Finally...get to meet FoMan in RealSpace, rather than CyberSapce. After all these yrs. Susan & I met up w/ he and Cindy at IlMondoVecchio in Madison/NJ. It's a BYOB kind of place, so we brought:
1. Massican Annia NapaVlly WW (47% TocaiFriulano/33% RibollaGialla/20% Chard; 12.1%) 2010: Light yellow color; rather mineral/stony/slight earthy light fragrant/Vermentino-like slight SB-like/herbal somewhat austere nose; very tart lean stony/mineral/earthy slight floral/Vermentino-like/carnations perfumed flavor; long lean/austere stony/earthy/mineral/chalky light floral finish; not much like Friuli Tocai or Ribolla w/ little of those perfumed/floral character; more like Italian Vermentino from Tuscany or Liguria than anything; much the same aromatics of the Mahoney Vermentino; pretty lean/austere on the palate and definitely a food wine. $25.00
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2. Mascarello Giuseppe e Figlio DOC: Barolo Villero in CastiglioneFalletto (13.5%) 1995: Med.color w/ some bricking; beautiful fragrant/perfumed very spicy/lilacs/violets some pungent/licorice/tarry quite aromatic complex nose; rather acid some tannic/bitey lovely floral/violets/licorice bit pungent/tarry quite complex flavor; very long/lingering beautiful/fragrant floral/violets/lilacs some pungent/tarry somewhat tannic/bitey/acid lean finish; that typical Nebbiolo tannic bite but amazing aromatics of a mature Barolo.
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3. Buttafuoco Bricco della Solinga DOC: OltrepoPavese/Storica (Croatina/Barbera/UvaRara/Ughetta della Solinga; 13.5%) 2003: Very dark color w/ no bricking; light toasty/oak/charred very slight bretty/unclean very strong grapey/blackberry/Syrah-like/boysenberry some floral/lilacs/Nebbiolo-like nose; somewhat tannic/hard big fruit/grapey/blackberry/Syrah-like slight earthy/dusty light floral/Nebbiolo-like rather toasty/oak flavor; very long strong grapey/rich/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light floral/lilacs/Nebbiolo-like soft strong toasty/oak/charred rather tannic/hard biit earthy finish; still needs another 2-6 yrs; very much a modern-style Italian red; a better Syrah than any other Syrahs from Italy I've yet had. $29.00
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4. BonnyDoon Calif MuscatCanelli (10.35%; RS: 20 Brix) 1985: Rather med.brown murky/cloudy color much like a light cream sherry; very strong honeyed/muscatty rather Moscatel de Setebul very slight oxidized quite orangey/orange peel very complex nose; quite sweet soft intensely muscatty/orangey slight oxidized/Moscatel de Setubal very honeyed almost mead-like/creme brulee very complex flavor; very/very long/lingering creme brulee/very honeyed very muscatty rather Muscatel de Setubal/slight oxidized rather sweet/soft complex finish that went on & on. A stunning example of what old Muscat can be like. $8.00/hlf
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Massican: The Annia was DanPetroski's take on the DOC Friuli Annia; the easternmost province in Friuli-Venezia Guilia after Gorizia. It also happens to be Dan's mom's name I believe. The Tocai came from a very old Nechelini planting up in the ChilesVlly on the east side of Napa. The Ribolla came from GeorgeVare's vnyd of that variety down in the southern NapaVlly. George shares the grapes from his vnyd (only Calif planting of RibollaGialla in Calif) w/ a number of other winemakers who are passionate about Friulian varieties. And the Chard came from the Carneros area as I recall.
The wine is not a very flashy wine. It seemed to remind me more of Italian Vermentino than anything. I think it probably needs several yrs to really start to show a lot.
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2. Mascarello: This was one of the best Barolos, young or old, that I've had in the last few yrs. It has that amazing/ethereal aromatics & perfume that makes Nebbiolo one of the world's great grapes. On the palate, it has a tannic/acid bite on the palate that makes it so hard for me to appreciate Piedmonte Nebbiolo. When those wines are richer/smoother on the palate, the just don't seem to have that beautiful perfume I like in Nebbiolo. I tend to prefer Nebb from the Valtelline and Calif and WashState because I find them more attuned to my Calif palate. If only they could capture that perfume in those wines.
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3. Solinga: The Uva Rara is an indeginous grape of Lombardy as best I can tell. It is often blended w/ Bonarda in that area. More confusing, in the Piedmont, Bonarda is known as Uva Rara Novarese. And sometimes in the Oltropo, Bonarda and Croatina go under the same name. In Lombardy, Ughetta is another name for Vespolina. Good grief...I wish these Italian guys could figure out the right name for their grapes.
I liked this wine quite a lot because it spoke to me more of very good Calif Syrah than anything. As John pointed out, it had very little character in it that spoke of Italian reds..none of that mean/nasty/tannic/acid/battery acid character that makes those Italian reds so great.
This is a wine I got from Roberto at WineExpo.
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4. Muscat: When our waiter started to open this wine, the cork started to slide into the neck of the btl. With a more delicate corkscrew, I managed to get the screw into the cork, but it slip-slided around inside the neck. Not a very good seal. As I pulled it out, the cork broke in two. I managed to get a bit of the screw into the remaining bit of cork and got it out cleanly. Who says epee-guys can't do neurosurgery??
I have, of course, followed RandallGrahm/BonnyDoon from the very start. When he came out w/ his '82 PasoRobles Syrah (one of the first of four great Calif Syrahs); I was hooked and bought nearly everything of Randall's the first ten yrs or so.
Upon release in '96/'97 time frame; this was pretty quotidian Calif MuscatCanelli..quite sweet, light/lively, intensely Muscatty wine. Has I was rummaging around for some dessert wine to take back to show John, I stumbled upon this BonnyDoon '85. I thought this would be a sterling example of some of the old/tired/decrepit wines TomHill shows people in order to dazzle them w/ the depth of his cellar.
Alas...I failed. This was a pretty impressive example of old Muscat; far better than I was expecting. I've been tasting a lot of old Muscats of late (extensive TN's to follow) and have been smitten by the genre. This was one of the better examples.
Tom