineyard sites in accordance with historically correct Barolo (cru Barolo is a relatively recent phenomenon). Yields are kept low, harvest starts considerably later than many peers, and vinifications are long: 30-45 days for Barolo, depending on the vintage. Wines are aged in huge botti for almost three years, then bottled and released a full 4 years after the harvest. Perhaps the only concessions to modern winemaking is that the grapes are destemmed. Last year, Maria-Theresa bought a labeling machine; previously, ALL the labels had been hand-applied during the slow winter months. When I saw this new machine for the first time, she shrugged and smiled sheepishly – “Well, the labeling machine does not touch the wine, so I could accept this technology.” Fair enough. Still, there is no email, no winery website (just a fax and a land-line), and cellphones are deeply suspicious items.

The wines? At their best, they are beautiful, elegant, long-lived and an absolute joy to consume after a decade or two in a quiet and cold cellar (right now, I am slowly consuming my cases of 1989 and 1990; still vibrant and delicious). The Mascarello wines speak of place before all else: winemaking is something that fades into the background of terroir, expressed in particular melodies of black cherry fruit, earth and minerals, and the violets, dried roses and truffle so characteristic of great Barolo unsullied by new wood barriques.

---

Total yearly production at the Mascarello estate is 30-33,000 bottles, divided between 5 bottlings.

2007 Freisa. Bright red cherries, grapey and slightly mousseaux – called mossa here. The wine is bottled with a little residual sugar – 1-2-3 g per liter (“Eeeeeeh … depends on the vintage,” M-T says) and when the wines warm up a bit the summer following bottling, it starts fermenting again, so the wine has a bit of fizz. The wine is also “Nebbiolato”, which means the young freisa must is passed over the pomace of the Nebbiolo to give it more alcohol and tannins. This is a lovely, grapey, fresh and vibrant wine, delicious with salami or prosciutto. Reminiscient of cru Beaujolais, but with more structure and weight. Good length, fresh and ripe tannins, though very soft and lively in the mouth. Fun and delicious. 2.5+ Drink 2009-2013

2008 “Nebiolo.” One “b” from the dialect. Bright red cherries, mineral, bright acid. This is driven by the purity of its fruit and the precision of its acids. Terroir is supreme here – this is not a juicy, fat wine, but lean, elegant, precisely defined and surprisingly soft in the mouth. 3.0 Drink 2011-2016

2007 Barbera. Ripe cranberries, raspberries and tea leaves, deep pure dark fruits, some hints of raspberry, plums, lovely acid, no tannins. This is a delicious Barbera, bright and pure and fresh and just plain delicious. This is possibly my favorite Barbera ever made at this estate. (Barbera, I think, is one of the few grapes which can benefit from a touch of new wood – the wine has terrific acidity and almost no tannins, so the wood softens the edges a bit. However, this NEVER happens at the Mascarello estate - even the word "barrique" is a very, very bad word here.) Really fabulous, neither complex nor complicated, but just plain delicious and perfectly focussed. Very traditional, and lets the fruit express itself in ways impossible with new oak barrique. 3.5+ drink 2012-2017

2005 Barolo. Incredibly pure nose of black fruits, minerals and violets. Lovely classic aromas, ripe ripe ripe. Lots going on here – there are classic perfumes of flowers, licorice, lots of violets and minerally earth. Lovely, balanced wine from a moderately difficult vintage, and it shows the lean character of the year. This is closing somewhat from last fall and I think it will need a few years until it re-emerges, but the fruit and tannins are really ripe and the finish is fantastic and long. Lovely, lovely wine. (I think I;m gushing a bit here, but damn, this is good.) Still dry and tight, but I think the wine will knit together beautifully with patience. 4.0+/4.5- (I agonized over where this sits, and could be a solid 4.5 very possibly in a few years when it emerges from its shell), very fine, elegant. Lovely. Drink 2015-2025

2005 was a difficult year as there was some rain just before the harvest, the grapes plumped up and there were the beginnings of problems with rot, mold, etc. The harvest was pushed up to avoid letting the mold and disease spread - but this was before the tannins could reach full ripeness (many producer’s wines show slightly astringent and lean tannins). Maria-Theresa harvested right away with “velocity and quickness” before disease set in. The last grapes came in on a Saturday, then from Sunday to the following Friday there was rain 24hs a day nonstop. Those who harvested before the rain made decent to excellent wines. Those who waited were ruined. Still, even with grapes harvested before the rain, it was less than ideal fruit. This wine is a great success given the difficult conditions.

2006 Barolo (not in sale yet – starts in September 2010). Deep rich dark cherry fruit and loads of mineral and earthy elements, really ripe and elegant fruit – also violets and rose petals. M-T says 2007 is a lot like 2004 – a more classic vintage. The tannins in the mouth are enormous and very dry but exceptionally ripe. In the mouth, the tannins fill the mouth - big, unevolved and classically tight and dry, but ripe ripe ripe. Lovely structure, the finish is elegant and dry without a hint of bitterness, and delicious sweet fruit emerges and lingers as it fades. This is gorgeous, lovely, and balanced – an elegant, Volnay-like wine – and it has a core of darkness in its heart. Needs at least a decade. Drink 2018-2030. One of the best, if not the best, wine I have tasted so far from 2006. Beautiful. 4.5

Stop HR 5034!

2010-05-06T09:43:02-06:00

This bill in the US House would lead to a prohibition of wine shipping - leaving all of us wine lovers without our favorite and trusted sources for small-production and rare wines.

Here's the new Website for Stop HR 5034. Over 10,000 people have already joined the facebook page.

Contact your US Representative here. Use the Zip Code finder in the upper left corner to locate your congressperson's site.

Thanks! Keep the grapes free!

Update: article from the Diner's Journal, NY Times.

2010 Tasting Trip, Day 9: Paolo Saracco

2010-05-05T09:54:05-06:00

3.2.10. Tuesday dawns beautiful – the first morning without sleet or rain since Saturday morning in Bolzano. We head out of Monforte for the 45-minute drive to Castiglione Tinella, north and east of the Barbaresco zone. This is serious Barbera and Moscato country – hillsides are packed with vines and the steeply undulating landscape opens and closes as we twist and turn up into the northwestern edge of the Langhe.

Moscato d’Asti can be the most delightfully peachy, appley, minerally lightly fizzy wine; it can also be absolute plonk. After years of tasting, I’m down to one producer occupying the qualitative summit: Paolo Saracco. There are other acceptable, even quite good producers, but none has the insane freshness, delight and vibrancy of Saracco’s bottling.

Castiglione Tinella is a picturesque town at the top of a ridge; in the distance, you can see the Alps, Asti, the valleys of the Tanaro and the Po, and toward Santo Stefano Belbo, the site of a gorgeous Relais & Chateaux property, the Relais San Maurizio, in an ancient abbey.

Paolo is out this day, but his friend Elvio, who had accompanied us last year with Paolo (when we all went to the Relais San Maurizio for lunch; photo of Paolo at the place – at right - is from March 2009), is here to lead us around for the short tour. Moscato is a wine that is really easy to enjoy, but the process by which it is made is incredible – and Paolo has applied a textbook just-in-time inventory system to better manage the production of a fragile and perishable product. One really must see the winery to believe it – it is a radical departure from the way wine is traditionally made.

Elvio (at left) is a character. Genial, funny, with a million stories (most of them probably true) and deep experience in the wine business, he shows us around. This is a tiny winery for the production, so the tour takes just a few minutes. How can a winery that produces close to a half-million bottles just have a medium-sized fermentation room and no inventory warehouse?

A good question. The secret, and Paolo’s great insight into the conflicting needs of winemaking and winedrinking, at least where Moscato is concerned, are at the heart of this. Winemaking is a process that is a result of surplus: how does one preserve for consumption fruit that would otherwise spoil before it could be consumed? (Jam is another great example of this impulse, as are products like cheese, salami, jerky, pickling, etc.) Winemaking, traditionally, is a once-a-year affair: the grapes come in, wine is produced, bottled and sold over the next year. Wine-drinking, Moscato in particular, wants the wine to be as fresh and unaged as possible ... so do we only drink it the moment it is made, the second it hits our local wine shop? Many Moscato are tired and have already lost a good part of their charm by the time the next vintage is released. (Moscato can be sold and consumed right after bottling.) Some producers store their Moscato in refrigerated cellars to keep them fresh as long as possible, and another producer vinifies twice a year, with a fall release and a spring release. Paolo decided that to do it right, to make the best possible wine, he would have to vinify continuously - essentially, he uses a just-in-time inventory system, where the value added-process (the winemaking) is not completed until the product is needed by his customers.

Most growers are paid by weight, so the temptation to exceed the permitted maximum of 10,000 kilos per hectare can be unavoidable. Overcropping is the primary reason that most Moscato is innocuous. There’s just not enough stuffing there. Saracco’s vineyards are either estate-owned or under long-term contract and Paolo oversees the vineyard management. Yield are kept to a reasonable 7,000 kilos per hectare. Additionally, Paolo did things that no Moscato producer had seriously contemplated doing at a large scale. When he started doing green harvest his neighbors thought he had gone off the deep end. Remember the rule about how great wine is made in the vineyards? It applies for Moscato d’Asti just the same as it applies for grand cru burgundy. In 1983, when Paolo took over from his father, there were 6 hectares, now grown to 47 – this is a winery that has taken the fruits of its success and re-invested them in the business. His winery is now a globally recognized brand that provides incredible value in the bottle. I always have a few bottles of this in my fridge!

Vinification process: As soon as grapes are picked, they are brought to the winery pronto – all the vineyards are relatively close to the winery to keep transport times short. Grapes begin oxidation (the enemy of freshness) as soon as they are picked. All grapes are pressed as soon as they reach the winery – and here is the totally frickin’ amazing part – they are not vinified. The press runs continuously at harvest time; as soon as a load of grapes arrives, in they go. (Remember, white wines are pressed before fermentation - the liquids and solids are separated before they go in the tank, unlike red wines.) The white Moscato juice is stored in enormous stainless steel tanks at -2 degrees centigrade under essentially anaerobic conditions. (Pic above right, of the insulated chilling tanks).

Elvio draws a sample from a tiny spigot on the side of a huge tank: the juice is fresh and delicious. It is from grapes picked the previous September … amazing. The juice is stored in these giant tanks until it is ready to be vinified – meaning, until there are sufficient orders to use a full tank of near-frozen juice. On my first visit a year ago, a storage tank had just been emptied that morning. There was still a crust of ice and frost around the access door that had been opened once the pressure of the liquid was relieved. There was a deposit of grape solids in the bottom – smelling incredibly fragrant and attracting the first insects of a warm spring day.

(Pic at right: Paolo, myself, Mark Robson, March 2009)

What does all this mean? Paolo can vinify and bottle (a process that takes about 2 weeks) when sufficient orders come in. This means the wine is fresh, fresh, fresh even when it is made 10 months after the harvest. There is no need for a warehouse: there might be a few stacks of boxes floating around for local customers, but that’s it. When Paolo has sufficient orders, he vinifies a tank (more on the process later), bottles and ships it. Each bottle has a stamp on the label with the fill date: If you are in a store and see this wine, you can check exactly when the wine was put in bottle. Ours this day says “L 19 02 10” meaning February 19th, 2010. Wicked cool – we are drinking something made less that three weeks ago.

Moscato d’Asti is a wine that is vinified under pressure: it uses sealed vinification tanks that do not allow the CO2 to escape – rather the gas is absorbed into the wine, which gives it the characteristic fizz. It is not a spumante – wines labeled spumante are over 2 bars of pressure, and Moscato is less. When a tank is vinified, fermentation occurs at about 17C under pressure. As the yeast turns the sugars to CO2 and alcohol, the must is carefully monitored: when the pressure inside the tank builds to 2 bar, fermentation is stopped by chilling the must, thereby killing the yeast. The liquid is filtered through bentonite clay (pic at right) to remove the dead years cells (still under pressure, a complex process) and goes directly into bottle. At 5-6% alcohol, the wine will have residual sugar of 150g/l and acidity of 6-7ml/l. The wine is fresh, vibrant, redolent of white fruits and flowers, and absolutely delicious. This is reference point Moscato d’Asti.

2009 Moscato d’Asti. Very green-gold color, lots of white peach, mineral, citrus flowers, white flowers, lovely acidity, bright, crisp fresh and clean on the palate. Lovely mousse, delicate aromas, very fresh and lively on the tongue. Simply delicious. On the finish, very honeyed and sweet fruit, white melon, the acidity keeps it very fresh and there is good length. Moscato can never be a particularly complex wine but this succeeds in what it is meant to be – purely enjoyable. Lovely. Drink young. 3.0-

Saracco also makes miniscule quantities of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. I’ve tasted the Chard and Pinot Noir – both are worth seeking out.

We head back to Alba for lunch, stopping along the way for pics of the Alps over the vineyards. In Alba, in the Piazza del Duomo, we enjoy the sun.

2010 Tasting Trip, Day 8: Giovanni Corino

2010-05-02T08:12:00-06:00

3.1.10. This is my first visit to the Corino farm in Annunziata, at the recommendation of Silvia Altare. I’ve had wines from both this branch of the family (Giuliano Corino) and from brother Renato Corino’s label, but prefer this one of the two (more on why later). The original estate, founded by their father Giovanni, was divided after the 2001 vintage between the two brothers (Giuliano and Renato), with Giuliano keeping the original label and name. The wines here come from the La Morra hill and the cru sites are in Arborina and Giachini – both excellent spots.

The bottlings show the stylistic influence of Elio Altare, who mentored a group of younger winemakers, especially from the village of La Morra (others include Marco Marengo, Mauro Veglio and Renato Corino). Macerations are short and cool – 4 to 5 days at 24-25 centigrade – in rotofermentors, then separated from the solids and the wine finishes fermentation in steel tanks. The Barolo are all aged for 24 months in barrique of varying age, depending on the wine. Vineyard practices are consistent with Altare’s as well. The results are excellent: the wines here have the softness and perfume of La Morra fruit, but with the tannic backbone from the wood. These wines have plenty of acid and tannin to sit for long periods in good vintages.

The total production of the cantina is about 45000 bottles – not big. Unfortunately, they are not exported across the entire US market; it takes some digging to find them. Efforts to find the wines will be well-rewarded.

This visit, Giuliano was out of town (I met up with him another night, look for a future post about that debauched evening) so his wife Stefania took us around. The cantina, though compact and crowded, is clean. Steel shimmers, and wood barriques are stacked in every corner. We ended up in a cozy tasting room, going through the current lineup and tasting through a few older vintages.

2007 Dolcetto. Licorice, pencil lead, slight hint of reduction, some mineral and plum elements. In the mouth, very round and full, hint of reduction. This is delightful in the mouth, rich, round, soft. Drink in the next 3-4 years. 2.0

2008 Barbera. Sees 3 months in used barrels, good berries and smoky plums, pencil lead, hints of roundness from the 3 months in wood. In the mouth, very sweet fruit and surprisingly round at this age. There is a hint of tannin, good acids and lovely fruit. Drink now-2015 2.5+

2007 Barbera Ciabot du Re. 18 month in wood, half new. Sweet wood vanilla and blueberry/blackberry aromas. Milk chocolate perfume; a modern wine but quite lovely nose. In the mouth, rich flavors of berries, chocolate and vanilla – but with acid and considerable tannins. Lovely blueberries on the finish – goes on a long time. Very young and will benefit from a few years of age. This has pretty strong wood on the finish but should come around with a few years of patience. This is quite nice. 3.0+. The mouthfeel is really lovely. The finish is still a bit hard and tight but this doesn’t worry me. Very nice effort. Drink 2012-2016

2008 Nebbiolo Langhe. Aged in inox only. Bright strawberry cola aromas. Very rose petal and bright fruit. Simple and blocky, but lovely nose. Fresh fruit and earth, simple and direct, delicious, with nice ripe tannins at the end. Drink now-2014. 2.5

2005 Barolo. Aged in used barrique for 24 months. Cinnamon, marzipan black berry and black cherry nose. Some earth and rose elemets, hints of vanilla and chocolate. Nice nose! In the mouth, very good balance, lovely flavors, deep fruit, some wood, chocolate, and berries, but has something lacking in the mid-palate. I see that this is well-constructed but something seems missing. The nose is lovely but this could be going through a closed phase – there just doesn’t seem to be very much going on in the mouth. Retry in a few years and see if it has improved. Drink 2015-2022. 2.5+, but deserves re-tasting.

2005 Barolo Giachini. (Revello and Silvio Grasso also make wine from Giachini, Grasso’s is labeled Bricco Luciani.) Big nose, very open, shows hints of oxidation (open since yesterday). Lots of fruit, cherries smoke, cassis and rose. Quite a nice nose with lots of vanilla and chocolate, hints of espresso bean. On the palate, this is gorgeous and the tannins are very ripe but need time. Lots of black fruits, strawberry jam, milk chocolate, nuts, rose petals … and very tight and big wood tannins. This needs at least 3-5 years and then should open up – lovely and modern but well worth the effort to find. Drink 2016-2025. 3.5

2005 Barolo Aborina. Shows the deep cherry cola of Arborina. Big cherries and lots of licorice, with some tarry mushroom and violets. Lovely nose. In the mouth, gorgeous, and surprisingly light on the tannins – these are super-ripe, still tight, but much less prominent than in the Giachini. I suspect there is just more stuffing here to absorb the wood than in the other wine. Interestingly, the Corino Arborino 2006 is the only winery bottling Arborina that year, as all the other producers’ vines were destroyed by the spring hail. The nose is super-expressive and perfumed, and the mouthfeel is smooth, lovely and with fewer hard edges – a really great wine. Drink 2016-2025. 4.0+ bravo!

The cru wines of Giachini and Arborina are made exactly the same way – the only difference is the soil and locale. Both cru wines see 50% new barrique. In the vineyards and the cellar the wines are brought up exactly the same way –the only difference between them is the microgeology of the two sites: the Giachini has a white calcareous substrate, and the Arborina has more calcareous sand. Only a few hundred meters separate these two cru, and even the altitude of the vines is almost the same. The Arborina is light, perfumed, expressive; the Giachini is tight, hard, forbidding. Vive la Difference!

1999 Vecchie Vigne di Giachini. Planted 57 years ago. Licorice root, root beer and violets like crazy. Very extracted, and without any annoying French oak overtones, even though this sees 80% new oak for 24 months … the wood has been completely absorbed. Cola nut and black cherry liqueur. Really intense nose and hints of the truffle and mushroom coming through. In the mouth, still tannic and tight but the tannins are softening compared to the younger wines. Still massive in the mouth, with attractive fruit and midpalate depth, this is still young and hard, needing at least 5-7 years more age to soften up. There is still tremendously great fruit going on here and I think this will evolve into a beautiful wine. Lovely. Drink 2017-2025. 4.0+ ... will be great.

2004 Vecchie Vigne di Giachini. Very tight, hard and closed, but hey, it’s a 2004. Shows the gorgeous black cherry perfume of such a superb vintage. The nose is forward and round, with black berries and cherries, some dark chocolate and surprisingly little vanilla and oak – it just soaked up the wood – Giuliano always uses 80% new barrique on the Vecchie Vigne bottling. I suspect this will last 25 years, easy. It has good balance for such a modern wine and shows ripe fruit effects everywhere, even if the tannins are tight as heck and will need lots of patience. The finish goes on for half a minute. Tobacco and violets as well on the nose. Beautifully ripe and sweet fruit on the palate, just loads of minerals and black pencil lead, hard and ungiving but shows great potential. Still young and with primary fruit galore, no secondary characteristics coming through yet. Lovely. Drink 2016-2030. 4.0+

Compared to his brother’s wines, Giuliano’s wines, to me, show better balance: the wood is better integrated with the fruit and tannins, the acids are balanced and the overall effect is of ripeness, definition and focus. The Barolo that I have consumed from the Renato Corino label, to me, are somehow rustically modern: they have both overwhelming levels of oak that are not balanced by the fruit, and some vintages have had an unappealing funkiness. So I’d recommend Giovanni’s wines before those of his brother.

Dinner at Il Posto, just outside Monforte. This place deserves every good review and mention it gets - just a lovely place, clean, traditional cooking executed at a high level, and a well-chosen wine list that has some lovely hidden gems from older vintages.

Full moon on the road to La Posta.

More good comment on HR 5034 and the coming ban on wine shipping.

2010-04-28T13:28:42-06:00

From Tom Wark's "Fermentation" blog:

Alcohol Wholesalers Must Be Desperate...The Lies Begin.

Don't miss some of the great comments on Tom's blog.

2010 Tasting Trip, Day 8: Cavalloto

2010-04-28T09:39:00-06:00

3.1.10. I’ve written about Cavalotto wines before, most recently during Alfio Cavalotto’s recent visit to the US, when he stopped in Boulder and Denver. They are a resolutely traditional producer: all the Barolos see long ageing in huge oak botti. The family believes in making really ageable Barolo, and keeps the wines back an additional 2-3 years before release. When you open a Cavalotto Barolo, you are getting a historically correct wine: a core that is tannic and fresh, with great acidity and structure, wrapped around a center of ripe (but never jammy) fruit that never overwhelms. There is none of the aggressive oak of barrique. These are balanced, harmonious wines that are more elegant than sultry. Castiglione Falletto from the winery: Interestingly, they also use rotofermentors, that device that diehard traditionalists love, love, love, love to hate. Alfio and Giuseppe explain that this gives them better control over the tannin extraction and interestingly yields wines that throw less sediment. They still do a relatively long traditional fermentation of 25-30 days, gently agitating the wine instead of doing pump-overs or punchdowns. As a rotofermentor (RF) is about 4-5 times the cost f a regular fermentation tank, this is an incredibly expensive investment, because they need enough RFs to ferment the entire production of Barolo at once. (Most other producers that use RFs do very short macerations of 3-7 days and thus can rotate out the must and use the RF for the next batch of grapes – not at Cavallotto.) Giuseppe tells us that they first used RFs as an experiment on the 1995 vintage of Dolcetto, and liked the results so much that they slowly replaced all their fermentation tanks with RFs over the next few years. Indeed, Cavallotto Barolos show incredibly fine tannins for such a traditional producer. To get such beautiful tannins requires – first and foremost - that the fruit be exceptionally clean, healthy and fully ripe, of course. While most traditional producers have accepted (sometimes grudgingly) that the modernists had some good ideas about tannin management (everybody now destems the grapes before they go into the fermentation tank), many traditional producers still make wines with considerable and backwards tannins. The Cavalottos have managed to rise to the top of the qualitative pyramid with their incredibly fine and balanced bottlings. After maceration in the RFs, the wine finishes alcoholic fermentation in a standard steel tank. After 1 racking, it goes into large casks (botti) typically in late autumn/early fall. Malolactic is never forced: come spring, when the wines wake up and the first botti show evidence of malo starting, the wines are all transferred back to tank for the second fermentation. Once malo is done, the wines are returned to cask. The base Nebbiolo sees 17-18 months in botti, the Barolo sees 3 years, the Barolo Riserva 5. Wines are further held for about a year after bottling before release. Cavallotto’s wines seem to fly under the radar. Like the Cortese family in Barbaresco, they make incredibly delicious and balanced traditional wines that the market, in general, undervalues. So they represent an incredible value for saavy wine buyers who are willing to give these wines they time they need to fully develop. Once, after a few glasses of wine at a local wine bar, Alfio was talking about a tasting for some journalists from well-known US and British wine publications. He had blown off the tasting itself, for the reason that, “oh, em, we just get the same score and, em, write-up every year, always 89 to 92 points, em, always traditional, always elegant, no oak or jammy fruit like the, em, blockbusters, blah blah blah, I don’t need to be around for that.” Or words to that effect. Like Warren Beatty, Alfio has the gift of pauses in his everyday speech. OK – it was more than a “few” glasses! Giovanni at the Cantina door: Again – these are some of my favorite wines of Barolo. Unlike Alfio’s assertion, his wines have been getting some really nice scores from Antonio Galloni at the Wine Advocate, who seems to understand traditional Italian winemaking far better than some of his peers at other publications (I like that Galloni is able to separate his qualitative assessment from his boss’ penchant for super-jammy, low acid wines.) Most of his wines are sold in Europe, where the taste for wines of structure is still strong. Perhaps the US market will finally begin to understand that quality is not synonymous with extraction and size. 2008 Langhe Bianco. Made from pinot noir, vinified off the skins as a white wine. Nose is great, with white peach, stone fruits, bright citrus. Very fresh acidity. On the palate, loads of sweet white fruits, good acidity, some grapefruit and apple, good minerality. Good balance. Very nice. 2.5+ Sees time only in inox, and no malo. 2008 Dolcetto Vigna Scot. Sees only inox. Good grapey fruit, with pencil lead, graphite, smoke, and plum. Good acidity, the finish is a hint tight and shrill, but this is a drinkable wine that is both drier and less tannic than many other dolcettos. Not bad, but seems a bit tightly wound for something that should be an everyday wine. Very dry finish. 2.0, nothing special. 2006 Langhe Freisa Bricco Boschis. Sees 4-6 months in neutral wood. Freisa in this zone produces wines of tannin and power, and thus a bit of wood helps soften the edges. Good red berry and cherry flavors, light in the palate, better than the dolcetto but still with some good tannins. Good long and dry finish. Quite drinkable. 2.5- 2007 Langhe Nebbiolo. Declassified Barolo vines, from young vines or less optimal sites. Bright cherry fruit, lots of minerals and earth, violet and rose. Simple and delicious, but with enough complexity that its not just like an airhead blonde shopping at the mall. The finish is a bit evolved and the acids a touch harsh, though the tannins are muted. Sees 12-18 months in botti only. Not the best I’ve tried from this vintage, but very drinkable. 2.5 2005 Barolo Bricco Boschis. Violet, rose petal, licorice and black cherry, tight and unevolved, closed in the nose. On the palate, though the fruit is quite nice and dark, the tannins seem extremely ripe. They started with really good fruit this vintage and the unevolved flavors are entirely devoid of wood effects – no vanilla, chocolate or sweetness. Nice ripe finish, tight and tannic, very fragrant and long. 4.0- 2003 Barolo Riserva Bricco Boschis, Vigna san Giuseppe. Very tight nose, some dark cherry and cola flavors, layers of earth, mushroom and licorice ad fruit, some berries, very nice and giving. This will be lovely but needs time and patience. Though it will never be very complex, it will be very drinkable. The flavors are there, the acidity is great, the tannins are ripe, and the finish is long. Only a touch of heat on the end is worrisome. 3.5 2003 Barolo Riserva Vignolo. Vignolo has some of the highest levels of clay in Castiglione Falletto, so it seems to be more like a wine from a Serralunga site. The nose is surprisingly giving, more obvious fruit than the VSG, but in the mouth this is tight as a drum. The nose gives up black fruits, stone and damp earth, with licorice and roses, a very classic nose. The palate is hard and tannic, but the wine is balanced and the tannins are very ripe. Some heat on the finish just like the VSG. Could be quite lovely with 5 years ageing. Very nice, but needs patience, the finish keeps on going and going, and though it is a bit thin on fruit right now, due to the monster tannins, it should improve with time and patience. 4.0-

A Few Recent Restaurant Visits

2010-04-25T14:39:00-06:00

Busy few weeks. But hey, you gotta eat. Recent visits: Brasserie Ten Ten, Boulder CO Hopping, fun place. The menu is printed to look just like a parisian bistro, and all comparisons to the real thing can stop right there. In spirit, it is Parisian, and the food here is certainly decent, even good, but there is a kind of soullessness here that I found a bit depressing. The meals themselves were tasty but frankly unexciting. Worth a visit, and maybe you'll have better luck than I - I'd try this again, as it has gotten enthusiastic reviews from my friends; perhaps I caught it on an off night. Twelve, Denver CO Had dinner with a good friend from the wine business: the meals here are uniformly delicious, the kitchen is consistently excellent to a fault and the staff is always friendly and knowledgeable. The willingness of Chef Osaka to wipe the slate clean every month (hence the name; twelve menus per year) is courageous and risks putting off less adventurous diners; but I have never missed a departed menu item more than I've enjoyed new ones. If you are wanting the exact same dish every time you go out, this place is emphatically not for you. The only complaints I have here are minor: the floor is sometimes understaffed (adding one person would probably take care of this; service can be less than smooth if things get busy), and that the wine is not stored properly - the reds always come out warm. Still, this is probably my favorite place in all of Denver right now. The meals are vibrant, fresh, beautifully prepared and full of unexpected surprises, and the service is so nice it's hard to stop smiling while I am in here. Owner/Chef Jeff Osaka can do no wrong! Plus, I can walk up here from my apartment. How great is that? Wine Loft, Denver CO Nice selection of wines by the glass, but really indifferent food. A nice space, the floor staff was good, but the bartender that night wasn't much interested in doing anything other than talking to his buddy at the bar. Why is it on slow nights many service professionals think it is OK to provide slow service? TAG, Denver CO Surprisingly grand experience. We sat at the kitchen bar, which I typically hate, but the kitchen staff worked really clean and smart (this is a well-trained and experienced pirate crew), the floor staff was generally on top of things, and the food was surprisingly good. I had heard such wildly variable things about the quality of the meals I wasn't sure what to expect. I liked it! The wine list is decent, though a heavy on what I call "the Usual Suspects." For a menu this adventurous, a riskier wine list is entirely appropriate. H Burger Co., Denver CO An actually decent burger. The build-it-yourself salad is also great - even my non-red-meat-eating girlfriend really likes it. Haven't looked at the wine list or the bar. Still, the Jax burger is better. Farallon, San Francisco CA Really lovely, well-made food, but fuck me, it's expensive. Yes, yes, yes, Union Square, downtown San Francisco, blah blah blah, but $14 for 4 slices of beets with a few greens is a bit steep. However: kudos to the wine director, this is a lovely and well-chosen list with LOADS of surprises and off-the-beaten path wines. E&O Trading Co, San Francisco CA Came heavily recommended from a friend but overall ... disappointing. We got seated upstairs, a no-man's-land compared to the vibrant main floor. Dishes were decent but not overwhelming; a particularly weird standout was a coffee-dusted spare rib dish that was both sweet, acrid and bitter, satisfyingly strange. Chez Panisse Café, Berkely CA How many ways can you say lovely? That pretty much sums it up. Everything was achingly simple and deeply satisfying. It takes courage to let ingredients stand alone like this; it's an impulse that is against much of the current of American cooking these days (even locavore restaurants often overload their ingredient lists in a need to surprise and intrigue). Lovely wine from the Jura with dinner - an Arbois Chardonnay made much like vin jaune, then a pitch-perfect Rioja. Wow, wow, wow. Mateo, Boulder CO The first visit here a few months ago was overwhelmingly loud; my girlfriend and I texted each other across the table about the excellent plates in front of us. Second time was lovely: her meal, especially, was great; mine, a tad heavy, but delicious. Decent wine list. Reasonably priced. Worth a visit. Osteria Marco, Denver CO This is a great place to graze the apps and small plates: the house-made burrata is alone is worth a visit. Also good is the braesola. I've never been overwhelmed by the main courses, but the salads and small plates more than make up for it. This visit I had lunch with Matthew Frank, who I met in Barolo and who has written a book about his experiences living in a tent for a harvest and picking for my friend Luciano Sandrone. It's a fun, funny and well-written account, full of surprising sidetracks about the region and its people - places and people in the Barolo I've never gotten to know as I have been so focussed on the wine side. We both ordered pizza: this is a treat. Thin crust, beautifully done, and showing minimal effects of cooking at altitude. A very fun wine list of all-italian selections. Kudos for the good by-the-glass selection The Market, Denver CO Great for coffee or a sandwich. Bursting at the seams with interesting and tasty foodstuffs. Also a great place to slip into if you need a toilet on Larimer Square. Bones, Denver CO All good and tasty but somehow the whole is less than the sum of its parts; it's an intriguing idea that just hasn't quite taken off. For me, the downhill slide started 5 minutes after arriving with the waiter who couldn't even pronounce the name of a wine - and this from a very short and sweet list. C'mon, a little more training would go a long way here. The noodle bowls are good, but just too "noooooodly" - they are more work than fun. A standout was the roasted marrow bones app. Decent, but nothing special - I'd rather spend time at two of owner Frank Bonnano's other places: Mizuna or Osteria Marco. JAX, Denver CO This is right next to my home and liking this place is like rooting for the home team ... fortunately, the home team does not disappoint: even after 15 (?) or so years in business, the food is still well-prepared and delicious, the service crisp, knowledgeable, efficient and friendly, and the space has aged well. Kudos to the staff for keeping this place vibrant, especially the GM, Adam, who I have never seen at less that "beaming." A really fun wine not on the list but in the cellar: The Arbois rouge from Jacques Puffeney. (This is about the most perfect red wine with fish, with the possible exception of chilled Samur-Champigny rouge from the Loire.) Try it with the blackened catfish, the lobster BLT, or the arctic char in any preparation (this last one is a favorite here). Ask for the hand-written reserve list for fun and unexpected wine choices. Also, the burger is phenomenal. I am lucky to have such a great place not 200 feet from my front door.

Politics Suck. A HUGE Danger to Wine Shipping.

2010-04-22T17:13:37-06:00

The latest on monopolies protecting their own: beer, spirit and wine wholesalers have introduced legislation to the US House to seriously curtail or even prohibit direct wine shipments by wineries and retailers. Ostensibly, and cynically, this is being spun as a measure to "protect the children" from getting their hands on beer, wine and spirits shipped to their door. (Seriously, does anyone know of an underage drinker who will wait a week for a case of wine to arrive, much less pay $40 for shipping? C'mon!) What it does mean for consumers if this legislation passes? If you get any wines directly from out-of-state wineries or retailers, you will be SOL. If you are a retailer or winery that ships to customers out-of-state, you are completely, utterly, hosed.

Personally, I find the legislation ridiculous. It will decrease competition, decrease choice and probably send a lot of small wineries, who depend on direct sales, out of business. It will also seriously curtail the range of many specialty wine shops, especially those who have developed expertise and relations with a specific wine-growing area or type of wine, like NYC's Italian Wine Merchants or Sonoma's Rare Wine Company.

If you buy wines from out-of-state wineries or retailers, contact your congressman and tell him or her you are against HR 5034. Now! Today!!

Here's more articles from the Wine Spectator, Decanter, Wines and Vines, Benziga.com, the Examiner, and Washington state's Tri-City Herald (near Walla Walla).

I'll post more as more news develops.

2010 Tasting Trip, Day 8: Altare

2010-04-22T12:55:07-06:00

3.1.10. We start the day at the Altare farm in Annunziata, Silvia greets us and takes us on an impromptu tasting of the 2007 wines from tank. They had just been assembled from their constituent barrels a few weeks before and are resting, integrating and settling before being bottled later in the spring/summer.

Funny, at Altare, Silvia always gives a tour that goes backwards ...

When I was working at their winery for harvest, I would always follow the same progression the wines made when I led tourists on a walk through the cellars: crush pad, fermentation, tank room, barrel rooms (side detour to the Library), the bottle warehouse and bottling area, labeling and finally the shipping warehouse. These rooms describe a sort-of circular path; the labeling/bottling room and the warehouse adjoin the fermentation and tank rooms. Silvia starts at the end (labeling) and works her way back to the crush pad. This method, she claims, is a result of the light switches being wired at the wrong sides of the rooms. If you follow the path of the wine, you have to cross dark rooms to turn on the switches. If you go Silvia’s way, the switches are in the right place. Admittedly, last fall, I did walk into a dark room while guiding a tour, trip over a pallet someone had carelessly left in the middle of the room, and broke my nose. The Dutch group I was leading through was really helpful and luckily had an EMT in the group, who pronounced my nose “fine.” But once the swelling went down and my nose was revealed in all its massive glory … it has a bump now, and leans slightly to the right.

2007 has rightly gotten a lot of press as an “outstanding” vintage by many wine journalists, and growers and producers generally agree. It was a perfect growing season, with rain, sun, heat, cool and wind exactly when needed. The unusual aspect was that bud break occurred a month early due to a very warm spring. In March 2007, I was in the Piedmont with a group of clients and friends. Sunday March 12, the day we arrived, was so warm that we could enjoy lunch outside with just a shirt or light sweater on. Fruit trees were a few days from blooming. The buds had formed on the vines and in really warm spots the first leaves had emerged. Monday was gorgeous and warm, but by nightfall clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped and it began to rain – everyone was freaked out that it would snow, kill the buds and tender first shoots, and destroy the whole vintage.
A few hundred feet of elevation higher in the Alta Langha about 3-5 inches of snow fell (this is dairy country, too high for vines), but the Barolo and Barbaresco were spared. The season proceeded along without incident or problem – many growers described it as their easiest year ever, with the healthiest and ripest grapes coming into the winery. It was neither too hot nor too cool, and in many vineyard sites the even ripening of the fruit was astounding. For those that did the work of keeping the vines under control and not overproducing, the 2007 wines practically made themselves.
(If there was a problem with the vintage, it was the tendency of the vines to produce too much fruit. The vignerons who did the hard work with the vines brought in superb and fully ripe fruit.) Because of the early start to the season, the harvest was also a month early. Many growers pointed out that this vintage should not be considered “precocious” because of the early harvest; the number of growing days between flowering and harvest was essentially ideal and correct (unlike 2003, where the intense heat of the summer pushed up harvest by a month after a normal flowering; that was a compressed vintage and it showed in the underripe, astringent tannins and underdeveloped acid), just shoved up by a month at the beginning and end.

So 2007 is getting a lot of attention – it is a beautifully balanced vintage and the wines are already showing beautiful fruit, extract and acidity. Tannins (as with Barolo, always) are still solid and tight, but taste ripe. It is a vintage whose drinking window should start at about a decade old.

But is it a vintage to rival recent greats like ‘89, ’90, ’96, ‘01 and ‘04? My guess is not, because this is a softer, more giving year in comparison to those vintages at the same stage in their development. The vintage that reminds me most of 2007? It’s 1998 – the same delicious and ripe fruit, smooth tannins and moderate acidity. Right now, 1998 is just starting to peak – they are wines that I seek out on wine lists in the Langhe, and they are drinking beautifully now.

But back to Altare. The 2007 wines are delicious, complete and show the hallmarks of great wine I the lovely balance and harmony of the elements. The 2007 IGT Langhes are stunning – though it needs at least a few more years of bottle age to integrate better. Most interesting is a new vineyard project which has not yet seen commercial release: the Carretta bottling, from the vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba. More on this in a later post.

2008 Dolcetto d’Alba. Bright red cherries and stewed sweet plum. Berries galore. Nice structure, good acidity, good length, some tannins but nicely integrated and long. Delicious. 2.5+

2008 Barbera d’Alba. All plums, acid, sees used wood ONLY for malo. Sweet fruit, very fresh, very bright plums, fun, simple, good with fatty meals like osso bucco or roast pork. 2.5

2007 Larigi, IGT Langhe. Vanilla, plums, milk chocolate. Deep modern layers of fruit and wood, with good spiciness, great acidity. This seems to have less prominent oak than usual. Very nice, needs 3-4 years and should drink well for a decade thereafter. Good finish, very sweet fruit on the end, incredible mineral and stone flavors. Lots of plums and licorice on the palate. Lovely. 4.0+

2007 Arborina IGT Langhe. Really deep black cherries, licorice, red fruits and vanilla/coffee bean. Lots of depth and layers, still very young, tight and tannic, licorice and roses, vanilla. Dark chocolate. Bright acid. Lovely. 3.5+

2007 La Villa, IGT Langhe. Lovely red berries, cranberries and cacao, with sweet oak & vanilla that is really well integrated. Great length and depth, some ripe tannins and sweet fruit on the finish, great balance between the fruit and wood tannins – this will be long-lived; there’s plenty of acid to keep it fresh and the fruit extraction is amazing. Give it 3-5 years and drink practically forever. 4.0+

2006 Barolo. Beautiful black cherry, delightful balance in the mouth for such a young wine. This is much less tannic than my memory of the 2005 – it is loaded with black fruits, some tar and licorice. Good cappuccino and vanilla, hints of spice, not too much wood at all – this is well integrated. The base Barolo only sees used wood, this has good minerals and the finish is very ripe. Needs 5 years, I think. The tannins are very ripe but quite tight though balanced with the fruit and the freshness is very nice. Slightly closed but still drinking well right now. 4.0

---

Lunch at the Osteria Veglio with Silvia – this is a great spot for a meal in the Langhe, and one of my “Top-Five” restaurant picks for the region. The old, barrel-vaulted room is pleasant, and when the sun streams in, it possesses an incredibly warm old-world atmosphere. The cooking is resolutely traditional but executed at a very high level. The Carne Cruda and Vitello Tonnato are spectacular and reference points for these two Piedmontese dishes. A personal favorite of the Primi offered here is a “Ravioli in Lavastoviglie” – ravioli cooked in broth, then served with just a hint of butter in a folded napkin to keep them warm. Dee-lish.

For the afternoon we dash off to Cavalotto and then Giuliano Corino.

Champagne Company Develops New Second-Place Beverage | The Onion

2010-04-22T06:53:00-06:00

From our friends at the Onion:

VERTUS, FRANCE—In an effort to provide second-place finishers with a taste of the champagne enjoyed by true winners, vintner Duval-Leroy unveiled a new sparkling wine Monday designed to be bitterly consumed by runners-up. "'Deuxième' balances the sweetness of near-triumph with the acrid aftertaste of once again falling just short," company spokesman Henri Babineaux said. "It is less effervescent but higher in alcohol content, ideal for sipping quietly in a rapidly emptying locker room." Babineaux added that the new beverage will be available in a screw top, allowing consumers to get stinking drunk without having to fiddle with a goddamn cork.

via www.theonion.com

2010 Tasting Trip, Day 7. Hangover and Travel Day.

2010-04-10T17:12:15-06:00

I wake with wicked drymouth. Too much good wine and great food last night!

This is an off day in every sense: we drive from Cannetto to Monforte d'Alba, in the heart of Barolo country. We have lunch at La Cantinella in Barolo, an oddly indifferent meal. I haven't been here in a few years, but this meal confirms my previous opinion that it is a decent, correct, traditional and unexciting place to eat. After lunch (2008 Elio Grasso Nebbiolo d'Alba ... decent, but nothing spectacular) Edward and Mark get checked into their rooms, and I head to my apartment. Time for a little laundry and cleanup before a lovely supper at La Saracca in Monforte.

This place is brilliant. The brainchild of the town's pharmacist, Giulio, it was constructed out of a series of houses built into the steep hillside. You enter low, and the space, though shallow, opens up with cantilevered dining spaces on glass platforms for three stories above you. We take a place in the room with the salami and cheese displays. On the wall behind Edward and Marc are glass cases holding salamis and hams, in the magical process of transforming themselves through curing; the cases set back into the walls, the hanging meat looking like art on display. Really puts painting and sculpture in their place, don't you think?

What makes La Saracca brilliant? It's what it is not: a traditional restaurant. Most places, big and small, segregate the drinking/snacking from the dining spaces. If you want to eat, you are expected to sit, have three courses, the whole bit, wine, etc. There's a certain ritual, prescribed by custom and expectation. If you just want a glass of wine and a snack, you stand or sit in the bar, a separate and distinct place from the dining room. To drop into a restaurant, sit in the dining room and just have a glass of wine and a single course is often interpreted as a mild insult, especially if you are having something easily prepared at home, like a salad.

Giulio wanted something different: where a guest could have what they wanted, where they wanted, when they wanted. So it's much looser and less structured, and though the kitchen is not yet stellar (Giulio is working on this; it has improved from last year), the selection of cured meat and cheese is spectacular. We order a bunch of salads (my body is craving greens tonight), some culatello, salami and cheeses, and set to work with a bottle of 1997 Clerico Barolo Pajana ... really delicious to drink right now. (Contrary to what you've read in the Wine Spectator, 1997 was not a stellar year and the wines will not all age well. I've been drinking mine up and some are already turning; past their prime. 1998 is my favorite recent vintage for drinking now: the wines are just hitting their plateau of maturity.)

1997 Domenico Clerico, Barolo "Pajana"
Lovely nose of fruit and wood, with slight hints of orange peel from age. Well-extracted fruit aromas of berries and black cherries framed by chocolate, coffee and vanilla oak. It's definitely a modern wine, soft and fruit-forward, but still nice to drink. This definitely shows the character of the vintage: easy to drink, less tannic and approachable, but there are still lots of sweet wood tannins to give this some structure. In the mouth, it has lovely fruit, but seems a bit underacidified - the wine is delicious but a bit flabby. That's the vintage, definitely. The finish is quite nice, though I suspect that it is beginning to reach the end of its drinking life - the wine changes very quickly after half an hour open. Fun but one-dimensional. Drink now-2013. 3.5