Azienda Agricola Borgo Conventi
Ribolla di Farra
Opened the bottle and it smelled really musty like dank basement. Quick taste, alive with vibrant acidity, some fruitiness. An hour later, basement wearing off a bit. Palette comes alive here, long finish hour. Hour or so later, nose is abundant herbs like chamomile and mint, wet stone, Aegean citrus. So much going on before even touching the lips. Each sniff is it’s own thing. In the mouth the acidity hits you like it’s a lot. But there’s candied citrus with salty carmelized sugar glaze and some white peach. Not cuz it’s sweet, it’s not. Then the finish is like unsweetened mentos and lingers on the tongue for quite a while. Good find on sale at Astor. Now I gotta find more old ribolla. — 2 years ago
Walter Scott
Arlyn Vineyard Gamay Noir 2018
Bottle 2 of 3, drank the last one almost 3 years ago! Nose: raspberry (stewed?) and intense menthol. Palette: brandy soaked strawberries, maybe a little chocolate, wild mushrooms, earthiness, long finish, cherry like. Still tannic, silky micro tannins, works well with food. — a year ago
Anne Sophie Dubois
l’Alchemiste Fleurie Gamay 2017
Waxy red berries, cherry pie, mentos on the nose. Black cherries, clean minerality, hint of flat cola, wet earth. Energetic and vibrant but easy going, integrated mellow tannins. — 2 years ago
Trimbach
Cuvée Frédéric Emile Alsace Riesling 2011
Good price at warehouse so I snagged one for wiener schnitzel dinner w/ cateloupe, prosciutto, radicchio &fig salad. Opened to give it a lot of air. Cream soda dum dum, Fuji apple, hint of gasoline but not a lot. Goes onto a grapefruit/citrus thing and a nice cream soda finish. Mineral and wonderfully acidic. Need to find older bottles! — 2 years ago
Mas Candí
Montombra Massís del Garraf Penedés Vi Blanc 2019
Sense memory of Catalonia. Nose: Stone fruit: white peach, some herbal florals like a wildflower honey. So fresh and clean. A little sandy beach or wet pavement. Tongue: bursts of energy, more herbaceousness, keeping the honey vibes going, salinity, overly ripe but still crisp pear, a little green apple candy. Full body damn and again, a clean wine. Long intensely enjoyable finish with bitter lemon and a tiny hint of peppermint. Kind of oily. — 4 months ago
Cantina Vignaioli (Elvio Pertinace)
Barbaresco Nebbiolo 1998
Kinda struggled with the cork, which was actually in great shape so probably my fault. Decanted for about 75 minutes. Drank with Grey Barn Osso Buco and kale blossoms with cannellini beans. Dominated by licorice of all colors. Menthol or herb tea with some muddied and candied dark berries. Little bit of old leather suitcase. Long finishhhh with all the above smashed together. — a year ago
Marchesi di Barolo
Barolo Nebbiolo 2012
2012 w/ burgers, backyard eggplant, grilled corn. Lots of evolution over the evening. Writing this now ~3.5hrs after opening. Now showing an intensely herbal and spearmint nose with sweet tomato savoriness. Earlier in the night more fruit. Initially there’s like a fleshy crisp apple then rosemary, bandaid, cranberry on the palette with a little fancy ham in there. Slightly grippy but not really. That bandaid thing comes out more in the finish. Seems to continue to benefit from air and went through some interesting weird phases over these several hours. — 2 years ago
Jared O'Connell
Nose: stewed apples and toasted sugar like the crunchy top of a crème brûlée. Palette candied stone fruit and mildly tart apple. Impressive depth of flavor but not intensely aged in its flavors. Some smokiness and toasty flavors but tart fruits as well. Vanilla apple tart a La mode finish. — 2 months ago