EASY ON THE POCKET NIGHT - At home with Richard and Naoko (9/10/2005)

During the summer, a couple who are good friends of ours relocated from
Tokyo to Boston. When they moved, they thinly cherrypicked their cellar
and were looking to get rid of the rest. I went through and identified
the things that really interested me (about two cases), then they
offered them to me at 25% of lowest price online. If that wasn't good
enough, they threw in the remaining five or so cases for free, figuring
it was better to give it to someone who cared than to leave it on the
street for the sanitation engineers.

Provenance on some of these wines is questionable and I've been meaning
to check on them. Wines are almost all Italian, heavy on '97 Tuscans.
Cathryn has been craving risotto, so we invited my cousin and his wife,
pulled some bottles, and I made dinner.

To keep with the "easy on Jim's pocket" theme, we started with a white
burg that a friend from Paris had brought us when visiting earlier this
year.

*1998 Derain Saint-Aubin En Remilly 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, C=F4te
de Beaune, Saint-Aubin*
Lightish gold and enticingly bright. Nose of clean citrus and apple,
with a little stoniness. Very clean and pure, promising nice cut. With
time, a little richer citrus oil comes out, but the nose really remains
pure chardonnay fruit. Palate feels a little rounder and richer than
the nose suggests, but is still nicely balanced and on the refreshing
end of the scale. Persistent enough finish highlights the citrus oil
and mineral. Paired very nicely with a very lightly dressed salad of
organic greens with lemon zest, yuba, and sashimi (salmon roe, tataki
salmon, uni, sweet shrimp). And that's really the place for this wine
to shine -- with fresh seafood that needs a little more heft than a
Muscadet, but a lot less than a big chardonnay. From a biodynamic
producer that has managed to avoid all the pitfalls that come with such
low sulphur/low protection approaches. I'll look for more from this
producer.

*1996 Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale Oro - Italy, Tuscany,
Chianti, Chianti Classico Riserva*
Tuscan-tone red just starting to take on orangey-red hints at the rim.
Nose on this one is open from the beginning, with tobacco, dark cherry,
bracken, and earth. Grows in volume more than complexity as wine sits
in glass. Tobacco fades and bracken and earth pick up, as does a little
mocha spice. Palate is taut with a light but sturdy structure of smooth
tannins and good balancing acidity. Sour cherry and nicely tart plum
dominate the fruit, along with the earth from the nose and just a hint
of chocolate. A nice picture of balance and restraint. Like a small
wiry fighter with endurance showing on the finish. Earthy elements made
it pair very well with an assorted mushroom risotto made using a little
wine and the liquid from reconstituting dried morels. Perfectly ready
to go, but will probably hold for a good long while as well.

*1997 Fattoria di Sant'Angelo (Lisini) Brunello di Montalcino - Italy,
Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino*
Rich, ripe-looking plum red in glass. Still looking young. Nose is
fairly open from the beginning, with emphasis on deep black fruit
(roasted plums, some blackberry, some sweet dark cherry). Also offers a
little spice and coffee, along with a touch of earth. With time in
glass, ripe dark fruit continues to dominate nose. Similarly primary on
palate, with the same dark fruits backed up by a little tobacco and
earth. Big and rich, but not outsized, mouthfeel easily covers ample
but extremely smooth tannins. Time might bring out some more
complexity, but my sense is that this is wine to enjoy young, while the
ripe fruit smooths the tannins. Good overall balance and the kind of
wine I most like from such a ripe vintage. Maybe a little atypical
compared to 96s and 99s, but I think more just primary and smooth.
Balanced well with the rich fat flavors from oven broiled lamb chops
with parsley, lemon, and mustard crust.

*1990 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico - Italy, Veneto,
Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico*
Maturing red tending toward dusty orange-brown. Nose is very low-toned
with roasted plum and prune fruit, some raisin and dark roast coffee,
and wee bit of leather and resin. That nose is apparent when it is
opened and doesn't really change with time, except that it fades a
little in intensity. Palate is slighty hot, with more roasted fruit,
some chocolatey cherry, and a little earthiness that is more texture
than flavour. Fully resolved tannins and no discernable acid.
Everything is there, I guess, but it is just a little flat and dull.
Helped a little by cheese (parmigiano reggiano, black pepper sardinian
pecorino, mimolette, and bleu de Causses), but not enough. My sense is
that this has headed over the hill and is starting to show the less
flattering side of 1990. To be fair, provenance is a serious question
here. I had some bottles of my own and some picked up from the moving
friend referred to above. Didn't mark them and don't know which was
which.

*1990 Castello di Pomino (Frescobaldi) Pomino Vin Santo - Italy,
Tuscany, Pomino*
From 375. Very deep gold tending a little more toward brown than orange
at the edges. Upon pouring, nose is much more at the oxidative than the
candied end of the vin santo spectrum. Within the general tone of
maderized notes were roasted nuts, a little rancio, and a very slight
bit of orange peel. With a little time, some caramel and dried apricot
came out. Palate was a little fresher, retaining acid that was
well-hidden on the nose and with sweetness as an accent more than a
dominant quality. Not quite sprightly, but bright enough for the
marzipan and sweet lemon cream flavours to pair well with Chinese
almond tofu pudding. Provenance again a question.

Of the wines from the moving friends, two seemed to be in good shape
and two others may (or may not) have been heat damaged. At the prices I
paid -- between free and 25% of lowest retail -- I can afford a few
damaged bottles. It's also possible the Lisini was a little advanced,
but it was drinking well. I'll be doing a lot more sampling soon.