Our regular tasting group held one of our recent dinners at Kathy’s place, with a general theme of Italian red wines, though we ended up narrowing it down to Piedmont and Tuscany for the main tasting. There were nine of us, and we enjoyed lots of great pot luck food with the wines, none of which were served blind.
Starter wines:
2013 Arianna Occhipinti SP68 Bianco Sicilia IGT. Our first wine of the night sports a super-floral nose loaded with aromas of honeysuckle, rose petals, peach fuzz, nectarine, tropical fruits and terra cotta clay that are fun and full of character. In the mouth, though, it can come across as a bit stand-offish and hard to grasp–vacillating between flavors of peach cup, cantaloupe and pear and more bitter twinges of dark minerality and toasted citrus skins. It’s definitely on the geeky side and was not always a crowd favorite, but it stirred a fun debate.
1982 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Prapò. This is still a nice healthy ruby color, and it’s showing fine, mellow complexity on the nose—with aromas of dusty dried cherries, pounded leather, tobacco leaf and balsamico. It has a nice smooth entry on the palate, delivering a surprisingly giving shot of sweet raspberry, cherry and cranberry fruit flavors. It’s nicely-resolved, with a refined aged feel and soft acids but plenty of lovely flavor stuffing. We’ve had a bunch of these over the past few years and this was among the very best showings.
Main tasting:
1997 Sottimano Barbaresco Currá. Getting better the longer it sits in the glass, this delivers plenty of dark, plush aromas of tar, crushed rose petals, faint oak, black cherry and sexy spices on the nose. In the mouth, it’s cool in tone but with plenty of life to the fudgy flavors of cherry, black raspberry and vanilla. There are slightly astringent tannins but a nice tangy acidity running down the spine. The finish is nice and even, and overall this delivers a fine drinking experience.
1997 Conte Bacco Brunello di Montalcino. The nose here is still a bit tightly-wound, with smoky aromas of black tea, roasted cherries, limestone and fireplace ashes. In the mouth, it’s more open-knit, with a solid dose of fun and bright cherry-raspberry flavors. The acidity is very nicely integrated, the texture is pleasingly smooth, and it’s drinking well.
1998 Marcarini Barolo Brunate. This wine has an absolutely lovely nose, showing off ethereal floral scents of dried roses, creosote, mushroom, dried sweat, old leather and high-toned sour cherries that are completely enticing. It’s very bright, very lifted and high-toned in the mouth, with shiny acidity and fine-grained tannins whispering at every turn. It feels lithe and high-strung but with fine old-fashioned tonality and a nice earthy core beneath the twangy red fruit. This is drinking pretty darned nicely and feels more approachable to me than say the 1996. It was a real favorite on this night.
1998 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra. From the same vintage, this is far darker and larger-scaled on the nose—showing tons of black peppercorn, black cherry, blackberry and sexy spice aromas that are concentrated, bold and seriously engaging. This heady and delightful bouquet is followed by a mouthful of dark fudgy fruit goodness framed by solid structural elements and a grippy, powerful drive. It’s earthy and dark-toned, with loads of sexy spice notes leading to a lasting finish. This is excellent right now but destined to last a good long while, I’d say.
2006 Boroli Barolo Villero. This wine comes on a bit overly strident with a nose that is darkly-roasted and nutty, showing some signs of VA from time to time. It features limestone, black cherry, truffle, clay and charred meat aromas but it lacks any sense of elegance or layering at this young age. On the palate, it’s again a bit nutty and exceedingly chewy in texture, with very aggressive tannins and jangly acidity. It’s just way too young, tannic and tough-edged, so give this one another 5-7 years or so before trying again.
2006 Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT. This is open and giving on the nose, with pretty aromas of blueberries, plums, dates, eucalyptus and carob nut really singing even at this young age. In the mouth, it’s smooth and polished, with a beautiful creamy texture all the way through. The core of cherry, raspberry, and licorice strand flavors is supported by a nice tingly acidity and fine spices. It has a nice sense of class to go with the juicy flavors and can easily be enjoyed now despite its youth. Everyone really liked this, including me.
2004 Il Poggione (Proprietá Franceschi) Brunello di Montalcino. One finds a nicely expressive bouquet here, showing off aromas of tar, brambly blackberry, stripped pine branch, suede leather, porcini mushroom and chocolate confectionery notes. It’s tart and tangy on the palate, maybe a bit taut and thin through the middle, but smooth-flowing despite some drying tannins on the cherry-laden finish. Give this one 2-3 more years to flesh out and better integrate the tannin.
2004 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbaresco Vürsù Vigneto Gallina. This is exceedingly ripe and plush on the nose, with sweet aromas of strawberry jam, cassis, menthol, vanilla, oak, tar and charred wood pushing right up into the nostrils. In the mouth, it’s plush and luxuriant, thick and pasty, with sticky-sweet flavors of raspberry, cherry and blackberry fruit. It feels totally modern-styled, and while not quite entirely over the top, still tipping the scales pretty far in that direction.
2004 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbaresco Vürsù Vigneto Valeirano. This is earthier and more grounded in tone compared to the previous wine, slowly emerging with more of that obvious red fruit stuffing with time and air in the glass—eventually yielding a pretty nice combination of fruit, earth and leafy elements. It’s caressingly smooth on the palate, with lovely red berry fruit and fine structure. It’s certainly more contained than its sibling but it’s still pretty big and bold. I much prefer this bottling, but I’m not sure my view was universal.
Sweet wine:
2005 Conte Ferdinando Guicciardini Vin Santo Castello di Poppiano della Torre Grande. We finished with this wine, which smells rather nutty and full of yellow raisin, praline, nougat, toasted walnut and brown spirit aromas. It’s warm and spirity in the mouth, with lots of fig, yellow raisin and nut flavors. It’s a bit too lifted with alcohol at times, but still a fun capper to the evening.
-Michael
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