Last night at Maialino, with the leave-it-to-the-chef menu, including the signature baby pork belly. Antipasti and four rich pastas before that, several with lots of butter. A very good but not mind-blowing meal.
Gimmonet NV Brut: Wow, was this satisfying! Lots of flavor, complex, round. Too much conversation to focus more, but a great start.
Vajra 2011 Bianco (riesling): I first tasted Vajra’s riesling at the cantina three years ago and was wowed by it. I’ve had a couple of bottles since, but none as great as this one. Perhaps it’s the extra year or so of age, but the aromatics were stunning. This delivered on the nose in a way only a riesling can, but it’s dry (or mostly) so there are more minerals than fruit. Pears, some chenin-like wax. More Alsatian or Austrian than German, it’s full bodied but not too rich, and has good acidity. There may be a trace of R.S., but overall it’s refreshing, with layers in the mouth. ~92 for me. WOTN. This and Germano’s riesling from Serralunga are both outstanding.
Grosjean – Val d’Aosta - Cornalin – Vigna Rovetta (the list says 2011 but this was an earlier vintage that I can’t recall – 2007?): Recommended by the sommelier for the pastas. Definitely an AFWE wine. This indigenous grape reminds me of some other somewhat rustic grape I’ve had from someplace else, but I can’t quite place it. (Schiava?) Some tannin, fairly fruity, a bit of pepper. Much better with the pasta but doesn’t thrill me.
Rocche di Manzoni 2000 Barolo – Vigne d’la Roul: I’d served a 99 Rocche di Manzoni Vigna Santo Stefano two years ago and remembered liking it enough to buy some. That was on the list with the estate’s two other single vineyards for 99, plus some 2000s, all in the $100-$130 range. We opted for the 2000 because it was likely to be more approachable – which the somm confirmed.
It was a mistake. Can you say ‘oak’? Can you say it again? Just a wall, on the nose in the mouth and in the finish. Heavily extracted, and with some harsh tannins. Not quite bad enough to call it chalky, but sort of sandy. Is it possible the oak tannins are overshadowing the nebbiolo tannins? The whole experience is monolithic. Let me coin a phrase: Lepidoptera quercus (oak bulldozer).
Today I dug out my notes from two years ago on the 99 Santa Stefano and see that I said “oak and the rest seem to be on different planes, going in different directions.” In the 2000 Roul “the rest” wasn’t very apparent.
Nice notes, John. I’m intrigued by the Vajra riesling, and you make it sound very inviting! I’ll have to see if I can source any. I don’t think Martin offered it, but maybe I just overlooked it. Sorry about the oak bomb.
Yup, John…that Vajra Riesling is something else. In terms of the aromatics, it reminds me a bit of a very good Arneis, but not the stony minerality those usually display.
The Cornalin usually reminds me of AA Schiava…lighter Pinot-like w/ a noticible earthiness to it.
Tom
I remember Oliver McCrum saying that there was some kind of rivalry – or dispute about who was first with riesling in the Langhe – between Vajra and Ettore Germano (who Oliver imports). The Germano is also very good.
Manzoni is one of the only oak users that I drink. That said, these babies take a long time to come around. I have some '89s and '90s that are coming around. Really like the note of marzipan in his juice.
I have little experience with the wines. For a number of producers, the 98-00 period was the peak of barrique usage, and I wonder if these reflect that technique in the extreme. It’s not just that there are oak flavors, but they mask everything else, which is surprising at 14 years. And there was a harshness that I suspect was wood tannins, not grape tannins.
Interesting about the elevation. Vajra’s Bricco del Viole ranges up to 480 meters, so I guess the riesling must be at that elevation or higher. The Germano riesling is also planted well above the typical elevation for Barolo, at 500-550 meters above sea level.
Also interesting that Vajra vines are from a mix of German and Alsatian sources.
Oddly I tasted my first Rocche di Manzone wines 9 days ago. All had very firm tannins - as firm as any I have tasted, but the 2009 vigna cappella di Santo Stefano was so brutal the wine almost tasted watery behind them. As such I have no clue as to whether it will come around but would be sure it would be 30 years minimum.
I must admit a huge respect for them fighting the trend to wanting more approachable wines, and I am a firm believer that elegant and complex maturity is best achieved by avoiding trying to make wines that are too easy going in youth… though these wines may be a step too far even for me.
The 2007s were still highly (but not extreme sport) tannic, so I would be tempted to go for the easier going vintages from this cantina.
One of the main motivations for barriques was in fact to soften up the wine, though, via micro-oxygenation and that layer of sweetness from the oak – not to make even longer-lived wine.
I’ve drunk a lot of Barolo and I’ve visited the region many times, and I’ve never had a Barolo young or with age that had a mix of hard tannins, extraction and oak like this. The 2000 seemed like someone tried too hard.
