A splendid bunch of chaps from a well-known Suffolk wine
merchant (that’s all I’m saying) had been threatening a trip to Zucca for a
while. Their passion (to an extent new found) for Barolo meant it had to be the
wine theme.
We kicked off with a really lovely bottle of Tattinger Comte de Champagne 2002. I
think this was the first time I have had it. It had a lemony focus but was very
easy to drink. I would imagine a mag would have gone quickly, the bottle “evaporated”
at speed. The only thing that surprised me about the Comte was the relatively
high level of “sweetness”, it must have a decent dosage, either that of the vintage
is just so expressive. It will be fascinating, and enjoyable, to see how it
evolves over the years.
The six Barolos (I’m trying to give up on the phrase
Baroli) were book-ended by Germans. The first was Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg
Spätlese 2001 from magnum a very low, for Spatlese, alcohol of only 7%. The
wine was good, nice but not more than that, a little “spread out” and loose,
lacking focus. I feel I am being overly harsh bt it was just that a little bit
of the zip had gone. Others who knew the wine from other bottles certainly
suggested this.
So with the food coming at a good pace we were onto the Barolos
in 3 pairs. First: Barolo Brunate 2004 from Marcarini and Barolo Santo Stefano
2004 from G.Mascarello. The Brunate was a slightly
odd bottle, not so much faulty as just not a great one, I liked the sour cherry
fruit to start but it did seem to "split" a bit, one diner noting it just showed
too much alcohol. I have had the wine from magnum twice and both times it showed
better than this. Not a disaster but a little outclassed by it's partner. The Barolo Santo Stefano 2004 is a wine I
have never had before, exciting, it is a lovely dense but elegant
wine, it wasn’t showing masses but what it showed had focus and class, quite
floral notes, very persistent. If you own it you have done well!
The next pair
was a lovely contrast Barolo Pajana 1998 from D.Clerico and Barolo 1999 from
Bartolo Mascarello. The former is a high toned very oaked wine, not a bad wine
but just, to my mind , not a Nebbiolo and not a Barolo. The clean dense fruit is to be admired and when judged purely as a wine it is impressive. At 16 years
of age though the oak is still quite separate from the wine and will become
more so with air. What would it have been like with half the oak? We’ll never
know but it’d be interesting were it possible to know. The Bartolo was the
opposite "old school", starting to mature with a little bacon and savoury
edge joining the gentle bruised red fruit, it was quite easy and approachable for
a 1999, nice wine.
 |
| Ridiculous expression but there we go... |
The final pair was quite something Barolo Monprivato 2005
from G.Mascarello and Barolo Monfortino
2004 from G.Conterno. The Monprivato was like a cross over between Barolo and
Volnay, really lovely lifted elegant red fruits, very focused and streamlined.
If you have this wine it is definitely worth having a bottle soon as it is a delightful.
The Monfortino was decanted from 2.30pm-5.30pm then put back in the bottle. On
opening it had been hard as nails, tight. It then opened up more and more
without ever revealing the full array that will come with time and was there from barrel. One of less
than a handful of the only wines I have ever given 20/20. It is a great wine
and that’s that. The texture being wonderful now, if I owned some (sadly I don’t)
then I’d look again in 6 or 7 years.
One wine remained and it was a little gem
that just bought everything back into focus - Graacher Himmelreich Auslese
1999, W.Schafer (8.5%) – a little spritz and still primary Riesling. I am a bit
of a “cheap date” on Germans generally as I love Kabinetts but this was an
example of a spot on Auslese.
There was a lot of good chat and many laughs…what’s
the theme next time chaps?
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