My friend/co-worker hosted a dinner to accompany my first Brunello di Montalcino on Saturday night; following are notes:
2005 Taburno Falanghina: I had picked up this wine as part of a three-pack Italian promo from MacArthur Beverages and brought it along to start the evening. Appearance was very pale gold/green. Light, fruity pear scents, nice acidity. Went well w/ the gouda on the cheese plate (there was also feta, green olives, tomatoes, hummus and pita) and the shrimp scampi w/ cilantro.
2002 Fanti Tenuta San Filippo Rosso di Montalcino: My friend picked this up last minute at The Village Pump, a little corner store near his house. Deep red center w/ a noticeably orange rim. Lots of berries on the nose – black & blue – a little bit of cherry, definitely gamey. The taste was gamey also, accompanied by a bit of hay and perhaps some bacon (no one else got the bacon, but I swear it was there). Very well balanced, soft tannins and medium acidity. I really liked this wine, except for the fact that I think it destroyed my palate for the Brunello that followed, for which the whole evening had been planned in the first place. We drank most of this bottle while waiting for the main course, so I don’t have any notes as to how it worked with the food.
1997 Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino: I don’t have any notes on this, because the meal was served at this time and I wanted to be able to just enjoy the food and the wine, but I recollect that it was very similar in character to the rosso we had just consumed. Very smooth, with similar fruit and game flavors. The main course consisted of grilled, sweet Italian sausage & peppers over pasta w/ some fresh tomatoes, London broil and asparagus w/ hollandaise sauce, and the wine went well with everything.
Wrapped up w/ cannolli, rich fudge brownies and coffee.
The others went on to open a few more bottles of red afterwards, but in anticipation of the drive home, I instead took a nap on the couch before indulging in some more dessert and coffee around the fire-pit outside later on. Gotta love those get-togethers where you actually feel comfortable enough w/ the other company to go to sleep on them!
Ultimately, I think I was most impressed by the rosso, and by every aspect of the food (great meal, everything was cooked and flavored perfectly and the timing was impeccable).