1997 Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo Ghemme

Type Red
Producer Antichi Vigneti di Cantalupo
Variety Nebbiolo
Country Italy
Region Piedmont
SubRegion Northern Piedmont
Appellation Ghemme



The Little Wooden Guy loves a bargain on aged wine.

Night One

The color says "tired and old," a dull red-orange brick with clear edges bordered by orange. The nose is a little closed, but if you really dig you can find roses, chestnuts and a little cherry. The real surprise is on the palate- there's still some life in this bottle. It still has some bright acid and smooth tannins, with the flavors of cherries, violets and leather. Licorice and a touch of tar are on the mid-palate. Mouth feel is chewy and teeth-coating.

Night Two

There are lots of nuts and flowers on the nose on Night Two, but little, if any, fruit. It also has just a bit of truffle and leather.

The palate is also primarily flowers and nuts. It has lavender and roses, tarragon and chestnuts. A little cherry survived through Night Two, getting stronger on the mid-palate, along with some leather. Tannins are very smooth. The finish is still long.

Conclusion

If you look at the picture you will see that this was marked down repeatedly, as years passed and inventory winnowed. Sometimes that means the wine is so mediocre nobody wants it. With a disreputable merchant, it can even mean it comes from stock that often got returned. But once in a while it can be a great opportunity to buy aged wine for a song. It is those rare finds that keep m going back to the bargain table.





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1997 Massa Vecchia La Fonte di Pietrarsa Maremma Toscana IGT

Vintage 1997
Type Red
Producer Massa Vecchia
Variety Cabernet Sauvignon
Designation La Fonte di Pietrarsa
Country Italy
Region Tuscany
SubRegion Maremma
Appellation Maremma Toscana IGT
Price $46.99



The Little Wooden Guy likes older Cabernets.

Night One

The color shows the age of the wine. It is brick red with the first hints of orange at the edges. The nose is classic older Cabernet, leading with florals, nuts and tarragon, rather than big fruit. Some plums were behind all of that, but did not dominate at all. The palate, too, is far more floral than fruity.

Violets take the lead on the palate, followed by tarragon and a touch of mushroom. Leather and grilled meat join the prior flavors, rather than replacing them, on the mid-palate. The finish is long, tannins are smooth and no longer predominate. This seems to be near the end of its life, perhaps just a bit over its peak. I will be interested to see how it fares on Night Two.

Night Two

The wine drank almost exactly the same as on Night One, except it was even better knit-together. It was wonderful and is clearly peaking right now. It am thrilled I have three more bottles, and will drink them over the next few months.





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2003 Poggio Amorelli Oracolo Toscana IGT

Type Red
Producer Poggio Amorelli
Variety Super Tuscan Blend
Designation Oracolo
Country Italy
Region Tuscany
Appellation Toscana IGT



The Wooden Guys did not get to try the wine, since we had it at Wine at Work Wednesday, and man are they going to be upset when they read this. Go buy this wine. Seriously, buy it. Study it. Drink half a bottle and have the other half on Night Two. This is a case study in how a wine can change, and how a dozen different aromas and flavors can knit together with some time and air.

Night One

The nose on this wine is absolutely wild. The first whiff will make you look up and say "hmmmmmmm" out loud. After that, it is a search to match the aromas with something familiar. Menthol? Absolutely. Lemon grass and asian spices? What the heck is that doing in there, floating above the glass like a bowl of Vietnamese soup? Chestnuts. Chestnuts?! Then the fruit, some white raisins, perhaps. There is also licorice, the real stuff, not the artificial candy.

The palate is just as odd. It definitely presents the taste of raisins, but it still has the odd predominate lemon grass and other asian spices taste of a Vietnamese restaurant. It offers huge changes on the mid-palate. Menthol pops out, followed by licorice. The very end of the mid-palate offers the crusty end of a leg of lamb. The finish is long, tannins strong but silky smooth and balanced by good acid. On Night One tasting, it seems like it would have lots of cellar life left.

Night Two

This has not changed a tremendous amount since Night One. The "Vietnamese Restaurant" nose is there, even stronger than before. The asian spices, not hot Szechuan, but exotic, are stronger, particularly on the sides of the tongue. Menthol faded a bit from Night One, but the spices are explosive.

On the palate, the spices run through the jars in your pantry though the hidden leaves and powders in the back of a restaurant with whole ducks hanging by their necks from the rafters and half a dozen woks going at once. White raisins become mulberry for just an instant, then shifts to natural licorice toward the finish.

This is good. This is far better than the 87 from Wine Spectator, but the whole shift from "interesting" to "really good" came on Night Two, so that is understandable. On Night One it threw a dozen things at you, but on Night Two those dozen things knit together into a smooth arc. This is the sort of wine an oenophile can spend hours studying, picking out different flavors and aromas, tasting it as it changes, minute by minute, and most important, from one day to the next.





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2006 Campo di Sasso Insoglio del Cinghiale Toscana IGT

Type: Red
Producer: Campo di Sasso
Variety: Red Blend
Designation: Insoglio del Cinghiale
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Appellation: Toscana IGT
Price: $48
From: Bin Ends Wine for $38.40. This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live sponsored by Wilson Daniels.




Night One

Cabernet Franc is obvious in the blend, as the tobacco leaf scent leaps first out of the glass. Just as the bottle is opened it also has the curious smell of dried tangerine rind, which blows off after about half an hour. The nose is rich with cocoa and dark fruit.

The first impression on the palate is of how smooth the wine is, even with a strong tannic structure. Cherries, leather, and some clear licorice also make up the initial attack. This continues to evolve, not just on the mid-palate, but from minute to minute. It is probably not fair to try to judge this wine until it has had some time to decant.

This is a real candidate for Night Two improvement.

Night Two

Classic Cabernet Franc tobacco is the first aroma out of the glass. A deeper whiff brings sticky dates and figs, and behind those, blackberries.

Tobacco also leads on the palate. The fruit is all black, dates, prunes and blackberries. A solid mid-palate adds pencil lead, and the dates turn to figs. The finish is very long. The tannins are smooth and silky, leaving a sense of suede, not merely leather.

2006 Di Majo Norante Sangiovese Terre degli Osci IGT

Type: Red
Producer: Di Majo Norante
Variety: Sangiovese
Country: Italy
Region: Molise
Appellation: Terre degli Osci IGT
Price: $9.99



The Little Wooden Guy is disappointed, and that's not really fair to the wine. At $9.99, it delivers a decent bang for the buck. No, he is disappointed because it failed to meet its promise, and herein lies one of the real problems with rating wines. The shelf-hanger said:

Wine Advocate - December 2007 - 89 points - Great Values from Italy

"The 2006 Sangiovese Terre Degli Osci is simply gorgeous. This superbly balanced red offers generous, super-ripe blueberry, spice and sweet toasted oak along with a soft, accessible personality."*

Hey, $9.99 for that? What a bargain! And then, disappointment. On the one hand, it suckered me into buying it. On the other hand, I was disappointed where I should have been thrilled- for $9.99 this wine really delivered. So I guess the question is, do they want a large number of individual sales, or a smaller number of multiple sales and loyal customers?

Night One

The nose opens with big aromas, starting with rubber and dark ripe fruit, blackcurrant and plum, followed by spices, primarily pepper and cardamom.

The palate, too, opens with rubber, followed by black pepper, blackberries, plums, and lots of florals, including violets and roses. Vanilla comes out on the finish. Mouth-feel is very smooth.

Night Two

The nose is much lighter on Night Two, more fruity, opening with cherries and raspberries, plus the cherry pits.

The palate is far simpler on Night Two, as well. Cherries and raspberries, some spice including white pepper, not any significant changes on the mid-palate, and a hint of nutmeg added on the finish.

*I am not a big fan of wine ratings and rarely buy anything based upon shelf-hangers, but as the manager of The 89 Project, if see and "89" under $10, I really have to buy it.

2003 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva

Type: Red
Producer: Castello di Monsanto
Variety: Sangiovese Blend
Designation: Riserva
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
SubRegion: Chianti
Appellation: Chianti Classico
Price: $23.99



The Little Wooden Guy offers the Sun Salutation to this quite reasonably priced product of earth and sunshine.

Night One

The color is very dark in the center, almost black, with a bright ruby edge about three-quarters of an inch deep.

The nose is interesting, offering more than most chiantis in this price range. It has cherries and some pomegranate, but also adds earth, chestnuts, and some spices, as well as a bit of tar.

The palate is filled with red fruit, opening with cherries, their sweetness mitigated by dry cranberry and perhaps some pomegranate. There is more than just fruit here, though. This is a very floral wine, with violets ripping across the palate. The mid-palate is pucker-dry, cranberries and violets, plus a touch of tar on the finish. Acidity is good, quite bright, and the tannins are a touch rough, not much, and very drying This could improve significantly from Night One to Night Two.

Night Two

The nose is floral, more so than on Night One, rich with violets and roses. The fruit has changed some, too. Before, it was cherries and cranberries. Now, it is dried cherries and dried cranberries.

The palate has not changed a lot. Acid is still bright, tannins perhaps slightly smoother. I saw this wine for $17.99 today at Costco. For that price, this is surprisingly cellar-worthy. Based upon a two-day tasting, I expect it has a couple more years of not just life, but perhaps improvement as well.

1998 Cascina Chicco Barbera d'Alba Bric Loira

Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba
14% Alc
$26.93 in Indianapolis (Cellar Tracker community avg- $36.97)

Night One

The moment I opened the bottle, pulling the unusually long cork, the room was filled with bright fruit smells, like walking through the berry aisle of a big fruit market.

The color is very deep red/black, with the edges just starting to turn brick red.

Surprisingly, twenty minutes after opening the fruit is not overpowering, even though it seemed to explode out of the bottle behind the cork. There is fruit, yes, but well-balanced, not overpowering. The initial scent is roasted chestnuts spread with unsweetened strawberry and blueberry jam. There is also a lot of toast and toasted wood.

The palate has loads of bright red fruit, tart cherries and a mix of sweet and sour strawberries. There are also notes of toast and nuts. Acids remain bright, even after ten years. Tannins are soft but noticeable. This wine is clearly ten years young, with years of cellar life remaining.

Night Two

The nose is fascinating, strawberries and sage, black cherries and a touch of vanilla. On the palate, though, is where the big changes from Night One are evident. It is dry, sweet, and tart, barely fresh cherries and strawberries covered with very dark, like 90% cocoa, chocolate. Tannins are a bit dusty, a little drying, counter-balanced by bright acids.

This was a good bottle of wine, one that improved significantly from Night One to Night Two, making me think a year or two in the cellar, perhaps more, will add balance and integration as well as additional depth.

2003 Pico Maccario Barbera d'Asti Berro

Pico Maccario
Italy
Piedmont
Barbera d'Asti
Alc. 12.5%
$16.98 in Indianapolis

Night One

The nose of this wine is dark and sweet. Black cherries, licorice and molasses are balanced out by a whiff of varnish over freshly sanded oak. On the palate, red fruits and high acidity, plus a bit of oak, offer an adequate but generic Barbera.

Night Two

This wine changed as much overnight as anything the Wooden Guys and I have had here at 2 Days per Bottle.

The nose was lighter, far lighter, exhibiting cherries and strawberries up front, then a clear but momentary hit of sweet birch beer in the back of the sinuses at the end. There was a more full mouth feel on the palate, only moderate acidity and no discernible tannins. Flavors were mulberry and cherries, followed by a light dusting of pumpkin pie spices.

For $16.98 I do not expect to be awed, but I do hope for far more backbone and structure than I found in this bottle.

Azienda Agricola Lohsa Mandrone di Lohsa Maremma Toscana IGT 2004

13.5% alcohol
$21.99

This was an interesting two-night trip. The color was medium garnet, slightly cloudy, with clear edges.

The nose of this wine exploded with leather, white chocolate, plums and toasted nuts. There was also another scent, was it fruity or floral?, hiding in the back, something I could not quite put my finger on. Stay tuned for the second night, when it makes a big appearance.

The palate had dark, very dark but not burned, toast, cranberry, and black cherry up front, tobacco, white chocolate and smooth dry leather tannins on the midpalate, and a long finish. On the first night this was full bodied, mouth coating, but apparently very young.

On the second night that mysterious scent made its appearance again, this time front and center. It was mango. Yup, mango. Not mango from a can, or jelly, but real, honest-to-goodness fresh mango from the Indian River, specifically Merritt Island, Florida. There was also some white chocolate and flowers, mostly three day old hibiscus and roses. Bring it to your mouth and take one last quick sniff and lavender shows up, too.

On the second night it still seemed young on the palate. It was tight and dry. Cranberries and fresh plm skins give the sour, plus the tiny clear wild cherries you find growing in Michigan, up near Traverse City. Tobacco and leather are there, too.

This could use a lot more time in the cellar, maybe five years or more, going on the last two nights. There is a lot of wine here and it shows on the nose, but the palate is still too tight to show its best.

J. Hofstatter Lagrein 2003

Denominazione di Origine Controllata, Alto Adige, Product of Italy. 13% alcohol, $19.98.


The color was dark, almost black, with bright purple edges. Te cork was almost black, with wine almost half an inch up the edges.

Right out the bottle this wine had a huge nose of blueberry, burnt caramel and vanilla. The palate started with bright red fruits and cranberries, followed by a touch of mint and some orange peel. Mild velvety tannins only showed up at the finish, which dropped quickly but not entirely, lingering with berries and cream.

This is a very good wine and at a very good price. I am curious to see if it opens more overnight and becomes something extraordinary.

Second night. Now it is a softer, more balanced, mature-tasting wine. Four or five hours open, plus a night under the Vacuu-Vin, have the same effect as several hours of decanting, giving just enough instant-aging to give you an idea how it might change with more cellar time.

The nose with not as explosive, but surrendered more layers, including dark cherry, plum, cloves, black pepper and, at the end, a touch of mint. The palate changed rom last night's slightly acidic red fruits to softer black ones, including blackberry and black cherries, plus cloves and lavendar. About an hour after re-opening it started with cocoa and black fruit, followed by the tarter cherries, cloves, and florals. Tannins were far less obvious on the much softer finish.

This was a good wine, an interesting wine, offering plenty of tastes and layers. Based upon its changes overnight, I also think it could benefit from another year or two, not much more, in the cellar.