Mostly Nebbiolo at Peking Duck House

I was at the Italian (really Piedmont) table for the Berserkerfest at Peking Duck House Friday night. It's always hard to take notes of any sort at these huge events, but a slight cold (flu shot reaction?), 3 hours of sleep, and a rushed trip to PDH meant I was even less attentive. Actually I was just proud not to fall asleep at table. So what follows is less notes than fleeting blurred impressions. I know I missed some wines; I also probably missed quite a few designations on the wines I did note.

There was a mag of 1981 Lanson, fully mature, some pleasant cheesy notes, good length. NV Taittinger Champagne (from Big A#$ bottle, didn't ask how many liters) was typical of one of my favorite big house bubbles. Thanks Leo.  I passed around a bottle of the NV Bernard Bremont "Cuvee Prestige"  Champagne, which I'm quite fond of, and figured few would have tasted.

There was a lone white at our table, the 2001 Pepe Trebbiano. While tight, I really thought this had something nice lurking underneath, and it tasted even better at end of evening. Great acids, a strange but appealing Epoisses meets dirt note, good finish. There was also a truly excellent bottle of 2001 Muller-Catoir Spatlese from neighboring table, I thought '01 was supposed to be iffy for M-C, but this was flat out delicious -like fresh fruit cocktail -thanks Jay.

We went to our one Barbera and several non-B or B Nebbiolos. The 1998 Vietti Barbera was quite popular at table, but had a weird smokey/ashey thing I didn't care for (but I generally don't care for aged Barbera- -young or not at all is my theory). There was a 2000 Nebbiolo d'Alba (producer?)  that was rounder and pleasant, but not compelling. Next up, 2 Gattinaras. The  1974 Travaglini was beautiful, and easily one of my wines of the night. My notes just read "sweet, sweet, still some structure, earth, tar, delicious." A 1970 Antoniolo was tasty, though not the marvel the Travaglini was. The 1967 Vallana "Cinque Castelli" Spanna was tasty and typical, serious earthy funk over a solid fruit base, I liked this a tad better than a good bottle of 64 Vallana I served recently. Never gonna mistake these for Barolo, but fun wines.

On to the B & Bs. I had opened the 1967 Oddero Barolo at home for sediment reasons, when I double-decanted I got a touch of a sherry-ish note from the rose colored wine. I was debating switching to another bottle, but as I double decanted my other first team bottle the color darkened, flavors deepened, and the oxidative notes seemed to fade, I decided it would be fine (the mystery of old Barolo). But when we got to it at PDH, the maderized notes were back with a vengeance. Damn. On to a pair of '88s. I think I was only one to prefer Roagna to Conterno. The 1988 Roagna Crichet Paje had high acids with good length, classic tar and earth notes, a bit of spice.  The 1988 Aldo Conterno Bussia Soprana was larger framed, softer, and also appealing. 1995 Roagna La Rocca e La Pira was a bit lifted on nose at first, a bit too much for me, but a little revisit had calmed down, leaving a pretty classic Barolo. I thought the 2000 Elio Grasso Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate was ok, but showed a bit of heat and caramel, while the 2000 Marcarini Brunate was still tight 6 hours after I decanted it - I thought 2000 might be more approachable, but this was mostly showing potential. After a sip of the 2001 Bartolo Mascarello I started to say to James that the tannins were more manageable than I expected, when my mouth seemed to suddenly be hit by a wave of astringent tannins. Hands off, but think this will be a beauty.

There was also a delicious taste of the 1982 Bartolo Mascarello from a neighboring table (thanks Greg), and a sip from a mag of 1990 Parusso as well- showed the 1990 ripe/roast character, but not over the top (thanks Brad). The 2004 Rhys Family Farm Pinot seemed to generate a lot of disagreement. I thought it muted with just a hint of merde at first, but when I went to pour out an impulsive resample seemed rather elegant.

At end I felt like going back to whites after a bt of tannin overload with the 00s and 01, besides the Pepe I sampled a bottle of 200x (label torn on last digit) Ferret Pouilly Fuisse (not the basic, but I didn't note which one) that was quite delicious, long and minerally with just a touch of oak and very vibrant. There was also a Weinbach where I didn't note bottling, a Chambolle, a Brunello, and several others.

I was a bit less socialable than usual, but everyone there more than compensated. Ok appetizers, tons of duck (I wish they had brought more gradually, as last ones weren't as appealing cold), good greens and beans. A really fun crowd (except me), and good to see old friends and meet new people. Special thanks to Michel for all of his organizational work, and Leo for getting our table going. As I was leaving, I was told my jacket was corked- I'll check that out now that cold is passing.

Thanks to everyone for their generosity and good spirits.

Dale - I'm sure it was a great evening, and in spite of your cold, I'm super sure that you were good company.

I read of this dinner during its planning stages, and was seriously considering attending and signing up for this Italian table, but the train schedule would not cooperate. The last train to get me there on time, arrived in the city at 6:08 PM. That was too much time for me to kill until 8 PM and the start of this dinner. A 7 PM start and I would have been there, and dealt with the affects of too much wine the next day at work.

Just a quick comment on the 2000 Barolo...I've not been thrilled with the few I've opened, also thinking it would be good for early consumption. Somehow, the big tannins get too much in the way of the sweet fruit, and I am left with too much dryness in my mouth. On the other hand, I am loving the 2001 Barolo, and have not been turned off by the tannins.

Thanks for writing about the evening so that I could at least enjoy it from home.

[David M. Bueker]

I thought '01 was supposed to be iffy for M-C, but this was flat out delicious -like fresh fruit cocktail -thanks Jay.

On the contrary - 2001 is a standout vintage for Catoir.

Damn edit function still not working.

Keith tells me I misread the vintage on the Antoniolo Gattinara, it was 1979, not 1970

The Scheurebe Spatlese was Haardter Mandelring. Thanks for info David, I thought that somehow people felt that in the last couple of years of the winemaker before retirement, there were some issues. Guess I'm confusing with someone else.

Diane, 8 PM is a tough time for me too generally. In this case I had a plan- Betsy had an 8 PM show (Quiet Place, 3.5 hours) so I was to ride in with her, walk to Eastside (she gets to theater about 40 minutes), and then coordinate pickup by cell. Except as I walked, I discovered my cell (which I had been meaning to replace, was due for free) was totally dead. 20 minutes in Verizon store, was only 5 minutes late. Very helpful not to have to depend on late night trains.

Basically agree on 2000 Barolo, I'm overall happier with 1999 and 2001

The Scheurebe Spatlese was Haardter Mandelring. Thanks for info David, I thought that somehow people felt that in the last couple of years of the winemaker before retirement, there were some issues. Guess I'm confusing with someone else.

Yup, Suzanne and others were raving about the Scheurebe the following night at the sushi/Riesling dinner. Now I'm tempted to open another of mine (though I have a bunch of other old MC Scheu coming in from the new HDH inventory ).

I'm with David on 01 MCs; those wines (and his 98s) are among my favourite wines.

[David M. Bueker]

Getting into a little bit of detail, the "questionable" years for Catoir were really 2002 and 2003. They were both years where transition (from Schwarz to Franzen with some bumps) had a lot of bearing on quality IMO. Things got steadier in 2004 and have pretty much been on an upward trend since then (though I drink far less Catoir than I used to).

Prior to Schwarz departure, 1999 and 2000 were not the best years, but that was much more to do with vintage than winemaker.

Thanks for sharing Dale; you’re drinking some really nice wines lately! Sounds like a really nice time! One quick question on the 1998 Vietti Barbera do you recall which one it was?

Salute