My monthly tasting group got together last night to taste red Italian varietals in a blind format to see how bad we are at guessing. As a group we did ok! Pardon my spelling, my handwriting is pretty bad on a lot of these wines.
2001 Aldo Conterno Printanie - Never had a Conterno white, but this was closedout for $10 a few months ago so i picked up a bottle out of curiousity. 100% Chardonnay with lime, lemon peel, and green apples on the palate. Kind of flat with hazlenut and minerals on the palate. medium finish. i think this was on its way out.
2007 Cantine Caggiano Aglianico ‘Tari’ - Soft tannin andf flesy red fruits with raspberry hints. Peppery finish. Not bad for a more modern styled Aglianico.
2005 Allegrini Palazza Della Torre - Funky tobacco nose, blackberry and menthol with a spicy finish. very nice polished fruit. I had this about a month ago and didn’t like it that much, this showing was better. I’m still not sure I understand the hype on this one. (Disclaimer, my store sells this)
1975 Lisini Brunello - Smoke, meats, and orange peel on the nose. Great color, and still good fruit extractions, but cooked. Stewed fruits and prunes on the palate. I brought this. Damn!
2007 Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti - Toasty vanilla and cherry nose. Some cinnamon and black fruits too. Still tannic and earthy. It was showing worse then it usually does. My store carries this as well. Bummer.
1999 Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montalcino Riserva - Cherry, smoke, funky nose. Soft and juicy with light tannin. The nose got deeper with air. very nice.
2006 Pio Cesare Dolcetto - Clove, smoke, and dried herbs on the nose. Peppery spice and blackberry on the palate with a hint of oak.
1997 Mauro Molino Vigna Garcia Barolo - Lots of smoke, blackberry, tar, and some oak on this bad boy. More modern in style with darker fruits but pretty damn tasty and elegant for a big wine. Improved throughout the evening and drinking pretty well.
1995 Marchesi Di Barolo Barolo - Toasty oak on the nose, big and extracted red fruits. very good but needed some decanter time to open up. Not the most complex.
2008 Galea Schiava - Odd man out at this tasting. Almost see through pink with tobacco and herbs on the nose. Strawberry flavors and light bodied.
1997 Brezza Barolo Sarmasa - Tobacco, rosewater, and smoke on the nose. This smelled great. Still a fair amount of tannin on the palate with hints of dried herbs and great acidity. I liked this a lot. I also brought it! I drank 3 bottles of this over the past 5 years and each one showed very differently. This was probably the best of the three!
2003 Donato D’angelo Aglianico - Huge smoky, meaty, tobacco, black cherry nose. Just delicious. Full bodied with soft fruit upfront, very dark fruits. And then a big time wall of tannins on the finish. This was another close out I got about a year ago for $5 each! What a steal. I have 3-4 more to watch evolve over the next decade. Loved it last night.
1998 Villabellini Amarone - This ended up as most peoples WOTN and was another one that stuck out. Nutty, oxidized nose with black pepper, tobacco, ash. Minerals and dark fruits on the palate. Silky but big. Some mocha and a touch of heat creep in on the finish too. Very nice.
2003 Colsanto Sagrantino - CORKED…bummer. Had some nice dark fruits underneath it.
Another fun tasting. I don’t drink a whole lot of Italian wines so this was a nice change of pace for me. Unfortunately, we broke out lucky streak of not having any bad bottles at my tastings. But 2 isn’t so bad. I got the 75 Brunello for free, so no loss. And the guy who brought the Sagrantino bought it on the way to my house, so he can get it refunded.