WTN: Cheap Piemontese, spoofy Burgundy, a decent sparkler

• 2008 Fratelli Rovero Barbera d'Asti Sanpansè - Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti (11/30/2009)
  10,22€; 14% abv, 6,3g/l acidity. A scent of dark fruit with a tiny touch of vanilla though this only sees big Slavonian botti for six months. With air, it acquires the slightly bitter, savoury, tangy aromas I so like in this grape. Dry, refreshing and slightly tangy despite quite high abv. It's by no means a great wine, but I do like Barbera that has tang and no new oak aromas.
  
• 2008 Bric Cenciurio Roero Arneis - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero DOC (11/29/2009)
  14€; 14% abv. This is a rather enjoyable example of this generally low-acid grape. It has quite lovely and expressive aromas of nuts (but is unoaked) and apricot. Quite mineral. Refreshing acidity compared to the few other Arneis I have had (maybe because grown on chalky soils?), but is still full bodied and rich. Persistent and refreshing finish with perhaps a touch of alcohol showing. Enjoyable.
  
• 2006 Antonin Rodet Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos de Thorey - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (11/28/2009)
  39,70€; 13% abv; 5,4g/l acidity. 17 months in French oak of which 80% was new. Despite a slight vegetal touch, initially what I smell is the cherry-cola aroma of new oak and over-ripe(?) Pinot Noir. Then, with more air, for a short period, aromas of spicy (i.e. oaky) Pinosity appear. And then it morphs into a very strange malt plus seaweed aroma that I find in beers aged in whisky casks. Ergo, this seems more marked by oak than wine; yet I prefer drinking wine to oak. Strangely the palate has slightly better things in store: healthy, strong and ripe tannins as befits NSG; pleasantly noticeable acidity; nice ripe fruit. Yet the new oak makes an appearance here as well as a coconut and cream texture. Even the oakophobes here have liked this wine, but I wonder why (maybe because we haven't seen any other Burgundy in a long while?) because this just seemed oaky and icky. Whenever I come by an over-oaked wine I am told that I should just let it age more. Perhaps that silly idea applies to this wine, too...
  
• N.V. Bodegas Félix Sanz Rueda Viña Cimbrón Brut - Spain, Castilla y León, Rueda (11/28/2009)
  15,91€; 12% abv; 100% Verdejo sparkling wine from Rueda. A pretty decent sparkler with nice aromas of grass and minerals. The taste isn't quite so balanced: it starts out with good crispness married to good fruit but finishes with some richness whereas I would have hoped for raciness. Also, strangely for a wine with moderate alcohol, I detected a bit of heat. All was very well until the aftertaste.
  

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