Piedmont and Veneto with Roy Hersh chez Michel Abood.

So, Roy Hersh ventured back east to his roots this week and a few of us were lucky enough to dine with him at Michel Abood’s last night. Always good to see Roy, though we’d like him better if he didn’t bring the Seattle weather with him. Quite a bit of rain we’ve been experiencing the past few days, indeed this spring.

As usual, Roy came with certain ideas of what he wanted to taste. Tonight, a bunch of us will be drinking Priorat at his request, at Michel’s, Piedmont/Veneto was his bidding. Well, when Josh Leader and Chris Wilford are thrown into the mix, you know there’s going to be some nice Nebbiolo around.

To go along with the wines, Michel prepared a lovely sautéed mixed mushroom over arugula salad to start, nicely braised lamb shanks over risotto for the main, cheese and then berries in what looked and tasted like a mini sponge cake for dessert.

As usual, great wines, great food and even better company.

• 1988 Vietti Barbaresco Rabajà

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  A good way to start. Nicely perfumed with loads of licorice, truffle, sweet black cherry and earth aromas. Shows the ’88 austerity with a little roughness across the palate, but there’s beautiful fruit balancing things out. Complex, but perhaps not going to get any better, though there’s still plenty of life left. Like flavors as aromas, with the black cherry and licorice dominating. Starts to dry out a touch on the finish. Nice stuff. A-.

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• 1971 Ceretto Barolo Grignore

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Michel recently purchased this from Chamber’s Street. Bottle had a great fill, though the cork broke while opening and part of it fell back into the wine. Didn’t hurt things one bit as this showed magnificently. A little tight at first, don’t know why Michel didn’t want to decant it, but with some air the wine showed a deep, penetrating and entirely delightful nose of sweet red cherries on a bed of rose petals in a small cedar box atop a cement pedestal. Shows determined femininity on the palate. There’s a delicacy to the wine with it’s pure and focused cherry fruit, but if push came to shove, there’s a big backbone there that won’t take any guff. Great depth to the wine, with red cherry, earth, a touch of leathery spiciness and loads of rose flavors. Touch of austerity on the finish. Terrific wine. Solid A.

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• 1980 Cantina Mascarello Barolo Flawed

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Corked. NR.

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• 1978 Valentino Barolo Riserva

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  The Ceretto was a tough act to follow, but this wine took top honors for the night. It’s a completely different animal. Whereas the Ceretto was perhaps more classic with its red cherry and roses profile, the Valentino was a brooding, ripe, lightly roasted beast. Intense and effusive on the nose and palate with roasted black and red fruit, truffles, spices, beef blood and a faint hint of cocoa. Thickest in texture of the Barolo with muscular tannins clearly suggesting that the wine could benefit from even more aging. Truly great wine. A+/A.

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• 1993 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

  Shows a pretty nose of spicy strawberry and red cherries. The wine is a little chunky, but there’s a nice core of spice and cocoa dusted sweet red fruit. Not particularly complex, but it did go nicely with the cheeses. Finish is a bit drying. I’d drink up. B+.

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• 1947 Cappellano Barolo Chinato

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo Chinato

  One of the most unusual wines I’ve ever tasted, but absolutely delicious. It’s Barolo that’s been infused with herbs and cane sugar. Cappellano is now brought in locally by Louis/Dressner and Joe Dressner has this interesting tidbit about the wine on his very entertaining blog. It’s the color and texture of peach Snapple iced tea, but boy, what an intriguing and weirdly delightful nose. Maple syrup candy with eucalyptus and a touch of mint. Sweet and complex on the palate. There is an herbal-tea like quality to it, with maple syrup, pine needles, herbs and old, worn wood. The description may sound bizarre, but we were all loving it. Huge amount of sediment on the bottom. In fact it looked like a toad hopped into my glass when a chunk fell out. However, it’s extremely soft and not a problem to drink/eat, unlike the gritty texture most sediment shows. A rarity and a perfect jaded geek wine. A.

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• 1962 José Maria da Fonseca Moscatel de Setúbal Superior

  Portugal, Península de Setúbal, Moscatel de Setúbal

  Any guesses as to who brought this? Volatile Acidity on the nose, with burnt sugar, apricot pit, tangerine peel and clove aromas. Sweet and sophisticated, with similar flavors as aromas, with a nice nuttiness on the finish. Good in its own right, but overshadowed a bit by the uniqueness of the Chinato. A-.

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