TN's from Dinner at Gia Cucina (Arcadian and some Italians)

Last night Ashley and I got together with Poppy & Aaron and Yoni & Shilo for a few bottles of excellent wine, very tasty Italian food, and the sort of fun-loving conversation that makes you wonder where the time went when it’s all said-and-done. I made a half-assed effort to take notes on the wines we had … the half-assedness is pretty obvious, but I stand by the few impressions I did manage to record. We started off with a N.V. Billiot Champagne that I didn’t take any notes on (FWIW, I thought it was very nice, and will seek it out for purchase in the future) before proceeding to the following …

2002 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
– decanted 5 hours before tasting –
– tasted non-blind –
NOSE: spicy; cherries; hint of Pinot funk
BODY: orange-red color of light depth; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: smooth red fruits; herbaceous; smooth; incredibly well-balanced; long finish. Gorgeous wine.

1993 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Poggio All’Oro - Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino
– popped and poured–
– tasted non-blind –
Deep purple-garnet color; somewhat tight on the nose, but giving-up aromas of cigar and dark fruits with a vegetal streak. Loganberries and a hint of funk on the impeccably well-balanced palate. IMO, seems to be in its prime drinking window right now.

1993 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Ornellaia Vino da Tavola - Italy, Tuscany, Vino da Tavola
– tasted non-blind –
I thought this was an excellent wine; had an enticing bouquet of chalky minerals, deep florals, and cool raspberry. Very smooth on the palate, with flavors of cigar, earth, black cherry, and a hint of funk. Well-integrated tannins and the 13% alc. not-at-all noticeable. Full palate. Powerful wine, but not in punch-you-in-the-face sort of way … more in a kneading-bread-dough sort of way — this wine leans on your palate with a genuine firmness. Fine tannins come through on the long finish; wonderful acid; drinking great now, but I would venture to guess another 5-10 years left in this wine.

1997 Fontanafredda Barolo Serralunga d’Alba - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind –
Smoked meats and a hint of funk on the somewhat-tight nose; strong sense of cigar wrapper and spice, as well as loganberry on the palate; well-balanaced; still tight. Very good now, great in 5+ years. Hold.

2002 Lone Madrone Nebbiolo Il Toyon - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
– decanted for 5 hours before tasting –
– tasted non-blind –
Spicy, tannic. Same as two previous notes below. I’m not sure the fruit will out-run the tannins, but it does pair very nicely with food. Drink now with food, otherwise hold.

the Lone Madrone “previous notes”:

11/1/2008
– tasted non-blind at Tasting Room –
– tasted immediately after opening bottle –
NOSE: woodsy; mint; moderately funky; wormwood
BODY: garnet color with some slight orangeing at the edges; light depth of color
TASTE: alcoholic and tannic (previous experience has shown this wine does improve with a decant); strawberry; medium-long finish; gaja or fuji apple flavor on the finish. A nice wine.
B: 50, 5, 12, 15, 7 = 89


7/3/2008
– double decanted for one hour before bringing to a local restaurant –
– tasted non-blind –
NOSE: This wine was gently spicy with notes of leather, cherry licorice and taragon joining in.
BODY: light brick-red color of shallow depth; medium bodied.
TASTE: This wine really should lay for a few more years as it is packed with drying tannins and juicy acidity. I got mostly flavors of baked raspberry and cedar on the palate. The mid-palate was a bit hollow, and the finish was short-medium length. Wife and I found this to be a very versatile wine as it paired well with 5 of the 6 courses we ate at a local small plates joint.

The six courses were:
(1) Marinated olives: this was the one course the wine did not pair well with; the olives were too briny for the wine.
(2) Roasted mushrooms with parsley, in a beef consume - very nice pairing, the mushrooms were a beautiful foil for the wine.
(3) Roasted pork chop with white chocolate potato puree - the pork chop was juicy enough to keep the wine’s tannins in check
(4) Macaroni & (gruyere) cheese, with serrano ham and shredded leeks - another nice pairing: the wine’s acidity cut through the richness of this dish.
(5) Bistro (flank) steak with polenta - probably the most disappointing dish of the night, but the wine worked well here, too: neither the wine nor the steak overpowered the other.
(6) Medium-rare diver sea scallops, with a light mustard sauce and shredded mint - this was the heavenly pairing of the evening. The scallops were literally melt-in-your-mouth good, and the wine riffed off the shredded mint like it was Jimi Hendrix in a bottle. Wife and I were awfully sad to see this dish disappear as we ate the plate clean (this was actually our 4th course, I just wanted to save it last for here).

I’d give the wine an “88” for now, and a “90” based on future potential.
B: 50, 5, 12, 15, 8 = 90

I seriously couldn’t decide between the Brunello, Ornellaia, and Arcadian for my WOTN. 5 years from now, the Barolo would have joined that group as well.
We’d love to do this again sometime soon, and look forward to seeing ya’ll at the Orange County Poker 4 Wine II event (OCP4W II).
[cheers.gif]

Here’s a group of cool folks I’ve taken money from over poker tables. [diablo.gif]

Nice lineup all! Thanks for the notes Brian. WineX and Roberto at Wine Expo carry the Billiot. It went up a good amount this year but I still think it is a value at current price. The current release is better than the last also. The 2002 is also around for ~$10 more and is an outstanding value for vintage Champagne from a good vintage. Nice lay down candidate.

On what planet did you take my money? [shrug.gif]

Thanks for the notes Brian. Shilo and I had a lot of fun with all of you. Your “half-ass” notes are better than my “no-notes.” Although I will say the nose on that Arcadian is second to none. It was downright beautiful and I hate you for bringing this as I will now look for other Arcadian’s to spend my money on.

MY WOTN’s were between the Arcadian, Ornellaia and Fontanafredda Barolo. I probably should have decanted the Barolo, but by the end of the night, it was wonderful and really just started to show what it had.

The Banfi was a little off at first, light and uninteresting. I thought it was a bad bottle, but after about 30 minutes of being open, it gained weight, complexity and turned out to be great.

The Ornellaia was just outstanding. From the nose to the taste, it was gorgeous and very youthful IMO.

Please let me know about the OC poker event as I would love to attend. I need my vengeance on Wetrock!!

Keep Barolo out of the decanter - let it just get better with time open in the bottle, as you did…

What a great night! Thanks, Brian, for taking notes. I don’t have much to add, as I was jacked up on painkillers for my ruptured disk.

The Arcadian showed more oak than I expected and for my taste, but it was still very yummy. As Yoni said, the Brunello at first was very light on the palate when first poured and when I went back to it at the end of the night, it had gained a ton of weight and was one of my favorites of the night. I don’t drink a whole lot of Italian wine and it’s fun to branch out every now and then, but no one needs to fear that I will be selling off my Burgs and Pinots to buy Italians anytime soon. :smiley:

Bring on the poker!

and this is how you tolerated me for more than 15 minutes. [berserker.gif]

They are the best!! [highfive.gif]