WTN: Italian wines on a warm night

Friday was a great Shalom Japan recipe for gravlax rice bowl, with some leftover white and rose. Then over to Roger’s for local wine group, theme was reds from Italy. Roger had some sausage, cheeses, etc and a welcoming white., the 2020 Terre Nere Etna Bianco, I really enjoyed this, citrus and pit fruits, good acids, minerally and just a tad nutty. B+/B

On to blind reds
2020 Occhipinti SP68
Served chilled, the guy who brought it mentioned Frappato and I got wine (not that many choices). Bright cherries, tobacco, spice, a little citrus zest. Fun. I liked more than crowd. B+

2018 Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo
I thought young Barbaresco maybe, black cherry with tar, noticeable but manageable tannins. This could use a bit of time. B

1967 Marcarini Brunate Barolo Riserva
Mine, chosen because it was one of few Nebbiolo I had standing up sufficiently in advance. Double-decanted when I got home from work, the air was needed. Red and black cherry, woodsmoke, smoked meat, violets. Seamless and long to me, “too old” for a couple of people A-/B+

2015 Barolo
This was soft and fruity, a bit short, I started off with it’s not Nebbiolo. Oops.Not a fan. But totally confused as to producer. Never seen anything like this. Label was 2015 Barolo, Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. But no mention of a producer. Nothing on backlabel either. Bottle is embossed with Albeisa , but that seems to be an association, not a producer.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0kEOVhz ... CAOk17fJQw
Anyway I’d give this a C+/B-, less if counting typicity.


2017 Prunotto Occhetti Langhe Nebbiolo
I thought this was Sangiovese actually- cherry fruit with a bit of leather, fairly tasty though. B

2017 Maeli Rosso (Veneto)
Fruit-forward, plush plum, I thought a minor SuperTuscan. B-

Theme was supposed to be Italian, and we hadn’t had any Sangiovese. Luckily I had a 2nd bottle, the 2017 Montesecondo Tin. Tangy, tart in a good way, fresh cherry with a little fennel seed and pepper. B/B+

Fun night with guys

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C
drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

[Jenise]

A general question re Occhipinti wines. I've had some that were nothing short of mesmerizing and then bought other vintages that were relatively ordinary. So I seek that first experience but have had the second often enough that I don't feel like I trust the brand. Am I having a west coast importer issue or have others felt similarly?

[David M. Bueker]

When all the wine name said was "2015 Barolo" I was expecting a Kirkland wine!

Yes, I thought there'd at lease be some kind of negociant/store label. I never remember seeing ANY wine without some indication of producer or at least a store brand.

Jenise, assuming we are talking Arianna (there's another Occhipinti farther north), is there particular cuvees that you have liked or disliked? I usually love the Frappato, like the blend, but less familiar with white, Nero, etc

[Jenise]

Dale, yes, Arianna. I just checked my notes on Cellar Tracker. I've really liked every Frappato I've had.

I guess the variation has been primarily with the SP68 Bianco, starting with '14, o I painted with too broad a brush in my initial comment. But to get where I'm coming from, here's my note on a magical '17: "Deep amber, the color of 22K gold. Obvious extensive skin contact. Exotic nose of bergamot, allspice and dried apples, on the palate bone dry versions of loquat fruit, tangerine peel and spiced peaches. Mysterious, hypnotic. This is not an everyday white wine, you need to prepare the right food for it. We opened it Wed night, tasted it, and put the cork back for last night because it would have been a lousy match for fried shrimp and given one more day I could make a curried chicken dish to pair with it. Perfect pairing, and the wine itself was more 'out' on the 2nd day as well. So amazing; the wine was consumed that night but the spell lasted for days." No other vintage has shown like that.

I don't have enough experience with the SP68 white to know if vintage variation. But that's a great note, and it might be hard to match that magic- sounds like a combination of wine, match, and how you felt at the moment (which is always a factor at least in my notes!).

[Jenise]

True enough. But this bottle really was off the charts in a way that wasn't just me. One of the most unusual yet beautiful dry white wines--starting with that color--I've ever tasted.