I had a group of the Toronto crew over to my place this past Saturday for a quasi-pot luck dinner and wine. There was no theme to the wines, but as people started to declare wines a natural theme emerged. The reds were almost exclusively Italian and primarily Tuscan: a nice flight of Merlot, a few Sangiovese, a Barolo, a Cab Franc… plus a blind Bordeaux thrown into the mix.
There were eight of us in total, plus two others who were only able to stay for the first hour. For food we had a ton of cheese, about 60 oysters, seafood salad, sweet potato salad, roasted potatoes, and then we BBQed beef burgers with truffle and various sausages.
Here’s the full lineup from last night:
2014 Laieta Gran Reserva Brut Nature
2014 Caballo Loco Grand Cru Brut Nature
2008 Philipponnat Blanc de Noirs Brut
1990 Bollinger Grande Année
The 1990 Bolly was superb. Full of life and very fresh, with just a gorgeous mix of fruit, yeast and caramel. My WOTN.
2018 Ridge Adelaida Vineyard
2010 William Fevre Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent - Magnum
The Ridge was served blind and no one came very close to identifying it. One person got the Roussanne in the blend, and a few figured it was new world, but that’s about it. It’s a very good, if very young, wine and I’ll be interested to see how it evolves in a year or two.
Joel Singer already commented on the Fevre Chablis in a separate Vaulorent thread here.
2000 Chateau Chasse-Spleen
1997 Podere Poggio Scalette Il Carbonaione - Magnum
2003 Il Poggione Brunello du Montalcino Reserva Vigna Paganelli - Magnum
2004 Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis - Magnum
2007 Le Macchiole Paleo
The Carbonaione was delicious. Super fresh and not showing its age at all. The BdM and Barolo also showed very well. All at or near peak. The 2007 Paleo Rosso was a tannic beast (and was still a monster 24 hours later when I revisited it). If you have the '07 Paleo, bury it for at least 3 or 4 more years.
2008 San Giusto a Rentennano La Ricolma
2011 Petrolo Galatrona
2009 Podere Poggio Scalette Piantonaia
2016 Podere Poggio Scalette Piantonaia
As part of the Merlot flight, we opened the contentious 2016 Poggio Scalette Piantonaia – the wine that Galloni called “abysmal” and “horrendous” and scored 50 points, the lowest score he’s ever given a wine (the next lowest score he’s given is 60 points).
We opened the 2016 Piantonaia alongside the 2009 and the consensus was unanimous. The 2009 was clearly the better wine, with excellent structure and depth. For a number of us, it was one of the top 2 reds we drank last night. As for the 2016, it was very good but lacked the gravitas of the 2009. It was lighter, lacking the tannins of the 09, and more fruit forward. Of course it was very young, but I don’t think it will improve considerably with age. It was a very enjoyable, early drinking vintage of Piantonaia. We all scored it somewhere between 88-90 points. Either Galloni tasted two faulty bottles, or his palate was faulty that day.
The Ricolma and Galatrona were both very good, albeit young. They could use more time.
2008 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Le Mont
NV Equipo Navazos Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda La Bota de Palo Cortado “Bota Punta” Nº 48
I barely recall the Vouvray. We started the night at 6 pm and by the time we got to the Vouvray it was after 1 am. But I do recall the Sherry that I pulled from my cellar at 1 am. The colour was deep bronze or mahogany, and the palate was full of hazelnut, brown sugar, saline and spice. Just terrific, and a fine way to wrap up the evening around 1:30 am.