Saturday Afternoon at Domaine - featuring Nebbiolo

Domaine Wine Storage - Chicago, IL
Tasted Saturday, March 15, 2014 by tooch with 714 views

Introduction

While the wine universe was focused on San Francisco and pinot noir, Keith thought opening nebbiolo would be a nice alternative. While a lot of bottles were flawed, it was a fun afternoon with plenty of good bottles being opened. Thanks to Keith and James for organizing and hosting.

Flight 1 (18 Notes)

  • 2004 Bruno Giacosa Spumante Extra Brut 90 Points

    Italy, Lombardia, Lombardia Spumante

    A bit bready at first, this fleshed out to have more citrus and spice with air. Pretty consistent notes across the 4 or 5 bottles I've had, definitely a really fun spumante from Italy.

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  • 2000 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons 94 Points

    France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

    Beautiful aromas of limes and salt mixed nicely with sweet lemon notes to produce what was just a beautiful aroma. The palate was smooth and soft with high intensity of citrus flavors. Adrian commented, "this doesn't even taste like chardonnay" and he's right. So much more saline-driven and almost grainy. Like I've said before, drinking Raveneau is like fresh sea water and lemons. Brilliant.

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  • 2001 Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc Bergheim 87 Points

    France, Alsace

    Starting to show some diesel notes on the edges, this had a lot of bruised apple and pear notes. Palate was soft, but I found this be refreshing. Maybe a hair past its prime, but certainly no slouch.

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  • 2001 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pora 92 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    One of the younger wines of the day, but also one of the most interesting. Lots of dark floral notes on the nose with underlying earth, smoke and dark fruit notes. The palate was nice and fleshy with a most fruited palate than the nose would have suggested. Nice and deep there's a lot going on here that age will only continue to strengthen. Very impressive young Barbaresco.

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  • 1996 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva Classico 91 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Started off with dark, beautiful tones of gravel, violets, and dark fruit. Had nice smokey notes too that gave it a bit of gravitas I guess. After about 3-4 hours of air, I started picking up some corky notes. Keith agreed that it had turned a bit cardboard-y, so I stopped following it. I really liked this at first, but I guess it was corked the whole time. I guess I could rate this as "defective", but I'll stick with the numeric score this time.

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  • 1982 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva 91 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Seemed to be a pretty nice barolo to me. The nose was rustic and edgy with good, airy floral notes, some light earthy notes, and a hair of smoke and berries in the background. Love the mouthfeel of older barolos...so light and airy with lots of intensity and this fit the bill.

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  • 1968 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva 89 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Aromas were awesome. Rose petals, tar, some violet, and dark berries. Classic nose. The palate was a bit angular with lots of acid and not much of anything else. Some hints of black fruit seemed to come and go on the palate, but for the most part the acid was the story here.

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  • 2009 Bruno Giacosa Nebbiolo d'Alba 88 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Nebbiolo d'Alba

    Lots of dark fruits and floral notes with a fair amount of chalky tannins in the back. Even with air, this never really fleshed out completely which is expected I guess. I'm not sure when the right time is to drink some of Giacosa's for simple bottlings, but I think this needs a few more years.

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  • 1996 Marcarini Barolo Brunate 88 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Started out pretty bad from what I heard, but when I got to try it (maybe 3-4 hours after it had been popped) it was pretty decent. I only had a few sips towards the end of the afternoon, but liked the beautifully pure floral notes with the earthy undertones. Wasn't earth shattering, but really nice.

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  • 1997 Marcarini Barolo Brunate 90 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    More open and accessible than the 1996. Lots of dark fruits on the nose with that really nice floral lift. Had a lot of earthy undertones that gave the palate a real presence and richness. Nice balance, and nice complexity.

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  • 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Villero di Castiglione Falletto

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    I wasn't able to try this for a while after it was opened, which I think worked in my favor. When I got around to it, the faulty notes that everyone was talking about had mellowed out some. I had a great bottle of this wine 8 months ago that was absolutely smoking, and while this was nowhere near that bottle's level, this had developed some very soft rose notes, some dark fruits, and earth.

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  • 1967 Fratelli Berteletti Piemonte Spanna Flawed

    Italy, Piedmont, Piemonte DOC

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  • 1968 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Flawed

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

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  • 2012 Pierre Gonon Ardèche Les Iles Feray 90 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Ardèche

    I felt the intensity on this wine was really dialed up from the 2011. The nose had more dark berries, earth, and meat and was to the point that the aromas itself seemed to take on weight. What makes the Gonon brothers great is that even with the intensity tipping the scales, the body of the wine is lithe and elegant. Still very young I think this will develop more, but it already has great dark fruits, meat and earth components on the palate.

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  • 2004 Nicolas Potel Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru

    Lots of green. Thin, weedy, and dilute.

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  • 1996 Robert Craig Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder 85 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder

    Tasted blind. I guessed a super tuscan. Lots of oak and had that graham cracker and mocha notes going on. Thought it was a pretty decent wine, but wasn't overly exciting.

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  • 2011 Wind Gap Wines Pinot Gris Windsor Oaks Vineyard 90 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Chalk Hill

    Love this wine and love Wind Gap. The color is an intense pinkish color with lovely strawberry notes and a lots of minerals. Just sipping mountain stream water and biting into a strawberry you find alongside the creek. Where's summer?

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  • 2009 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Eiswein 95 Points

    Germany, Nahe

    #36-10, 7.5% abv. So much sweetness, so much balance. These bottles are just incredibly good, but I can't drink much of them. I think about 12 of us split a .375ml.

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