A couple Italian (post-NYE) TNs

WINE TALK
1

I’m trying to get the taste of champagne removed from my palate, so I thought I would go for a red or two [wink.gif] .

Tonight, with pasta and sweet sausage in a red sauce:

1990 Moccagatta Barbaresco Vigneto Cole
I posted on this wine earlier in December - this is one modernist winemaker who ultimately (at least IMO) didn’t master the hot temperatures at harvest that this vintage presented Piemonte with 19 years ago. The wine is still a dark translucent red in the glass. Depending on your aversion to overripe, pruny fruit, the nose may be controversial. My wife doesn’t care for this much at all, while I’m more tolerable, but still would like a touch less ripeness in the fruit. With aeration, the pruny scent dissipates and super ripe cherries come to the fore, but any way you look at it, this was made from very ripe fruit.

Better proportioned on the palate - on entry, you get sweet cherries, but for a nebbiolo you are also surprised that the wine seemingly has so little acidity - this is a Barbaresco for wine drinkers that think Blue Slide Ridge produces elegant pinot. Nice finish, but still a disappointment given how long I’ve cellared it, and given the context of some other wines produced in this vintage. We’ll see if more air impacts the wine for the better.

2

Ouch!..and no thank you.[wink.gif]

RT

3

Well,Bob…at least you’ve made room for more Produttori… pepsi

4

True that, Guillermo - while I am usually agnostic when it comes to the debate on modern versus traditional winemaking in Piemonte (and I have the Altare, Scavino, Clerico & Veglio in the cellar to prove it [wink.gif] ), for whatever reason Moccagatta was one producer that seemed to go too far too fast in that regard, and with Produttori just chugging along in the same commune producing nice wines year after year, it became an easy decision to focus on them to the exclusion of Moccagatta.

BTW, I ended up eating some nice parmigiana reggiano and chatting with my better half after dinner, so I never got back to complete the note, but the 2nd wine consumed last night was a relative baby, the 2006 Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva, which showed very nicely despite its youth.

5

Thanks,Bob.I was just looking to acquire some 06s and the CCR was one of them.

6

Bill, IMO given the price, that’s a case buy - really quite nice, and definitely has the wherewithal to last 15 years.

7

I’m agreeing with you,Bob and… [winner.gif] …done.
So many great wine values,so little time…so little money…:wink:
Thanks again for the head up.