WTN: Dorks do Italy

[Jenise]

Mixed bunch:

2019 Azienda Agricola Carlo Tanganelli Pipirii Toscana IGT White Blend
Connie's. Floral and peppery nose that reminds of nasturtium, and that's on the palate too. Savory and interesting. Would buy. $25ish.

2017 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Il Rosé di Casanova Toscana IGT Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese
My bottle. So highly acidic and dry when I first bought a pair I held the second bottle back a few years in hopes that it would fill out. It didn't, not much. Hate it when I wine/winery I trust puts out a dud.

2016 Vie di Romans Friuli Isonzo Flors di Uis White Blend
Pale straw yellow. White peach and spice (almost gewurz-ish) carried by high acidity. A blend of riesling, friulano and malvasia. It's not a bad blend but on the other hand it makes you wonder: why blend these?

2019 Salvatore Marino Terre Siciliane Turi Catarratto
Popped and poured so doesn't have the advantage of a longer observation which another CT reviewer suggested helped a lot, this bright orange wine shows unsweet tangerine, apricot and roasted spaghetti squash on the nose and palate.

2014 Azienda Agricola Cos Sicilia Ramí White Blend
After that last one, I seized the opportunity to rush out my similar bottle: same 24K orange color as the previous wine, chewy, salty, and nutty with similar unsweetened apricot flavors to the Salvatore Marino that came before it, but this has the depth and layers of bottle age.

2016 Marenco Albarossa Piemonte Piemonte DOC
We're into the reds now. Albarossa is apparently a nebbiolo-based variety developed in the 50's. Interesting wine, pretty and accessible nose and easy to drink, but where it has a Piedmontese weight and earthiness it doesn't come across as nebbish.

2012 Azienda Agricola Carlo Tanganelli 'Mammi' Toscana IGT Sangiovese
Brought in locally by a natural wine oriented distributor. Unintentionally lightly fizzy and there are no off flavors but neither does it drink anything like a Tuscan sangio. I dunno about this one.

2016 Il Censo Terre Siciliane Njuro Perricone
Excellent black and red fruit, great body, on the forward side. In fact seems more Tuscan than Sicilian and someone thought it might even be Californian, but not in a bad way.

2016 Renzo Marinai Chianti Classico Riserva Chianti Classico DOCG Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese
A long time ago at an Italian restaurant in Southern California I tasted my first serious Chianti. It tasted exactly like this, and I've been searching for that flavor ever since.

2016 Gagliole Valletta Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese
50/50 Merlot and Sangiovese. Sweet in all the best Italian ways with notes of dark berry, violet, powdered sugar donut, and a whiff of sandalwood. Great mouthfeel.

2018 Harrington Sagrantino Calleri Vineyard San Benito County
Hoped the expert palates present wouldn't suspect a California ringer, and they didn't. Citrus, cranberry relish, not oaky, bay leaf, assertive tannins, nice finish.

2007 Tenuta Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese
A great Brunello. Classic flavors, a lot of depth.

2001 Luigi Giordano Barbaresco Montestefano Nebbiolo
Mine, and from magnum. Decanted early in the day but it never quite came around. Disappointingly tight and chewy compared to the magnificent bottle we had four years ago.

2001 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo Nebbiolo
Tim's. Surprisingly tight. Believe this was decanted in advance, too.

Interesting assortment!
I always find the Vie de Romans wines (blends or single variety) interesting but overpriced.
Never had a white COS, sounds interesting.
A recent Produttori 01 normale was in a good place,. thanks for note on Riservas, will hold off.

Quite the lineup, Jenise. Which wines stood out as greatest QPR? Have seen a few of the vintners mentioned in Spectator, but they aren't as credible as WLP folks (who pay for their own vino). Italian vino fan cheers!

[Jenise]

Pat, most everyone present but us are ITB, so when prices are discussed it's more often than not the wholesale price--like when one of the retailers in the group is thinking of picking up a wine brought by one of the distributors. I can mentally add 30% to any number mentioned but unless it's a wine I'm interested in pursuing or thought the QPR exceptional I'm not likely to note it. None in this group struck me as exceptional QPR.

Thanks, Jenise. Helpful for future reference. Cheers!

Fun night! Had Albarossa for the first time earlier this year, definitely a grape I would enjoy seeing more regularly.

For some reason this thread is also showing up in FLDG. Weird.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I stupidly posted it there instead of here. So then I used my superpowers to move it back here and forgot to check the box that would have erased its origins.

Since the topic is Italy, and a grape mentioned is Sangiovese, a ? for the group. Even though it's hot weather here, Sang seems to be the best match for our cuisine tonight. In this type of weather, do you still drink red wine in the evening when it cools down a bit? Even if it's a wine that you don't serve chilled? Or do you chill the glass a bit anyway? Or punt to a white?

Jenise, hope this isn't too much of a thread drift.

Looks like 01 Barbaresco was not coming out to play that evening. You mentioned a previous good bottle of the Giordana... when was that?

In this type of weather, do you still drink red wine in the evening when it cools down a bit?

Of course! In my air conditioned NC house, the indoor temperature is not really a barrier to wine choices. The only thing could be if I spent the whole day outside getting frazzled by the sun, I might not want a big rich red wine. When I'm in places without air conditioning, that could affect the wine choices more. But, I tend not drink gigantic red wines anyway.

[Jenise]

Looks like 01 Barbaresco was not coming out to play that evening. You mentioned a previous good bottle of the Giordana... when was that?

About four-five years ago.

[Jenise]

And Pat, yes, though no AC here, we continue to drink red wines. Just like we enjoy white wines all winter long. What we tend not to do is eat the kind of foods that for which bigger, heavier reds are more appropriate. Yesterday we had the winemaker from Joe Dobbes Winery in Oregon here for dinner. He brought three whites, my friend Holly opened one white, and I opened one white and one red (the winemaker got to choose any wine in my cellar).

Paul, I stupidly posted it there instead of here. So then I used my superpowers to move it back here and forgot to check the box that would have erased its origins.

That explains it. I thought it might be something like that, or just a glitch in the software. There is a software buglet lurking here. If you visit this topic in its FLDG incarnation, when you follow the "go back to the forum" link it takes you to WLDG, not FLDG.

-Paul W.

And Pat, yes, though no AC here, we continue to drink red wines. Just like we enjoy white wines all winter long. What we tend not to do is eat the kind of foods that for which bigger, heavier reds are more appropriate. Yesterday we had the winemaker from Joe Dobbes Winery in Oregon here for dinner. He brought three whites, my friend Holly opened one white, and I opened one white and one red (the winemaker got to choose any wine in my cellar).

FWIW we ended up with the Sangiovese and thus far it was an excellent choice. We have a/c but use it only occasionally. Didn't need last night after all. And we drink reds, whites, and rose' all year as well. I know rose' is technically a red but consider it a bridge between white and red.

Curious about Joe Dobbes winemaker. What did he bring, and if you don't mind what did he choose from your cellar? No experience with the vintner.

[Jenise]

Dobbes is an excellent Oregon winery, have always liked what they do. Been in business about 20 years and they're fairly large; they have 214 acres of estate vineyard. Dobbes Family is the name of the premium winery, and they very successfully added a budget brand ten years ago called Wines By Joe that you can find in virtually every convenience store that caters to the less sophisticated wine buyer. I've met the founder, Joe, in the past. Quite separately I have become close friends with a woman who retired to my neighborhood after selling her winery and horse farm in Oregon. Moved here with her husband Jim, who died shortly thereafter so I sadly never got to meet him. A man who considered Jim almost a father is the Dobbes winemaker, who came up to visit her this weekend. I was lucky enough to be invited over to share some afternoon wines. Then I could tell Holly was tiring so I invited them to switch over to my house for a waterside dinner. One of those events that just creates itself, regardless of what was originally planned. I'll write a separate tasting note about the wines (but he chose William Selyem pinots).