A BURG AND A BAROLO AT SALIL'S - Châteauneuf-du-Salil, Albany, NY (11/5/2025)
Salil made his wonderful chicken thighs. This time on the grill which added a nice smokeyness. With cauliflower and roasted carrots.
Dinner
2021 Henri Jouan Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny
[Decanted at 6pm. Tasted around 7pm.] Lovely bouquet of cherries and spice. Tart, juicy, red raspberries, red currants. Tight. 8:30: Opening up now. Showing well in the mid-palate and the long cherry finish. (92 points)
2007 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double-decanted around 5pm for one hour. Had to run it through a filter because the cork broke.] Dark red fruit and licorice in the nose. Expansive. Gorgeous red fruits and spice. Tannins are present, but soft. One of the best 2007 Barolos that I've had. (94 points)
Dessert
With a slice of coffee cheesecake from Cheesecake Machismo.
That was a lot of fun, once I got past my annoyance at my oven’s failures (thank heavens for the grill outside). The wines were all terrific - each genuinely outstanding and also really showing a clear sense of place.
2021 Henri Jouan Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny
Decanted at 6 PM. Lovely wine, typical of what I expect from Jouan, typical of Chambolle, but also showing some of the leanness and lightness that for me typifies the vintage. The first impressions are a touch lean and herbaceous, but it comes together on the palate with a little air - the herbal notes recede and it starts to show a lovely red fruited core tinged with floral notes. It still feels a touch light on the palate, enough so that I'm comfortable drinking my bottles sooner rather than later, but this is excellent right now.
2007 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Bottle #18529. Ken double decanted an hour before dinner. This is certainly quite ripe, bursting with juicy red and dark fruited flavours, but there's also a lot of savoury depth and a lot of higher toned floral and faintly herbal notes around the fruit. There's tannin underneath, but the texture here is quite polished and silky, and the whole package is drinking beautifully right now. Outstanding.
2011 Weingut Jakob Schneider Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Nahe
Brilliant wine. It's still youthful, but the pieces are starting to come together into something amazing. There's an array of ripe peachy and tropical fruit, honey, and tarter lime and faintly herbaceous/minty elements all coming together, and I love the overall balance here - the citrus/minty aspects add a nice element of freshness and brightness in between the richer botrytised flavours. It certainly has the weight and richness of a BA, a lovely polished texture on the palate, but also a lightness of touch on the palate that makes it very easy to drink. Easily one of the best wines I've had from this site - I would happily put this bottle alongside any of the best Hermannshöhle bottlings I've enjoyed from Dönnhoff. Outstanding right now, and I'm glad I have a couple more to keep following.
Very much so. Some are decent. Some are surprisingly good if the picking wasn’t too late and the fruit didn’t have that raisinated character. Some have been just terrible. And some of the terrible ones have been from producers I buy every vintage for the last 20 years and had higher expectations given the reliability of the winemaker. YMMV.
