Incredible tasting of Tuscan wines at the Pitti Palace, Florence, May 17, 2013 (after Political Psych conference at European Univ Institute, Fiesole)

It just so happened that Wine Town, an annual festival in Florence, took place while I was there for a conference. Francie, Tom Banks and I didn't know this but were visiting the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace and there were signs about this festival and people setting up tasting stations. So of course we went and had maybe 10 excellent glasses of Chianti or Brunello. I took brief notes and here they are:

Sesti 2007 Phenomena (reserve Brunello). A favorite since visited here for a couple hours of touring and tasting with owners in 2007 with Wib and Clay. Very balanced and drinkable. Toasty, strawberry. Medium body and finish. Seems as good as it's going to get right now. There is tannin on finish, so it'll last for some years. Got better in glass, of course. I wrote down 94 points but by this time I'd had quite a few glasses so might have been getting generous, and sentimental about the visit to the vineyard, perhaps the most beautiful I've been too.

2007 Sesti Castello--made of cab and merlot. Ripe fruit, cherry vanilla, good finish, soft tannin. Not esp complex but nice. 90 points.

Montsanto 2007 Chianti Classico Reserva. Big nose, cherry fruit with a long finish, full body, soft tannin. 92+.

Fattoria dei Barbi 2007 Brunello
Fairly tannic and full body. CLosed initially on nose but a little better with air, with a nice rose/flower aroma. 88.

Fattoria dei Barbi, 2007 Brunello Riserva. Fuller body, deeper and more concentrated. A little less perfume now but more potential, more tannin, acid and fruit (strawberry I'd say) than the regular bottling, and longer finish. Like it quite a lot. 94.

Fattoria dei Barbi 2007 Vigna del Fiore--from a single vineyard, in southernmost part of Montalcino and one of the oldest vineyards too. Very open nose, unlike the other 2. Medium body, long finish, blackberry and plum with pine resin and wood. 93+.

Le Chiuse 2008 Brunello. Organic vineyard. Rather elegant and unusual nose with chocolate/cocoa, spicy complexity, strawberry. Sweet finish, light body. 91.

Le Chiuse 2007 Brunello Reserve. Fuller body, much more tannic and needing age. Longish finish with oaky vanilla, plum and strawberry. 91+.

Marroneto 2006 Brunello. Very long finish; wine made from single biodynamic vineyard. Delicate stuff. Toasted oak, pine forest. Didn't write down a point score. From sandy north side of Montalcino, which is more elegant and delicate than from the south where there's more clay.

Fattoria di MonteMaggio 08 Chianti: Very strong strawberry or raspberry on nose; quite lovely. Delicate like a Brunello. 91+.

Fattoria di MonteMaggio 07 Riserva Chianti Classico. Red fruit. Deeper, full body, long finish with tannin and acid to balance the fruit; not much oak I'd say.  Sort of like a really strong, ripe Brunello. This is the best Chianti I had while in Italy this time. 93.

Earlier in the week: tasted 2007 Le Ragnaie Brunello in Panzano, one of the many charming Chianti region hill towns, purchased a bottle there. Really liked it a lot--drank tonight with Wib and Charlotte at Vin Rouge, Durham, a very French bistro. (Had a 2008 at the Pitti Palace tasting and also liked it though can't find my specific notes. La Ragnaie has real finesse. Apparently the smallest of the Brunello producers. Also: visited Querceto and shared a bottle of their Chianti that I purchased there with colleagues at dinner in Florence on May 16.

Visited Vignamaggio, an old noble villa with gardens and breathtaking views (once an important fort in the battles between Siena and Florence for control of Chianti), that also has been making wine since at least 1404. This is also where Mona Lisa was born and was painted by da Vinci (they insisted this is the real woman although apparently several sites in Italy make similar claims).

Tasted a couple excellent Chianti Classico bottles there and wound up purchasing and bringing home a 2006, 2007 and 2008 for a future vertical tasting.

Picture below was of Chianti countryside from the agriturismo where we stayed for about six days, San Leo, and ate great food cooked from the farm's own products.

Varner 2020 Home Block Spring Ridge Chardonnay

Greatly improved from earlier. Now a perfectly balanced caramel oak vanilla nose with plenty of exotic fruit and melon nuances on nose and palate. Perfect acid/fruit balance too, with full body and a medium long finish. 93 points.

2006 Clarendon Hills Grenache, Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard, Old Vines

This is a spectacular grenache at a great point for drinking right now, though built for another 4-5 years aging. The aromas are deeply complex, ranging from blackberry and cherry to mint and spice and pine, to vanilla, to toffee and hazelnut. Obviously this is too much to digest and distinguish at one or two sniffs so what we have here is basically, a delightful complexity. On the palate there's great balance with a long and somewhat hot finish (14.5% alcohol). There's sweet fruit and acid with soft tannins in equal measure. 94 points.

Apparently Jess Jackson, a major Calif. wine mogul whose portfolio includes the great Stonestreet Winery, bought this vineyard in 2012: The Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard has grown grapes for internationally acclaimed wines, including Penfolds Grange, Eileen Hardy and Clarendon Hills. It is comprised of more than 186 hectares (approximately 455 acres) of land, and is renowned for its elite Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon. It was established in the modern era by the Hickinbotham family, whose patriarch Alan Robb Hickinbotham was the founding father of Australian Oenology education.

Parker is very terse on this, rating it also as 94 points with aromatic complexity and aging potential.

The more rigorous grader Steven Tanzer at IWC says 93 points: Glass-staining purple. Vivid raspberry and candied flowers on the nose, with sexy Asian spices gaining power with air. Deep and sweet but focused, with impressively clean red fruit flavors and slow-building tannins. A spice note kicks in on the back end and adds energy to the deeply concentrated raspberry and candied cherry flavors. As suave as this is right now, I'd hold off on opening mine for another few years.

Calera Mount Harlan Chardonnay 2011

Bought six bottles on rec from Parker's strong review, 93+ points. Opened one last night  and it lives up to the praise. To me it tastes Burgundian though with the new world ripeness or fatness I expect and like. The nose and palate offer caramelized apple, pineapple, pear, maybe apricot and toasted oak. A bit of salty toffee-maybe that's the caramel again. Good minerality and acid. Full body, creamy and quite long finish. I think it'll drink better in a year and will be good for a few more yrs. Delighted to have five more btls.

Had another bottle on Ap. 1, 2013, at Zatinya in DC with old Evanston friends Steve and Susan Wildman--a great reunion dinner. The wine was really wonderful after 30-60 minutes offering an extraordinary kaleidoscope of aromas with nuts, flowers, caramel and tropical fruits. The oak is strong here but the air brought more precision and balance.

WA: The 2011 Chardonnay Mt. Harlan bursts from the glass with expressive apricots, peaches, crushed rocks, French oak and spices. Rich yet weightless, the 2011 is striking from the very first taste. Once again, Calera’s Mt. Harlan Chardonnay is world-class. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2018. 

2010 Owen Roe Sinister Hand

This is a Grenache Syrah Mourvedre blend made to resemble southern Rhone. In fact when given a blind taste by a rather aggressive sommelier at Ripple last night in DC with Max and Laura and Francie, I immediately identified it as a Rhone wine. The sommelier was annoyed because I sent back a 2009 Priorat that had been advertised on the menu as the 2008. The Parker ratings were 86 and 91 points respectively. He of course poo-poohed Robt Parker and his ratings but that's bullshit--5 points is a meaningful difference and Parker's palate, whatever one thinks of it, is better than a random sommelier (I'm not sure this guy even is a professional sommelier). In vaguely insulting terms he said essentially "Well if you want a big fruit bomb like [that plebian rube] Parker enjoys, I'll bring you something else." So he brought this Rhone blend, hid the label, poured, and when I asked if it was a Rhone he said it was a new world Rhone from Washington state.  OK, so, it was a pretty good wine. I'd give it 90 points. Initially it was somewhat one dimensional, emphasizing strawberry almost like a gamay (beaujolais grape) and acide, but with air it rounded out, gaining depth, complexity and finishing nicely balanced. It picked up spicy nuances, a touch of white pepper, cherry fruit, maybe some lavender too.

Not a bad recommendation, but poorly delivered. And the only reason I ordered the priorat was because a Rioja Alta Vina Ardenza 2004, listed on the menu, was in fact sold out. So, listing a wine that was out of stock on the menu, then trying to fob off a 2009 as a 2008--that'll be my last trip to Ripple. Though the food is always quite good.

By the way, not Parker but Tanzer reviewed this wine and gave it, tad-dah, 90 points: (71% grenache, 24% syrah and 5% mourvedre):  Bright ruby-red.  Precise, inviting aromas of black cherry, licorice and herbs.  Juicy and sharply delineated, with terrific intensity and lift to its pepper and cherry flavors.  Lively acidity lends this wine a light touch, and firm tannins won't stand in the way of enjoying it soon.

2008 G D Vajra Barolo Albe

At Glass Half Full last night with Connie and Hans, it was half-price bottle night so got this barolo. Generally this is not of my favorites; usually I find it way too expensive, and for some reason nebbiolo has never got me juiced. But it earned 93+ from Parker so at half price I thought it worth trying. I wouldn't give it so many points, maybe more like 91. It took perhaps an hour to really round out and show its stuff, which was predominantly black cherry and a kind of spiciness that WA below labels "incense." That's not a bad term; I'd say some kind of combo of balsam, eucalyptus, and mint. Very pleasant but not as full bodied, multi-dimensional and long on the palate as I'd like.



Wine Advocate 93+: The 2008 Barolo Albe is flat-out delicious. The Albe has often been a big step below the flagship Barolo Bricco delle Viole, but not in 2008. Although softer and rounder than that wine, there is plenty of vintage character in this vibrant, beautifully articulated Barolo. Sweet dark cherries, incense, licorice and tobacco are all wrapped around a pliant finish. The 2008 is accessible even today, and is a great – and I mean great – introductory Barolo for the year. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. 

2005 Anderson's Conn Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Although the Right Bank from this winery in 2005 was a bit disappointing, immediately on opening the cab performed better. It also has some age on the rim but not as much as the Right Bank. The nose is flowery, a certain iron filings nuance, blackberry vanilla jam or perhaps blueberry and cassis. To me it tastes and smells like a classic ripe but balanced California cab--on the model of Beaulieu Private Reserve from the Rutherford Bench. I suppose Conn Valley is not far from the Bench, the former on the eastern edge of Napa Valley, off Silverado Trail. It doesn't taste like a bordeaux, it does taste New World. But it does have the slightest touch of what I call the St. Julien nose (St. J. being about at the middle of the Medoc and halfway between the "masculine" St Estephe and Pauillac to the north, and the more "feminine" Margaux, Graves/Pessac/Leognan and Pomerol/St Emilion to south/southeast). Could the St J. nose be something to do with mushroom + smokey forest floor aromas? I've never quite identified it.  I see Parker says it's a classic Pauillac nose, so maybe that's it not St. Julien. He says it's cedar and tobacco and smoke. I do get the smoke and maybe I call forest what he calls here cedar/tobacco.

The finish is very long and nicely balanced; it's warm but not overly hot with alcohol. The tannins have certainly softened. With time in glass, the aromas are developing very nicely indeed, justifying the positive reviews the Anderson's Conn Valley wines usually get. I'll give it 94 points. The balance between acid and ripe fruit makes me think this one will go a decade. There are tannins in there but they're soft enough to be almost unnoticeable.

I really like this one. I think this is only the 2nd Cal. cab I've had since returning from spending 2012 in Europe (the other being the great O'Shaughnessy '07). In EU CA cabs are virtually impossible to find, though of course there were plenty of other great alternatives (esp. from Spain and France). It's good to have an excellent one.

About 4 nights later, I opened the wine, preserved only with the vacuum pump from Ramon Bilbao. It was damn fine. Makes me think the 2nd day might have been better than the first. And let me say, another 3-4 nights further on, again after only using the vacuum pump, I had a delightful glass that was a dead ringer for a fully mature St Julien or Pauillac, round, elegant, spicy, persistent. It makes me think that some controlled experimentation on exposing wines to oxygen, then pumping air out, re-opening xx hours later, etc. might, along with data about the properties of the specific wine, enable us to sort of speed up aging by deliberately opening a bottle of great young wine, then reopening after pumping out the air xx days later. I've been doing this of course but without controls or careful observation. Anyhow, 3 cheers for the Anderson's Conn Valley Cab '06.

Wine Advocate (Parker) says 96 points as of 2008, and says drink till 2033: The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is showing even better than it did last year, which is not unusual when tasting the wines of Todd Anderson and Mac Sawyer. Dense ruby/purple to the rim, with the classic Pauillac-like nose of creme de cassis, cedar wood, a hint of tobacco leaf, and very subtle smoke, the wine displays charcoal and roasted herbs, full-bodied power, wonderfully sweet tannins, and a long, long finish. This is a 20- to 25-year wine that should just get better and better as it ages, but it is accessible enough to drink now.