Sassicaia, Banfi, Paleo etc.

[bills]

Some notes from over the holidays:

1996 Pol Roger Rosé Reserve – a light pink, with full mouth feel and crisp end. No rush on this one.

2000 Tunina (Jermann) – unusual blend of chard, sauv blanc, ribolla, malvasia and picolit from NE Italy. The nose was predominantly chard, which indicates to me that the SB component must be pretty low, as it usually doesn’t take much of that to over power other varietals in a blend. Clean and well balanced.

1988 Sassicaia – the last time I tasted this was in my vertical dinner, rather unfairly placed against the truly exceptional 1985 (the 1978 and 1985 are qualitatively different from other vintages). This wine showed a deep sweet nose of fruit and vanilla, and a supple smoothness on palate that was very attractive. It has good length, was very pleasurable, and may be drinking at about peak right now, or at least getting close to it, but it should last many years.

1988 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al Oro – this reserve Brunello showed quite well. It was browning at the edges, but many of these wines can show this without it being any sign of break-up. The wine was an old style Italian Brunello with lots of acidity, good length, and ready to drink right now. It should hold awhile but certainly won’t get any better. The reserve was much better than the regular cuvee in this vintage.

1996 Le Macchiole Paleo – this wine, like the Sassicaia, also a Bolgheri wine, was interesting. A blend of 85% cab with 15% sangiovese, it showed much more like a new world wine than a traditional Italian. Warm toasty nose with more oak than the Sassicaia, and the sangiovese didn’t seem to exert much influence on palate. If tasted blind among a group of Californian wines, I could see accepting this in that milieu. Drinks well now, and could use a few more years to continue to develop. Interesting contrast to the preceding wines.

1982 Viccarie Amarone – I am a fan of these wines, dried for months on straw mats to lose water and concentrate sugars and flavour before fermentation. The resulting dry wines, normally high in alcohol (usually 14 – 15.5%) with a bitter finish that you either love or hate go very well with cheese after dinner. This example had the typical hottish raisin and licorice nose and had good length, although it showed signs of drying out a bit. I don’t think I’ve even seen this producer in recent years – have they disappeared?

2001 San Alejandro Baltasar Gracian Garnacha Vinas Viejas – this wine, made by the San Alejandro coop that also does the bargain Las Rocas, is also a winner. The dark wine showed a cherry nose with a hint of anise. In the mouth, it was soft and smooth, with a nice long finish with a bit of pepper at the end. This is a great bargain as well, and should last awhile even though the tannins are already quite soft. (had this on new year’s eve with a rare rib eye with Dijon-shallot cream sauce, prefaced by a small raft of BBQ’s prawns in garlic butter with the Segura Lavit pink bubbly – we were just in a Spanish sort of mood).

[Coop]

The Baltasar, is that the wine from the Kitsilano wine cellar for around $28.00? If it is I can relate to one of these wines as I too have found it very nice. Oh and the pink cava too. This guy on Winefanatic .ca seemed to really like it, so I bought some and found it very nice. Hey wait a minute!