WTN: Jacquesson, Voerzio and Scavino

Notes from easy take-out lunch at Jojo's shop. All wines again courtesy of Jojo who insisted.

Champagne Jacquesson Avize 1996 - Lovely fresh-baked bread nose. Light, lemony and fresh. Some sour apple and light coffee. Perhaps lacks a bit of depth now but it's possible age will cure that defect. Much better than the previous Jacquesson 1996 we had.

With pasta and roast chicken:

Roberto Voerzio Barbera d'Alba Vignetti Ceretto 2004 - Very dark. Without food, rather dumb and closed. Wakes up with food. A little hot. There seems to be an underlay of oak here but thankfully it's not overdone and just barely registers. Sweet fruit. Very soft and friendly. Very good.

Paolo Scavino Rocche dell' Annunziata Riserva Barolo 1998 - Wonderful aroma of leather-bound books. Pretty dark for Barolo. Sweet ripe fruit. Dried plums. Mushroom and tobacco. Already quite approachable. I would say not quite at peak yet but really close. Very good.

[David M. Bueker]

Now that's more like it.

I've never had a vintage Champagne from Jacquesson, but I have enjoyed their NV bottlings.

The Voerzio Barbera was certainly a treat. Don't those wines go for $$$? I've only ever had one (also a Barbera), and while quite ripe and rich it was also wonderfully balanced.

My wife bought me a bottle of the '99 Scavino Rocche dell' Annunziata Riserva Barolo for my 40th birthday a couple of years ago. It's resting quietly in the cellar. If the '98 isn't quite there, then the '99 certainly isn't.

I don't have any idea what the Voerzio goes for. My friend's got a massive cellar full of these $$$ wines and insists on bringing all the bottles more often than not so he can make more space for other stuff he gets. For this lunch he asked us to choose between the Scavino and a Giacosa Barolo. We flipped a coin and the Scavino won.