1999 Hirtzberger, Grüner Veltliner Honivogl:
13.5% alcohol; precise and compact on both the nose and palate with perfect balance and an underlying stony tone that seems to guide you through the experience. Opens with air but never loses that cohesiveness that marks it from the outset. Accompanied a Thai noodle dish with veggies and peanut sauce very well. Fine wine.
2009 Tissot, Arbois VV (rouge):
Beautiful, ripe poulsard with mineral underpinnings and a dusty, dry but juicy delivery. Much better than my first couple bottles, which seemed fat and sweet. Very “old world” but also very good and delicious with heritage tomato pizza.
2005 de Villaine, Bourgogne La Digoine:
12.5% alcohol; attractive cherry and earth nose with some complexity; pretty flavors that echo the nose with good intensity, little weight and a slim but not insubstantial profile. A wine that is easy to drink, accompanied baked potatoes with yogurt and other toppings nicely but does not give much indication of its place or its future. Nice, but feels somewhat like a ‘young vines’ cuvée.
2005 Pieropan, Soave Calvarino:
12.5% alcohol; purity and precision is what this wine is about; an absolutely perfectly balanced, clean, deep presentation of garganega that is without artifice and is so of its essence as to be the standard by which I will judge the grape. Amazingly good with French fries and aioli.
2000 Gulfi, Nero d’Avola, Nerobufaleffi:
14% alcohol; a ringer for aged left bank Bordeaux with just a bit more complexity and fruit; decanted off substantial sediment; remarkable nose that fills out with air, very complex and alluring; equally so in the mouth with a deft texture and an intensity that speaks to ten years in bottle; long, full flavored finish. Spectacular with medium rare steak and really wonderful all by itself. As good as I have had of this variety.
Best, Jim