WTN: Chenin Three Ways and a Nebbiolo

Chenin blanc has past nebbiolo and is quickly gaining on riesling as the number one single varietal wine holding at our house.

w/crostini topped with compound herb butter, goat cheese, prosciutto and fried sage (old FLDG recipe)
N.V. François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Brut (Loire)– Good opener. Light, aggressive bubbles, good fruit with a hint of lemon and toast. More minerality and depth come into play as the bottle is opened for a while and the effervescence calms down. A steal at $18.

w/seared scallops on field greens topped with spicy hot blood orange reduction
2002 Domaine des Baumard Savennières Clos du Papillon (Loire)– I was concerned with this bottle as I recently found it marked down amongst a pile of ‘03’s at CostCo. I was pleasantly surprised. Very expressive, dry, crisp lemon waxy yumminess with a bit of anise and a good mineral core. Not an asparagus in sight. This wine also benefits from a few hours of air time. Day 2 it’s showing more depth along with some smokiness. My overall impression is that this is a good wine but not as interesting as Closel Papillon.

w/osso buco on risotto milanase with toasted pine nut gremolata (Mario Batali)
2001 Travaglini Gattinara (Piedmont) – Very young, fruity nebbiolo showing typicity but doesn’t give you much for $25. Good fruit, lots of tannins, well balanced but fairly simple.

w/applesauce chocolate chip bundt cake with crème fraiche (F+W Dec07)
1995 Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon Cuvée Le Paon (Loire) – At 12 years of age this is still very young and unevolved. Wooly lemon, ripe yellow fruit, sweet but not overpoweringly so (still well into the "dessert" range), some botrytis, and good acidity. Day 2, no change. Let this one sit for a while.

Bill
Personally I'd cellar the Gattinara for a while longer - I can't recall a young Nebbiolo that's wow'ed me, but have decent success with older wines. I can see why other wines may be drunk young for the fruit, but for me, not with Nebbiolo, at least not yet . Travaglini is a fine producer so I'd favour 10-15 years cellar time - perhaps more.

I agree that it would benefit from age, Ian, particularly from this vintage, but there wasn't a whole lot of structure to this wine. In my opinion, for a few dollars more you can get far better nebbiolo for aging. I'm not usually one to drink nebbiolo early either although I tried an '01 from Ballarin recently that is going to be tough to keep my hands off of.

although I tried an '01 from Ballarin recently that is going to be tough to keep my hands off of.

Good choice - we tasted there in October and I was impressed - there was a streak of truffle running through the red wines that I loved, as evident in the Barbera's as the Neb's. Nice low-key operation and a shame the wines aren't available here.

we tasted there in October and I was impressed -

That's good to hear, Ian. I had scoured the web and have found very little info on Ballarin. A local shop did a close-out on their last couple of bottles of Tre Chiabot and Bricco Rocca that I got fairly cheaply. Their Rosso Cino (barbera, neb, dolcetto blend) is a steal for $9 too. Havent had the barbera but I'll certainly give it a try based on your truffle description. thanks!

we tasted there in October and I was impressed -

That's good to hear, Ian. I had scoured the web and have found very little info on Ballarin. A local shop did a close-out on their last couple of bottles of Tre Chiabot and Bricco Rocca that I got fairly cheaply. Their Rosso Cino (barbera, neb, dolcetto blend) is a steal for $9 too. Havent had the barbera but I'll certainly give it a try based on your truffle description. thanks!

Relatively young fellows - brothers if I recall. We stayed about a two minute walk up the road from them at Armando Brezza (recommended), both are at the bottom of the Annunziata hill, heading towards Barolo itself. IIRC Ballarin also do Agriturismo and the set up also looked good. Both locations are good for car and also walking.

The Rosso Cino blend will vary over the years, as they're using it both as a catchall for grapes not used in other wines, but also as a chance to experiment. I'll see if I saved my notes from the tasting.

regards

Ian

Looks like I never got round to typing these up - but did find the notepad with my scribbles in so here goes. Cellar door prices were generally fair to good IMO. I would have bought plenty if we were driving home rather than flying - as it was we bought nothing which was a shame (but sometimes you HAVE to make tough choices when in a favourite wine region and you only have space for 4-5 wines across 2 rucksacks).

2006 Cascina Ballarin Langhe Bianco (80% Chardonnay / 15% PN - Pinot Noir? / 5% Favorita)
Bright colour of clear pale straw, initially striking acidity, which softened a touch and a pleasant buttery finish

2005 Dolcetto D'Alba 'Pilade'
Bright Pink-purple, but surprisingly not over-fruited on a nose showing violets and red fruits
Straightforward and balanced with lingering acidity - IMO appropriate for it's type & to be drunk young & fresh

2005 Barbera Pilade (6m in Botti - Slavonian Oak)
Bright simple fruit -straightforward

2004 Barbera Giuli (18m in Barrique and from older vines than the Pilade)
Hint of white truffles, good fruit blended in and very good length finish

2003 Langhe Rosso (Slightly late harvest)
Smoky nose and also has a hint of white truffles

2003 Langhe Rosso 'Ballarin' (with 20% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Much stronger structure (presumably from the Cabernet) and atypically structured for Langhe Rosso

2004 Langhe Nebbiolo
Again white truffle with fruit more in the cherry spectrum. Balanced and straightforward but with enough structure to warrnat keeping for a couple of years

2003 Barolo 'Tre Ciabot' (2yrs in 50% Botti of Slavonian Oak 50% French Barrique; 14.5%)
Yet again white truffle on the nose (I checked the glass at this point for cleverly secreted shavings of tartufo bianco ). Strong acidity gave a drying finish and the wine was firm bodied. Despite the alcohol, not (at this stage) too hot for the vintage, but I suspect atypical.

2003 Barolo Bussia (2 yrs in Barrique)
Showing some oak influence. Great concentration, but at this stage, not a lot of complexity. No idea where this will go from here.

2003 Barolo Bricco Rocche (2 years in Botti)
Again white truffle on the nose, coupled with bright fruit, piercing(?) acidity and strong tannin. This had the biggest structure of the Barolo's (n.b. I had to ask - the plural of Barolo is Barolo, not Baroli )

Overall an excellent range of wines, with that consistent truffle thread running through most of the reds. Seemed to handle the 2003 vintage well.

(side note - I thought on the whole Barolo producers had much more success in 2003 than Barbaresco producers - we were in the region the previous year, so the comparison was a rare opportunity)

regards

Ian

thanks for the notes, Ian. It sounds like they have a nice lineup across the board.