Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Italian Wine Masters

This event has left me speechless. Great wines, well presented.

A little background. While studying wine at the Culinary Institute of America, I fell in love with Italian red wines, particularly Brunellos and Vino Nobiles. The fruit, acidity and herbal characteristics make for a great food and wine pairing experience. So when an invitation arrived announcing The Masters of Italian Wines, concentrating on the wines of Tuscany, I was sold.

This event had three parts, an introduction to Procseco, A Master Tasting of of Chianti, Vino Nobiles and Brunellos, and a walk around tasting of over 114 Italian wineries. In the words of an old Cstore commercial, there was too much good stuff, actually great stuff.

I am only going to extensively comment on the master tasting as there was just too much to keep track in the walk around tasting. The first flight were Chianti Classico Riservas. The 2008 from Fontodi was extremely fruit forward with hints of balsamic and oak, with some very nice aromatics and oak. The finish was smooth and long with some kick ass tannins. The second wine,  also a 2008, from Rocca had a radically different nose. This one was very herbal, almost mushroom like, with fruit and balsamic as supporting characteristics and a smooth and long finish with chewy tannins. Both wines were outstanding, and I would happily serve them.

The last wine of the flight, a 1993 from Felsina, was the most interesting, but ultimately, not my favorite wine. I do not have the opportunity to taste aged Sangioveses, and found it to remarkably youthful. Very large tannins, but the fruit kind of gave out in the mid pallet. A facinating study, and I would have loved to had some food to match this wine. In general, these were not your father's Chianti, they were all very well made and downright tasty.

We then moved on to the Vino Nobiles. This flight was a revelation. Full of fruit, herbal scents, dark red fruit, great acidity, very integrated tanins and a finish that went on forever. My favorite of the flight was the Poliziano 2007 which was a from a single vineyard calle d Asinone. I could just smell this wine and be happy. On the pallete it was lush, with loads for fruit, a tremendous acidity on the mid pallet and it screamed to have a great braised dish served with it. Some Osso Bucco would have been perfect.

Then came the Brunellos. Again, we had two recent releases, which were very young, and an aged selection from 1994. The Vill Poggio Salvi 1994 was spectacular with hints of tar, carmel and leather and surprisingly young tannins. The herbal/Balsamic edge on the nose was still there, even with the fruit having recessed into the the wood and herbal tones. It was a great wine that demanded food, particularly a braised game dish.

My personal favorite of the Brunellos was the Fanti 2008. Great fruit, great body, smooth and well integrated tanins, just wonderful, yet young. I'd like to revisit this wine in 5 years.

The walk around tasting was just overwhelming. There was just too much wine to take notes. Just suffice it to say, the quality of these wines were just over the top. For those who are not really up on Italian wines, may I suggest the web site Wines Till Sold Out, which features at least one Italian selection per day at a great price. It's a way to introduce yourself to these wines at really great price points.