Pre-Auction Italian Wines Tasting Dinner

A super pre-auction dinner hosted by Flaviano Gelardini and his partner at Gelardini & Romani....

Two blind whites but easily identified.

• 2016 Piano dei Daini Etna Bianco 90 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

  Served blind vs a 2015 St-Aubin 1er Cru. Silver gold colour suggesting no oak. Lovely lifted, light nose of fresh-cut melon...gorgeous. Palate is almost petillante and dominated by lemon skin and volcanic minerals that give it a real sense of place. Good resonance. Easy to guess as the Etna wine.

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• 2015 Domaine Sylvain Langoureau Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru

  Tasted blind vs a 2016 Piano Dei Duiani Etna Bianco. Medium light yellow gold colour. Nose is oak and slight chicken stock. Palate is rich, oaked, very rounded....very sophisticated but too young. Easy to spot as the Burgundy but I slightly preferred the Etna.

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Three blind reds from Etna....the terrior really sings with these wines and I suspect they can last forever.

I omitted to identify the third wine but it was the other 150 year old pre-phylloxera vines and had a very attractive dry powdered spices character.

• 2014 Tenute Bosco Etna Rosso Vigne Vico 89 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

  Tasted blind in a line-up of 3 Etna Rossos....one other from 150 year old vines and one Pinot Noir. Transparent....almost thin colour. Nose is almost peaty in a Laphroig way and some smoky plum. Palate is quite young, same peaty smoky aspect, deep red plum fruit. Powerful and quite alcoholic. Very heady on the finish. Big resonance but in a rather monotone way. Probably needs 5-7 years in the cellar.

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• 2014 Gulfi Pino 91 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Terre Siciliane

  One of three Etna Rossos drank blind knowing one to be a Pinot Noir and the other two from 150 year old Nerello Mascarese pre-Phylloxera grapes. Transparent but the most purple-red of the three. Nose is perfumed and with a bit of bacon fat. Palate is young, raspberryish, perfumed on the tongue. Wow, really quite heady. Quite resonant on the finale. Too young but could mature very well over the next 5-7 years.

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So pleased that I have this Clerico in my cellar but will keep it there for a long time yet.

• 2004 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Opaque purple-ruby colour lightening to almost transparent at the edge of the glass. Nose is wow!....lovely forest floor, rose petals, lavender, really beautiful but still very young like a closed rose bud. Palate is very clean, precise, linearly delinated and graphite-ish. Very resonant and reverberant. Absolutely lovely and can only improve. 91+

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• 2000 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia 88 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Bolgheri, Bolgheri Superiore

  Deep black-red opaque colour. Nose is light and muted but yeilding little....past its best? Confusingly, the palate seems very young and fruity but nothing very special. I didn't finish the glass and just wrote "OK". Some confusion because I thought I'd been told it was a younger vintage.

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A real treat to drink two great fully mature Italians

• 1985 Campogiovanni (San Felice) Brunello di Montalcino 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Transparent jeweled ruby. Nose is surprisingly muted - red ashphalt on a cold day and touches of tight red rose buds. Palate is fresh acidity with a respberry/blackcurrent melange ....with enormous resonance straight fom the first swallow.Quite feminine as the tannins are all dusted and it has a lovely lightly-perfumed reverberance inside the head on the long finale. Elegant and fully mature but I'd expect this to avoid any decline for a few more years. I loved this.

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• 1967 Giordano Barolo 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Note based on the better of two bottles shared by the group. Clear, transparent prune juice colour. Nose is lifted nail varnish and rose water....classic old Barolo. The palate has a lovely rounded pebble softness with a backbone of espresso coffee and cheery liqueur. Good head-filling liqueur-ish resonance and reverberance on the finish. I really liked this.

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I am not a great fan of Amarone...but I was impressed by both of these and especially how long they need to age.

• 1967 Masi Recioto della Valpolicella Amarone Classico 94 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Recioto della Valpolicella

  Fresh, bright, jeweled, transparent ruby colour.....looks decades younger than its age. Nose is just absolutely fab... smoke and bacon fat then some very confit-type fruit. Palate is extremely rich, concentrated, tannic and with a tinned jam reduction of black and red cherry. Quite tannic and I would say that it is still much too young to drink. Heady and sybaristic. Reverberant. My WOTN. I don't normally care for Amarone but this converted me. A easy 94, which is not a score I give that often.

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• 2003 Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 90 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

  Clean, clear, semi-translucent red-purple colour. Nose is sweet and young with very dry but fresh young fruit. Palate is way too young but with all the classic rich, late-picked redcurrant and blueberry slightly sweet marmalade-ish dried fruit. Quietly but powerfully reverberant but still in hibernation despite a decant of several hours. I would like to revisit this in 10 years' time.

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Some super wines tonight and I even managed to overcome my Amarone aversion! The food provided by the team at Crown was very good and the service was excellent.