Two notes from last week:
2017 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie Chardonnay
34 years ago in Paris on our honeymoon, a bottle of FG CM at Yves St. Laurent's restaurant changed my life forever. The complexity was like nothing I had experienced at home in California, and I came home from that trip determined to find out why I'd never discovered that kind of spectrum in American chardonnays. Sentimental puss that I am, I occasionally buy this producer so the style generally doesn't fit in with what I have learned to love best. In this case: apple, confit lemon, white pepper and some evident oak though pleasantly less intrusive than I thought might be the case at this age. Should integrate well with time.
And another night we had this one. My first Corsini barolo that I can recall. This one's been in my cellar for years:
2004 Podere Ruggeri Corsini Barolo Corsini Nebbiolo
Dense, almost opaque, blue-black fruit with tar and dusty tannins. Plummy and plodding, with the lack of acidity and bright notes nebbiolo fans crave totally exposed by a red-sauced pasta. I generally like this producer for friendly, affordable young barberas, so this disappointed. Don't have another, and I'm glad.