Feudi San Gregorio Falanghina 2006

Oz Clarke calls the Falanghina grape “high quality but little planted,” and says that it may have been responsible for Falernian, the most famous wine of ancient Rome. I’ve never tried it before, and while Wine Spectator hasn’t rated the 2006 vintage, this wine usually rates in the 88 to 90 range. So I jumped at the chance when I saw it was on sale for $20.

Unfortunately, at the first sniff I realized it was very lightly corked. Too bad, I thought, but a little bit of cork taint can ‘blow off’ and I can still get an idea of what the grape is like. When I tasted it the second “unfortunately” hit - it was insipid and empty. I had been half expecting this, as WS always recommended “drink now” for other vintages, so this wine is a couple of years past its prime drinking date. But still, I was hoping for a bit more.

I was writing up a post saying “don’t buy, this is over the hill.” At the same time I was searching WS to see what they had to say about cork taint generally, and I came across this comment: “At lower levels, TCA taint merely strips a wine of its flavor, making normally rich, fruity wines taste dull or muted, without imparting a noticeable defect.” This made me realize that I can’t rate this wine, even on a ‘this is how it rates now’ basis, since the lack of flavour may be due to the cork taint. But I thought I’d post this anyway, since the experience was an education for me. I’m familiar enough with the obvious musty smell of cork taint, but the more subtle effect of robbing a wine of flavour is something I hadn’t known about.

So, is this wine over the hill, or is it just that the low level cork taint robbed it of flavour? My bottle was uninspiring either way, but I’d certainly be interested to hear if anyone else tries this wine.

Price: $19.32
Score: No score
Value: No value
Region: Italy, Campania
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 8022888650018

Aresti Late Harvest Gewurztraminer Reserva 2007

Iron Chef asked last week for some more reviews of value priced wines - and now he has answered his own plea. (Well, value priced for a desert wine, anway). Too bad it wasn't a winner - but for the rest of us, a tip on wines to avoid is as important as a tip on ones to buy.

--- Iron Chef's Review ---

An odd wine. Thick and sticky without the alcohol.
Nose of Spicy fruit- very Gewurzty and honey honey honey.
The palate was sugary with Pineapple and Citrusy notes and heavily textured. But most of all it felt clumsy and over ripe. There must have been a ton of residual sugar. It represents a lot of what I don't like in wines- bombastic and sweet without the structure or refinement. Not enjoyable.

Price: $11.49 / 375 ml
Score: 78
Value: 2/5
Region: Chile, Curico Valley
Grape: Gewurztraminer
Alcohol: 13%
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 7809579800379

2001 Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino

This wine isn’t fully bloggable - ANBL has the 2000 vintage, not the 2001. But that’s close enough - call it quasi-bloggable. (BTW, I say ANBL has the 2000 vintage, but that’s only from the website, which isn’t always accurate with respect to vintage. Anyone know if it really is the 2000 that is in stock?)

— Tancred’s Review —

While visiting a relative in the US, I tried the 2001 Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino, a wine that WS rated at 95. It turns out that NB Liquor carries the 2000 vintage that WS rated at a 90, so I figured I would say something about the 2001 edition.

This was a superb wine that had aged very nicely. No longer tight and concentrated as WS noted when they reviewed it on release, the Fuligni was big and lush and had layers of complexity. Finely balanced, excellent mouthfeel and a finish that went on and on.

As for score though, I'm not sure about 95 (and more generally I find WS scoring bemusing sometimes, across the scoring spectrum). I would expect to be amazed with a 95 wine, like I was with the Pio Cesare Ornato 2001 a few years ago. The Fuligni wasn't quite up to that mark.

Has anyone tried the 2000 edition? I would be most interested to hear how it was. And if money and supply were no object, I would love to have a blind pairwise tasting of these two vintages.

— 2000 Vintage —

Price: $75.16
Region: Italy
Grape: Sangiovese
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 726452007786

Santa Rita Floresta Leyda Sauvignon Blanc 2007

Aaron at the Prospect St ANBL recommended this wine to us. He's one of the product advisors there, which I gather is a relatively new phenomenon at ANBL. He seemed very knowledgeable, and this wine is a winner.

The nose is mostly floral notes, kiwi fruit and maybe melon, minerals, and spices. It is crisp and clean on the palate, with great acidity and length. I find that there's a bit of a hard edge throughout, but then I get that with almost all whites, so I can't complain about it. It reminds us of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in style. Our usual "standby" whites are the Kim Crawford and its ilk, and the Floresta is worth the extra $5. We rated both 88, but like this one better.

Price: $26.29
Score: 88
Value: 3/5
Region: Chile
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 086785470344

Penfolds Bin 128 1998

This wine probably started out as a fairly standard Aussie Shiraz: fruity and peppery and semi-complex, solid and tasty; but the sort of Shiraz you can buy any day at ANBL for around $26 if you choose carefully. But Norman is a bit of a collector. When he finds things he likes - and he likes wine - he squirrels it away for future enjoyment. And so we find ourselves in 2009 enjoying a 1998 Aussie Shiraz.

The nose is lush with ripe blackberries, juniper, tobacco, tar, dried flowers, and a touch of vanilla. The palate confirms the nose, and is long and fullest and the end, which reminds me of the floor of a coniferous forest. This Bin 128 is elegant, fruity, and rustic all at the same time.

I expect that many people would say Australian Shiraz of this style is meant to be drunk young, and that its abundant fruit is its distinguishing and best characteristic. I like those things, but I also like the way the fruit and oak characteristics (which I find can be overpowering in a young Shiraz) develop and mellow to reveal other elements. Penfolds advises peak drinking from 2002 to 2012, and I agree. We would have paid about $30 for this bottle in 2002 or so, but we have also had great success with shorter-term cellaring of $14-26 Shirazes. It can be a bit of a gamble, but if you find an affordable wine you like that seems to have fruit and tannins to support aging, I recommend buying maybe a case and drinking a bottle per year through its drinking window as a worthwhile and interesting experience.

Price: $38.29
Score: 91
Value: 4/5
Region: Coonawara, Australia
Grape: Shiraz
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 012354071704

De Bortoli Deen Vat 4 Petit Verdot 2006

I was quite interested when Iron Chef sent me this review, as I've had my eye on this wine for a while, but just haven't gotten around to trying it.

--- Iron Chef's Review ---

Colour- Redish Purple, Great Colour.

Nose- Plummy, Vanilla oak, Lavender ??, Dusty Gravel notes. Smells great.

Taste- less than ripe cherries, Aussie Mist Shampoo (coconut) & bananas, a bit candied but not overblown. Surprisingly acidic, fine tannins- some apple crispness- a real backbone to the wine. Smooth Fruit forward wine.

Typical Aussie but something different, not austere, not completely candied overall complex. Of all the PVerdots I have had, it has always the acidity or crispness of the palate and the structure of the wine that sets it apart from the normal. As a primarily blending grape to add structure to a Bordeaux or meritage blend, I am always happy to try it by itself.

Price: $20.49
Score: 88
Value: 3.9/5
Region: Australia- Riverina
Alcohol 14.5%
Grape: Petit Verdot
Tasted: March 2009
UPC #679940000533

MezzoMondo Negroamaro Rosso Salento 2007

I love dark, chewy wines made from grape varieties such as Tannat and Negroamaro. This one offers lots and lots of vanilla on the nose, and also blackberries, raspberries, and spices. It is long and lush and mouth-filling on the palate, which adds leather and tar and features firm tannins that end with an “oomph.” I find it a tiny bit sweet, but otherwise it exhibits good varietal typicity (by which I mean that it has characteristics of more expensive Negroamaros I’ve enjoyed). It is excellent value at the price, and a great place to start to explore this grape varietal and style of wine.

Price: $10.29
Score: 83
Value: 5/5
Region: Forli, Italy
Grape: Negroamaro
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 8032610311346

Collazzi Toscana 2005

Have I mentioned that I'm keen on Bordeaux blends lately? I believe that this one is also a Super Tuscan. Italian wines that do not adhere to the blending laws for the region in question must be sold as “table wine” rather than, say, Chianti. In Tuscany in the mid 1970s, producers began to experiment with non-traditional grape varieties with great international success, and the term Super Tuscan was coined to describe those wines.

This wine offers lots of anise and dark berry on the nose, and also minerals, cedar, tobacco, spices, and maybe also coffee, chocolate, and oak. It is luscious on the palate, with firm tannins throughout and especially on the finish, which is long. It is distinctly Italian in style. Tasting blind (as usual), I immediately identified it as Italian. Then I proceeded to guess practically every grape variety in the known universe before settling on Bordeaux; and I’m usually pretty good at identifying that blend, whatever its origin. It is delicious, and good value at the price. We have an older vintage in the cellar that should be very interesting for comparison.

P.S. Only after writing this review did I learn that we already blogged this wine. Norman was apparently testing us - he’s cheeky that way - and I think the reviews are quite similar.

Price: $48.99
Score: 93
Value: 4/5
Region: Tuscany, Italy
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 8007425050452

Colonial Estate Envoy 2005

This is an example of my favourite style of Australian wine. It is fruity, but not dominated by fruit; it is elegant in style, but not austere; and it has all kinds of other interesting flavours. I noted blackberry and plum, minerals, earth, fungus, tar, smoke, maybe sage, pepper, cloves, and violets. Really. It is very well balanced and smooth on the palate, and long. The tannins are fine but firm.

It is possible that the smoke flavor I detected was from the duck breast Norman was roasting at the time, not the wine. (We did have to open all of the doors and windows to clear the smoke from the house.) It is also possible that my 93 rating was influenced by the exceptionally good mood I was in the evening we opened this wine, but in any event I would have rated it at least 92 and it is excellent value at $37.

Price: $37.16
Score: 89 (downgraded from Kelly's original score of 93 in light of comments and subsequent tasting)
Value: 3.5/5
Region: Australia, Barossa Valley
Grape: Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvèdre
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 9338498004806

Urban Uco Malbec 2005

Here's another review from Peanutman. On the issue of the ANBL website, I've noticed before that the vintage dates are quite unreliable. My guess is that they put the right vintage up when the product gets listed, but the vintage doesn't always get updated when a new vintage comes in.


--- Peanutman's review ---

Urban Uco Malbec 2005 - Argentina's Uco Valley (It states 2004 on the NBLC website, but bottle is an 05)

I had a bottle of this Malbec last year and I thought it was really good. At that time, it wasn't available in NB, but I noticed it at the Wine Festival in Mct and today at the NBLC. It is a deep dark purple. My nose was working today and it had a hint of a flowery bouquet dominated by blackberries. The taste, intense blackberries and a little spicy. Maybe a little bit of a plum taste, but I couldn't really tell. There is a little acidity and some soft tannins. I thought there was just enough oak to give a little bit of the vanilla taste. I have a feeling this bottle might even be better in 6 months to a year. If you like Malbec, I don't think you can go wrong for the price. I would rate it a 4 out of 5 for value and give it an 87 (I'm sort of stuck on that number)

Retail Price: $12.79
Score: 87
Value: 4/5
Region: Argentina, Uco Valley
Grape: Malbec
UPC: 7798098891053