WTN: Torrette’s Syndrome

In the past week, I had my first two Torrettes, from Val d’Aosta. I hope they won’t be my last. I had thought Torrette was a grape but it’s a region (DOC?); apparently, the wines are made with the petit rouge grape.

Noussan 2004 Vallée d'Aoste Torrette, $20
Total brett/barnyard on the nose. However, the palate is nice with good, bright black cherry fruit, dark earth and some minerals. The finish has a bit of bitterness but overall, it seems pretty balanced with good acidity. Excellent match with pizza with feta, sun-dried tomatoes and peppers. Finishing the bottle both two and three days later, the barnyard is gone, replaced by pleasant cherry aromas. On the palate, wonderful herbal and mineral elements enhance the cherry fruit. Intriguing wine that would be well worth getting again. Importer: Louis/Dressner.

Les Crêtes 2005 Vallée d'Aoste Torrette, $55 (restaurant price)
A few days after drinking the Noussan, my wife and I went to Obelisk restaurant in D.C. to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Obelisk, by the way, more than lived up to its reputation with outstanding food, a wonderful relaxed atmosphere, super-professional service and a great, offbeat wine list, as evidenced by this bottle. It had very floral, perfumed aromas and rich, pleasant strawberry and cherry fruit flavors The nose was more complex than the palate, but it was very smooth-textured with lots of fruit held in balance by decent acidity, with some earth and mineral complexities. A versatile, refreshing, vibrant wine, it made for a terrific match with a host of foods from various appetizers to pasta in a morel mushroom sauce to roast pork. If I saw this at retail, I’d definitely get it.

Wading through a huge backlog of notes, here are other Italian wines drunk over the past four months:

Bottega Vinaia 2004 Trentino Pinot Noir
Never had a Pinot Noir from Trentino before, but this is quite nice. It has very pleasant Pinot aromas of cherry, clove, earth and flowers. On the palate, there is nice Pinot cherry with some cloves, good earth, a few minerals and a very minor touch of beetiness that does not detract. It’s smooth with bright acidity, and actually went quite decently with homemade vegetarian mo shu. The next day, it’s a little less distinctive with more generic cherry fruit, but still some of the extra earth and mineral accents remain. Importer: Palm Bay Imports.

Kellerai Nals & Margreid-Entiklar 2002 Sudtiroler Vernatsch Galea, $12
a.k.a., Cantina Nalles & Magré-Niclara 2002 Alto Adige Schiava Galea
Not a lot of fruit, but what’s there is pleasant tart strawberry. Mostly, this wine emphasizes mineral and earth aromas and flavors, with a little bitterness thrown in on the finish. I like it very much though I imagine many people would find it fruit-deficient. The texture is smooth. I suspect this is a wine meant to be drunk young and that five years is a bit old for it, but it’s fine by me and an excellent match with garlic top pesto. Importer: The Country Vintner.

Angelo Negro 1999 Roero, $15
A bit bitter and harsh on the nose and palate with some black cherry fruit and tar, but also some bitter, tannic elements. Still, it improved with food — it was quite decent with an attempt to replicate a Peruvian pollo saltado dish. The next day, I didn’t get a lot out of the nose but on the palate it’s pleasant, deep and balanced and goes very well with leftovers.

S. Orsola 2004 Barbera d’Asti, $7
Simple but pleasant Barbera and a fine value. Mostly cherry with some light floral touches on the nose, a little earth on the palate and bright acidity. Refreshing quaffer and an excellent match with tortellini in tomato sauce. Fine value. Importer: W.J. Deutsch & Sons.

Icardi 2004 Barbera d’Asti Tabaren, $12
Very nice, fairly intense acidic black cherry with some herbal accents on the nose and palate. There is some oomph to it but it’s also balanced and refreshing. Excellent match with penne puttanesca. Importer: Vinifera Imports.

Cantine Sant’Agata 2004 Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato Il Cavaliere, $10
This has delightful strawberry, white pepper and mineral aromas and flavors. It’s spicy, refreshing, terrific, and an outstanding match with an onion/potato/mushroom/mozzarella omelette. Over the next three days, it holds up and, if anything, the fruit gets a little more intense and it becomes even more minerally. Importer: Siema LLC.

Felsina 2001 Chianti Classico Berardenga, $17
This has a very nice nose of intense cherry, flowers and earth along with a slight touch of VA that’s not enough to spoil anything. On the palate, bright, tart refreshing cherry fruit is accented by some dark earth and a few minerals. Very smooth but with enough tannins and intensity so there’s no rush to open my remaining bottles. Excellent match with capellini primavera.

I had a superb meal at Obelisk myself about a month and a half ago, Bruce. It put another noted Italian restaurant in the Dupont Circle area (I Ricchi) to shame, and IMO was a far better value than Galileo. Agree on their list, too. Modest but nice selection of half-bottles, too, for matching disparate courses or choices.

Thanks, Bruce. This is a new area for me, and the first wine in particular sounds lovely.

New to me, too, but I am finding that red wines made almost anywhere a cool climate prevails (I believe Val d'Aosta's in the Alps) usually hit the spot for me. And the more obscure the region (hence the least likely to have internationalized wine production) the better. Plus it's always fun to find new regions and grapes.

Not surprisingly, I see that Chambers Street has more than a few Val d'Aosta wines.

I couldn't agree more with you, Clint. Obelisk was simply superb. And the wine list was more thoughtful and interesting than any other restaurant I've been to in D.C. Moreover, the markup, while perhaps 3x the retail price (at least that would be my guess on the Les Cretes) is still less than at most other places in the area.

I Ricchi, I suspect, has seen better days. There is one other Italian restaurant in the Dupont Circle area that I've enjoyed very much -- Etrusco. Worth trying if you get the chance.

New to me, too, but I am finding that red wines made almost anywhere a cool climate prevails (I believe Val d'Aosta's in the Alps) usually hit the spot for me. And the more obscure the region (hence the least likely to have internationalized wine production) the better. Plus it's always fun to find new regions and grapes.

Not surprisingly, I see that Chambers Street has more than a few Val d'Aosta wines.

Yes, all good things.

Thinking as you do I was eager to try a Val d'Aosta gamay from Grosjean a few months back, but it was not as thrilling as your examples (Noussan and Les Cretes are both producers?).

Thinking as you do I was eager to try a Val d'Aosta gamay from Grosjean a few months back, but it was not as thrilling as your examples (Noussan and Les Cretes are both producers?).

Noussan and Les Cretes are separate producers, I believe.

The only other wine I had previously tried from the area was a pinot noir from Grosjean that I loved -- very perfumy. I haven't had any gamays from there.

The only other wine I had previously tried from the area was a pinot noir from Grosjean that I loved -- very perfumy. I haven't had any gamays from there.

Looking back I guess the Grosjean was not all that bad, perhaps it just needed more bottle age to come together or something. Here is my note from Dec 2006:

2005 Grosjean Gamay Vallee D'Aoste was surprisingly good. Mainly surprising in the sense that none of us had tasted gamay from Italy before, although I must admit that while this was my choice from the menu, others liked it better than I did, as it was a bit on the tart high-toned side of ripe sweet and bright, and I might have liked more bass notes to really get excited. But, it did have good body, so...

Happy 20th Anniversary, Bruce.

Great notes, I wish we had a WA branch of CSW.

I don't know if Carema is is considered Val d Aosta, but the Ferrando nebbiolo from there is great, and the white label a good bargain for nebbiolo.

The 2 Barbaras sound tasty and not too oaky from your note, and very good prices too.

I tried the 2001 Felsina Rancia not too long ago. It is amazing, but not quite ready for prime time drinking.

Best,
Marc

Thanks, Marc. I turned 50 last month so this is a year of many zeroes.

I wish we had a WA branch of CSW.

I wish there was a DC or MD branch. Maybe we can try to convince them to become a national chain? CSW as the new Total empire? Well, if not, thank God for UPS.

I don't know if Carema is is considered Val d Aosta, but the Ferrando nebbiolo from there is great, and the white label a good bargain for nebbiolo.

I've got a couple of those in the cellar waiting to get some age on them, but have yet to pop one. I've always thought of Carema as being in northern Piedmont but maybe I should look on a map. Better yet, maybe I should travel there sometime and see for myself!

The 2 Barbaras sound tasty and not too oaky from your note, and very good prices too.

I didn't notice any oak; I've often found cheap Barberas to be good for midweek pizza or pasta meals. In this same category, I also like Sant'Agata's "Baby Barb" bottling -- which explicitly states there's no oak involved in the winemaking -- Chiarlo's "Le Orme" and Prunotto's "Fiulot."

I tried the 2001 Felsina Rancia not too long ago. It is amazing, but not quite ready for prime time drinking.

Is the Rancia a riserva? This was actually my first Felsina of any sort and thought it lived up to its billing. I've got some 2001s and 2004s remaining in the cellar.

Thanks for the tip on Etrusco, Bruce. I'll look for it.

Is the Rancia a riserva?

I'm not Marc, but yes, the Rancia is a riserva. In addition, Felsina does their standard Chianti Classico, another labeled Chianti Classico Riserva (I believe this is just for the American market), and a Super-Tuscan called Fontalloro (I believe 100% Sangiovese).

With Felsina, they have a bunch of different wines and it can get confusing.

The top two are the Rancia which is a Chianti Classico Riserva, and the Fontolloro which is an IGT because some of the grapes come from outside the Chianti DOC zone. I love both of these, and it is hard to pick a favorite.

There is another Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva that someone explained to me recently is just made for exporting to the US market. I think the grape sources are similar to the Rancia, but the elevage is different. This one tasted like it had more new oak compared to the Rancia.

Then there is the straight Chianti Classico which is the one you posted on.

That is my understanding of it, hopefully someone can correct this if it is wrong.

Edit: Clinton beat me to it. Is Fontolloro 100% Sangiovese?

Is Fontolloro 100% Sangiovese?

Yes, per Felsina's website, and sourced partly from (just) outside the Chianti Classico zone, as you noted.