WTNs: I Still Need Tuscany And Piedmont

Quite fresh from the impressive everything-Italian-except-Tuscany-and-Piedmont tasting last week, I met up with Marina and another couple/friends, Eric and Lynda, for a work-week-ending Friday dinner at Maialino Trattoria in the Gramercy area.

The restaurant, the latest venture by Danny Meyer of Eleven Madison and Shake Shack fame and which created a recent buzz with a favorable review in the NY Times, provided close-to-excellent wine service complementing the very good Roman Trattoria dishes.

2008 Bracheto d’Acqui (I failed to take note of the producer)
A request by Lynda to have a rose or a refreshing red to start with, so we went with this - my first ever sparkling red from Piedmont. I expected a Lambrusco-type wine, but instead got a whiff of earthiness, and a mouthfull of sweet cherries and layers of other candied red fruit. This wine with 5.5% abv had good tartness towards the finish, nothing overly complex and was quite decent. B

1997 Montevertine Le Pergole Torte
This is the producer’s Super Tuscan bottling, my first ever, and I am wowed. The wine started with a slightest of brett, but which blew off over time and morphed into something with wood and mushroom notes and, later on, into a bouquet of leather, floral and fruit components.
A wine with balanced structure, grace and smoothness, but with just the appropriate level of roughness to remind me of tradition and rusticity. A-

1998 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Francia
Tighter than the Tuscan, this also was the lighter-colored wine. But the comparable appearance was deceiving, as this wine immediately showed to be big, chewy and chunky, enveloped by wood and earthiness. A good wine that showed power and muscle. I have high hopes for this Barolo with more time in the cellar. Started to shut down with the last pour. A-

Edited for typos and spelling of one of the wines.

wow, nice lineup (and restaurant sounds nice).

I didn't love the 97 Pergole Torte at a recent vertical, but it could have been bottle or competition (and I did like it). I'll note for those that don't know that while it is one of the original "Super Tuscans" it isn't because of international varieties. It was 100% Sangiovese when that wasn't allowed in Chianti. Nowadays Pergole Tortie could legally be Chianti, but why change a winning label?

And the C. Francia gets lost in coverage of its big brother, but consistently good to great wine

Thanks for the additional clarification on Montevertine's going at it at their own preference and not succumbing to the Chianti original classification requirement. Also, I had a slight problem when I tasted the Montevertine at first pour. But our bottle, decanted by the restaurant, changed over time into a much better drinking wine.

Yes, I agree about your comment on Conterno's Cascina Francia. The Monfortino gets the majority of the raves, and deservedly so. However, the few Cascina Francia vintages that I have had have simply been more than solid and were above average performers.

By the way, and fyi, we BYOB'd at Maialino and the corkage was $13 per. Easily and imo, among the best deals in the city today, especially with the terrific service and the good Roman trattoria cuisine.