In January, we held the second of what we
expect will be an
ongoing series of wine tastings. We started with a small group of just six couples
interested in wine but with varying levels of wine knowledge -- it was more
important that we would have fun that really be able to identify the wines. The group was
formed with the following guidelines:
We will have a blind tasting and casual dinner roughly every
other month so that we rotate through the entire group once a year. The host couple
may, at their discretion, invite more people to join the fun. The evening's host selects the theme for the evening such as:
"Napa Cabernet under $50", "Single vineyard Pinot Noir from Oregon", "'Second
wines' of Bordeaux", "Australian Shiraz over $30", or whatever. Each couple
brings one bottle that fits the theme. The labels are hidden with paper
bags so that this becomes a blind tasting. Everyone tastes each wine before
dinner and selects their top three wines so we can have a consensus favorite. At dinner, we can finish the tasting wines or raid the host's cellar assuming,
of course, that the host consents. And we should
have fun doing this.
Two books that we've used to guide
our efforts are:
In our second gathering, we dug into the
mysteries of red wines of Piedmont. The wines were opened roughly thirty
minutes before tasting and were not decanted. The wines were tasted blind. We
gave each member of the party a simple
scorecard so that they could
make notes on what they thought of each wine. We also asked everyone to list
their #1 favorite, their #2 favorite, and their #3 favorite. The table below
lists the wines in order of the consensus favorites. This was a fairly
consistent tasting as two clear
favorites were clearly separated from the rest.
Winery
Vintage
#1
#2
#3
Total
Parker
Comments
Prunotto Barolo Bussia Soprana
1996
4
2
1
17
92
Smooth, complex wine that is fruity and soft yet with
tannins. It holds to a long finish.
Gaja Langhe Sperss
1997
3
3
1
16
99
Complex wine characterized as smooth, elegant, rich with
notes of chocolate. Well integrated tannins didn't overwhelm the wine. One
of us noted: "Better than a Dolcetto"
Alfredo e Giovanni Roagna Barolo La Rocca e La Pira
1993
1
2
7
Older wine, brownish tinge on the edge of the glass. Nice
floral nose with tastes of cloves and raspberry
Luciano Sandrone Langhe Premo
1999
2
1
5
Fruity with strong notes of cherries noted by almost
everyone.
Fairly low in tannins, this wine had a medium-long finish.
Icardi Suri di Mu Barbera
1997
1
1
4
86
Seemed more alcoholic. Thinner than the others. Low in
tannins.
Bruno Rocca Dolcetto Vigna Trifole
1999
1
1
Nose was a bit musty with notes of toffee and caramel.
Hints of licorice noted by most of us. Finishes well
Massolino Barolo "Margheria"
1996
1
1
89
Spicy, red peppers. A bit on the woody side.
The consensus ranking was determined by
3 points for each #1 listing, 2 points for #2, and 1 point for #3. Any ties are
broken by the number of #1 votes, etc.
There are four red wines
commonly made in Piedmont. So, to test people perceptions, we also asked
everyone to guess the variety of each wine. As most of us had little experience
with the wines of Piedmont so, as a guide, we included brief descriptions of each
wine type on the scorecard that
I compiled from Jancis Robinson's
The Oxford Companion to Wine. It is also important to note that in
recent years, some wines made outside of the Italian DOC rules have been made
and are referred to as Langhe - we had two of these wines in our tasting. The
correct number guesses are marked in bold red font in the table.
Winery
Guesses for wine types
Barolo
Barbaresco
Barbera
Dolcetto
Langhe
Luciano Sandrone Langhe Premo
1
2
1
Gaja Langhe Sperss
4
1
Icardi Suri di Mu Barbera
5
Bruno Rocca Dolcetto Vigna Trifole
2
1
4
Massolino Barolo "Margheria"
3
1
Alfredo e Giovanni Roagna Barolo La Rocca e La Pira
4
1
Prunotto Barolo Bussia Soprana
2
1
1
For the two Langhes from Gaja and
Sandrone, it is hard not to give credit to the guesses to Barolo since the
Nebbiolo grape forms such a significant part of the actual wine...
Following the tasting, we sat down to dinner with the
remaining wine from the tasting. The dinner was coordinated around a somewhat
traditional cuisine of Northern Italy in order to complement the wines. In
addition to the wines from the tasting, we also opened a 1996 Stefano Farino
Barbaresco from our cellar.
Dinner Menu
Antipasto: Roasted peppers, tomato eggplant mozzarella, tostini with olives
Zuppa: Pappa al pomodoro (tomato bread soup)
Pasta: Pappardelle with portobello and chanterelle mushrooms
Secondi
Veal ala rosmarino
Brocoletti al'olio e lemone
Gnocchi alla crema e parmesano
Green beans with roasted chestnuts
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