The OC Blind Wine Crew goes Italian

For this edition, Steve set us up at the relatively new Il Barone Ristorante which is run by the former chef from Antonello a couple miles away. The food was outstanding and plentiful ranging from smoked salmon pizzas to cream and egg sauced spaghetti with pancetta to boar prosciutto salad to a hearty filet stew and finishing off with a hot chocolate muffin top with a scoop of vanilla followed by a tray of chocolates and fruits to top it however you may wish. Everything with delicious!

The ground rules for the wines are that four persons are assigned a flight to bring, usually being on white and three reds to nominally pair with a food course with no restrictions or guidance on varieties. We also had a couple bonus sparkling wines to guess at this time.

Always a fun and humbling test of our palates. I had another great time. Thanks to all that made it so.

Sean brought the Billiot and the Silkowski's brought the other two blind. The Hello Kitty stood out...for not the best reasons.

• NV H. Billiot Fils Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  Nose of berry candy and a rich palate yet balanced palate.

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• 1996 Duval-Leroy Champagne Brut Millésimé

  France, Champagne

  Served blind. Yeasty bread dough nose that makes me think of a BdB. Lean feeling palate of low dosage with strong mineral characters. A very good example of the leaner purer side of Champagne but not my favorite style.

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• NV Hello Kitty Brut Rosé

  Italy, Lombardia, Lombardia Spumante

  Served blind. Clearly not from Champagne after the first whiff. Sweet fruity nose smelling of Framboise but with a nice floral character. Light and innocuous palate with a cherry syrup quality coming out. A decent sweet styled sparkler reminiscent of a Moscato d'Asti.

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I brought a variety to show case some interesting wines that I have really liked. Four different varieties from four nations. I purposely brought the Muscadet for Mr Murray as he is on the mineral infused white kick to show him some of what is out there for less than a mint. Target hit, mission accomplished. The Failla performed very oddly though as I was hoping for a more balanced clean Chardonnay as I'm a fan of the Failla's I have tried recently both red and white.

• 2008 Jorge Ordoñez & Co. Moscatel Seco Botani

  Spain, Andalucía, Sierras de Málaga

  Clove and ginger spice with strong floral characters. Clean acidic palate. Terrific value.

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• 2008 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero

  Pretty nose of white flowers and pears. More pears on a clean mineral infused palate. Not as strong or as expressive as previous vintages and not representing the value that those have but I still like this.

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• 2008 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie Vieilles Vignes Clos des Briords

  France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie

  Slight whiff of TCA initially that I didn't notice when opened and sampled at home. The corkiness seems to fade so possibly I was fooled as the palate didn't seem stripped. Stoney mineral stuffed palate with clean citrus. Still clearly not as stuffed as the 07 but right in my wheel house.

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• 2008 Failla Chardonnay Keefer Ranch

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Pineapple and lemon custard on the nose that seems polluted with some sort of kerosene note. Rich palate with a strong finish, still showing round and with a touch of heat. The odd note this showed was a surprise for me and marred a wine I had much better expectations for after previous go arounds with Failla wines.

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Ramon mixed it up a bit with the rose as he had a fish dish to pair with in a red sauce. I could identify the reds as Burgundy but don't know the region enough to go further with my guesses.

• 2009 Copain Pinot Noir Tous Ensemble Rosé

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Served blind. Sweet watermelon candy nose. Concentrated with dark red fruits and watermelon. Acidic with some mineral qualities. Good stuff performing somewhere between California and Tavel.

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• 2000 Frédéric Magnien Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  Served blind. Reduction and stem inclusion show strongly here along with some aromas of tomato, herbs and spearmint. Darkly fruited with strong tannin and late acidity. The palate feel is a bit rough with maybe remnants of stems making it a bit gritty. Clearly in need of time but will the stems and tannin integrate enough to let the fruit shine?

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• 2001 Maison Champy Clos Vougeot

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  Served blind. The nose doesn't give much initially at all. Lean and tight palate showing acidity with a strong mineral character and some cherry. Very focused and in need of time. I left this in my glass for a while and it yielded very little more over an hour or more other than adding some mint on the nose. I think it has a very nice future some years from now.

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I could get a couple of these as Grenache. Steve played with my head when I told him the third bottle was Alban so I had to fall back to SQN. The Pegau surprised me with its lean balanced feel and lack of big fruit or strong heat.

• 2003 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Served blind. Dark baked fruit nose that seems to show some age with a note of pepper and heat. Seems to show some age on the palate as well with notes of brick. Identified as a CdP but I was shocked that it was an 03 with its lean feel and lack of rich fruit or strong heat. A strong CdP showing balance though the qualities that make this seem aged to me would make me think this won't be a long term wine. Still not wowed by this label other than certain vintages.

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• 2002 Carlisle Three Birds

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  Served blind. Notes of sweet candy, chocolate, violets and wet paint on the nose with some vanilla oak notes later on. Sweet ripe palate of baked fruits showing strong acidity but still seeming soft overall. Would have guessed much younger, this showed like a very young big Cali wine.

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• 2001 Alban Vineyards Grenache Alban Estate Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Edna Valley

  Served blind. Stem and reductive type notes speaking loudly of the Alban signature among roasted dark fruits and a brick lava rock note. The palate is rich but in no way heavy. Speaking of Grenache with some mouth gripping tannin. I was told it wasn't Alban so I fell back to SQN. Ha. I liked this quite a bit whatever it might be.

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The first three were big ripe wines that I felt drowned out much if any variety character. The last one I picked out as a Barolo though it seems on the more modern side with a purple color and aromas of berries.

• 2003 Lewis Cellars Merlot

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Served blind. Ripe nose showing berry jam and mocha with heat. Juicy and surprisingly lean feeling. The variety was hard to identify with my best guesses being very modern styled Zin or Cab.

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• 2002 Paloma Merlot

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Served blind. Nose of baked berry pie with Graham cracker crust. Very rich and extracted palate. Another one that was hard to identify the variety due to the style. Though not something I really enjoyed as this was going a bit too far for me I was surprised at how well its held up in reference to the style.

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• 2006 Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Served blind. Tight nose with chocolate/mocha and heat. The palate is kind of sullen but tight and grippy with more heat.

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• 2005 Cantina del Pino Barbaresco Albesani

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Served blind. The nose shows a melange of berries with a bit of heat. Leanish feeling and strongly tannic. The tannin in conjunction with the thin color of the wine led me to Barolo. The color though was not orange but purple and the aromas did not speak of Nebbiolo. This seemed to be a Piedmont of a more modern style.

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