Pie Franco

Convivio, NYC
Tasted Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by salil with 948 views

Flight 1 - Reception (2 Notes)

  • 2008 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rubentis 88 Points

    Spain, País Vasco, Getariako Txakolina

    Light orange-pink in colour, really enjoyable with fresh cherries, citrus and melon flavours over minerally notes and bright acids keeping it very light and refreshing.

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  • NV Tarlant Champagne La Vigne d'Antan 94 Points

    France, Champagne

    Fantastic stuff with really vibrant and intense pear, apple and white fruited flavours with toasty and yeasty accents and a backbone of really good acidity that gives it an incredibly precise, almost chiseled mouthfeel. Awesome Champagne that I felt a strong inclination to find and buy for myself, until Joe showed us what it cost. Yikes.

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Flight 2 - Flight 1 (7 Notes)

Chef's selection of Small Bites for the Table

Mare
warm seafood salad, seppia, clams, shrimp

  • 2005 Carl Schmitt-Wagner Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett 87 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Tastes more Spätlese than Kabinett; quite sweet with a lovely floral and mineral note that really opens out with time, and bright lime and apple fruit over slate and herbal elements in the mouth with the start of developing smoky/petrol notes.

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  • 2008 Gaia Assyrtiko Thalassitis 88 Points

    Greece, Aegean, Cyclades, Santorini

    Smoky, earthy aromatics leading into dry citrus and pear flavours in the mouth, develops really nicely with air with an emerging creaminess on the back end while still keeping its precision and lightness.

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  • 2007 Contrade di Taurasi (Cantine Lonardo) Grecomusc' 91 Points

    Italy, Campania, Campania IGT

    Really amazing, just for the aromatic profile that smells as if someone just fired a gun on top of an active volcano. Dry, rich and minerally in the mouth (though nowhere near as interesting as it is aromatically) with white fruits mingled with smoke; didn't seem to be an issue with sulfur either - Jeff kept some behind in a glass to follow over the rest of the evening and a few hours later when I smelled it, the wine was almost as smoky and ashy as it had been at the start of the night. Compelling.

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  • 2008 La Sibilla Falanghina Campi Flegrei 90 Points

    Italy, Campania, Campi Flegrei

    Really pale, fresh and light on its feet, starting out with bright white fruited flavours with seawater and chalky flavours emerging with a little air. Returned to this later in the evening after it had been open a couple of hours (Keith had been stressing this really needed air), and it was even better with the oceanic mineral character really vivid.

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  • 2007 Cantine Farro Campi Flegrei Le Cigliate 85 Points

    Italy, Campania, Campi Flegrei

    More weight and body here than the La Sibilla; rich pear and lemon fruit over savoury earthy flavours and a texture that becomes increasingly creamy with air. Didn't spend much time with this, as it was sandwiched between the really awesome Falanghina and the even more awesome Gruners.

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  • 2007 Weingut Meinhard Forstreiter Grüner Veltliner Tabor 94 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal

    Wild, wild aromatics, just an amazing perfume of pepper, all sorts of spices and floral notes over bright fruit, and such intensity and precision in the mouth that it's hard to do justice with words. I'll just go with 'wow'.

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  • 2006 Weingut Meinhard Forstreiter Grüner Veltliner Tabor 91 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal

    Wasn't as impressive initially as the '07 (which would have been a really hard act for anything to follow), unyielding and reticent at first with the flavours blurry, but with some time a similar perfume of spices and flowers develops and the fruit brightens and gains focus. Lovely wine, I need to find some of these Tabors for myself.

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Flight 3 - Flight 2 (7 Notes)

Maccheroni alla Carbonara
pancetta, pecorino, scallion, egg, black pepper

  • 2007 I Vigneri di Salvo Foti Vinudilice 67 Points

    Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

    Tastes like somebody liquefied strawberry candy with a little alcohol. Faintly sherried, nutty notes emerge with time, but there's a really unpleasant confectionary sweetness about this.

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  • 2007 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso PrePhylloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino 92 Points

    Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

    Seriously awesome, with one of the most vivid expressions of black cherries I've ever come across in a wine on a frame that's incredibly silken and almost weightless with really good acidity freshening up the fruit. Delicious.

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  • 2007 Frank Cornelissen Magma

    Italy, Sicily, Sicilia

    Served from two bottles with identical provenance as an experiment to compare the wine when it was uncorked and poured immediately, and decanted three hours beforehand.
    Enjoyed the popped-and-poured version better, fascinating stuff with bright red fruited flavours and herbal notes accented by an intense peppery spiciness and faint candy sweetness, very pale and light red in colour (with a fair bit of sediment in the glass), but really intense in the mouth with a sense of restrained power and a long earthy finish.
    The decanted version was a lot less impressive with the same peppery/slightly candied red fruits, but with some noticeable alcohol and volatile acidity on the nose and some shit (some brett emerging?). As for the wine, fascinating and certainly unique, but not anything I'd really enjoy for the sake of drinking or would want to own.

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  • 1999 Cappellano Barolo Piè Franco Otin Fiorin (Gabutti) 94 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Starts out combining all sorts of rose petal, violet, tarry and herbal elements combining with bright red fruits into a gorgeous fragrance I could have kept smelling through the evening. Liquid silk in the mouth, power without weight as it almost seems to float over the tongue with the tannins surprisingly gentle and a long, expansive finish.

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  • 2001 Cappellano Barolo Piè Franco Otin Fiorin (Gabutti)

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    The most reticent of the three Cappellanos initially with a core of dark fruits accented by tar and piney notes, more accessible later on with some air as it had started to unclench and showing more of the same depth and layers as the 04.

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  • 2004 Cappellano Barolo Piè Franco Otin Fiorin (Gabutti) 93 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Surprisingly approachable and pleasurable for such a young wine, bright red and dark fruit with floral and tarry accents, very elegant but with a sense of power and grip in the mouth, fine grainy tannins on the back end and when revisited near the end of the night, starting to really open out aromatically.

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  • 1998 Marchesi Alfieri Pinot Nero San Germano 85 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Monferrato

    Starts out incredibly ripe, floral and a little alcoholic on the nose, then with about 10 minutes of air it calms down to show really bright, intense red fruited flavours and rose petals with a faint candied accent, more density and weight here than any others in the flight with drying tannins on the back end.

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Flight 4 - Flight 3 (6 Notes)

Fusilli
neopolitan pork shoulder ragu, caciocavallo fonduta

  • 2007 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Franc de Pied 80 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

    Smells like the vegetable section of the supermarket with lots of green pepper, tastes better than it smells though with tart red fruits, black peppercorns and green herbal notes over a lightweight frame with really bright acids.

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  • 2002 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Franc de Pied Flawed

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil

    Corked.

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  • 2005 Charles Joguet Chinon Franc de Pied Les Varennes du Grand Clos 92 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

    Tightly coiled at first, but really expands with some air to show dark fruits and faintly herbal, stemmy notes that add freshness over a core of earth and stones with a great texture that's all silk up front and then changes to something more gritty and chewy on the back end.

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  • 2002 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied 94 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

    Knockout aromatics and a wine I'd have loved to just sit down and explore over an evening, with a seamless combination of fruit, leafy/tobacco notes and the start of developed leathery flavours on a silken frame. Delicious.

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  • 2003 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied 91 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

    The '03 is much riper and darker in its flavour profile, slightly denser and richer in texture than the other two with lovely tobacco and earthy accents to the dark fruit, but what's really amazing here is that it shows the same sense of lightness and the same low (12.5%) alcohol as the other Baudrys regardless of the vintage.

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  • 2005 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied 89 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon

    The '05 is a tad on the green side (though nowhere near as much as the Breton), still quite pleasant with bright fruit and only a faint suggestion of green pepper. Tasty, though perhaps overwhelmed a touch by the really awesome '03 and '02 beside it.

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Flight 5 - Flight 4 (4 Notes)

Scottadito di Agnello
grilled lamb chops, salsa verde, escarole, tomato, beans

  • 1995 Antonio Bernardino Paulo da Silva Colares Chitas Reserva Velho 94 Points

    Portugal, Lisboa, Colares

    Phenomenal stuff with developed leathery and meaty nuances over a core of fresh red fruits and pepper, with a faint balsamic element in the aromatics that adds to the complexities here. 'Wow' aromatics, really elegant and silken textured with power, length and balance - fantastic! Thanks again Oswaldo for lugging this (and the 95 Pato) over!

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  • 1995 Luis Pato Bairrada Quinta do Ribeirinho Pé Franco 94 Points

    Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada

    Fabulous, all sorts of wild things going on in the aromatics with earthy, leathery and faintly rusty scents leading into a palate layering bright, ripe fruits with developed earthy and faintly meaty notes. Slightly rustic flavours on a frame that's anything but with such finesse and balance. Loved this.

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  • 1996 Luis Pato Bairrada Quinta do Ribeirinho Pé Franco 90 Points

    Portugal, Beiras, Bairrada

    An iron fist compared to the '95, full of ripe plummy fruit and some dark chocolate notes, faint balsamic notes in the aromatics, finishing long with a savoury earthiness on the back end.

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  • 2004 Atalayas de Golban Ribera del Duero 76 Points

    Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

    Monotonic, clunky, heavy and almost like a very ripe new world Shiraz with sweet dark fruited flavours and noticeable oak and alcohol. Boring.

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