Chronicles Of Consumption

Giuseppe Quintarelli - Bianco Secco, Ca' del Merlo 2007 @ The Gage, Chicago

One of a relatively small number of gastropubs in Chicago, The Gage seems always to be extremely busy whenever I am there - and for good reason too. The food is good, and well-priced, and there is a pretty extensive list of libations available for one's purveyance, and in fact the wine list has quite a few gems on it (such as Dagueneau's 2006 Pouilly Fume Silex for $90 - unfortunately sold out) , sourced by their extremely knowledgeable, helpful and friendly wine director, Shebnem Ince. I was most impressed by the way she took the time to discuss our options, taking into consideration external factors such as the biodynamic calendar (it was a flower day), and also that the barometric pressure was low, and recommending wines that she thought would be the most expressive - and recommend a splendid wine she did. She steered me away from a Sancerre from Pascal Cotat (too young) and a white Chateauneuf Du Pape (too tight), and recommended a white, a Soave, from one of Italy's most revered producers, Giuseppe Quintarelli, his Bianco Secco, Ca' del Merlo 2007.

This is a blend of 5 grapes - Garganega, Trebbiano Toscano, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Saorin, which apparently is a Tokay clone. It has a pale straw colour (I think, it was pretty dark, and helpfully I am a little colourblind) and a lovely, but slightly muted nose of honey and white flowers, with  wet rock minerality, plus some citrus aromas too - lime and lemon zest. The palate is much weightier than I had anticipated, with more intense fruit than on the nose, plenty of citrus again, with some ripe red apple and a touch of apricot, also the honey is there and the strong mineral backbone too. There are medium levels of acidity, certainly enough to balance the weight, and it has a very clean and lengthy finish. It is quite dense with a very creamy texture, and good flavour intensity and richness to complement the weight. Overall an excellent choice, and it went very well with our crab starters and scallop and sea bream mains.

There is more to follow...

A Quick Little Tasting - Dagueneau, Clos Des Papes blanc, Suduiraut, Cepparello, Quinault L'Enclos

Today brought a pleasant little tasting at The Chicago Wine Company in Wood Dale, IL, there weren't too many wines there, but there were several that piqued my interest as I had not tasted them before. The wines of interest that lured me all the way over there were: 2004 Clos Des Papes Chateauneuf Du Pape Blanc; 1999 Quinault L'Enclos St-Emilion Grand Cru; 2005 Isole e Olena Cepparello; 2005 Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes; and finally the Pouilly-Fume Silex from the great Didier Dagueneau, 2006.Unfortunately, due to our (hopefully) impending house purchase, I felt compelled to avoid any rampant and impulsive purchases. I can't be angering Mrs. Fatboy now can I..?

2004 Clos Des Papes Blanc: sadly disappointing for me, it was a little dull, lacking depth and balance for me. The nose was very delicate - in fact so delicate it was almost non-existent - the pear, honey and floral flavour intensity, and the body didn't match the crisp acidity on the mid-palate and the finish, though there was a very pleasant hint of oxidation on both. It could very well be that it is in a strange stage in its evolution, but I'd be concerned that the oxidation would take over before many secondary flavours develop.

1999 Quinault L'Enclos: Developing very nicely, soft, ripe, plummy, curranty fruit, with secondary smoke and tobacco notes. Rich and full in the mouth, with ripe and silky tannins, and no hard edges at all. A very pleasant wine with a long finish, that is very good value too. A lovely mouthful of wine for $37.

2005 Cepparello, Isole e Olena: 100% Sangiovese, this is made in more of an international style; it has quite rich ripe fruit, with lots of new, French vanilla oak that needs some time to develop its full range of flavours. It is very well made, with no rough edges, but I have to say I'm not a big fan of this style, there just aren't enough distinguishing characteristics in it for my liking, I prefer wines from this area to be made in a more traditional style, and I certainly wouldn't give this wine the 95 score that the WA does.

2005 Suduiraut: undoubtedly one of the standouts of the afternoon for me; from the moment I shoved my conk deep into the glass I was struck by the purity of the fruit and by how focused the nose was, the aromas of honeyed pineapple, orange, tropical fruit and caramel just leapt out of the glass and up my nostrils... The palate confirmed everything I anticipated, and more, with a soaring mid-palate and a good dollop of botrytis to boot, and zesty acidity on the very long finish. Not cloying in any way, this has a very exciting future ahead of it. I allowed myself a couple of bottles of this beauty...

2006 Pouilly Fume Silex, Dagueneau: This was the other standout wine of the day, obviously; plenty of ripe fruit, reflecting the vintage - sweet pink grapefruit, and lemon, with a touch of butter and a hint of marzipan(!) with fine, flinty minerality, and a very long, evolving finish.  Excellent body, structure and depth, but it is a little tight just now, even with the ripeness of the fruit, all the constituents are clearly defined, and the nose was a touch muted. No worry though, given a little time I am confident that this will turn into a very splendid wine indeed.

Overall an extremely pleasing way to spend an afternoon. I did allow myself a couple of small purchases, a little Suduiraut and Quinault L'Enclos, but nothing more. Believe me, an angry Mrs Fatboy is not something one should wish to encounter on a dark night.

One downer though, I had to return home after this and confront our stubborn freezer that decided to pack up last night, causing everything to defrost. I was forced to get the grill out and cook all of the meat that we had in there. I guess it wasn't all bad then...

Antinori, Tenuta Guado al Tasso, Il Bruciato, Bolgheri, 2006 + Strip Steak

Ok campers, so the Super Tuscan wasn't that exciting unfortunately, it was OK without being great, and it didn't have too many qualities to make it stand out. Bollocks. Here is my quick review:

Dark ruby colour, dark fruit (cherry, blackcurrant), violets and oak on the nose; lots of dark fruit, some vanilla and a hint of minerality on the palate.  Medium+ body, medium finish, balanced acidity and silky tannins. Improved with time in decanter. Bold fruit gives impression of an international style, but subtle oak and minerality keep it in balance in an old world style. Needs food (strip steak). Ok - nothing to distinguish it from the crowd.

A bend of 50% Cab Sav, 30% Merlot and 20% Syrah, unfortunately it is pretty average. I always wonder how a very large wine company, such as Antinori, that produces so many wines is able to put a consistently high level of effort into producing each one, and I think this wine goes to highlight my doubts unfortunately.

On the upside, though, my medium-rare, prime strip steak (again purchased at Costco) was splendiferous. At least I have that.

Amarone, La Giaretta Follow Up

I have just looked at the website for La Giaretta as I wanted to find out some more about this Amarone that you just reviewed, and I just discovered this splendid description of this wine: "It is an excellent meditation wine". Superb, that has to be one of the finest descriptions I have ever read for a wine, especially an Amarone. Maybe what they mean is that after one glass too many you will be in a state of enforced meditation...

Quick wine notes - favourite wines this weekend

Just some quick tasting notes on my 2 favourite wines this weekend

1982 Auxey Duresses 1er Cru Les Duresses Dom. Potinet Ampeau

Love this wine from one of my favourite, largely unknown Burgundian producers. This 28 year old 1er Cru from, one of the not exactly stellar appellations of the area, is in great condition (5 or 6 bottles now and all have been tip top old son - we had one on new years eve if you can remember that far back) and drinking absolutely lovely now - no idea how much longer it has to go but knowing the generally outrageous longevity of this producers wines I would'nt hold my breath. Obviously not decanted this is fully mature, very light with a slight browning hue but stlill a lovely vibrancy, it has a classic old school Burgundy nose lots of lovely intense tertiary notes gamey, savoury, smoky bacon fat meaty yum - very powerful for such a light bodied wine - palette is delicate, feminine complete and in great harmony, balanced acidity satisfyingly long finish and how you hope great old burgundy should look - and at a fraction of the price of the wines from the glitterati of the region - If you can find it, or any other wine from this Domaine you need to buy it.

2003 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico "I,Quadretti", La Giaretta

This wine (Corvina blend with Rondinella and Molinara, not sure of %) is simply gorgeous, after decanting nose is immediately appealing, warm forward and very generous, stewed raisins, black cherries and chocolate, sweet and a little spicy -  on the palette broad mouth filling and a beautifully balanced wine, full body with refreshing acidity, velvety texture and very long, this is a big wine but is so well balanced not a hint of jammy fruit or the high alcohol (15.5% - and yes dear Yankee friends this is very high) - this is still quite young and wrapped in primary fruit characteristics with the oak (French) still a little in evidence, so would love to see this wine later in life but really an absolute pleasure now. This is the top of the range single vineyard wine from the La Giaretta Estate so not exactly cheap but no where near some of the eye-wateringly expensive other top Amarone producers so well worth a look. One more time - really, really lover-ly.

1997 Brunello, Tornesi + Fillet Steak

Hurrah! A resounding success! The Brunello has turned out to be alright, and I made a fillet steak (filet mignon or beef tenderloin to you yanks) with caramalised onions and a touch of blue cheese - scrumptious!

The steak: a giant fillet, seasoned, then marinated in oil, balsamic, Dijon mustard and rosemary for 1/2 hour, pan-fried for 6 1/2 minutes per side and then for 1 1/2 on the edges because it was so big, served with stir-fried trumpet mushrooms, mange tout (snow peas) and garlic smashed potatoes. And no, I didn't spend a fortune on the steak in Whole Foods, I bought it in Costco, where it is considerably cheaper (you can buy a whole tenderloin there for around $80), and of a very good quality. And did I mention how big it was too? Hmmm...

1997 Brunello Di Montalcino, Tornesi: I was concerned about this bottle, it had a low ullage, and it had a really bad cork that was basically soaked through with signs that it might be about to to seep had I not opened it at the exact moment that I did... I have to wonder about the quality of the cork though, the wine is only a bit over 12 years old and the cork was already ruined. Over Christmas we had a bottle of a 1966 Meursault-Charmes (Domaine Potinet-Ampeau) - an outstanding wine, amazingly fresh incidentally, and the cork was in unbelievably good condition. I like to think that this bad one could have been a one-off since the producer has an excellent reputation, but you have to wonder. I have one other bottle that has a low ullage too, though not as bad, I'll have to see what the cork is like.

Anyway, after all that moaning the wine was still in pretty good condition, there was a quite a strong funky whiff to it just after opening, but this blew off to reveal a complex nose of leather, cherry, spice and a little well-integrated oak, with flavours of soft cherry fruit, leather, earth and spice again and a little tobacco, with excellent acidity and nice round tannins. The finish was a little shorter than I thought it might be and the wine did lack a little depth, maybe a result of the bad condition of the bottle, but still satisfactory enough. Overall a good wine, though I'd be interested to taste a bottle in perfect condition.

A splendid meal... Well done me (again!)