On Jun 11, 5:19*pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> 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
>
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: *http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

I'm well aware that Oswaldo didn't like the Scholium, and the wines
are controversial/idiosyncratic. I've liked one white, not so much 2
others, but always interesting. Never had a red, was willing to pay
for this, but Oswaldo wouldn't take money (I did give him a bottle)

Jamie has a great rep for Italians, but on other hand this was
apparently somethign they put in closeout for cheap rather than
instock. So I don't think he was recommending it!