Soul Tree: some Indian wines

India is known for many things. Wine is not one of them.

I suspect that many of us of a certain age fell for an Indian fizz called Omar Khayyam when trying to impress or be impressed at an Indian restaurant in the 1990s. But slowly Indian wines have been appearing on British shelves since then.  Previously I've had wines from Nashik (Sula Vineyards) and Bangalore (Grover Vineyards).  And then there were the rather Indian sounding Viceroy White, Raja Rosé and Rani Gold from Wine for Spice, but they were actually Spanish.  The Indian wines were fine, unexceptional but fine, and lacked any sense of place and felt in a very international style: at the time I tried them, Grover Vineyards were part owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy and enfant terrible of the international modern French-American style, Michel Rolland, was involved in the winemaking.  If you tasted them all blind, I think the ones you'd probably pick as most likely to be Indian would be the Wines for Spice ones, thanks to them being specifically designed to go with spicy food.
Fast forward to 2016, and it was interesting to meet Gorvinder Butter and try his Soul Tree wines.  Apart from a couple of reds that I couldn't get on with, I thought the increase in quality over the last Indian wines I'd had was very noticeable, plus a bit more a sense of place.  Soul Tree is based in Birmingham, but the wines and the vineyards are located in India's largest wine-grape growing district, the Nasik Valley, around a hundred miles north east of Mumbai. Fortunately the vineyards are at sufficient altitude to be able to take advantage of cooler nights.

• NV Soul Tree Aikya
  Apparently a blend of Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Symphony, and Shiraz.
  A zesty lemon nose that immediately made me think of chenin. Straightforward palate. A good clean fizz, with a blend that strikes me would work well with spicy food. Perfectly serviceable and pleasant drinking. 85/100
• 2015 Soul Tree Sauvignon Blanc
  A massive asparagus-dominated nose. On the palate, this is a good, fresh sauvignon blanc. Maybe there is some tropical fruit creeping in and taking over from the green fruit. A nice wine. 87/100
• 2015 Soul Tree Chenin Blanc
  Very fresh nose with zesty lemon and white flowers. On the palate, this is a good, clean, steely chenin. Very drinkable. 87/100
• 2016 Soul Tree Rosé
  A rather slight nose. It's a good white zinfandel. Much less offensive than some Californian examples. Much drier than most white zin. 85/100
• 2014 Soul Tree Reserve Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon
  The nose has good balanced fruit and oak. Good palate. Absolutely fine. But a bit dull and international. 85/100
• 2015 Soul Tree Cabernet Sauvignon
  A good cabernet sauvignon nose. Very pleasant palate. Lush, ripe fruit, but nicely balanced. A hint of wood. 87/100
• 2014 Soul Tree Shiraz
  A bit mealy-nosed - wood, meat and a strong perfume. Odd palate. Strangely perfumed with air freshener notes. Not entirely pleasant. 77/100
•  2015 Soul Tree Royal Blend Cabernet Sauvignon-Zinfandel
  Good clean nose. The Zinfandel appears dominant. A bit odd on the palate, and quite green. Can't say I like this. I wonder if it would come into its own with spicy food.  81/100

A Journey through Chianti Classico with Castello di Albola and La Locanda, Gisburn

Serata del Chianti13th September 2016

An evening at La Locanda restaurant in Gisburn celebrating 300 years of Chianti Classico with the wines of Castello di Albola.

Castello di Albola

The medieval village of Castello di Albola, the heart of the estate, lies in the Chianti hills in the municipality of Radda around 20 miles south east of Florence. The estate passed through the hands of various families of the Tuscan nobility over the centuries, but most recently came under the ownership of the Zonin family around 1970.  The estate covers some 900 hectares, planted with around 4000 olive trees and 150 hectares of vines.

We were just 11 days short of the 300th anniversary of Chianti Classico, as it was 24th September 1716 when Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici defined the boundaries of the Chianti, Pomino, Carmignano and Vald'Arno di Sopra wine growing regions  between the cities of Florence and Siena. He also established an organization to control wine production and to guard against counterfeiting. 

We were taken through the wines by Alessandro Marchesan from Zonin and through the matching food, prepared by chef Maurizio Bocchi, by Cinzia Bocchi of La Locanda.

Aperitivo

We started, as is becoming traditional at La Locanda's special evenings with an olive oil cocktail - a bloody mary incorporating the Castello di Albola extra virgin olive oil.

A very spicy, very potent Bloody Mary with extra lushness from the olive oil

With the Bloody Mary was served what most of the table thought the best dish of the evening, a toasted slice of Maurizio Bocchi's own made Tuscan bread topped with local Lancashire cavolo nero draped with some thinly sliced lardo di Colonnata just melting on to it.  Delicious, and a perfect balance of flavours.

Crostone con lardo

Antipasto

Tonno del Chianti - pork shoulder cooked for 8 hours in white wine and veg, then shredded and then strained and marinaded in loads of herbs and loads of olive oil. Pulled pork Italian style I decided to call it. The thing is, it not only looked like tinned tuna, but it was impossible not to think the flavour wasn't reminiscent of tuna too.

Tonno del Chianti

• 2013 Castello d'Albola Chianti Classico DOCGServed cool.
  A good garnet colour - not looking obviously youthful.
  Very good nose. Lots of typicity and a touch of bacon fat. And as it warms up in the glass, there's a touch of veal stock on the nose.
  Bright, savoury fruit on the palate. There's a fair bit of spice too. It almost feels like it should be a bit chunky and rustic, but then a very velvety character takes over and smooths it all out. Great length.
  
  The difference between this and the 2012 which followed it is remarkable, almost like different estates and different winemakers. The comparison that came to my mind was that the 2013 was like a dry stone wall to the neatly laid Accrington brick wall of the 2012.
  88/100

Primo Piatto

Zuppa di farro. A rustic soup of spelt, with onion, a smoky pancetta and Pecorino Toscano DOP. Simple but delicious, and remarkably excellent with the wine.

Zuppa di farro

• 2012 Castello d'Albola Chianti Classico DOCG
  Served en magnum.
  2012 was a cooler, more difficult year than 2013, rescued by a very good September.  A rich, deep garnet appearance. 
  Much more closed on the nose than the 2013, but also with richer, sweeter fruit, and (despite being served in magnums), this has lost its baby fat.
  Very smooth and velvety on the palate. Very good, pure, sweet fruit. A little brooding maybe. Very savoury, slightly sour cherry fruit on the finish. 
  Again despite being in magnums (the received opinion being that a wine should age more slowly, the larger the bottle), overall it's very nicely integrated with good poised. 89/100

Secondo Piatto di Pesce

Brodetto chiaro di pesce - a delicate clear fish broth with monkfish, clams, mussels and lemon sole

brodetto chiaro di pesce

• 2015 Castello d'Albola Poggio Alle Fate Toscana IGT
  An unoaked chardonnay, made in a Chablis style. Limited production of only 10,000 bottles and, in the UK at least, destined for the on-trade ony.
  A very pale lemon straw colour. Flinty, steely nose dominated by the minerality with some salinity.
  A very austere, steely attack. Quite a firm texture in the mouth, with notable acidity. It feels quite extracted with a pear drop intensity. Very zippy and tingly in the mouth with that same salinity that was on the nose coming through on the finish.
  Very austere and a bit hard work. Pleasurable is not the word. 85/100

Secondo Piatto di Carne

Costolette di agnello con cavolo nero e salsa alle nocciole (lamb steaks with Lancashire cavolo nero and a hazelnut sauce that was delicious in itself, but also a wonderful combination with the lamb - a combination I'd never had, but a complete revelation.  Sadly the lamb was overcooked.

Costolette di agnello con cavolo nero e salsa alle nocciole

• 2012 Castello d'Albola Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
  A very even garnet red.
  Very attractive nose. It has a lovely perfume, cherry and a hint of rose, together with a suggestion of a sort of vaguely salted anchovy umami note and a hint of vanilla.
  Very silky attack with good concentration immediately evident and feeling very integrated. In the mouth, it builds and builds, developing a certain spiciness and increasing in rusticity. That developing rustic note makes it feel like it's about to fall apart after the elegantly restrained attack, but then it pulls itself together as more evident tannins come along and help it to reintegrate. Very well handled oak.
  It is, however, far too young. I'd score this 86/100 now, but with the potential for 88-90 when it's matured enough to be drinkable with pleasure. 89/100
• 2013 Castello d'Albola Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
  2013 is the first vintage of the Gran Selezione, and was released for sale in June 2016.
  A lovely, integrated nose that feels more mature than the 2012 Riserva. Good, integrated fruit with a bit of subtle oak knitting it together.
  Rich, full attack. Very nicely together on the palate. A touch of salty, savoury spice on the finish. Very elegant. A real step up in terms of elegance over the other Castello di Albola Chiantis.  91/100
  

Dolce

L'elmo di Caterina dei Medici... lo zucotto.  A magnificent, if far too large pudding, a bit like the old Russian Cake you used to be able to buy from bakeries, using up leftover cakes, soaked with booze. Here it was filled with sweet ricotta cheese, toasted hazelnuts and chocolate, the whole thing then covered in a rich chocolate ganache.  

• 2005 Castello d'Albola Vin Santo del Chianti Classico
  An intense raisiny nose with some apricot. There's a touch of oxidative nuttiness.
  Very concentrated palate. Very, very intense. Almost painfully intense. Pretty decent acidity. It has a nice, oily, nutty feel. An extremely accomplished vin santo - one of the best I can remember having. 92/100

 
 
For this evening, I was the guest of La Locanda.

Cail Bruich, Glasgow - a wine dinner

Cail Bruich 
725 Great Western Rd
Glasgow 

This was a special evening at the excellent Cail Bruich restaurant in Glasgow: a group of us who know each other from meeting online on the forum at www.wine-pages.com, had arranged a Friday night takeover of Cail Bruich, a tasting menu and corkage, so we could share interesting wines from our cellars.  We were split between several tables of between eight and twelve covers.  The menu was the same across all the tables, though the wines varied from table to table: the wines below were those on my table, and, I should emphasise again, were brought by us: they're not off Cail Bruich's wine list. 

This was an excellent evening, full of terrific wines generously shared by participants, terrific food from Cail Bruich and also exceptional service from Cail Bruich, who coped amazingly well with us.

As well as praising the quality of the food, it's worth saying just how well paced the evening was too - credit needs to go to both the kitchen and the front of house at Cail Bruich for that. We were not rushed, but had enough time to get through all our wines. It was great to see front of house so interested, that they were busily snapping photos of the wines with their 'phones.


 Aperitif

1995 Domaine des Forges Coteaux du Layon Chaume Grains Nobles de Pineau
Quite a delicate nose with touches of honey, lemon, floral notes, and almost orange flower water.
Lovely palate. It is very sweet of course, but there's a massive acidity too, which keeps it perfectly balanced.
Very, very precise and focused. Very concentrated and powerful, but still very balanced.
92/100


Whites
with nibbles of Smoked Haddock Croquette, Steamed Bun and Spring Vegetable Tartlet

2006 Dr Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli (Finger Lakes, New York)
Mid gold colour. Fairly intense, nutty nose, feeling very evolved. Something a bit marsanne like on the nose.

Fair palate. Bit of a spritzy zesty lemon note on the attack. This is fading and drying out. There's something very familiar about the flavour, but I can't pin it down. There's a rather odd combination of length and falling short at the same time. Possibly a hint of oxidation, but that might just be the Rkatsiteli. Really quite curious: it's definitely not dead, but it's not entirely alive either. The moral seems to be: drink your Finger Lakes Rkatsiteli before it gets to ten years old.
83/100

1991 Coulée de Serrant, Nicolas Joly
A deepish golden colour.
Fantastic nose, with lemon, lots of white pepper, and some wet dog.
Remarkable palate. Though it takes a bit of getting used to. It's slightly raisined, and there's a touch of oxidation. A wine to keep going back to. Absolutely bone dry. Good acidity on the finish.
89/100 

The smoked haddock croquette really brought this to life, though the spring vegetable tartlet did it no favours whatsoever.

Smoked Haddock Croquette, Brown Sauce

This was spot on. Can't say I'd ever have thought of brown sauce with a brandade of smoked haddock, but it worked really well for me. Plus it made the 91 Coulée de Serrant sing like Callas.

Steamed Bun, Ham “Jam”, Shallot, Beer Mustard

This didn't really convince me. Too much bun maybe, drowning out the rest. Really it just tasted like an underseasoned onion sandwich. Can't win 'em all.

Spring Vegetable Tartlet

This was really good: incredibly light pastry, and just full of the flavours of spring.

On to the first couple of courses:

2015 Riverby Sauvignon Blanc
An exclusive! The first bottle to be opened in the UK.
It has a lovely nose: very restrained, with some green peas, lettuce and a good minerality.
Very good palate. Very bright and focused. There's also a fab peppery spice note.
Very impressive and a very food-friendly sauvignon blanc.
Great restraint. Quite a firm minerality. A splendid sauvignon blanc.
93/100
It also worked exceedingly well with Cail Bruich's excellent mackerel dish: in terms of food and wine matching, I find it difficult to believe that any table could have had a better match at any point throughout the evening.

 

Mackerel, Cucumber, Green Strawberry “Sauce Vierge”

This was delightful: I think it was soused mackerel, the skin side blowtorched, mackerel tartare, green strawberry, marinated cucumber and those tart-yet-fruity red blobs.

Wye Valley Asparagus,Crispy Egg Yolk, Smoked Hollandaise

Very simple, and an excellent little refresher plate at this stage in the meal. A slow cooked egg yolk, so you had the unctuous texture, without chasing liquid egg yolk across the plate. I'm not a great fan of gratuitous smoking of things that have survived generations without being smoked, but the hollandaise worked very well, I thought. Just a hint of smoke to lift it, without being at all dominant.
The smoked hollandaise and deep fried yolk meant that the Sauvignon Blanc worked better with the asparagus than I'd feared, and better than it often can do (too often it's too much like with like). However, both the rkatsiteli and the Coulée de Serrant worked well, as did a 1996 Bollinger that made its way over from another table.

Reds


Nebbiolo flight

· 2001 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo, Vigna Enrico VI
A very young colour.
A nose verging on the glorious. Really poised black fruit (blackcurrant particularly), with a layer of fresh tobacco.
A lovely palate. Just what it should be. If anything, it feels a bit young.
Fascinating palate. Very dry and drying. Soft tannins, but very evident tannins.
This is a jolly interesting wine now, but needs a few more years to really blossom.
93/100

2010 Adam's Rib The Red, Castagna (Beechworth, Victoria)
A very curious mint sauce nose. Very minty with lots of tar.
Fascinating palate: fresh, vibrant black fruit, and then you get a real punch of the syrah (it's a blend of 70% nebbiolo and 30% syrah).
These layers of flavours continue flowing over each other throughout.
Carries its 14% alcohol very well.
I love this: a fascinating wine.
94/100

Un-Burgundy flight

· 2013 Riverby Estate Pinot Noir Reserve
Very, very soft red fruit on the nose, with a nice herbal note.
Soft, round palate. Quite a spicy touch with firm tannins.
Worked very well with the duck.
88/100

2000 Chateau Musar
Yup. Musar nose. Old sweaty leather. Oxidative. Sweaty and cheesy.
While Musar can swing every which way, I'm not convinced this bottle is quite right. The 2000 is often described as a Burgundian Musar; hence why it was in this flight. It feels both a bit oxidised and a bit reductive on the palate, and a bit cooked. I think this has got cooked at some point.

1996 Ridge flight

1996 Ridge York Creek Petite Sirah
Very attractive, very approachable nose. This is so much more approachable than the Santa Cruz Mountains merlot.
Lots of juicy black fruit on the palate. Very enticing.
Drying tannins on the finish.
92/100

1996 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot
Quite a slight nose - black fruits. Slightly murky nose. It's not especially thrilling on the nose.
Round, full, soft black fruit on the palate, with big, spicy tannins on the finish.
There's something slightly curious about this, though I am rather liking it.
It's a bit too young and tight, I think. Slightly sweaty palate. Leathery tannins.
91/100

Under 300 cases reds flight
(Okay, I struggled putting these last two reds into a flight, but a bit of research - including reading the label - revealed under 300 cases of each were produced. And a couple of hefty reds should show well towards the end of the meal.)

2003 Fetzer Coro Mendocino
A blend of 50% Zinfandel, 30% Syrah, 15% Petite Sirah, and 5% Grenache from vineyards in California's Mendocino county.
An intriguing nose. Soft, slightly herbaceous black fruit. With aeration, this is really growing on me. Delectable and very balanced.
Wow. This is very good. Much better than I was expecting.
It's an intriguing blend, and it works very well. Lovely balance on the palate.
Huge depth with real spice. There's lots of zinfandel character, yet balanced by the other varieties.
Delicious and full of character. Very accomplished.
I'd buy more of this, though it doesn't look like it comes over here, so I can't, unfortunately.
Probably being a bit generous, but 95/100

1997 Domaine de la Grange des Pères, Vin de Pays de l'Herault
Fantastic nose with gorgeous rounded black fruit.
Rich, full palate. This is delicious, if rather hefty stuff.
But it feels a little simple compared to the Fetzer.
Really rich in the mouth. Very wide and mouthfilling. Very rounded and open.
92/100

Goosnargh Duck, Apricot, Peas, Lettuce, Girolle, Black Garlic

This was delicious. Very simple, but very nicely executed. Though, with all the wine, I could have probably eaten the other half of the duck breast too.

Sweet Rieslings

· 2014 Riverby Estate Noble Riesling
Delicate, precise nose. Lovely botrytis notes. I've got written down here "risotto primavera nose" but have no idea what that means, and can't really see how it would apply to a botrytised riesling: somebody must have been talking about risotto at the time, or something.
Gorgeous palate. Very sweet, but that sweetness is kept entirely in check.
Rich, yet very balanced palate. Very, very balanced. Good acidity. Really bright.
92/100
Fabulous with the first dessert of strawberry, yoghurt and elderflower.

· 2012 Delheim Riesling Edelspatz Noble Late Harvest
Very precise, focused nose. Very fresh, ripe riesling fruit.
Lovely balanced palate. Huge acidity. Pretty impressive.
Interesting to compare with the Riverby.
91/100

Strawberry, Katy Rodgers Yoghurt, Elderflower Soda (sorry, no picture)

Other sweeties

· 1977 Lenz Moser Gewürztraminer Beerenauslese
A deep copper colour.
Oof. Fabulous nose that really wakes you up. Wonderfully precise nose, though not especially gewurz-y.
It's almost as though it's evolved from being gewurz and is now "just" an old Beerenauslese.
A lovely old BA.
A very, very good BA.
92/100

Rapeseed Oil Cake, Sea Buckthorn, Cream Cheese Crumble, White Asparagus Ice Cream

 I wasn't a great fan of the rapeseed oil cake, which I found a bit dense, but the white asparagus ice cream was absolutely stunning. The Gewurztraminer Beerenauslese powered its way nicely through this.

Sweet red

2004 Linne Calodo Zinfandel Sweet Leona Leona's Vineyard, Paso Robles, California
On the nose, this seems fully mature. Sweet fresh and dried blackberry fruit.
Vaguely sweet, ripe, red and black fruit on the palate.
Quite concentrated on the palate, with a pleasing intensity.
Slightly musky and very deep. Lots of rich black fruit, with a nice spice.
Very good balance.
92/100

Went nicely with the Valrhona Manjari & Whisky Fudge

Other Wines
There were several other wines that made it to our table, either as reserves or shared by other tables.

1996 Bollinger Grande Année (magnum)
Fresh bread nose. Lovely full palate. Very rounded. Utterly drinkable and delicious. 92/100

1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Les Clos Saint-Hilaire
Very precise. Huge acidity. Lovely white pepper spice. Touch of red fruit richness - presumably pinot dominated?
Lovely stuff, but it's just not thrilling me, and for me, it's in the shadow of the Bolly.
90/100

1995 Kuentz-Bas Riesling Cuvée Bicentennaire
A worrying coppery colour.
Old, clapped out riesling nose.
Even older and more clapped out on the palate.
There is still some riesling fruit in their, and it's not quite necrophilia drinking this.
But it's not really anything-philia either, as there's little pleasure or interest here.
Drinkable, but it is past it.
80/100

1991 Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot
An old, mature chardonnay nose. But the class is there.
Butter, butter, butter on the nose, with a hint of lemon, and a slight green vegetable-broad bean note. Showing its class.
Gorgeous old Chablis palate. Poised, nutty, buttery, creamy.
Very wide in the mouth. Massive length.
94/100

2012 Pierre Gaillard Côtes du Rhône Les Gendrines
Fresh, nutty nose, with fresh apricots and pears.
Super-rich palate. Very creamy. Lots of layers of interesting flavours.
91/100

2014 Jean-Luc Colombo Côtes du Rhône La Redonne
70% viognier; 30% roussanne. 13% abv.
Lovely fresh nose with a hint of rosemary and thyme and something rich.
Very good palate. Young, yet nicely rounded.
A little thin maybe. But there are some good herby-spicy notes.
88/100

Equipo Navazos Jerez-Xérès-Sherry La Bota MMX "Florpower - Más allá" nº53
12%
A mid-deep coppery colour.
There's lots of flor on the nose - it's like sherry-lite. Nutty, toasty, raisiny.
The flor influence is evident on the palate too. Bone dry. Presumably palomino fino?
It reminds me of some Chilean palomino fino I once had.
It's a bit bonkers, full of interest, but I'm struggling to convince myself that I really like it.
87/100

1945 Pierre Janny Rivesaltes Vieil Homme
Bottle No. 704. 16%
Leathery, antiquarian bookshop nose, with rich, slightly raisined black fruits.
A touch figgy on the attack. Grapey, raisiny palate, with lots of fruit cake. Great depth.
Pretty much unbelievable that this is over 70 years old. Really enjoyable.
94/100

1990 Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque
Very medicinal nose - minty, cloves, eucalyptus.
Fabulous garriguey black fruit on the palate.
A bit young really, as there's still scope for it to integrate further.
93/100

A quick tour round off-beat Italy with Zubair Mohamed of Raeburn Wines

As part of Tom Cannavan's Glasgow Festival of Wine in June 2016, I attended a couple of  "masterclasses" (actually a chance to escape the crowd of the walkround tasting and sit down and taste some wine in comfort!). This was a selection of interesting wines from Italy, selected and presented by Zubair Mohamed of Raeburn Wines in Edinburgh.

The grand setting of Glasgow's Trades Hall.

2012 Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle, Maison Vevey Albert, DOP Vallee d'Aoste, 12.5%
£18.60 per bottle.
I'm not sure I've come across the Prié Blanc grape before. Vineyard adjacent to Mont Blanc. Ungrafted vines, as there aren't crampons small enough for phylloxera to get up there.
There's loads of minerality on the nose. Herby meadows-y notes, but also a hint of toffee-honey.
Very crisp, minerally palate. Opens out nicely in the mouth. There's a wonderful clarity to this, and it's difficult
given the terroir not to think of bubbling mountain streams.
An interesting wine. Great length.
Very nice, very drinkable, very expensive for what it is.
89/100



2010 Il Pigro della Marca, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, La Marca San Michele
£21.00 per bottle.
Aged for two years in botti grandi.
A deep, rich nose with butter and white flowers, and a bit of an oxidised feel.
Full palate. I wouldn't guess this was verdicchio if I didn't know.
Whether it is a bit oxidised, or made in an oxidative style, I don't know, but on the palate, it could be anything.
83/100



2010 Morus Alba, Vignai da Duline, San Giovanni al Natisone, Friuli
£22.99 per bottle.
60% Malvasia Istriana; 40% sauvignon blanc.
Quite a golden colour.
Rubbery, sweaty, cheesy nose. Very curious. A dense, solid nose, with some quite extracted distilled florality.
Lovely palate: very rich and full. Hugely interesting. Deep and complex, with massive length.
93/100



2013 Rosso di Gaetano, Azienda Agricola Le Coste di Clementine Bouvéron, Lazio, 13%
£15.00 per bottle.
A blend of mainly sangiovese, with some merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and grenache.
A vibrant, youthful colour.
Fascinating nose: Rubbery and yet also very floral red fruit.
Gorgeous palate. Lots of red fruit. Very pure and juicy. Very clean finish.
There's a touch of Vimto on the palate. Which is not a criticism.
92/100




2005 Nerello Mascalese Vecchie Vigne Etna Rosso, Calabretta, Etna, Sicily
£18.99 per bottle.
Scented, lifted, very compelling nose.
Delicious palate. Very pure red fruit. Very clean, pure finish.
This is really good. Packed full of character and lovely fruit, lingering all the way through.
Great length.
93/100



2009 Valpolicella Superiore Monte Lodoletta, Dal forno Romano
£61.00 per bottle.
How much? That sets the bar very high.
A bit of a mini Amarone with the grapes being dried for 1½ months. Aged in new oak for 36 months.
An inky, very dark colour.
Massive oak on the nose and not a lot else.
Very silky palate. Very big. Very full. Very oaky. There's no finesse or elegance here.
It's definitely not my preferred style of wine, and seems to need years. I know oak costs money, but £61 for this oak monster just seems ridiculous. What am I missing? Are the grapes individually polished by Vestal Virgins or something?
The only reason I could see for me to buy this would be as an investment, in the hope that Romano dal Forno isn't a bubble that's going to burst.
It is certainly very unapproachable at the moment. I also find myself questioning how long this will last: is there enough to it to keep it going for the 10+ years it seems to need? Is it all superficial structure?
Not for me.
86/100 (being generous and making allowances for my tastes)