Saturday night dinner with Beth & Joe, as well as Joe's brother and his wife. This time we dined at Luna Rosa in Turnersville, NJ.
No Champagne, but we started with two Autrian whites (which I will cross post to Wine Focus):
2006 Jamek Riesling Ried Klaus
Rich, in the 2006 mold, but with more innate balance than many of the bigger wines of that year. The ripeness of the fruit is well balanced by background acidity. Air makes it even richer, with layers of creamy peach and pear flavors.
1999 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Alte Reben
Tight, tight, tight. Did I mention this was tight? We had a number of "personal wine aerators" at the table, and pouring the wine through that made a big difference, with that classic Gruner pepperiness coming out on the nose & more flesh and depth on the palate. It's also very well balanced, but overall still needs either a lot of time or a lot of air. By near the end of dinner it was starting to show the way I hoped it would initially.
2007 Castell dell'Angelo Cilli e Sole Aglianico
Need some acidity to brighten your day? Try this on for size. I expect high acidity in wines like this, and certainly had it, but I found the fruit totally overwhelmed, and could not drink much of this. Too angular and disjointed for me.
2008 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese
Wow! Stop a moose in its tracks wow! Bring silence to a Philadelphia sports stadium wow! Ok, maybe not that wow, but this is great, truly great wine. Fresh fruit, immense minerality and perfect balance. The only words that truly do this justice are that Laura pretty much bogarted the bottle for the night!
1998 Marcarini Barolo Brunate
Floral, red fruited and just starting to shed its considerable tannins. This was at its best with dinner where the richness of the vodka sauce on my veal cut through the tannin of the wine. Very good, but still give this one time if you can.