TN: Tignanello, Radikon, Bura, Anselmet, Belliviere, Brigit, Italian Fizz (Andrew H)

WINE TALK
1

Andrew Hall and his wife Elena were in town. Along with my wife Jane, a few of her non wine geeks friends, we sat down to a nice slow evening of conversation food and wine. This is absolutely my favorite way to enjoy wine.

With Capnoata (An eggplant Bruschetta)
NV Puianello Lambrusco Dell’Emilia Rosato Amabile
This is a sweet fizzy wine. 8.5% Alc. It has a light garnet coloring, clear and bright. A nice fizziness to it but more frizzante than full out bubbles. Nose of strawberries and some cherries. Nice adidity. On the palate, this is sweet, but not overtly. Nice way to start and evening. A good match with the Caponata. 50+3+12+16+6=87

With chilled Curried Peach Soup
2005 Domaine de Belliviere L’Effraie (Coteaux du Loir)
13% Alc. Golden in color. The nose offers some ginger and peaches. Quite minerally. Full bodied. On the palate, I would have preferred a bit more cut. That said, this is slightly sweet and just a perfect, IMO, match for the soup. The palate has nice ginger ale notes with a good bit of minerals. Long finish. This was especially popular with two of the women. 50+4+12+18+7=91

With Insalata Caprese:
2007 Brigit Eichinger Riseling Heligenstein (Austria)
13.5% Alc. Light golden in color. The nose has some lemons, a bit of minerals, even the tiniest bit of petrol, but is reticent. Medium bodied. On the palate, this is dry, varietally correct but lacks complexity or interest. It goes well with the salad, but does not enhance it. Easy to drink. This was $45 and for that I hoped for more. 50+4+11+16+6=87

With Roasted Corn, Pablano Pepper, Red Peppers Pizza (thanks Tony V.)
1995 Radikon Merlot (Collio, Italy)
I brought this back from Italy a few years ago never having had a red from this producer. Andrew and I took a while to get the right occasion, but finally we popped the cork. Purple/ruby in color, mostly clear and bright in the glass. The nose was classic Merlot. Cherries, raspberries, dark chocolate with a nice underbrush of earthiness. Full bodied. On the palate, again classic. Nice cherry and cassis with complex earthiness. Hints of chocolate. I don’t know what we were expecting but after his “oddball” whites, this was right down the middle. That said, it was quite good and coming along just fine at 14 years of age. Certainly as good as any right bank wine in its price range. 50+4+13+18+8=93

2005 Bura Dingac Plavic Mali (Croatia)
Bottle No. 0868. Purple in color, ruby hues and mostly opaque and bright. The nose has some spice and black raspberries. A nice earthiness to it as well. On the palate, this goes well with the pizza. Zinesque, is easy to say knowing the relationship of Plavic Mali to the Zinfandel grape. I am not so sure, but perhaps. A bit of coffee grounds and plums on the palate. Good finish. I liked this wine, but I paid $60 for it (out of curiosity) and it is not worth anywhere near that. At $15 to $20, it would be a fun wine. That said, for a one timer, it was fun. 50+4+12+17+6=89

2005 Anselmet Le Prisonnier
Andrew brought this. Garnet in color with some black swirls. A blend of Petite Rouge, Cornalin, Fumin, Mayolet and others (thought to be from Vallee D’Aosta in Italy). The nose has some cranberries, dark cherries, a good dollop of cedar. On the palate, this is somewhat monolithic. It has a nice backbone of acidity which helps with the food. It did not develop much but as a one round wine, it has a nice fruit package. Interesting wine. I wonder what happens to it from here. 50+4+12+17+7=91

At that point, the conversation was pretty interesting and I went down to the cellar for another red:

1997 Antinori Tignanello
This may be my favorite Super Tuscan. I like the 80/20 Sangiovese to Cab blend. Ruby in color, bright and not looking old at all. The nose is great; earthy, hints of funk, lots of cherries, some cassis. Full bodied. Complex and layered. Really in a great mature spot but not showing tired IMO. Nice finish. It was a struggle to converse as I wanted to really contemplate the wine. My wife also loved it, Andrew, though, not so much. 50+4+13+18+8=93

We then settled in for dessert.
With plain cheesecake:
NV Moscato di San Marino
Golden in color. Effervescent. The nose has a slight ginger ale note. Medium bodied. On the palate, this is lacking a bit. A bit of ginger ale. Short finish. That said, at 7% Alc., and with a nice fizz, this woke up my palate and matched quite well to the cheesecake. 50+3+11+16+5=85

All in all, a very fun night. Some very interesting wines made for a nice background of occasional conversation and a lot of other discussion.

2

The '04 of this is an essential wine in my life. I must have opened 40-50 bottles between classes at Crush I was teaching and my own personal enjoyment. I used it to teach my classes what DRY Chenin Blanc was. It was a stunner and so varietally correct to be astounding. We sold it for $19.99. The '05 came along and was Spatlese-like in RS. It was well-made but lacked acidity and my most recent tasting of it, I thought it lacked a bit of focus. Not even a shadow of the '04, which as it stands is a brilliant Belliviere white vintage. Next to the 2002’s, the ne plus ultra of Chenin up north in the Loire. Wines like that, though, can be useful at the table, as it was for you.

Congratulations on the new winery. Sounds exciting.

3

I agree on the 04. This was my first 05 and I thought I would try one out. Do you think this sub-appelation did better in 04 or just this wine?

4

Loren,

From my tasting experience, the 2004 whites from the Coteaux de Loire and Jasnieres were much much stronger than 2005. As for down South in Vouvray it was a weak vintage.