I ate at Tangled Vine last night on Amsterdam and 82nd, which has a very interesting list with lots of wines by the glass and good food. They won me over when they first opened three or four years ago and offered Lopez de Heredia blanco by the glass. On the menu, the crisped chickpeas are a new favorite.
They have an interesting policy on Wednesdays: They’ll open any bottle if you commit to two glasses at one quarter the bottle price.
We started with the 2010 DeForville Barbaresco Loreto. I don’t have a lot of experience with DeForville, but I’ve liked every wine of theirs I’ve tried. The 2010 normale, sampled a few months ago, was lovely and very approachable. The Loreto (35-year-old vines) was a little step up. Tannic, naturally, but quite pleasurable with food. Still pretty tight but elegant and balance. Really a nice wine, and a steal at $28 retail.
The waitress then approached us to see if we’d be interested in a glass of the 2012 Chauvin Chateauneuf. It was served at a perfect, cool cellar temperature (how often does that happen?). Nice bright, red fruit. Fresh and bright were the words that came to mind – not terms I usually think of with CdP. Good acidity. Unfortunately, even at a low temperature, the alcohol stood out a bit. A pleasant wine but we liked the DeForville better at about half the price. I think I’ve liked the Chauvin Cotes du Rhone better.
What’s the story with De Forville, anyway? It doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention. There certainly aren’t a lot of posts here, even though it’s pretty widely available in the NYC area, and Galloni didn’t include cover the wines in his extensive review of 09 and 10. It’s always very reasonable, even though it’s a Rosenthal import.
John, I don’t know a lot about De Forville, but that 2010 Loreto is really good stuff for $30ish. Much like Kermit Lynch’s producer, Giamello, if the wines were more expensive, I believe that they would get more attention. IMO, they are the quallitative equivalent of Barbaresco that cost twice as much.
Never really found anything in the wines to hold my interest. Every year I drive up to Barbaresco and pass them, on the right just up from Gaja. Maybe this year I will do a visit if my time will allow.