Dinner chez Stefan and Roberta - Discovring Barolo and Barbaresco - First take

Stefan organized this wonderful evening of discovery for Barbaresco-Barolo niewbies. It was a small gathering featuring Stefan, Roberta, Guillaume Deschamps and myself.

Taken with some finger food this white was a great apetizer

• 2001 Mauro Sebaste Roero Arneis

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero

  Golden in color and a nose concentrated on yellow fruit, this wine made a very good "aperitif" for the evening to come. Good acidity and pleasant.

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These wines were tasted with a wonderful aubergine risotto, and definitely the Valgrande was great match for the food

• 2002 Franco Conterno Langhe Nebbiolo Vigna Mesdì

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC

  The colors on this one were younguer with hints of blue and red. The nose was rather complex with aromas of cinnamon, white pepper, red fruit and dried figs. Very good integration of aromas and very elegant.
  On te mouth it was powerful, thick, with good tannins and long. The aftertaste was focuse on notes of earth and dried figs. Given that the producer did not produce any Barolo this year probably the grapes went to this one.
  Only one question remained regarding this wine with compared to the rest and it was its somewhat lower acidity. I would say great for enjoyment within the next 5-6 years but I do not think it would hold much longuer. Wine of the Flight for me.

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• 1999 Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Valgrande

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Third wine of the flight, it had some signs of evolution and more concentration than the others. The aromas were concentrated on ripe red fruit, cherries and cherry liquor as well as some dried fruits. Very elegant but less complex than the former wine. On the mouth it was fairly dense with firm tannins, elegant and long on notes of cherry and earth with some light bitterness at the end and good acidity. It would probably benefit from some time of cellarting and will probably develop more complexity. Good potential and great wine.

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• 2001 Giacomo Brezza e Figli Nebbiolo d'Alba Santa Rosalia

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Nebbiolo d'Alba

  Very good reddish-garnet color showing some signs of evolution, this wine presents some cherries and a hint of violets on the nose. The attack is velvety and it has a mid palate concentrated on red fruit and a bit of pepper. Very nice to start but litle complexity and not much tannins, although it had good acidity.

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Stefan and Roberta made some grilled lamb chops (they ventured into their garden in the middle of winter to prepare them) and they were just great. Fairly rare, the Barolo was fantastic match. And also a great match for the rosemary and garlic potatoes!

• 1999 Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco Rabajà

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Interesting colors of evolution (some pelure d'oignon) and elegant aromas of dried figs, underwood and very ripe, crushed red fruit. On the mouth it was very round with a good amount of tannins and an aftertaste concentrated on earth and smoky aromas. The mouth was not that balanced, a little bit too acidic.

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• 1998 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Sorì Paitin

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Very profound color, good concentration and some signs of evolution again. The nose was very elegant concentrated on aromas of red fruit, vainilla, cocoa, chocolate and some charcoal as well. After a while a developed a lovely meaty side to it. On the mouth it is full bodied with a round attack and a mid palate concentrated on cherrie, earth and chocolate. The finish is concentrated on fruit and brown spice. The wine was very good and more "modern" in style. There were some dry wood tannins which still needed a bit of integration but the wine was very good.

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• 1999 Fratelli Alessandria Barolo Monvigliero

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Given this was my first time tasting Barolo I was surprised at first, I would have expected to be more conentrated. It was fairly limpid with some evolution and I was taken aback by the aromas.
  At first it developed notes of earth, cinnamon, brown spice and some white pepper with an underlying note of red fruit. But after a while all the aromas changed! and it went towards a leather-animal complexity with a bit of hay and barnyard as well.
  On the mouth it had a thick attack and mid palate with notes of red fruit, earth, leather and spice. The tannins were well integrated and ripe and it had good acidity. Well balanced wine with a very very surprising range of aromas! My wine of the Flight and of the Night

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Wonderful, mouthgasmic chocolate cake...

• 2003 Ca' del Baio Moscato d'Asti

  Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Moscato d'Asti

  Golden color, light bubbles and a very typical muscat aroma this was just great. Fairly simple with some citrus, chestnut and flowers it was refreshing and a great match for a wonderful chocolate cake!

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• 2000 La Bella Estate Piemonte Moscato Terre da Vino

  Italy, Piedmont, Piemonte DOC

  Golden color and still some plae reflections the nose was again typical muscat with tones of chestnut, yellow fruit and a very interesting green spice aroma as well. On the mouth it was sweet of course but with good acidity and notes of herbs, resin and honey. Very nice and again great with the chocolate cake.

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In short this was an amazing evening of discovery for me, I had some clear favorites in the wines but the quality was uniformly high, the food was great and the Grappas fantastic. I don't think I took any consistent notes on the Grappas I am not posting them, but they were excellent.
A great evening with great company, food and wine, what more can we ask for?
It was great to meet Guillaume and I am sure also that we will be seeing more of him around!
I guess that this type of event just asks for an "encore"
Merci Stefan and Roberta