We tasted these four older Nebbs from Emilio last night:
1. Castelli Nebbiolo "Bruma" LakeCnty (13%) 2010: Very dark color; quite floral/lilacs/Nebb slight toasty/oak somewhat earthy/rustic some complex nose;
strong ripe/Nebb/lilacs light toasty/oak somewhat earthy/rustic bit complex flavor w/ modest rough tannins; med.long some floral/lilacs/pungent/Nebb light toasty/oak
somewhat earthy finish w/ some rough tannins; not a lot of high-toned Nebb character and speaks more of the rather earthy/rustic side of LakeCnty wines.
__________________
2. Castelli Nebbiolo "Fosco" GreenVlly/RRV (14.4%) 2013: Very dark color; lovely quite fragrant Nebb/floral/lilacs/rose petal slight pencilly/oak bit earthy/pungent
fairly classic Nebb bit complex nose; quite tart/tangy strong floral/Nebb/lilacs slight earthy slight pencilly/oak some complex flavor w/ some hard/chewey tannins;
very long classic Nebb/floral/lilacs slight pencilly/oak slight earthy/pungent some complex finish w/ some hard tannins; still a pretty hard/tannic Nebb that needs more age.
__________________
3. Castelli Nebbiolo LunaMattaVnyd/AdelaidaDist/PasoRobles (14.4%; 50 cs) 2013: Very dark color; rather ripe some Nebb/lilacs/floral bit jammy some earthy/dusty
nose; bit soft/ripe/jammy some floral/lilacs/Nebb slight earthy/dusty/pungent flavor w/ hard/rough/chewey tannins; long some floral/lilacs/Nebb slight earthy/dusty/pungent
finish w/ hard/rough tannins; seems somewhat riper, almost jammy, than the other Nebbs; still needs age to resolve the tannins.
__________________
4. Castelli Nebbiolo Estate/GreenVlly/RRV/SonomaCnty (14.1%; DryFarmed; Aged: Neutral Fr.oak for 14 mo; 80 cs) 2013: Med.color; very strong Nebb/floral/lilacs/violets
bit truffly/earthy slight pungent/tarry quite perfumed lovely classic Nebb nose; fairly tart/tangy very strong Nebb/floral/lilacs/violets/dried rose petal slight truffly/pungent/tarry
slight pencilly/oak some complex flavor w/ modest hard/chewey tannins; very long/linger rather strong floral/lilacs/Nebb/rose petal/violets slight tarry/truffly/pungent
light pencilly/oak rather complex finish w/ modest chewey tannins; a pretty varietally correct classic expression of Nebb; doesn't have that soaring/high-toned aromatics
you get in a well-aged B/B but still quite fragrant; still needs more yrs to soften the tannins a bit; easily the best of these four Nebbs; a distinctive expression of Nebb
not like any from Italy unless maybe the Val d'Aosta but doesn't have that Alpine fragrance they usually show; lovely Nebb.
_____________________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I have, of course, followed EmilioCastelli from the very start. Way back when, forget which WineBoard it was on, maybe even
as far back as alt.food.wine. He mentioned that he was growing grapes in the GreenVlly of Sonoma & when I inquired what he was growing, he replied "Nebbiolo".
That immediately caught my attention. Lots of luck trying to sell that stuff, I advised.
The Fosco Nebb is from a vnyd several miles away from Emilio's home vnyd. He convinced his friend, BrentWalker, to put in some Nebbiolo. Not knowing any better,
Brent went along with the idea. It was, at the time, some sort of agricultural hippie commune that was interested in growing grapes, in addition to their other crops.
The commune as sorta disbanded and now Emilio has taking over the farming of those grapes.
At our NEB gatherings, Emilio's Nebb is always one of the very top liked Nebbs. His is one I consistently buy yr in & yr out.
Report on the 2012 NEB: https://winesvinesanalytics.com/news/article/102310/California-Nebbiolo-Producers-Compare-Notes
He farms his home vnyd by Fukuoka, which is benign neglect. I like to tell people it's one of the ugliest vnyds in all Calif. But you certainly can't argue with
the results. (www.CastelliVineyards.com). He still has his most recenr Estate release available.
I, of course, have followed Nebbiolo in Calif from the very start. The first varietal Nebb was the MartinBros/PasoRobles, made by DominicMartin from an old Lodi
Nebb vnyd. Until the mid-'70's, FPS only had a Nebbiolo Fino clone available. They brought in the two favored Piemonte Nebb clones, Lampia & Michet.
In the Piemonte, the Michet is supposedly a virus-infected clone of Lampia to my understanding. They also have the Nebbiolo Rose clone, which is not as
highly regarded because of it very light color. To my knowledge nobody has Nebbiolo Rose planted in Calif, but both Michet & Lampia are present.
Nick was the first to plant & produce a Lampia Nebb in Calif. It was strikingly better than the Lodi version of his wine.
Since then there have been more plantings of Nebbiolo in Calif but it doesn't seem likely to make a big splash or become very popular and it's a difficult sell.
At our NEB tastings, folks who have never tried Calif (or WashState) Nebbs are quite surprised at how good the wines can be. But there is always a large
contingent of wine lovers who totally reject Calif Nebb because it doesn't taste/smell like Barolo/Barbaresco. Those folks are pretty much a lost cause.
Tom