Last night - 82 Sebaste Barolo Bussia Riserva. This wine is stunning. Plum color, dense, sweet fruit. Solid backbone. Fine, resolved tannins. Not a producer I know well, but this wine is fabulous.
On New Year’s Eve we opened another stunning wine, the 86 Cerretto Barbaresco Asili. Right at peak now. Soft ruby color, very feminine nose of rose petal and crushed red fruit, great balance and finesse.
Later that evening opened a very nice German sparkling wine, the 2011 Alexander Laible Brut. Very well made, but a bit too much residual sugar for my taste.
For a weeknight dinner during the holiday break, we opened the 90 Bricco Manzoni from Rocche dei Manzoni. A blend, this wine can age very well. This wine is loaded with tobacco, olive smoke, and herbs, but is past peak. A bit faded, which comes through on the finish. But the fruit gained density and depth over the course of the evening.
At a dinner on the 27th with Henry Kahn and our spouses, we opened two amazing wines. One was the 1989 Cavolloto Vignolo Riserva. The other was the 90 Viette Brunate. Both were stunning. The 89 might have had a slight edge, but that would be a quibble. Amazing wines. Double decanted in the morning, they were showing beautifully for dinner at Red Hen, a great, relatively new restaurant in DC.