TNs: French whites, Italian reds, Sauternes to end

[Michael Malinoski]

It was a lot of fun some time back to welcome Mike G. to Boston with a dinner at one of our city’s best wine and food locales. Angelo gathered together a diverse set of locals (7 people in total), and a sort of Italian red wine theme was vaguely put forth. Folks brought some very nice bottles and we had a great evening of food, wine and conversation. We all hope to see Mike again next time he is on tour in Boston!

Starters:

NV Jérôme Prévost Champagne La Closerie Extra Brut Les Beguines. According to the label, this is from the 2011 vintage. It’s taut but yielding on the nose, with appealing aromas of lemon rind, apple, pear, chalk dust, dark yeast and toasted herbs. It’s very dry, crisp and crunchy on the palate, with razor-sharp acidity giving it a racy, structured, minerally feel. At the same time, it foams up nicely in the mid-palate to reveal red berry, apple, smoke and citrus flavors that linger persistently onto the finely-controlled finish. Although a bit bracing, it’s drinking quite enjoyably for my tastes right now.

2007 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc Pessac-Léognan. Others seemed much more enamored with the nose of this wine than I was. For me, it’s rather skunky with sulfur and struck match off the top, taking its time to reveal modestly more pleasing scents of graphite, green melon, apple and grapefruit rind. In the mouth, it has a rounded mouthfeel, with some cantaloupe, dried citrus, yellow apple, vanilla, smoke and crushed shell elements combining nicely. It has excellent body, good concentration of fruit, a nice languid flow, giving flavors and plenty of life left to give.

2008 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc La Crau. This wine delivers fine, woolly aromas of beeswax, pear skin, honey, grapefruit, fresh herbs and gravel, with some interesting piquant overtones. In the mouth, it’s plump and generous, with soft acidity and pliant layers of citrus and tree fruit flavors surrounded by soft wood notes. It’s still youthful, but certainly enjoyable.

Red wines:

1971 Gaja Barbera d'Alba Sori Vagnona. This was served blind, and looks rather healthy despite obvious paling at the rim. It delivers a truly lovely Old World bouquet of dried red flowers, sweet baked cherries, gentle red berries, soft baking spices, pot pourri and dusty old library. Over time, it also begins to take on wonderful notes of menthol and smoky bacon, pulling the taster back into the glass even more frequently. It’s a treat on the palate, as well, with lighter to medium-weighted flavors of red cherries, raspberries, brown spices and dusty dry earth lifted up by tangy acidity. It’s not super-expansive or deeply-fruited, just delightfully balanced, resolved, and well-packaged all around. This was a great treat.

2004 Azienda Agricola Montevetrano Montevetrano Colli di Salerno IGT. As usual with Montevetrano, I really enjoy the aromatic profile of this wine, which is loaded with scents of leather, horsehide, green pepper, cocoa, dried cherries, black raspberries, menthol and ash. It stays strong all night long, with the green pepper notes growing a bit strong for some, but just adding to the complexity in my mind. In the mouth, it’s youthfully dense and structured, but with wonderfully caressing texture, excellent length and a dark mysterious underbelly to the blackberry, plum, dark chocolate and mineral-tinged flavors. The tannins are strong but classy, and the finish is still a bit chalky, but this shows great class and excellent aging potential.

2001 Tua Rita Giusto di Notri Toscana IGT. The nose here is outgoing and attractive, with jammy aromas of blackberry, blueberry, dried plum, charred earth and stone. In the mouth, it’s plush, thick and gently chewy. It’s maybe just a smidge more elevated in alcohol than I’d like, but I enjoy the delicious and sappy blackberry and black cherry fruit it has to offer, even if it’s still a bit big and ropy all around. I’d hold off a little while yet on this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

1995 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT. This is just top-notch on the nose, with wonderful aromas of blue and purple berries, worn saddle leather, clean horse barn, tobacco leaf, tomato vine, purple flowers and cooled bacon fat. There’s a great density of flavor and tremendous fruit concentration on the palate, as it delivers layer after layer of lush and languid, fine-flowing flavors of plum and blackberry fruit. There are sneaky tannins late and a tensile backbone all the way through, with fine lift and solid length. The final factor in this winning wine is a delightful little inner mouth perfume of lilac and lavender to add pretty accents to the core of delicious fruit flavors. This was very well-liked all around the table.

1997 Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco Toscana IGT. This wine is ripe, sexy and lavish on the nose, with sweet-toned aromas of cocoa powder, mocha paste, roasted coffee bean, cherries and raspberry jam. In the mouth, though, I find this one of the tougher wines to drink, as the tannins clamp down from the outset and really coat the tongue beneath pasty rich fruit. It has a sunny streak of acidic lift at the back end, but otherwise it’s about fudgy sweet fruit galore that just needs a bit more time, in my opinion.

Sweet wines:

2004 Paul Cluver Riesling Weisser Noble Late Harvest Elgin South Africa. CORKED.

2001 Château Coutet Barsac. Served from 375 ml bottle. This is just gorgeous on the nose, where it’s bright and burnished yet fabulously deep and sexy in its aromas of dried pineapple, botrytis cream, rock sugar, baking spices and light caramel strands. In the mouth, it is perfectly-balanced—wonderfully sweet yet sharply cut. It has funky spices and dark tropical fruit flavors that are delightfully plush but still classy and directed. This is in the zone right now, but can also go a good long while. It’s a delicious treat all around.

1990 Château Rieussec Sauternes. This is a much, much darker gold in color. It’s unctuous, plush and languid on the nose, with darkly-toasted tropical fruit aromas to go with some Christmas ribbon candy, botrytis spice, yellow raisin, fig and quince paste scents. In the mouth, it features dark, smoky, burnished flavors of baked apricots, nectarines, baking spices, vanilla bean and dark peaches that are giving, fun, rounded and nicely-aged. It can feel a bit fat at times, but it’s hard to resist when all is said and done.


-Michael

[AKR]

I love those 01 Coutets. I think the 90s should be drunk up, in general across most Sauternes. They are getting too syrupy.

There was an old classmate of mine who helped my sister get a job a few years ago, probably objectively a better one than she deserved, but she's grown into the role. After hearing her benefactor liked Italian wines, I sent a bottle of the 01 Giusti di Notri to her as a thank you. I hope she enjoyed it as much as you guys did.

Despite constantly hearing about Flaccinello, I've never bumped into one at an event.