Karl asked a bunch of folks back on Feb 11th to join him at King Fung Garden II for an off-line with a loose theme of Nebbiolo. His cat pulled a hamstring or something right before kick-off and Karl had to bail on us, which was a shame. However, there were still eight of us to split a bunch of ducks and some other tasty morsels. A good time was had by all—with the conversation veering into the (ahem) colorful side of the spectrum for much of the second half of the evening. A number of wines showed well and a few didn’t, but it was a fun night (and morning) all around.
We started with a couple of off-theme wines brought by our resident off-theme specialist, Peter.
2002 Pierre Gimonnet Champagne Brut Paradoxe. Our first wine of the night opens with an expressive but taut bouquet that features at different stages of the game aromas of ground ginger, honey, orange marmalade, lemon Italian Ice, grapefruit and powdered graphite. On the palate, it is giving yet focused in its expression of kiwi, pear and toast flavors. It fills the mouth nicely, with a soft chalky texture and mousse. Bright acidity cuts right across the palate, and lends a fine sense of thrust to the whole package. I don’t think everybody liked this quite as much as Peter and me, but I’d be happy to drink this now or stash some in the cellar for later.
2002 J.M. Boillot Pommard 1er Cru Rugiens. There is a lovely bouquet to this wine, featuring alluring aromas of spiced plums, soy, black cherry, clove, dark earth and old iron. It really deserves a lot of contemplation and appreciation, which I was more than happy to give it. On the palate, however, I can’t say nearly anything so positive about the wine. The first thing I note is that there is not a lot of depth through the middle of the palate—yielding a strong sense of a hole there. Indeed, the fruit throughout seems a bit narrow or even diluted to me. I think Peter was looking at me like I had two heads as I made these comments, but that is the way this wine tastes to me. Tannins come in toward the back and together with some pinching acidity really pucker the sides of the mouth inward. The fruit is cool and black in nature, but as noted earlier is either pretty thin or totally hiding. The focus right now seems to be on earth, iron and extremely dry tannin.
We then jumped head-first into the Nebbiolo wines.
2000 Elio Grasso Barolo Gavarini “Vigna Chiniera”. This is garnet-colored, with perhaps just a hint of browning. It features very pretty aromatics—with caressing notes of violets, dried cranberry, cool herbs, soft balsa wood, dark cherry and a nick of jalapeno. The longer one stays with it, the better it gets—becoming even softer and more inviting as the evening progresses. It is soft, pliant and giving in the mouth for such a young Barolo and that immediately endears it to me. It is finely spicy and shows pinpoint-fine tannins that are more likely to tickle the tongue than abuse it. The cool red fruits are dry-edged, with some moderate sweetness accents from the red cherry flavors. The texture is gentle and chalky, and the feel is one of youthful restraint and fine flavor intensity. No one thing really stands out above anything else—it’s a wine that is just very even, well-balanced and pleasurably steady on a number of levels. It is a wine that should do very well at table now or in the years ahead. My WOTN.
1998 Cantina Cooperativa Fra Produttori Agricoli Barolo Le Terre. This is a strange wine and one I can’t say I care for at all. Aromatically, it is a bit dark and dirty—with aromas of black cherry, dry earth, old leather boot insoles, tobacco juice and cool menthol. In the mouth, it presents a very odd flavor profile that I just can’t describe. It really does not resemble any form of Nebbiolo I’ve encountered. It features bitter-edged black and blue fruits lathered in smoke and green wood. The acidity is hard and crunchy and the wine almost seems inside-out or oddly concave to me, if that makes any sense at all. The after-taste is equally weird, and overall I suggest running the other way if you ever encounter a bottle.
1997 Silvio Grasso Barolo. Aromas of sweet dried cherries, truffles, limestone, tomato leaf and pine nuts combine into a bouquet that is nice and refined, but perhaps a bit tight. It is full-bodied and a bit chewy in the mouth, but is in no way rustic—indeed, it has the feel of a modern approach throughout. Toasty oak notes lend a fine spiciness to the cherry, black raspberry and cranberry fruit, and the whole package has an interesting iron ore note running beneath it. The structure seems to gain prominence over the course of the evening, with some wood and tannin elements coming into stronger relief. Still, the fruit is very giving and warm and the sticky, tacky sort of texture seems well-suited to the other elements of the wine—giving the wine a pleasant overall cohesiveness of personality that is appealing. I like this.
1993 Roagna Barbaresco Riserva. This is dark and smoky on the nose, with aromas of cranberry, forest greens, mushroom stalks and road tar. On the palate, it starts with a burst of raspberry and cherry fruit that stays refined and dry into the mid-palate before teeth-gripping tannins clamp down hard and pinch it off a bit prematurely. This is old-style, austere, holding a lot in reserve and built for the long-haul. At least based on this bottle, its readiness is still many years away.
2000 Cantina del Pino Barbaresco Ovello. The nose of this Barbaresco has earthy notes of mushroom, moss and beef broth riding atop sweet, plush blackberry and mixed currant fruit--all accented by oak and spice notes in moderation. In the mouth, it is full-bodied, meaty and rather fully-fruited. There is a smooth, glossy texture to the wine, with prickles of spice and soft tannins. The wine turns nicely floral on the finish, with just a bit of alcohol showing. There is a lot of pure fruit here--the wine just needs some time to develop a bit more length and integration.
We had a few other wines, as well, which I waited until later in the evening to try.
2001 Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino. This has a strong, immediate bouquet of plums, creosote, chalk, forest greenery and rubber, with some prettier notes of spiced blackberries underneath. It is young, intense and richly extracted on the palate. It has a good deal of plush purple fruit pumping through it, with low acidity and pillowy tannins that really coat the teeth on the finish.
2006 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir La Neblina Sonoma Coast. On the nose, this wine shows plenty of sweet maraschino cherries, cocoa powder, sugared cranberries and oaky spices, with some mossy earthy notes popping in from time to time. It is sweet and brambly in the mouth, with mixed berry fruits, fine spices, confectionary notes and toasty accents. It has a pure fruit finish—with a lifted feel—but also a good deal of oak seasoning that actually seems pretty consistent with the overall profile of the wine. I liked it pretty well, actually.
Group WOTN voting showed the ’00 Elio Grasso Gavarini Vigna Chiniera coming out on top (3 first place votes), followed by the ’00 Cantina del Pino Ovello (1.5 votes) and the ’01 Siro Pacenti (1.5 votes). The ’93 Roagna Riserva and ’97 Silvio Grasso each received a first-place vote, as well.
-Michael