G. Conterno Barolo ?

Went to a well known steakhouse in NYC and saw this on the wine list: Barolo, G. Conterno 2013 $204. When I inquired about the wine, the wine director told me it was Giacomo Conterno, to which I replied I was only aware he made Francia and Cerretta (and Monfortino). Wine director insisted it was Giacomo, said something about a blend of parcels, so I ordered it. He brought me the 2013 Conterno Fantino Mosconi Vigna Ped. [scratch.gif]

Is there a present day G. Conterno other than Giacomo ?

Conterno-Fantino is a different producer than G. Conterno.

Not that I’m aware of.

Conterno Fantino is also in Monforte, but the wines are in a very different style – short maceration (8-15 days) and aged in French oak. Conterno Fantino - Wines

Just to reiterate, that is definitely not Giacomo Conterno.

Appreciate the feedback. When he brought me the bottle I told him that’s not Giacomo, and he offered to get me something else. Being not familiar with Fantino, I asked if he was a traditionalist and used the large botti and he replied yes. Having seen John’s information above, it appears that also was not correct.

Imagine a cartoon scene with you holding wads of dollar bills in your left hand, the bottle in the right and the salesman saying whatever it is you wanted to hear.

I opened up a 2001 Conterno Fantino wine receently and found, yes, the oak was there, but it had somehow integrated in sort-of-the-way Rioja can digest American oak. It actually wasn’t too bad.

I’m going to take this one step farther- This is straight CLOWN wine staffing here.

This is a completely inexcusable misrepresentation. Conterno Fantino on it’s own is a good producer, and to mislead people thinking it’s Giacomo? There is no honesty in this mistake. Whatever “well known NYC steakhouse” this is needs to fix this, and fire whoever made this mistake. You would accept no less if it was Ai Fiori, and any top NYC steak house should never make this mistake.

+1 Totally unprofessional.

I’ve had some bottles of Conterno-Fantino where the oak has integrated with time, resulting in a good wine. Similar results with certain vintages of Gaja and Scavino. But confusing Conterno-Fantino with Giacomo Conterno is an amateur blunder. I would understand if a waiter made such a mistake, but a wine director of a well-known NYC steakhouse? That’s very surprising. I would appreciate knowing where this happened.

Looks really bad since Conterno Fantino is actually listed in the list so it’s not like they’ve mistaken the producer. Wonder what’s going on here…

wow are these prices typical for NYC? 1995 Canon La Gaffeliere at $550?!! 2011 Bouchard Beaune de Chateau at $279??! [wow.gif]

crazy markups

A few months back I was perusing the online wine list of a new local French restaurant. They had a '14 Coche Dury Puligny-Montrachet
Les Enseignères for $120(!) on the list so I went that night to try to buy all of it they had. I ordered a bottle and the server brought me the same wine from Francois Carillon. I even made the somm double check the cellar to make sure they didn’t have the Coche Dury and he could never give me a decent answer as to why the list said Coche Dury. I have wondered if it was just a ploy to get wine people to go there when they opened…

Wow, that’s totally unprofessional for what is a well-known NYC restaurant. On pricing, it’s aleatory, as the list shows. Marcus, you picked the crazy ones, but most of the 1er white burg is not bad, nor are a lot of the pinots. I never know why it varies so much; I assume it’s what they think is “hot” and they can get for the wines, rather than what they actually pay.

The wine director was wrong both times. And one of the first things that should have tipped you off that it was the wrong wine was the price.

I would say that just the number of typos on the list when it comes to producer/wine names would make me hesitant to go there:

Abdré Jaquart Brut 1er Cru ‘Blanc de Blancs’
Charles Heidseck ‘Blanc de Millionaires’
Bollinger Le Grande Anee
Vincent Jouard vielles vignes
Barbaresco, Cerreto, ‘Bricco Asili’

Amateur hour all the way…

I don’t see how anyone is defending these prices. There are quite a few Wines, from just a cursory glance, that are more than 4X wholesale.

The 2015 PYCM En Remilly at $150 is not bad at all…assuming that is what you are actually getting

Watch it turn out to be Thomas Morey.

+1 piling on. Conterno-Fantino is one of the few barrique/modernists I like, but nothing like G. Conterno.