Gambero Rosso Tasting

I wasn't going to write about this because I don't have much of anything nice to say. But I've been persuaded to just do it anyway, to tell you what I thought.

First, though, I must remind you that I rarely, if ever, drink Italian wine. So it's not like I can place what I tasted amidst my many other tasting experiences and say something meaningful. And I've never even heard of most of the producers I tasted. That said, I know my palate well enough to be confident when I smell and taste wine, to be able to say whether or not I like it. And in the overwhelming majority of the cases at this tasting, Brooklynguy no like.

Also, the place was a total zoo. It's hard for me to imagine an environment that is less congruous with tasting wine. No room to stand at a table, clatter and racket that never stopped, all the senses distracted.

Here is what I did like:
2001 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva - in my tasting guide the only notes next to the wine say "Holy S%*}!" That's right, I still refuse to cuss on this blog even if I write cusswords in my wine notes. Anyway, this wine was light and delicate looking, but so very powerful. Nose of roses and road tar.

The other Barolos were too astringent to me, impossible to understand. Some one with experience tasting young Barolo and then again with age might have something to say about them, but I do not.

The only other reds that I really liked at the whole tasting were the 2004 Poliziano Nobile de Montepulciano Asinone and the 2003 Terre degli Svevi Aglianico del Vulture Serpara. The Montipulciani had a lovely nose of dark cherries and funky earth and seemed energetic in the mouth too, something thta I didn't find in these wines - to me they were heavy and dull, suffering under their own weight.

The whites were more to my liking, on the whole. I liked the 2006 Dario Raccaro Colio Tocai Friulano Vigna del Rolat. It had serious structure and nice flavors. I preferred the 2006 Eugenio Collavini Collio Bianco Broy and the same producer's 2006Sauvignon Blanc Fumat Doc Collio. I also liked the 2005 Cantina Terlano Sauvignon Quartz, a lively and energetic wine with good acidity and length, and pretty good balance for a wine of 14% alcohol.

The real surprise for me, though, was the sparkling wine. My favorite was the 1999 Cavalleri Franciacorta Collezione Esclusiva Brut, aged for 8 years on the lees. If you can't make rich and satisfying wine after 8 years on the lees, I don't know what to tell you. But this one had a really delicate floral nose that belied the richness. I would be very happy drinking this wine at home, no doubt. I have no idea about the retail price. I enjoyed the Ca' del Bosco sparklers too, but they were not anywhere near as profound. The 2003 Franciacorta Dosage Zero was lovely, and quite dry as you might expect, and the 2002 Franciacorta Saten was also very nice, both of them based on Chardonnay.

Here are some of the wines I tasted that I didn't like, so those of you who actually know something about Italian wine will get a sense of where I'm coming from:

2003 Lorenzo Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. - unrelenting.
2003 Monfalletto Barolo Enrico VI - like eating dry dust.
2003 Elio Grasso Barolo Ginestra V. Casa Maté - made me thirsty.
2005 Vistorta Friuli Grave Merlot Vistorta - should have a blank white lable with one word on it in black letters -"Red Wine." Fine, that's two words.
2000 Cav. G. B. Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. - Are all Amarones like this, impossibly heavy and pruny, and impossible to imagine as an accompaniment to food?

You get the idea - this stuff didn't make me want to toss my Chinon and delve into the Italian bottles. I imagine that the wines at this tasting represent a "Parkerized" view of Italian wine. Please feel free to weigh in here - I don't know what I'm talking about.