by Bill Spohn » Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:11 pm
Notes from a Piemonte dinner.
This was a private dinner put on by one of my groups and I thought we were able to assemble a very decent array of wines, with one vertical and one horizontal.
With scallops and green pea risotto:
2010 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis – very nice tropical fruit nose, smooth and clean on palate and with medium length. Very decent.
With duck breast cassoulet:
1989 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Rabaja – my last bottle of this one, and it has turned out beautifully. good colour, now becoming garnet, a nose that was a tad poopy/Rhonish at first but quickly resolved into earth and cherries. Has tannins but soft ones, and also lots of acidity, and a long finish with a kick of ripeness at the end that echoes the black cherry of the nose. Wish I had more!
1990 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Rabaja – interesting very tarry nose, instantly riper in the mouth and with nice up front fruit, finishing long, ripe and rich. Different in style, and still has time to develop, and the group was divided as to which of these two wines they liked better.
2000 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Rabaja Riserva – fast forward a decade and we found a reticent nose with some red fruit. The wine had significant tannins and clearly needs time, but I formed the opinion that it would never develop into the same level as the other two. I guess we’ll see in another decade or so.
With osso buco:
1997 Luigi Pira Barolo Margheria – a really striking, wonderful nose with tar and black cherry and a little dark chocolate. In the mouth, there was still quite a bit of tannin. Good length, finishing a tad ripe.
1997 Aldo Ricardo Seghessio Barolo Vigneto La Villa – good depth in this nose, although perhaps a little simpler than the Pira. There were notes of cedar and dark fruit and it was softer but still had evident tannin, and very good flavour concentration, with medium long finish. No rush here.
1997 Luigi Einaudi Barolo – I found this wine to be elegant with some plum and tobacco in the nose, excellent concentration and midpalate flavour, and very good length with a lingering impression of tar fading slowly with time. Very good and again, no rush, although delicious now.