I had stood up this bottle for 48 hours prior to opening and decanting. The small yet dense cork had done a good job and came out in one piece. I decanted it and drank it slowly over 5 hours to gauge its evolution to air. There was plenty of sediment in the bottle. The initial colour was a clear terracotta - this was more orange than red. The nose was the haunting tar and pot pourri, with a hint of roasted chestnuts, that I find on most old N.Italian reds from Piedmont. The silky, savoury mouthfeel lingered with a hint of sweetness on my tongue. With time, the nose certainly declined in intensity while palate had a marginally longer finish. Lovely on its own and perfect with Scottish crab and chilli ravioli.
Impressive work on these old corks. You don’t even use a Durand.
Interesting pairing. Sometimes it doesn’t sound like it should work in theory but somehow does so well in practice you wonder why it isn’t common knowledge.
