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2015 Weingut Rings Kallstadter Steinacker Riesling trocken - Germany, Pfalz (2.6.2019)
Day one: tight as a drum, not really accessible. 24 hours later: a different story. Yellow colored in the glass and very much yellow fruited on the nose with notes of apple, dandelion and lees/yeast. Bright, articulate and satisfying. On the palate quite mouth-coating yet with no fat really and not rich in the way many Alsatians are - definitely no botrytis here. Seems bone dry. Definitely no shortage of acidity here but the balance is tremendous. Very grippy, this definitely what I would call the masculine side of Riesling. Some nice bitterness on the finish. A serious a wine that should be buried in the cellar for around ten more years but opening a day before like I did seems to work ok as this was definitely drinkable on day 2 to say the least. -
2008 Tenuta San Leonardo San Leonardo - Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT (2.6.2019)
From half-bottle. Bright, savory blackcurrant fruit, a hint of tar, some oak and a minerally nuance on the most elegant nose. Medium-bodied on the palate with quite silky entry, yet soon the formidable tannins emerge, gripping strongly and leading to a slightly drying finish. Very firm, very savory, this is very close to Bordeaux in style yet has something distinctly Italian about it. Awesome lift, in terms of acidity this seemingly competes with the best of Tuscany. Sensational mouthfeel. Seems to get tighter in the glass, this one needs another ten years in the cellar to really blossom. Everything is in place though and I can imagine this one becoming a true beauty eventually. -
2014 Fattoria Nittardi Chianti Classico Casanuova di Nittardi Vigna Doghessa - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG (4.5.2019)
The nose offers classic savory and red-toned sourcherry fruit and leather - and unfortunately quite a lot of dry, smoky oak. The palate is light to medium-bodied with quite pronounced acidity. Very much savory and high-pitch, as it should be, but smothered with oak and oak spice. The fruit is not plentiful at this point - I wonder where it will be in a couple of years from now? This is a perfectly drinkable wine with food but c’mon. The oak to fruit ratio is totally nuts here and I find it hard to come up with a worse offender in a long time. It is totally beyond me why someone would drown a lean and restrained wine like this in oak for 14 months. Without I think this could have been a perfectly pretty and honest traditional expression of Sangiovese.
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