Notes from a Piemonte tasting dinner.

1985 Dom Perignon – great way to start the evening, with a lovely
complex toasty bubbly that seemed to send flavour in consecutive
waves.

1997 Ceretto Asij Barbaresco – nice way to start with a garnet
coloured wine showing a lovely perfumed nose with floral, anise and
herbal elements, fairly mature now and smooth on palate. If you have
this one, get tucked in as it won’t be getting any better.

1990 Parusso Bussia Barolo – right into an other mature wine, darker
in colour with a hint of vinyl in the nose as well as good fruit and a
fair bit of remaining soft tannin on palate. I don’t have this one in
the cellar, but if whoever brought this has another, I do have the
1990 Mariondino that would be fun to compare.

1996 Parusso Piccol Vigne – another good choice in the order of things
as this wine was also showing well, with more vinyl in the nose, a tad
less fruit than the 1990 and about the same tannin. It opened up
nicely with time in the glass and is probably hitting a nice drinking
plateau now.

1997 Ceretto Zonchera – warm spicy nose featuring anise, nice
development, soft tannins, ready to roll.

1997 Revello Vigna Conca – dried cherries in this nose, the wine still
slightly tight, but it opened with time in the glass. Showed excellent
depth, very smooth and supple, probably just starting to hit prime
drinking time now.

1995 Giacosa Gallina - corked

1990 Marcarini La Serra – sadly, this wine was slightly corked, but
nonetheless it showed an otherwise smooth mature tarry nose and decent
on palate – but we’ll never know how badly it had been affected by the
cork taint.

1997 Marcarini La Serra – fun to do a mini-vertical. Hard tannins,
but showing promise with a really nice nose, long and intense. This
is an old style Barolo and needs many years to reach peak.

1998 Rainoldi Valtellina – a back up bottle from the north of Italy
where Nebbiolo does some very different (and interesting) things.
Lighter colour, good nose with sweet fruit, lighter in body and still
tannic, this should start drinking well in a couple of years, or now
with extended airing.

1999 Prod. del Barbaresco Montestefano – one of my favourite
Barbaresco producers. The nose was sweet and slightly raisined, and
the wine had good stuffing, soft tannin and decent length. A good
wine, but maybe not up to the best this producer can do.

1995 Cappellano Otin Fioria Franco – a traditional style wine with a
great licorice and tar nose, smooth on palate, if a tad hot, with very
good length. Rustic and lovely – a classic Barolo.

1999 Prunotto Bussia – a pretty nose of roses and vanilla, but I felt
that it fell a tad flat in midpalate. Others didn’t agree, so perhaps
they are right and I am not.

All in all an enjoyable dinner mating interesting food with very
interesting wines.

On May 4, 12:46*pm, "Bill S." wrote:
Notes from a Piemonte tasting dinner.

1985 Dom Perignon – great way to start the evening, with a lovely
complex toasty bubbly that seemed to send flavour in consecutive
waves.

1997 Ceretto Asij Barbaresco – nice way to start with a garnet
coloured wine showing a lovely perfumed nose with floral, anise and
herbal elements, fairly mature now and smooth on palate. If you have
this one, get tucked in as it won’t be getting any better.

1990 Parusso Bussia Barolo – right into an other mature wine, darker
in colour with a hint of vinyl in the nose as well as good fruit and a
fair bit of remaining soft tannin on palate. *I don’t have this one in
the cellar, but if whoever brought this has another, I do have the
1990 Mariondino that would be fun to compare.

1996 Parusso Piccol Vigne – another good choice in the order of things
as this wine was also showing well, with more vinyl in the nose, a tad
less fruit than the 1990 and about the same tannin. *It opened up
nicely with time in the glass and is probably hitting a nice drinking
plateau now.

1997 Ceretto Zonchera – warm spicy nose featuring anise, nice
development, soft tannins, ready to roll.

1997 Revello Vigna Conca – dried cherries in this nose, the wine still
slightly tight, but it opened with time in the glass. Showed excellent
depth, very smooth and supple, probably just starting to hit prime
drinking time now.

1995 Giacosa Gallina - corked

1990 Marcarini La Serra – sadly, this wine was slightly corked, but
nonetheless it showed an otherwise smooth mature tarry nose and decent
on palate – but we’ll never know how badly it had been affected by the
cork taint.

1997 Marcarini La Serra – fun to do a mini-vertical. *Hard tannins,
but showing promise with a really nice nose, long and intense. *This
is an old style Barolo and needs many years to reach peak.

1998 Rainoldi Valtellina – a back up bottle from the north of Italy
where Nebbiolo does some very different (and interesting) things.
Lighter colour, good nose with sweet fruit, lighter in body and still
tannic, this should start drinking well in a couple of years, or now
with extended airing.

1999 Prod. del Barbaresco *Montestefano – one of my favourite
Barbaresco producers. The nose was sweet and slightly raisined, and
the wine had good stuffing, soft tannin and decent length. A good
wine, but maybe not up to the best this producer can do.

1995 Cappellano Otin Fioria Franco – a traditional style wine with a
great licorice and tar nose, smooth on palate, if a tad hot, with very
good length. Rustic and lovely – a classic Barolo.

1999 Prunotto Bussia – a pretty nose of roses and vanilla, but I felt
that it fell a tad flat in midpalate. Others didn’t agree, so perhaps
they are right and I am not.

All in all an enjoyable dinner mating interesting food with very
interesting wines.

Nice notes, with a couple of my favorite reasonably priced producers
(Marcarini and the co-op).
I finished my last '97 Zonchera already. Thanks for note re the '97 La
Serra - I was wondering if its time might be near (as some '97s are so
forward)