Montauk Club Wine Dinner March 26, 2009 Tasting Notes

Bisson Vermentino “Vignaerta” 2006

(paired with Marinated Wellfleet Clams with green chiles, lemon and herbs – delightful)

It takes a heroic effort to cultivate vines on the steep slopes of the Ligurian coastline high above the Mediterranean Sea. Mechanization of vineyard tasks is out of the question; everything must be done by hand. The Vermentino "Vignaerta" is a more elegant wine, leaner but with great complexity, showing bright acidity, brilliant length, its strong minerality leavened by notes of citrus, almond, and licorice. At the dinner, many of us found a strong taste of grapefruit. Licorice – not so much. (13% alcohol)

Grosjean Petite Arvine 2007
(paired with Bufala Mozzarella and Beets with pistachios and black olives –quite tasty)

The grape is Petite Arvine, and this wine is super clean tasting, with bright acidity due to its mountain vineyard home. It shows notes of citrus fruit with a noticeable grapefruit profile and lots of minerality and a sense of salt at the finish. When you serve it very cold, it's almost steely, but when it warms up, it opens up to reveal a richness and complexity that is quite unexpected. This wine is exceptionally good!! Dinner tasters would describe the richness as buttery or oily. (13% alcohol)

Ferrando Carema Ettichetta Bianca 2004
(paired with Porcini and Sourdough Soup with truffle spuma – outstanding)

This wine is aged for a minimum of four years, at least two in a barrel. It possesses gorgeous aromatics that lead to sweet herbs, tobacco, candied cherries, minerals and earthiness. The wine reveals stunning vibrancy and freshness with firm but beautifully integrated tannins. At the dinner, the tobacco and earthiness (as in dirt from mushrooms) really shone through. We also noticed a cherry taste and a tingle on the tongue. (13.5% alcohol)

Gour du Chaule Gigondas 2004
(paired with Roast Guinea Hen with chard, guanciale and sweet peppers – absolutely delicious)

Dark red. Deep, powerful and focused, with concentrated, expressive aromas of dark cherry, wild herbs, licorice, candied violet and Asian spices expanding and deepening with air. Vibrant, sharply focused red berry flavors accented by pepper, mace and rhubarb. Tannins build on the long finish, focusing the red fruit flavors. With this wine the licorice really did come through, and we certainly noticed the tannins. The mouth feel was smooth as glass. Very much like a Chateauneuf du Pape. The pairing with the roast guinea hen was perfect. (14% alcohol)

Montauk Club Wine Class Completes World Tour

Ciao Italia again! This time we traveled to Piedmont and Veneto and then said goodbye to Italy. With this tasting on March 19, 2009 we completed the tastings laid out in Andrea Immer Robinson’s book, Great Wine Made Simple. We sampled three of the four major varietals grown in the Piedmont region – Dolcetto, Barbera and Barbaresco – and had a little trouble distinguishing the Barbera from the Dolcetto. Almost everyone picked the Barbaresco though. After that we tried an Amarone della Valpolicella from the Veneto region.

Our first wine was the 2005 Patrizi Barbaresco (13.5% alcohol). Of the three, this had the palest color, being almost translucent. While it had an expansive bouquet, it had a more rustic and musty aroma, like one student’s cellar in fact. The fruit was tart cherry, and the abundant tannins really dried our tongues. As Andrea predicted, a little cheese improved the flavor of the wine.

Our second wine turned out to be the 2006 Marengo Dolcetto D’Alba (14.5% alcohol). Contrary to what Andrea described in her tasting notes, this was the darkest of the three wines which is why many in the class thought it would be the Barbera. The scent of the Dolcetto was not quite as earthy as the Barbaresco with licorice and vanilla peaking through the sour cherry. The high alcohol content came through in the smell as well. The taste echoed the scent with cherry and plum flavors. Though we definitely tasted tannins, this wine didn’t dry us out as much as the Barbaresco. We thought this was more refined than the first wine.

The last Piedmont wine was the 2005 Borgogno Barbera D’Alba (a measly 13% alcohol). This wine had more of a garnet color, but its smell was certainly not as potent as the Dolcetto’s. In fact we found it to be more complex and idiosyncratic. We could definitely taste the acidity and noted that the tannins were clearly softer than the other two wines. We found flavors of red fruits like red plums and cranberries. Some likened this to an easy listening wine whose finish slowly faded away. Perhaps this is the reason almost everyone in the class liked this wine the best of the three Piedmonts.

We then ended our first world tour with in the Veneto region with a 2005 Zeni Amarone della Valpolicella (a whopping 15% alcohol). This wine is made is fermented to dryness, so it is typically very strong and full bodied. We thought this wine had a great scent, with raisins and tar defining it. We could really taste the high alcohol content and wanted to have it with chocolate. Everyone thought it delightful and picked it as the overall favorite of the four wines we tried this evening.

So, having ended on such a high note, we discussed our plans going forward and thought we should go back and review some of the “lessons” in Andrea’s book, Great Wine Made Simple, before striking out on our own to explore some other countries like Spain, Australia and South Africa. Where better to start our review than with the Big Six – the most popular varietals of white and red wines. At our next class, which is scheduled for April 16, 2009, we’ll explore the three most popular whites with a Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 2003 Piesporter Goldtrőpfchen Riesling Kabinett (9.5% alcohol), a Robert Mondavi 2006 Fume Blanc from Napa Valley (14% alcohol) and an Acacia 2006 Chardonnay Carneros from Sonoma Valley (14.4% alcohol). If you have the book, please review the tasting notes on pages 21 and 22.

See you all on April 16 around sevenish!!

Suzy Marquard