Had dinner at Bistro 315 Friday night, probably my favorite SantaFe restaurant. Louis and crew are hitting on all cylinders these days and Donald is doing a great job on the wine list, plenty of interesting wines. Their chracuterie plate is very good, though it needs a fizzy Italian red to go best with it.
Anyway, I tried:
1. Attilio Ghisolfi Pinay DOC: LangheRosso (13.5%) Monforte d'Alba 2007: Med.light color; rather earthy/dusty light floral/lilacs/spicy very light cherry some aromatic nose; soft/smooth rather earthy/dusty light spicy/cherry/floral very slight Pinot flavor w/ light tannic bite; med.long earthy/dusty smooth/delicate/elegant light floral/lilacs/violets finish w/ light tannic bite; speaks mostly of Piedmontese terroir and only weakly of Pinot; much like a light/elegant Piedmonte Nebbiolo w/o the fierce tannic hardness; interesting wine but just that. $35.00
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2. KleinConstantia Constantia Wine of Origin SauvignonBlanc Botrytis Noble LateHrvst (SaH: 37%; RS: 9%) 1996: Deep gold some browning color; intense botrytis/canned peaches/peachy/apricotty/fruit cocktail light caramel/butterscotchy/oak slight volatile/pickle juice bit earthy some raisened fairly complex nose; soft/fat slight volatile/hot very sweet intense fruit cocktail/canned peaches/apricotty/botrytis light caramelized/raisened complex flavor; very sweet long soft/fat canned peaches/fruit cocktail/peachy/apricotty/botrytis slight earthy/hot/volatile complex finish; loads of botrytis but a bit of hot/volatile character; interesting Sauternes-style dessert wine. $23.00/hlf
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Knowing my predeliction for vinous weird things, Roberto at WineExpo recommended the Pinay to me last Monday. Pinay is local Piedmontese dialect for Pinot. The wine is 100% Pinot from the heart of the Piedmont...Nebbiolo country. It certainly spoke of Piedmontese terroir, could have easily been mistaken for a Nebb, and the Pinot character was hard to pick out. I took it by to Louis to try at Stazione afterwards and he picked up Piedmont, but thought that something was "out of whack" about the wine. It had a paucity of Pinot fruit, but was rather interesting. Not a wine I'd seek out again.
Tom