On 6/11/10 4:28 PM, DaleW wrote:
> Recently I've had good showings on old Barolos from "second tier"
> producers. But what about Barolo from a good-but-not-great vintage
> from a 3rd (or 4th) tier producer?
>
> Yesterday I had a couple errands in the city, when to Chambers St to
> pick up a mixed case I had waiting, and to briefly say hello to
> Oswaldo who was in town overnight (and who very generously gave me a
> bottle of Scholium Project!). While I parked by hydrant, CSW staff
> threw my wine in van, and I had a sec to chat with Oswaldo. He was
> looking in the sale bin, and said "hey, they've got 1982 Barolo in
> here for $25." Hey, great store, good looking bottle, who's going to
> let a little detail like not knowing the producer stop me? So I bought
> a bottle (even got the case discount), and I think Oswaldo bought
> another.

You'd better open that bottle of Scholium before deciding whether
Oswaldo was doing you any favors or not ;-)

>
> I stopped by house about noon and left wines on counter. Normally I
> believe in 24 hours upright if possible, but when it came time for
> dinner (duck breast in a red wine/demiglace sauce over salad) I gave
> Betsy the choice of older Barolo or younger Burg, she said Barolo, and
> I opened the 1982 Tenuta Montanello (Monchiero) Barolo. Good cork,
> clean label (probably recent),. Yeah, a bit murky, more time to rest
> after travel would have been wise. A bit of brown/orange to the color,
> but nice Nebbiolo nose of cherries, violets and tar, with some citrus
> zest. On the palate however it seemed a bit tired, meager red fruit
> with the acids sticking out a bit. However, never count out Nebbiolo.
> Hey, second pour has more vigor and fruit, and third is a slight
> improvement over that. A small glass about 10 (I think opened around
> 7) is best of all- there's nothing profound or complex here, but a
> solid mature midweight with cherries, roses, a bit of forest floor and
> tar. Still an edge of tiredness, but fun, and well worth my $22.50
> plus tax. There's a good glass plus left, we'll see if it survived the
> night. B

Nice story, Dale! There are quite a few people I know who feel that
Jamie at CSW is one of the true experts on Italian wines in NYC, so I'd
never bet against his judgment. While Astor or PJ might have greater
variety of Italians, CSW's selection is, in my limited experience,
uniformly high quality.

Mark Lipton


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