LPSkeleton comes to town

LPSkeleton was on his way across country to do his summer training in San Diego and he made his way through chicago for a night of Barolos and Barberas. Along with the main theme, he also brought with him some barrel samples from Tawse and some goodies from the night before in Buffalo at JoeG's place.

So, a few of us from the chicago crew decided to drink with him and learn more about Barolo as the theme for the Barolo section was the different communes of Barolo. It turned out to be very informative and fun

Caleb(LPSkeleton) brought these with him. This was my first experience having Canadian wine that wasn't dessert wine, and I was very impressed with these offerings. I didn't have time to take notes down on the meritage that was brought, but the merlot was tremendous

• 2007 Tawse Pinot Noir 87 Points

  Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA

  this was a barrel sample that was provided by LPSkeleton for us to check out
  
  nose: nice spiced nose with some tart cherry and dark plum. there's also a bit of fake plastic tones, but they aren't overtly prevelent
  
  taste: very smooth and silky attack of cherry, spice, and some earth tones
  
  overall: a very nice pinot noir, and I want to check out the finished product. Good feel and weight with a nice silky elegance to it

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• 2006 Tawse Merlot David's Block 91 Points

  Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Twenty Mile Bench VQA

  this was a barrel sample provided by LPSKeleton
  
  nose: very elegant nose of earth, dark cherry, and floral tones. Very right bank in style
  
  taste: great feel with tobbacco, earth, floral tones, and dark cherry. Nice grip and feel with an underlying elegance
  
  overall: a tremendous merlot with great weight, length, and feel that shows off the elegance of colder climate merlots

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The Idea with this one was to pair the Ca di Pian's against each other and then have the Vietti. The room that we were having the tasting in was probably colder then cellar temperature, and it was messing a bit with the acidity and the wines. It was very different, but you can only do so much

• 2004 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbera d'Asti Cà di Pian 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti

  nose: a lot of funk on the nose that blew off a bit with time(I enjoy a good funky nose, so I had no problem with this) with loads of dark fruit, bits of tar, wild spices, and some roses. As it warmed up it then became more burgundy-esque with some smoked meat tones and damp earth notes creeping in too
  
  taste: very lush dark cherry, some truffles, hi floral tones, with some herbal spices and cigar box flavors
  
  overall: a really interesting wine. The temperature of the room was effecting the barberas a lot as the room temp was in the high 40s. Nice lush feel on the palate with good length and comlexity

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• 2005 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbera d'Asti Cà di Pian 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti

  nose: bigger and racier nose then the 04 with ripe cherries, mocha tones, vanillians, with some herbs and earth tones underneath. getting more of an oak influence on this one as opposed to the 04
  
  taste: nice and plush feel with tart cherries, mocha, herbal spices, and some fig and twiggy green flavors
  
  overall: nice easy and smooth barbera with a nice filling feel on the palate. Again, I think the room temperature was messing with this as the acidity was a bit higher then I'm used to for a barbera, but that didn't bother me as much as it did for other people

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• 2005 Vietti Barbera d'Asti Tre Vigne 87 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti

  nose: very balanced nose with some sea breeze tones, forrest floor, juniper spices, and dark cherry. Very interesting combination
  
  taste: again, very balanced flavors of forrest floor, herbal spice tones, plump cherries, and some damp earth tones. Nice and balanced, and the acidity isn't as much of a problem as it was with the Spinettas
  
  overall: this is a very good and easy drinking wine. It's well made and produced, but just doesn't excite and there isn't a lot of depth to it. Everything is in the right place, but nothing really jumps out at you and grabs you

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Caleb had hoped to cover all 5 of the communes, but we were only able to come up with 4, still, it was great having 2 modern producers and being able to see the differences in the regions of Barolo with these great wines

• 2001 Fratelli Barale Barolo Castellero 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  nose: nice nuanced and feminine nose of hi floral tones, rose petals, lots of various perfumes, with some tar and menthol characteristics. just an utterly beautiful nose
  
  taste: very pretty and elegant with lavender, rose petals, some menthol and mint tones
  
  overall: The nose makes this wine, and the flavor profile is very nice, but its mostly surface flavors and the finish is a bit thin and lacking. If there was more depth to this, this would be a huge winner. It's still a very enjoyable wine that is very elegant with a silky attack that dances across the palate and leans into a finessed finish that is irritatingly brief

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• 1999 Paolo Scavino Barolo Carobric 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  nose: big and filling nose that doesn't show as much of the modern style of Barolo with loads of juniper spice, lilacs, nutmeg, red licorice, and some cedar planks in there too
  
  taste: Really good grip on the palate with great concentration of lilacs, herbal spices, red licorice, and sour cherry tones
  
  overall: Still very tannic and structured, but there's a lot to get excited about with this. Really great mid palate concentration and a nice lengthy finish compliment the silky balance of the wine. I will certainly be looking forward to what my next bottle brings in a few years

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• 2001 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Prapò 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  nose: loads of cinnamon with blue stones, roses, and some anise in there to give some dark flavors to compliment the lighter side of this
  
  taste: wonderful silky feel of anise, minerals, roses, with bits of tar and high floral tones
  
  overall: Wonderfully elegant wine with much beauty. Nice subtle flavor profile that is nuanced and delicate, and yet firm in its approach. Very good structure across the palate that leans into a nice finish of anise

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• 2001 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  nose: nice big effusive nose of anise, strawberries, dark cherry, herbs, and roses. a lot of depth on the nose that is demonstrating the modern barolo style in a great way
  
  taste: big and firm with huge grip. The tannins are big, but they don't get in the way of the big amount of anise, strawberries, roses, and dark cherry. This is an anise bomb, and I'm enjoying it immensely
  
  overall: The tannins are still very big on this and it probably needs a few more years, but there is certainly something special in this wine. It posses a huge feel on the palate that touches all the good parts on your tounge and gives off a wonderful lasting finish of dark cherry and anise. There is a ton of beauty in this wine and it was my WOTN by far

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These were the only two of the leftovers that I was able to taste that Caleb brought as time was running a bit short. I wish I had been able to try the Clos Mogador the night before, but, I'll hopefully have another chance at it in the future

• 2001 Clos Mogador Priorat 93 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  nose: huge sumptuous nose of black tea, loads of dark fruits, anise, and some dark cranberry tones on the back end
  
  taste: very full feel on the palate with black tea, cedar, and globs of dark cherry, with some black currants on the back end. Well structured and balanced flavors
  
  overall: a big time priorat with supple feel and a big finish of black currants. This had been opened for over 24 hours when I got to it, so it probably wasn't showing as great as it was the night before, but oh well, it was still pretty damn good. Lots of depth to it and is one I'd love to try again

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• 2001 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso 90 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

  nose: big nose of root vegetables(loads of them) with cedar, cranberry, blueberry, and some brown sugar tones thrown in there too
  
  taste: solid feel with firm tannins with a good amount of herbs, blueberry, cedar box, and roots
  
  overall: An excellent wine that has depth and good structure. 100% cab franc's don't do much for me, I've generally found that they work best when mixed with merlot to make that magic happen. It has a very good feel and weight. It was also opened for ~24 hours by the time I got to it, so it may have lost some magic from the night before as LPSkeleton was very high on it

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It was a real fun night. This was a small group, but it was perfect and we have some great wine along with great discussion. It was great having LPSkeleton teach us more about his wine passion(barolo) and when he comes back this way in the fall, I'm going to be sure to drown him in my passion(bordeaux). It was great meeting him and having this off line on short notice