With an Italian-inspired meat loaf dinner last night, I served these two wines:
2004 Brian Carter 'Tuttirosso', Washington state: Brian Carter obviously loves European wines. In addition to this sangiovese-heavy super-Tuscan Italian wannabe, he makes a Bordeaux Blend and a Southern Rhone blend. Only trouble is, simply combining the right grapes doesn't nail it. I picked up this bottle long ago at a local retailer tasting and stuck it in the cellar for a rainy day. Since then, I've tasted more recent vintages at the winery. And the problem with all the wines I've had from Brian Carter is the same: alcohol. For all that he gets so much right the wines suffer from alcohol-induced roughness, and this bottle was no different. We found the tannins a bit rough here, too. After tasting each of the wines, I elected to serve this, the harder one first, so the following was a very good respite:
2004 Tedeschi 'Nocalo', Valpolicella: Plum and raspberry fruit with spice, tomato leaf and sandalwood. Medium bodied, silky mouthfeel. Probably at peak though it can hold here for awhile and very, very good.