Back on January 11th, my wife and I were invited to another couple's house for some dinner and a tasting of some Italian wines. We brought a couple of '94 Chianti Riservas and all other wines were courtesy of our fine host and hostess.
NV Aubry Champagne Brut Rose. This salmon-colored rose opens with aromas of strawberries, other red berry fruits, delicious apple and puffs of minerality. It is medium-bodied in the mouth, with notes of smoky dark cherries, cranberries and citrusy acidity. It has a creamy texture and an easy, open finish.
1990 J. Lassalle Champagne Brut Cuvee Angeline. This Champagne is a beautiful light golden color, with very fine bubbles. The nose evolves continually throughout the hour or so of sipping and tasting with appetizers. It opens with pretty aromas of toasted baguette, vanilla and fresh caramel, along with some crisper minerality underneath. Later on, it brings in lovely notes of sweet cornbread and lemon zest, and even a sort of frangelico hazelnut note poking in and out. In the mouth, it is one of those Champagnes that manages to pull off the powerful-yet-elegant equation. It is ultra-smooth, with nary a rough edge to be found, and has incredible length and purity of flavor. It is fuller-bodied, with waves of luxuriant fruit balanced by pinpoint acidity. It all leads to a pure, clean, lasting finish that carries along flavors of baked apples, baking spices and old-styled ginger ale. Fabulous.
1994 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio. This is a little lighter-colored than the Felsina, but still looks a healthy ruby. It opens with notes of maderized cherries, darkroom chemicals, creosote, mildly stewed figs, toasted marshmallows and a distinct nutty edge. All in all, it is rather odd and even a bit off-putting, but yet strangely intriguing. In any event, it is considerably more pleasing in the mouth, where it offers up soft, plush, warm roasted fruits in a fairly full-bodied package. Tannins are quite rounded off, and there is solid intensity but barely-hanging-on freshness. It finishes spicy and persistent. The tannins grow over the evening and the alcohol eventually becomes a bit too elevated. I would approach future bottles with caution.
1994 Fattoria di Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia. My wife and I bought this at the winery many years ago and lugged it back home in our backpack. I’m happy to report that it seems to have survived and indeed flourished since then. The wine is a solid dark garnet color. The generous bouquet features notes of dark cherry liqueur, old leather, tree bark, horse hide, dark clay earth and a sprinkling of mocha. In the mouth, this comes across as a dark and serious wine. It is full of dark cherry and toasty spice flavors, but still seems rather coiled in on itself. It is a pleasure to drink, but still seems to be saying that there is more hidden in reserve. The tannins get smoother and smoother as the night goes on, but the acidity also gets a bit more prickly. The finish is extremely long, with outstanding persistence. If I had any more, I’d hold off trying again for another 3-5 years.
1991 Piero Talenti Brunello di Montalcino Podere Pian di Conte. Aromas of dried red flowers, charcoal pencil, and asphalt greet the nose initially. However, there is also a very faint musty cork note way in the background from time to time that makes me nervous. In the mouth, it is not as strident or tautly-packaged as the Altesino, going instead for a more elegant, medium-bodied approach. Still, it is on the darker-fruit side of the scale and presents very rigid tannins that make the whole package seem rather drying.
1995 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino . This is much cooler-fruited on the nose than any other wine this evening. It possesses lovely aromatics of black currants, new leather belt, black cherries, gentle incense and something that makes me think of cooled lava rocks. It is full-bodied and corpulent all around in the mouth. It is tightly structured and even a bit angular or gangly right now in its evolution. It is cool-fruited and there are abundant fine-grained tannins hanging around over a rigid structure. I think it just needs some time to soften and round out and let the tannins further integrate. I think it has very fine potential.
1985 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. This Amarone offers up rustic, warm aromatics of dried dates, figs, warm stewed cherries, Christmas fruit cake and dried red flowers. Sadly, it seems to be falling apart a bit on the palate, where the acidity is really poking through and giving a shrill sensation to the otherwise spicy dried fruit. Notably, our host said that this wine was showing fabulously about 3 years ago. In a quirk of happenstance, this same wine was served blind at one of our poker group’s blind tastings just a few days later, and my notes turned out to be quite similar. The host that day also agreed that this wine was singing just a few years earlier. I guess the moral of the story is to drink ‘em if you got ‘em.
-Michael