Last night the Cellar D'Or organized a dinner at Gola Osteria for a dozen or so folks with Anthony Lynch and the regional KL rep, who brought along a bunch of predictably interesting and tasty wines, arranged in four flights of two. Notes are from memory.
Flight 1:
Manni Nössing 2017 Alto Adige Grüner Veltliner. A little saline, crisp, with some round stone fruit and spice, tasty with good typicity.
Thierry Germain/Dom. des Roches Neuves 2017 Saumur Blanc "L'Insolite." From 90+ year old vines, aged in foudre. Remarkable combination of laser-like Chenin focus balanced by a richness and roundness on the palate that would suggest RS if it weren't so obviously dry. Delicious!
Flight 2:
Clos Canarelli 2016 Vin de Corse Figari (Corsica, 80% Nielluciu, 15% Syrah, 5% Sciaccarellu). Super-tight with sandpapery tannins at first pour, though with some pleasant deep red fruit behind it. Later in the evening this blossoms wonderfully, becoming very deep and layered, through a whole spectrum of red and black fruit, pitch, and just a touch of rustic funk. Less immediately appealing than its flightmate but by the end of the night this has become one of my two red favorites.
Castagnoli 2015 Chianti Classico. Compared to the Canarelli this is lush, and at first I fear it's a bit monolithically ripe, but it proves to have enough structure to hold my interest, as well as some background floral notes behind the fruit that give it depth. I'd like to try the 2016.
Flight 3:
Vigneti Vecchio 2016 Etna Rosso Contrada Crasà. A new label; the winemaker worked for years at Passopisciaro and now has his own small estate on Etna. This wine is 90% Nerello Mascalese with the balance made of a mix of indigenous grapes, some white, cofermented. Vines planted 1930. It's a pleasingly modest 13.5% abv. Velvety but bright red fruit with leather, a little funk, and spice, concentrated and balanced. Provokes a fun discussion around the table about the practice of calling things from elsewhere "Burgundian."
Guido Porro 2012 Barolo Vigna Santa Caterina. Not entirely sure which wine this was [now I am -- ed.] but it was gorgeous. Only took about 15 minutes to go from tight to singing, intense and elegant floral aromatics with good depth behind. Not a huge wine but hugely satisfying. My red wine of the night, and a label I'm going to look for. Probably didn't hurt that it was poured during the pasta course, and that one of the pastas had what looked like about half a golf-ball-sized black truffle shaved on top of it tableside...
Flight 4:
Tenuta Anfosso 2015 Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore. Intense, deep blue and black fruit with a lot of structure. I'd like to have a whole bottle of this on its own, because it doesn't really have the aromatics to compare to what came before or after it, but I can tell it's a wine I'd really appreciate on its own terms. Anfosso also makes some single-vineyard Dolceacquas including one with vines from the 1880s. (That may have been the one they "dated" partly by asking the grandfather in the family, who said that the vines were already old when he was young...)
Domaine Faury 2017 Saint Joseph. Can't recall if this was the regular or the VV. Also can't quite believe how aromatic this is -- it's so perfumed that I find it almost overpowering, like sticking your head in a lilac bush on a sunny May afternoon. Lots of rich and bright purple fruit behind the aromas too. One of the table's favorites, I think, and I liked it but still thought it was a little too... overt, compared to the Barolo and the Canarelli.
Overall, though, I can't remember the last time I tasted 8 wines chosen by somebody else and found them all anywhere from very good to outstanding. Which is testimony to Anthony's taste but also to the continuing strength of the KL portfolio (and this was also a blast because it presented some KL producers I'm less familiar with). It was lots of fun to get to talk with Anthony & everyone else, and the food was terrific!