Friday, November 14, 2008

Blackwood Day 1

Once or twice a year I try to convince John Blackwood to come to the DCL and every time he forgets that last time he left screaming.

For Day 1, I left work early to meet John at the Duke golf course. I’d never played it (shit, I just started playing golf again after about 16 years off, I’m embracing my whiteness), but there has been a final four here and it was supposed to be a very nice course. Well the greens were in awful shape and it was a gross day, really soupy if not blistering hot. Oh well, John and I had a blast anyway.

For dinner we headed to Pop’s with a few friends to have a casual, family style meal. There was much fun being had, but it was a night of good, not great wines.

1990 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio
My last bottle and a great showing for this wine. Really beautiful nose and a palate presence that was refined, but still sharp. As the night wore on, it faded and the palate became a bit coarse.

1995 Salvatore Molettieri Taurasi Cinque Querce
At first, it didn’t seem like this would be interesting at all so I re-corked it to take home (you know, aglianico for breakfast), but it gradually opened up and by the end of the night and had definitely broadened without losing the underlying bloody/ferrous nature to include with hints of dried fruit and herbs. Rustic, tannic, and not for the squeamish. Again, my last bottle and I wish I had a few more. It is my understanding that this wine is a bit spoofy these days.

1996 Montevertine Le Pergole Torte
I think the bottle may have seen some heat at some point which probably took away from its delicacy.

1996 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Brunate
I managed to more or less gloss over this wine. I had a couple of tastes, but it didn’t grab me and my overall impression was of slick but not

2007 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rubentis
A wonderfully refreshing way to end the night.

2 comments:

Cliff said...

What's the story with Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio? I never hear about them and never search them out. But I have stumbled into some beautiful older versions from time to time. Is there some reason people don't talk about them? Maybe I hang in the wrong crowd?

the vlm said...

The Il Poggio is an old school wine. From an old clone that native to the estate it was a deep, intense style set for long aging.

Somewhere around 1997, the style seemed to change drastically in a very modern direction. I've heard that it has calmed down, but I haven't tried the wines in a good while.

1985, 1988, 1990, and 1995 are all very good vintages for this wine. 1993 may be a little tired, but was also good.

As for hanging in the wrong crowd, the VLM-TR is at the top of the evolutionary chain.