2004 Pico, e cena con mia zia calabrese di 92 anni!

My Aunt Ceil made an appearance this week in The Berkshires, coming from Florida for the wedding of my brother.  We dined with family at The Church St. Cafe in Lenox, my friend Stefan's place.  What a night, enjoying Quail and '09 Langhe Nebbiolo from Produttori del Barbaresco with my 92 year old aunt.
Salute!

Earlier on...

After my first and very memorable experience of 2009 Angiolino Maule Pico with the COF 2011 crew, I found a 2004 vintage in The Wine Bottega in the north end of Boston two weeks ago.  I was slightly skeptical at first wondering how this Garganega would hold up after 7 years, but by the beard of Zeus this bitch was shining like a rock star.  Orange peel, grapefruit, hibiscus, bangin' acidity and a touch of tannin, best at room temperature.
Not a bad way to spend $20....

A Natural Grignolino

Havn't had heaps of Grignolino in the past, but when I stumbled upon this 2010 Tenuta Migliavacca ''natural'' Grignolino, had to try it... perfect for a summer day... light, refreshing and traditional, served slightly chilled

la vita romana

remembering the rooftop of il castello di via oderisi da gubbio

2 bottles of Krug, one faulty cork

After pouring a tall glass of Krug in an attempt to refresh the mind and palate after a night's work I found only great disappointment as I made a bitter beer face.  Shit! Despite the bubbles being lively and unharmed the wine immediately tasted terrible and oxidized.  After further investigation I noticed the odd looking cork.  I stumbled upon the cork from the first bottle opened (which I did not happen to taste) and set it next to the faulty looking one.  As you can see above the cork on the right from the oxidized wine is much skinnier and doesn't bow out into a mushroom shape like champagne corks normally do (hinting that oxygen was able to interfere much easier). 

La Panzanella!

Shimmering orange reflections of '85 Barbaresco Santo Stefano di Neive

When I was given the chance to pick out some wine for a couple having dinner with a $3,000 gift certificate (in wine) I immediately knew in which direction to turn.  With over 17,000 bottles and a choice of around 3,000 wines in the cellar I turned to Piedmont.  Selling mostly big name French wines I wanted to open a classic Italian wine that had some age on it. I reached for an '85 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco selling for slightly under $1,000.  They paired with a Cotes de Boeuf and later some cheeses.  They were excited to share a glass with me afterwards and i couldn't have been more excited myself.

The Barbaresco from Santo Stefano has been called ''Baroloesque'' and Bruno Giacosa himself has been quoted, saying ''it is more Barolo than Barbaresco.''

Do Bianchi has some wonderful Giacosa adventures here with some more recent vintages along with the story of Bruno's controversial decision to not bottle the 2006 vintage.  It is very informative and is what held me over up until my first opportunity to taste the legendary wine...

Bruno Giacosa 1985 Barbaresco Santo Stefano di Neive Riserva (Red Label)
 
The colour of this wine was simply mesmerizing.  Partially brick red but also very orange with glowing orange reflections that seduce a lover of Nebbiolo.  This bottle delivered everything I ever wanted in Nebbiolo and more.  The nose was very intense with forest, cantina, and ripe Taleggio cheese.  On the palate it completely stuns you by throwing in some of the freshest and most delicious fruit with notes of raspberry liquor followed by layers of barnyard and a sprocking acidity!  by the nose you would never expect such a healthy fruited wine, but it's in very good condition and can age some more years or be heavily enjoyed right now.

above, so very hard to capture by photo, finishing the Barbaresco with shimmering orange reflections showing