Vias Imports 2008 Portfolio Tasting
Times Square, NYC
Tasted Monday, September 8, 2008 by RajivAyyangar with 1,268 views
Introduction
The room had ~20 tables arranged around the perimeter, with islands in the center for bread, cheese, grappa, and the one liquid that kept my palate from dying: Pellegrino. The food was really friggen good - fresh cut ham, prosciutto, the best parmegiano regiano I've ever tasted (I think this is what Eric was talking about when he mentioned the cheese from the center of the wheel - it was like barfi, an indian sweet!). Killer olive oil with smoky, nutty tones. Great bread. If I hadn't been so focused on the wine, I could have done some serious damage with the food. One thing I did notice is that eating food seemed to help me get the acetaldehyde out of my palate. On the other hand, the prosciutto was so salty that it stung my tongue (which by the time I had it was already torn apart by tannic Nebbs). The spit buckets were awkward, too shallow, and tended to splash. On the other hand, it wasn't too crowded, so I didn't have to make many long-distance sniper spits. Overall the wines were a little on the austere side, but delicious. There were a handful of wines that were incredibly enjoyable to taste, to the point where I stopped really analyzing, and could only nod my head and mentally exult that I was there, that day, tasting that wine, with good friends (JoeG and Julius).
Joe is a natural teacher, and I can't thank him enough for taking the time to dissect all of those wines.
I took my tasting notes on a digital voice recorder and the transcribing took some time. There may be inaccuracies. The scores should be taken as a reflection of the emotional impact the wine had on me then. Good scores are probably a sign of a wine that I would like. The converse, however, does not hold: many of the wines that showed poorly might have been a lot better if they had been 1) aged longer, or 2) decanted. It was hard for me as a novice to tell the difference between an austere wine and a wine that is tight but could open with decanting.
Notes are in chronological order, though we jumped around table-wise. The wines were grouped by geographic location.
Flight 1 (6 Notes)
Flight 2 (8 Notes)
Flight 3 (6 Notes)
Flight 4 (1 Note)
After I smelled the oxidized Morellone, and the Nero di Vite also smelled oxidized, I took a little break and got some food to try to remove the acetaldehyde from my palate. This was my test wine to see if it was gone. It didn't smell oxidized so I rejoined Joe.
Flight 5 (7 Notes)
Flight 6 - South Africa (5 Notes)
This was a really great lineup of entry-level South African wines. They were straightforward and delicious. The pinotage was very distinctive, which I enjoyed.
Flight 7 - Argentina, Rhone, California (8 Notes)
I didn't really respond to any of these wines, except the Torrontes, which absolutely melted me with its nose, then pissed me off with the watery palate.
Flight 8 (13 Notes)
Flight 9 - Barberas and Nebbiolos (9 Notes)
These wreaked havoc on my palate and cheeks with their strong tannins. The aromas were surprisingly soft and reticent, perhaps due to lack of decanting. It was a little frustrating trying to pick out aromas, and nothing really stunned me on the palate.
Flight 10 - Food Pairing (3 Notes)
Closing
After 3 hours at Vias, Joe, Julius, and I took a cab to the Martin Scott tasting, on the upper east side near central park. Notes to follow...
2006 Tenuta Luisa Friuli Isonzo Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso 80 Points
Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli Isonzo
Med ruby in the glass (ruby and garnet are both red, but ruby leans towards purple/blue and garnet leans toward orange). Nose: Grapeyness, some barnyard, rd fruit. Light body, med+ acid. Nice.
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2005 Tenuta Luisa Friuli Isonzo Cabernet Franc 80 Points
Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli Isonzo
Med ruby in the glass, nose of rich pyrazines wtih some red fruit. Clean, fresh, simple food wine with good structure.
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2004 Damijan Podversic Collio Prelit 75 Points
Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Collio
Funky oak like Chaine d'or chard, med+ tannins, med+ acid, med body, med alcohol, but missing fruit. All wood and structure.
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2005 La Lastra Chianti Colli Senesi 75 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Colli Senesi
Atypically light for sangiovese. Nose of sweet raisins, sweet red fruit, though a little muted. Some fruit in the mouth, med+ acid, sticky green tanins.
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2002 Colle Santa Mustiola Poggio ai Chiari Toscana IGT 90 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
Dark in the glass. Nose of dark fruit and toast - oak treatment. In the mouth savory with dark fruit, plum, ripe tannins, great balance and length. Delicious.
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2003 Colle Santa Mustiola Poggio ai Chiari Toscana IGT 75 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
Med garnet (lighter than '02). Some oak on the nose, not much fruit. Palate: tight on aromatics, falls apart on back end. You're left with acid and tannins, but no fruit.
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