Some Barolos and others at St. Jack

After getting together for a lovely Burgundy dinner last week, Paul, Shane and I discussed how I hadn't been to St Jack yet. This called for emergency dinner planning maneuvers, so just a week later we decided to get together for some more good wine. I must say I was very impressed with every dish we had at St. Jack, including appetizers of foie gras, steak tartare, braised escargot, and scallops. Challenging stuff, but it was all amazing.

Paul ordered the full pigeon, head on. It was yummy.

• NV André Clouet Champagne 1911 (95/96/97) 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  The color of this thing looks exactly like apple juice. The aromas are soft, with nice soft fruit and a creamy notion. Natasha said this smelled like ice cream. After some time in the glass it developed a morel mushroom aroma that was quite a nice mix with the fruit. Pretty vibrant on the palate, showing zesty apples but deeper richness as well. Delicious, with a decadent, smooth texture showing really nice depth and smoothness. Again with time the morel mushroom component comes through on the palate and finish. The finish is quite soft and quiet for about five seconds, when a wave of acidity slowly begins to build up. It's pretty creamy acid, not very cutting in nature, but it is felt lingering for some time after. A nice mellow experience.

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• 1990 Fratelli Seghesio Barolo Vigneto la Villa 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Holy cow were the aromas ever knockout from the get go! Smells beautiful and absolutely perfect for a fruit filled Barolo. Really lush aromas, and it definitely has plenty of earth filled fruit in there coupled with some tar and graphite. The aromas are perfectly integrated and truly wonderful. Great palate entry with sweet earthy strawberries coupled with some herbs. There's still plenty of intensely building tannins as this is held on the palate. Smaller sips give you a soft texture and feel, showing flavors of grape candy. It's certainly very fruity, but that Barolo earthiness is present as well and it has plenty of tannic umph. Grippier on the finish than elsewhere, and nearly closed, with just a bit of fruit. Still pretty here, and feels soft and sweet, but it hints that this can still go a long time in the cellar. It's at a great access point today, and I wouldn't really hesitate to pop them as the fruit is so pure on the nose and palate, but I also don't think it's going anywhere. Still no tertiary development of the fruit. Nice stuff, and peaked at 93 points, though it did tighten up a bit as the night went on.

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• 1990 Fontanafredda Barolo Vigna La Rosa

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Holy christ is this funky! This is really quite wretched... this smells like rotting muscles. Or, like you went to Sea World to feed the dolphins and they give you a tub of dead squid that have been dead just a bit too long. I mean... it's really nasty. Sometimes with vigorous swirling you could get that aroma slightly moved to the side and see some sweet strawberry fruit, but for the most part this just smelled terrible and really impacted the experience. Interestingly, the palate showed no notion of this what so ever. It was soft, rustic, and tarry. There's not much depth present, but good acid is there throughout, on a fairly firm structure. The finish is nice and softly fruited, tannic, and pretty lean. Gritty and grippy tannins linger long on the finish. The palate and finish are actually fairly pleasing, and hint that the wine isn't inherently flawed. Still, based upon the notes I've been seeing of this wine online, I do question if there's something off on this guy. The putrid nose really disallowed this experience from being positive despite the decent palate and finish. I'll refrain from scoring until I pop another bottle soon.

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• 2003 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  This is definitely a big boy Barolo, but not totally out of bounds as some 2003s got. This offers sweet fruit on the nose, herbs, spice, and definitely a slight alcohol tinge is noted. Spicy and large, with a slight acidic aroma. Nice smells, overall. Surprisingly soft texture on the palate, with fairly dark flavors. Pretty mild overall, actually, without much intensity. The finish offered sweet fruit and really grippy tart tannins and sweet acid. Really makes you pucker. The finish definitely shows the wine's youth, but elsewhere it's also not inherently unready to drink. It's not showing too much depth today, but it's also not necessarily feeling tightly wound. It may just be the vintage at play.

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• 1976 Jos Reinhardt II Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad Scheurebe Beerenauslese 91 Points

  Germany, Pfalz

  Smells yummy! Everyone agreed, this smelled more like a dead ringer for aged Sauternes then it did a BA. I get aromas of smoked honey dominating. Someone else said mead. It smells a little bit like the charred outside of a marshmallow on the grill. Fantastic aromas, with apricot notion as well (again, similar to Sauternes). Really mellow and soft palate. Lean, and not very acidic. It's soft and creamy, but also not exceedingly sweet. Again soft on the finish. Elegant, but really not much in the way of depth or additional development. This is a lovely wine to smell and the whole experience is lovely, but it's no revelation. An absolute worthwhile flyer, though. Fun stuff!

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