Category Wow bottles

Le Macchiole’s Paleo and a vertical of the Bolgheri Rosso

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Bolgheri has a special place in my memory. We were on holidays in Tuscany in 2010 while my wife was pregnant of our son. It was also the time that my interest in wine started developing, so even though we were not based anywhere near Bolgheri, I still managed to convince my wife to head there and drive along the Strada del Vino, lined with majestic cypress trees, just to see the grounds where some of Italy’s most famous wines come from. The owner of a B&B in Liguria, where we were staying on our way to Tuscany, had glitters in his eyes when he heard where we were going. The way he spoke of wines such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia was with great reverence, but also a certain melancholy. Already then these were wines that fetched prices that occasional wine drinkers found undecent. So it was with great delight that we found a wine bar in Bolgheri where you could actually taste Sassicaia from a wine dispenser. 15€ for a quantity that allowed my wife and I each one sip.

I remember thinking : is this it? the great Sassicaia? In hindsight, it probably was the youngest vintage on sale, so close-knit and not very aromatic, and with a quantity like that, you’re literally not going to taste much. But at that time, it did not stimulate me to further explore Bolgheri and it was with great pleasure that I delved into Italy’s treasure trove of indigenous grape varieties.

The opportunity arose for a new look at Bolgheri when I was invited to attend an online tasting of Le Macchiole’s Bolgheri Rosso and their flagship wine, Paleo, a 100% Cabernet Franc. Le Macchiole was founded in 1983 by Eugenio Campolmi and his wife, Cinzia Merli, and is located a few kilometers from the coast. The first wine that appeared under the name of Le Macchiole was the Paleo in 1989. First made as a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese, they decided to add Cabernet Franc in 1993 to become a monovarietal wine in 2001. The exceptionally hot summer of the previous year had led the winery to add more Cabernet Franc to give more freshness and acidity. The result was so good that they decided to fundamentally transform the wine into a 100% Cabernet Franc, the first winery in Bolgheri to do so. And with great success, as the Paleo is a wine that receives much critical acclaim.

The Bolgheri Rosso of Le Macchiole is a blend of mostly Merlot and varying amounts of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, depending on the vintage. As Cinzia Merli, who leads the estate since her husband passed away in 2002, explains : the Bolgheri Rosso should not be seen as the “entry level” wine. It is made to stay true to its Bolgheri origins as a Tuscan expression of a blend of French grape varieties. What is quite remarkable about the Bolgheri Rosso is the lack of new oak. 20% of the grapes is aged in cement, the rest is put in 2nd, 3rd and 4th passage barriques.

The tasting was an interesting opportunity also to compare vintages; as we tasted the 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 of the Bolgheri Rosso alongside the Paleo 2017.

Bolgheri 2015

Attractive cherries and cherry pith, with a hint of dried flowers. There’s a subtle layer of dark spice underneath, clove perhaps, that gives extra depth. On the palate the wine has good substance which is kept nicely fresh against a backbone of ripe tannins. In general the mouthfeel of this wine is rather soft and silky, but there is a dynamic quality that adds liveliness and makes the wine quite exciting. This wine is really good and enjoyable now, but has many years ahead of itself.

Bolgheri 2016

Sommelier Eros Teboni, who led the tasting, proposed the 2016 alongside the 2015. Both are outstanding vintages, but 2016 has that extra oomph and is generally considered as one of the best vintages of the last 10 years. The wine does not fail to demonstrate that it has that extra edge. Just after opening, there is something flowery, ethereal almost. With a bit of air it gains extra volume and offers salivating juicy cherries. Again there is lifting vein of acidity that makes every sip so refreshing. With extra time in the glass there’s also black pepper coming through in the nose. No hard edges or whatsoever, everything is just perfectly balanced.

Bolgheri 2018

The next pair we tasted was the 2018 vs the 2019. The summer of 2018 was very hot and there was little rain, making it very important to leave enough leaves on the vines for extra shade and to keep works on the soil limited to avoid ground water from evaporating. The nose of the 2018 is quite frivolous. An initial lactic touch blows off to make place for cheerful violets and cherries. The wine is quite supple and has a little less depth than the others, but its smoothness makes it ready to enjoy already now.

Bolgheri 2019

The 2019 is a bit shy upon opening. The nose is a bit hesitant but all ingredients are there with dark cherries, a hint of pepper and again that dark, spicy layer underneath the fruit, just as the 2015 had. A little bit of pine freshness gives a nice lift. As can be expected from such a young wine, everything is quite concentrated. And yet, the hallmark frehsness and silkiness of Le Macchiole’s Bolgheri wines are also present here. Interesting to add, by the way, that the 2019 had opened up considerably when I re-tasted it on day 2, so a few more years will be good to add extra aromatic appeal.

Paleo 2017, IGT Toscana

Blueberries and brambleberries, graphite and noble cedar wood, it is clear that this is a very different ballgame than the Bolgheri Rosso. The nose is incredibly refined and fresh with a hint of green herbs, but not a single trace of Cabernet Franc’s typical bell pepper aromas. The balance and elegance of this wine is impressive. Despite its youth everything comes together beautifully already now with pure and fresh fruit and incredibly fine tannins. There is a kind of restrained power in this wine that makes it so attractive to enjoy already now, but also for many years to come. The finish is long and makes you grab for another sip. This wine is definitely in a league of its own.

Just one suggestion if you want to enjoy this wine now : open it a couple of hours in advance to give it some air. There is a bit of new oak just after opening that will blow off and make place for all the nuances that this wine has to offer.

CONCLUSION

Le Macchiole has done an outstanding job with these wines. What I particularly liked in the line-up was the consistency. Despite the very different profiles of the Bolgheri Rosso and the Paleo there is a clear vision that transpires of elegance and freshness in all the wines we tasted. The Bolgheri Rosso is probably the opposite of a bombastic wine, with silky fruit and freshness, while the Paleo is simply one of the best Cabernet Francs I’ve ever had.

The great thing with the Paleo is that it has carved out an own identity for Cabernet Franc. As Cinzia pointed out : there is no 100% Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux, and Cabernet Franc in the Loire is very different, so there’s no real comparison to be made with the wines from France. Indeed, the Paleo was perfectly ripe and had no trace of the green and unripe notes that you can sometimes have in French Cabernet Franc. It ripens perfectly in the Mediterranean climate ànd can handle the heat better than Merlot. It is therefore no surprise that other wineries in Bolgheri have followed suit and also started making 100% Cabernet Franc.

On a personal note, this tasting definitely aroused my interest to have a closer look again at the wines of Bolgheri.

Tasting Le Grand Clos 2010 of Loire’s wine maker of the year : Yannick Amirault

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Yannick and Benoît Amirault were recenlty voted wine makers of the year in the Loire region by the French Guide Hachette. Father and son are based in Bourgueil where they make almost exclusively red wines of Cabernet Franc, both in the Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil and Bourgueil AOPs.

That made me curious to open my last bottle of Le Grand Clos 2010, a wine that I’ve had two times before, the first time in 2013 and the second time in 2016. It never made a big impression on me so I was a little surprised by the news of Guide Hachette. In 2013 I described it as a very classic Loire Cabernet Franc with cherries, a slightly green touch and a hint of coffee. The tannins were well integrated. A wine I could intellectually appreciate but that did not evoke many emotions. In 2016 I had it in a difficult phase because I remember rather rough tannins and I wondered at that point whether this wine would ever reach a good balance. Maybe I should have drunk it young on its primary fruit?

I’m glad I kind of forgot about my third bottle. Unfortunately, before I could taste it, I had to struggle with the cork that broke in two. That’s the kind of thing I would expect with a 20 year old bottle perhaps, but a 10 year old? Rather not. Anyhow, I received instant gratification when I could finally sniff the aromas. I was dumbstruck. What I smelled was the bouquet of a top Bordeaux, with really attractive and pure forest fruit, classy cedar wood and sigar box. Was this the wine that failed to impress me on two previous occasions? I’ve experienced it so often now that a wine transforms from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan, sometimes even in one day’s time, and yet I cannot stop feeling amazed every time it happens. The balance of the wine had greatly improved with beautiful fruit, perfectly integrated wood and tannins that are still there but have become approachable and that provide structure and backbone. The wine evolved still in the glass and became more “Loire” than “Bordeaux” after a while with a certain frivolity in the fruit that I never could have predicted. What a joy!

On Amirault’s website this wine is described as having an “aristocratic” approach and a dense tannic structure. Its peak is predicted at 5 to 10 years of age. On the basis of this vintage I would rather say at 10 to 15 years. It’s clear that this wine still has many years ahead of itself. And, not unimportantly, this wine is still affordable (for as long as it lasts). You will find this wine under 20€ on certain French web shops. So the only thing you need to enjoy it, is patience!

Food and wine pairing does matter

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I always thought of food and wine pairing as something that’s fun. I enjoy thinking about how to combine both. If you hit the nail on the head, you can transcend the individual level of the wine and the dish and reach something that’s more than the sum of the parts. On my blog I have a category that’s called “one and one is three”, where I talk about food and wine pairings that make me especially happy. Because the combination of the flavors create something special, or because one really pushes the other to a higher level, or just simply because they create that kind of feeling where I think : life is good.

American wine writer Alder Yarrow doesn’t think much of food and wine pairing. On his website Vinography he published a blog post calling food and wine pairing “junk science”. Or “the source of panic attacks and the fodder for hundreds of books and scores of useless smartphone apps”. I won’t disagree with the fact that there are many books that are not particularly useful. Many just give very specific combinations of a particular dish with a particular wine. What if you tweak your recipe with a few additional ingredients, or change the sauce? Or more likely, what if that particular wine is not available in your local shop? Not so helpful indeed. But as Mr Yarrow explicitly states that one plus one does not equal three, I felt compelled to write down my own opinion on food and wine pairing.

According to Mr Yarrow the rules of food and wine pairing are “bullshit” and you’re better off forgetting about food and wine pairing altogether as “it only leads to disappointment”. I hear much frustration there. In more than 25 years of eating in top restaurants he can count the experiences  where the sum was greater than the parts on one hand. The good thing I read in that is that at least he had such experiences after all. But apparently very few.

The issue at hand here might be expectation management. If you expect a sommelier to always come with a wine that “will make the choir sing”, then you need to think twice of how restaurants work. Especially the ones who want to be innovative, who experiment with dishes and flavor combinations, and on the top of that change their menu very regularly in order to constantly offer something new to the demanding customer. For a sommelier to find a wine that will fit with a new dish on the menu, there are many things to consider : what is the defining flavor? There might be more than one. And they can interact in a way that does not allow for an extra component, the wine, to interfere. What is the texture of the dish? Does the wine have to support this or contrast with it? Do you want to go for complementarity or make a bold move and aim for contrast? Not to forget a very practical question : what does the sommelier have on the wine list? He/she has to work with what is available and what is ready to drink. If you have a thousand of references to work with, that might ease the job, but such restaurants are exceptions. On top of that, the time and possibilities the sommelier will be given to experiment with the food and wine pairing will be limited. So there are a lot of “ifs” here. That is why I don’t necessarily expect the choir to sing in terms of food and wine pairing when I go to a top restaurant. I know this may sound strange to some, but I don’t. If one plus one equals two, then I will be happy. If the dish is a winner, and so is the wine, without either negatively influencing the other, then also that is a successful food and wine pairing!

Alder Yarrow also talks about the rules of food and wine pairing. As if there was a bible of what to drink with what. Food and wine pairing is not a science. If I were to regard it as such, I would probably also come to the conclusion that food and wine pairing rules are bullshit. But it’s not. Again, if you take top gastronomy as a starting point, there simply are no rules. That is the definition of innovation and experimentation : you do something new. So the wine pairing will inevitably be a trial, and yes, sometimes also be an error.

Bad experiences in such settings is not a reason to conclude that food and wine pairing is bound to be disappointing. Mr Yarrow suggests that wine should be something “universally simple and essential”. So why not look at established combinations that have been tried millions of times and that work. A sauvignon blanc will work wonders with a simple goat cheese. Just as a Muscadet or a Chablis will be a great marriage with fresh oysters. Or a lamb shank from the oven with a spicy, herby Languedoc. These are classic, straightforward dishes that do not need top wines to still be a great match with their liquid partner. There is a much bigger potential for the food and wine to lift each other up if you start with simple things than vice versa. That’s where I see the biggest added value ànd chances of success in food and wine pairings.

Mr Yarrow seems to realise that : “Our expectations need to be re-set. The bar needs to be lowered. We should absolutely be choosing wine to go with our meals, but our goals should center on enjoyment of both and the idea of “mistakes” should be banished.” I can’t think of a better way of saying it actually. So why conclude then that we should forget about food and wine pairings? There will be times that the food and wine pairing does not give the effect we wanted or hoped for, but we can also have great experiences and discover unexpected pairings. You can only do that if you’re open for it, if you see it as fun to experiment, ànd if your state of mind is rather to welcome anything good that comes out of it rather than to be disappointed if the result is anything less than stunning.

Let me give one example of a great discovery I did myself recently. One of our favorite dishes to prepare when we want comfort food is keema matar, an Indian/Pakistani curry with ground meat and green peas, topped with coriander leaves. As you can imagine, it is a very rich and relatively spicy dish. In Mr Yarrow’s opinion you should drink what you like with your food. I quite like red Burgundy, but I wouldn’t dream of drinking that with keema matar. It’d be an absolute waste of the wine. In the past I had already paired this dish with a very rich and opulent Negroamaro, an Italian wine with very ripe black fruit. The reason why that worked very well was because there was a certain sweetness from the ripe fruit that worked with the spiciness of the curry. Recently, however, I decided to take it up a notch with an Amarone, the Campo Inferi 2013 of Brunelli.

This is, for my standards, the embodiment of a “big” wine. Very rich, bold and smooth at the same time, and with a whopping 16,5% alcohol. This is a wine that is defined by ripe black cherries, milk chocolate, butter scotch and cinnamon. Big and ripe tannins, and a supporting acidity that keeps the alcohol in check. Again there is a sense of sweetness here that works very well to counterbalance the spiciness, and the smoothness and ripeness of the wine complement the structure of the curry. A good food and wine pairing, without any doubt. But what really made me tick in this combination was the combination of the ripe cherries, chocolate and cinnamon with the coriander leaves. A match made in heaven! Yes, this was definitely where I felt that one plus one equals three, where everything blended in so well together that the choir sang a little hallelujah.

The effect of the coriander with the Amarone is an example of how food and wine pairing is not a science, but something that you can discover and that will give great satisfaction once you do. Maybe not everyone will appreciate this combination the same way as I did, but others might. And by the looks of the numbers of people who post their food and wine pairings on social media, there seem to be many people who enjoy looking for that combination that adds an extra dimension. These are people who do not think in terms of potential disappointment, but in terms of discovery.

 

Experimenting with the blind tasting order

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If you have organized a blind tasting before, chances are high that you will have prepared wines from white to rosé ro red, and from light to heavy. To start with white before red makes perfect sense of course. Although you might come across wineries in Bourgogne who will present their reds before the whites, in Meursault for example. And I have experienced myself that to have a white, rosé or sparkling wine after a series of reds can be nice and useful to “cleanse” your palate, especially if the reds are quite powerful and tannic. But in general white goes before red.

When you come to the order of the reds , things can get slightly more difficult. The basic idea is to start with light and move gradually to more powerful and structured reds. The reason for this this is pretty obvious : if you have a young, structured Bordeaux before a Burgundy, you might miss some of the nuances of the latter. Especially the build up of tannins in your mouth makes it difficult to appreciate the structure and the quality of the tannins of a lighter wine. Chewing on bread and drinking water in between wines will help, but in general you will try and build up from light to powerful.

One issue, however, that I have come across regularly in tastings, is the contrast between ripe and fresh in red wines. What do I mean with that? Let’s take the example of Burgundy again : if you follow the basic guidelines, you will want to start with the Burgundy (so a pinot noir) before you move to wines with more body/alcohol or wines with more tannins. My experience is that it works, as long as you stay in the same category of “freshness”. If you move from a Burgundy to a Loire Cabernet Franc and then to a Bordeaux, for example, that will perfectly work out. It’s more difficult when you move from a fresh, cool-climate style of wine to something riper. The last time I experienced that was when I had a glass of Valpolicella Superiore after I came home from a tasting of Loire Cabernet Franc. The Valpolicella came across as sweet, something I had not experienced when I drank that wine before. Normally I would perceive the fruit of the Valpolicella as ripe, but in balance with the acidity. When I had it after the Loire Cabernet Franc, I perceived it as sweet, round, and lacking tension. We’re talking about the same wine!

So when I had a blind tasting at my place last week with two Burgundy lovers, I decided to experiment a bit with the order. I reckoned that if I put the riper wines before the  fresher, more elegant wines, the riper wines would show well and there would not be a negative effect on the fresher wines that followed.

These are the red wines I gave :

  1. The Lacrima di Morro d’Alba Superiore 2016 of Stefano Mancinelli. (in my previous blog post you can read that these are very aromatic wines, with loads of ripe fruit)
  2. The Valpolicella Superiore 2014 of Roccolo Grassi, also relatively ripe, but very nicely balanced.
  3. The Barolo Ascheri 2015 of Reverdito, a very typical Barolo with ripe red fruit, and strong tannins.
  4. The Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2012 of Charlopin, the most elegant in the line-up with nice strawberries, relatively ripe though for a Burgundy.

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I gave the wines in this order. And as I had hoped for, the Italian wines were appreciated at their true value and were even lauded for their freshness. My two companions being absolute Burgundy lovers, I knew it was not obvious that they would like the Italian wines, especially the Valpolicella, which was the same wine that I found sweet after a Loire Cabernet Franc. So the experiment was successful! Almost…

If I could re-do the tasting, I would probably change one thing. I would put the Barolo last instead of the Gevrey-Chambertin. You can probably guess why : the tannins. The Gevrey was ready to drink and did not have very strong tannins. The Barolo, however, had tightened up a couple of hours after opening. The wine was actually very balanced and accessible just after opening the bottle. A few hours later the tannins had become quite prominent, very much typical Barolo tannins. And that made the transition to the Gevrey less smooth than I had wished.

That goes to show that reversing the order will not always work. I would not start with a very structured Australian Shiraz to finish with a fragile Burgundy. But you can play with the order of a couple of red wines in your line-up. If both wines have a tannin level that is more or less equivalent, and one has riper fruit than the other, then try putting the riper one first. And let me now if that worked!

 

 

 

 

Sangiovese : how well does it stand the test of time?

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I had the luck to participate in a tasting of old Sangioveses. Not having a proper cellar to keep wines for decades myself, I was very happy to be given this chance. And if that wasn’t enough, there was also a Sassicaia 1991 thrown into the deal! But more about that later.

Honestly, I wasn’t convinced of the ageing potential of Sangiovese… I have a difficult relationship with this grape. I have had very good experiences, but also less good ones. I like Sangiovese when the fruit is not cooked or too jammy, and when the alcohol levels are under control. But in recent vintages, alcohol levels of 14,5% or even 15% were more often the rule than the exception.  The fruit of those wines tends to evolve to dried fruit, and unless there’s good supporting acidity underneath that, such wines can be rather heady.

So when the opportunity came to taste a few really old Sangioveses, I knew I had to do this to finally know if these wines are worth cellaring for a couple of decades. When I say really old, they were indeed really old, the oldest bottle being a 1971… This was the line-up :

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  1. Isole e Olena 1983, Chianti Classico
  2. Brolio Riserva 1971, Chianti Classico, Barone Ricasoli
  3. La Casa 1979, Brunello di Montalcino, Tenuta Caparzo
  4. Il Poggione 1977, Brunello di Montalcino
  5. Tenuta Sant’Agnese 1979, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
  6. Avignonesi 1979, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
  7. Sassicaia 1991, (at that time still) Vino da Tavola

A really exciting line-up, with a perfect spread over the three most important wine producing regions for Sangiovese! Already the fact that I was going to taste a few wines that had spent more time on this planet than I have, was something to look out for. And yet, at the same time, I was kind of preparing myself for wines that were dead on their feet.

Isole e Olena 1983

The first wine was already immediately a surprise, because it appeared much younger than I had expected. Black cherry, plum, chocolate, tobacco, leather, a touch of cedar wood. Beautiful nose! The mouth feel was surprisingly fresh, and the wine even had some tannins still. Based on the nose I perhaps expected a wine with a bit more body, but still, this Chianti was alive and kicking. Good start! When I came back to this wine a bit later it was evolving to aromas of black tea, which I found less attractive, so no long airing needed here.

Brolio Riserva 1971

Twelve years further back in time, and that was immediately obvious, the color having evolved to copper/amber. It took a while for the aromas to show as there was a bit of dustiness that had to be whirled out the glass. After a couple of minutes we finally got some dried fruit, chocolate, dried spices, and even raisins. The wine was relatively thin, although not completely dead. Still a bit of dried fruit and chocolate, but it was clear that the best years of this Brolio were long gone.

La Casa 1979

Still ruby red with a brick colored rim signalling the evolution. Great nose! Dried fruit, floral tones, cedar wood, chocolate, plum, nutmeg, and a touch of animality. Very complex. The wine is very intense and deep, fresh as well, and still displays ripe red fruit. The balance here is remarkable. This wine is now perfect. Amazing after 40 years…

Il Poggione 1977

Clearly evolved color. The aromas come timidly out of the glass. Still some red fruit, spices, a touch of iron. It opens up a bit more after a while in the glass. After the impressive La Casa this wine appears a bit thinner, but it’s especially the tannins that draw the attention here, being a bit rough even after more than 40 years in the bottle. The balance is not completely right.

Sant’Agnese 1979

Transparent and evolved in color. Not very expressive, the fruit is ripe or dried even. There’s something dusty here as well. A touch of cedar and pine tree. In comparison to the previous wines, this Vino Nobile is a bit warmer, riper, and the acidity is lower than in the previous wines. Still noticeable tannines here. Good effort, but I personally prefer the elegance and freshness of the Brunellos.

Avignonesi 1979

Remarkably dark color in comparison with the previous wines. Quite a different nose also : black cherry, rubber, dried fruit, liquorice, coffee. Again a warmer impression in this Vino Nobile and again slightly drying tannins. The wine did evolve nicely in the glass, however, opening up beautifully with aromas of tobacco and more cedar wood. 40 years old and still margin. Hard to believe.

Before I move on to the Sassicaia : what’s my conclusion after these 6 Sangioveses? Well it’s clear that Sangiovese is worth tucking away in your cellar for a long, long time. Apart from the Brolio, all the wines were still in a good shape, which was much more than I had hoped for before the tasting. But not only were they not dead, most still displayed beautiful fruit aromas, noble cedar wood, and above all freshness. The Vino Nobiles were a bit warmer, but the Brunellos and the Isole e Olena were very fresh, even salivating wines, a characteristic I don’t often find in todays Sangioveses. That things have changed in Tuscany since the 1970s was probably the most obvious in the alcohol levels : all wines had between 12,5% and 13,5%. Difficult to imagine that nowadays…

If you were wondering about the Sassicaia, I will not beat about the bush : it was corked! What a bummer… But still, there are a couple of things worth mentioning for Sassicaia fans. 1991 was the vintage that received a 81 score in Wine Spectator, not a glorious score for  one of the world’s most famous wines. It is described as a wine that was thinner than other vintages. On top of that, Monica Larner, the Italian reviewer for The Wine Advocate, wrote this in April 2017 :

“The 1991 Sassicaia has reached the end of the line. It shows overly oxidized aromas of dried meat, old leather and dried fig. This was a hot vintage and the bottom has dropped out on any residual fruit or fiber. The mouthfeel is tight, gritty and there’s a sudden note of bitterness on the finish. The effect is flat and void of any significant dimension. However, you do feel the vintage heat.”

So I had no high hopes for this Sassicaia. When I discovered it had cork taint, I was even more disappointed of course. But I could still tell that this was not a wine that had “reached the end of the line”, quite the contrary actually, I could still discern loads of fresh fruit. Despite the off aromas there was still a glimpse of an elegant and vibrant wine, making the disappointment that it was corked even bigger. So if you’re lucky enough to have Sassicaia 1991 in your cellar, no reason to rush! Then why did Monica Larner say it was at the end of the line? Could it have been a badly stored bottle? Or was there bottle variation? It’s interesting to read the reviews on Cellartracker : some are really raving, while others mention oxidation. I wished there was a second bottle to put to the test, but alas…

To sweeten the pill our host came up with a replacement bottle for the Sassicaia : the Col d’Orcia 1991, Brunello di Montalcino. A good deal younger than the other Sangioveses we tasted earlier on, but still 28 years old! The difference in age was noticeable quite well : still loads of fruit, blueberry, rosemary, tobacco, leather, cedar. Great nose. The tannins were still present but in general the balance was good. Great length as well! Very enjoyable now, but still so many things going on that it can easily hold up for at least another decade!

And that was the end of a great evening. La Casa of Tenuta Caparzo was my personal favorite, but it was definitely not the only oldie with a good performance. This tasting illustrated very aptly how good aged Sangiovese can be. Anyone up for a follow-up tasting in 40 years?

 

Chapoutier : instant happiness from the Rhône

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In my previous post I sang the praise of Angelo Gaja’s Barbaresco. But there was one wine in the line-up of my birthday tasting that stepped up to the challenge and said : “Hey, what’s all the fuss about?! Try me!”. And that was Michel Chapoutier’s Hermitage Moneau de la Sizeranne 2012 :

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Sniffing from this glass gave us instant happiness. A very complex and seductive nose with initially a bit of typical syrah reduction, followed by ripe strawberries, black pepper, green herbs, tobacco and a bit of smoke. The wine was beautifully balanced, fresh and ripe at the same time. In a perfect spot to drink right now.

This Hermitage delivered big time. And to be honest, most of the wines I already had of Chapoutier do! Yesterday evening I opened a bottle of the Couronne de Chabot 2012, a Saint-Joseph that Chapoutier brings on the market with Yannick Alléno, a French top chef. Again typical syrah reduction aromas to begin with, real barnyard funk! Black pepper, laurel, ripe red fruit, and iron. Great freshness in this wine. And again instant happiness from the first sniff.

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Other wines of Chapoutier that really blew me off my socks in the past were Les Varonniers, a Crozes-Ermitage, with great finesse and elegance. And Les Granits, a Saint-Joseph that shares the same characteristics as the Varonniers but that is maybe even more complex.

Unfortunately, the oohs and aahs that Chapoutier’s wines provoke all over the world push the prices up at a high speed. Especially for the “premium” wines. Luckily the quality of the “basic” cuvées of Chapoutier is still high, allowing everyone to enjoy a bit of instant happiness. The Crozes-Hermitage Y/M of Alléno and Chapoutier, for example, is a real taste bud pleaser coming at a very reasonable price.

When I visited Chapoutier’s shop last summer, I bought a few more bottles for when my need of endorphins is high. So don’t be surprised if you see more raving posts about Chapoutier in the future.

 

 

Midlife crisis? Drink Gaja!

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A midlife crisis is a great excuse to organise a birthday tasting and open a couple of wow bottles. The ones you’ve been saving for a special occasion. Also the ones that have a price tag that comes with the label (read overpriced wines), but that you secretly want to try anyway, at least once. All in all, turning 40 has its advantages…

I lined up 12 wines to share with three other winos, ranging from Champagne to Burgundy, Piemonte and Sicily, to end with a deliciously sweet Jurançon.

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The line-up

I will not discuss them one by one, but just pick out a couple that made us silent for a couple of minutes. The first one is the Barbaresco 2013 of Piemonte icon Angelo Gaja. If you know Piemonte, then Angelo Gaja probably does not need introducing. He is not only recognized for making top Barbarescos, but is also known for his controversial decisions such as the introduction of small barrique aging instead of the traditional botti (large casks), planting the international grape varieties cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc in Piemonte, and breaking out of the official Barbaresco DOCG designation. A bit of a phenomenon, really. All the more reason I wanted to try one of his wines!

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The Barbaresco is the flagship wine of the Gaja family. Even though Gaja started producing single vineyard Barbarescos in the 60s, it’s the “normal” Barbaresco that was produced already in the 19th century. Nowadays it is made with grapes from 14 different sites and it is aged for 12 months in barriques, and another 12 months in large oak casks. Gaja is sometimes called a modernist and the barrique aging could make you think that his wines will taste like vanilla juice, but still, his wines are always described as elegant and refined. To be tested of course! Also, if you are familiar with nebbiolo, you know that this is a grape variety that can be quite austere, producing wines that need time, sometimes even decades, to reach their peak. Opening a 2013 nebbiolo would in most cases be considered infanticide, a waste of money. Well, one of the reasons Gaja introduced barrique aging was to soften the tannins, and make wines that are more approachable in their youth. 2013 is also a vintage that produced  in general lighter wines than 2012. Again, to be tested!

How do you prepare such a bottle? That remains one of the most difficult things in wine, I find. Most of the wines you find in the supermarket are made to drink young, and you can just pop and pour. Once you go to wines of a higher segment, you will often find wines that need time, wines that can be difficult in their youth, aromatically challenging, or austere. It would not be the first time that I hear people who buy an expensive wine to celebrate a special occasion, and end up being really disappointed. Opening a bottle in advance can help to give it oxygen, and let it breathe. But for how long? The day before? A couple of hours in advance? Or pouring it in a carafe to give it a more agressive oxygen treatment? There is not one right answer to this, I’m afraid. A Bordeaux can benefit from opening it the day in advance, but I’ve had bad experiences with doing so with lighter wines, Burgundies for example. With wines made of nebbiolo, my experience is that the tannins can be quite rough, even unpleasant, on the second day. So I decided to open the Barbaresco a couple of hours before tasting it.

When I opened it around noon, I had a little sip to see how it was and check if it didn’t have cork taint. The wine already displayed beautiful aromas of red fruit, but the complexity was not there yet. I didn’t panic. A little bit of air can do wonders. And indeed… The red fruit was accompanied by floral aromas, and a bit of pepper. It was not so much the complexity but the quality of the aromas that made everyone realise this was something special. Delicate, elegant and refined were some of the adjectives that came up when sniffing from our glasses. The first sip pushed us further into exaltation. Ripe fruit but a cool impression at the same time. Everything here was so well dosed. The tannins were noticeable, but ripe and elegant, and provided a superfine structure that carried the wine. The long finish presented us with an extended goodbye. If I had to choose one word to describe this Barbaresco, it would be airiness! The complete opposite of a blockbuster actually. Or how a wine can mesmerize without having luxurious oak, or huge concentration.

Well, what can I say? This is an experience. Angelo Gaja completely lived up to his reputation as “King of Barbaresco”. You pay alot for a bottle, but at least this is the kind of tasting that will linger in your thoughts for long and that will put a big grin on your face when you think back of it. When you buy such a bottle, you don’t buy 75cl of wine. You buy an experience!

After reading this declaration of love for Gaja’s Barbaresco, you probably think this wine was the undisputed WOTN. For those of you who don’t master wine slang, that’s Wine Of The Night. Well, actually, there was a strong contender… Which one could that be, you think?