Collio DOC – Rosso Riserva Degli Orzoni 1995 – Russiz Superiore– Alc. 13%. (80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and Cabernet franc.)
C: Deep red with little sign of ageing.
N: Quite discreet but well developed showing typical Cabernet Sauvignon character of red and dark fruit with good freshness and slight vegetal hints.
P: Well balanced and structured in a direct, even slightly austere, style with freshness, fruit, “gras”, roundness, body and length. This is very good wine and a perfect partner for succulent beef; 16/20 perhaps more.
Am I conveying a slight reserve? Well yes, because I could not detect anything that marks this Friulian wine out from a Médocain upper bourgeois or lower grand cru of a year like 1995, except, perhaps, the advantage of having none of the drying tannins than I have found in many Médocs from that year.
Cabernet Sauvignon from, say, Tuscany, California and South Australia has a much stronger local accent, although in the case of the last two I suspect that it is frequently more man-made than terroir driven, particularly when I dislike the results.