Date tasted: May, 2011
Where: Minneapolis
Price: $$
Notes: Hard to say how many great bottles of Cloudy Bay we've had over the years. Simply the "go to" NZ sav if you want tart, herbacious, finely acid and impossibly crisp exemplar of this varietal.
27 May, 2011
2001 Feudi di San Gregorio Taurasi Riserva Piano di Montevergine
Date tasted: 26 May, 2011
Where: Minneapolis
Price: $$$
Notes: 100% Aglianico di Taurasi grapes and aged 10 years, this is what red wine should be: subtle, long fruit (cherry, plum, gooseberry); balanced acidity and tannins through which notes of oak, leather, olive, even nuttiness play. This wine wields its power through structure, and so pairs with just about anything you'd put alongside a good red, from fish (we paired it with wild caught AK sockeye salmon) to lamb, cheese, chocolate, sex, waking up, breathing . . .
24 May, 2011
2008 Vietti Barbera D'Asti Tre Vigne
Date tasted: 23 May, 2011
Where: Minneapolis
Price: $$
Notes: a really well-mannered red, with subtle cherry/cranberry notes adding a mild acid tartness that unfolds with surprising length. In spite of the relative absence of tannins, not jammy at all. Paired nicely with Punch pizza putanesca (anchovies, olives, capers) and an evening with our friends Matt and Beth.
12 May, 2011
2010 Castello del Poggio Moscato D'Asti
Date tasted: 11 May, 2011
Where: Minneapolis
Price: $
Notes: sweet and mellow with a little fizz, but only 5% alcohol. Almost after-dinner-sipping sweet, but also can see it as great picnic wine on a hot day when you want something stronger than sparkling grape juice-- for about the same price.
Paired acceptably enough with a ginger syrup and caper seared tuna, fresh asparagus tips and MN wild rice, followed by raspberry yogurt "parfait" with a sprinkle of butterscotch pecan granola.
10 May, 2011
Black Hills Estate 2008 Nota Bene
Date tasted: 11-12 May, 2011
Where: purchased Vancouver, BC (tasted in Mpls)
Price: $$$
Notes: a Bordeaux-style blend of 41% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Cab Franc. A lucky find, as this vintage had been technically "sold out" for almost a year. Fruity on the nose, but not at all jammy. Merlot does a nice job of balancing the heavier notes in the cabs. A little shorter on the palette than I'd hoped, but worked well with a variety of flavors: dark chocolate, St. Marcellin soft cheese, baba ganoush and smoked AK sockeye salmon.
2007 Road 13 Fifth Element
Date tasted: 9 May, 2011
Where: purchased Vancouver, BC (tasted in Mpls)
Price: $$
Notes: a Bordeaux-style blend of 58% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cab Franc. Top of the line blend from this South Okanagan Valley vintner. Nice tannins and oak (s?), as well as notes of leather and tobacco, all finely enough balanced to drink now, but likely to age well, too. Paired with home cooked round tip steak (to which it was added as part of a jerk, herbs de provence and au jus reduction), followed by prosciutto-wrapped dates stuffed with fromage bleu and thick cut uncured bacon. This is a serious effort, to be paired with red meat.
Mer Soleil 2008 unoaked Chardonnay
Date tasted: 7 May, 2011
Where: Vancouver, BC
Price: $$
Notes: mineral, acid, modest citrus and melon, but best vintages appear to be 2006-7. Paired well with paella and halibut. Unique in that it never touches wood of any kind, and is bottled in ceramic.
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