Peperoncino

Pepperoncino

A dinner at Dellagio’s Peperoncino with Ron, Bev, Andres, Paula and Linda, noted here because of the inclusion of a 100 point 1934 Burgundy from Ron.

Peperoncino serves authentic regional Italian cuisine in a fairly boisterous atmosphere. Because the place is long and narrow, it tends to get noisy. This was especially true, last night, when a large party showed up without a reservation and spent an hour pressed up against our table waiting for seats.

The food is good, although I prefer Ciao Italia over by SeaWorld. Service was certainly attentive, and the glassware is pretty good although limited.

Ca’ del Bosco Franciacorta Cuvée Prestige (Ron)
Vanilla, crisp, clean finish, 90 pts

2005 Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouches Henri Boillot (Ron)
Waxy, soft, long buttery mouthfeel, lemon taffy finish, 95 pts

2007 Pulignt-Montrachet Les Enseignieres Henri Prudhon (Andres)
A bit closed, slightly buttery, 88 pts

1970 Ch. Mouton Rothschild (Steve)
Garnet, cedar, forest floor, smoke, cigar box, mint, sweet, Ron guessed it, 92 pts

1970 Louis Martini CS (Steve)
Petrol, glycerin, plastic, prunes, mint, amarone, Ron guessed it, 83 pts

1970 Corton Remoissenet Diamond Jubilee (Steve)
Bright cherry, soy, leather, earth, sweet, long, great structure, cashew oil, vanilla, mint, coffee, caramel, 95 pts

2004 Conterno Barolo (Ron)
Tannic, chewy, young, tar, mint, vanilla, forest floor, 95 pts

1934 Chambolle Musigny Dr Barolet (Ron)
Very light, orange rind, rust, spiced meat, sweet, coffee, candy, tobacco, cigarette smoke, red licorice ropes, cherry, pine needles, great fruit, pine needles, mint, refreshing acidity, 100 pts

1978 Lynch Bages (Ron)
Corked. Amazing, though, how this vintage, once thought to be too tannic to ever drink, is now softening into pleasant fruitiness.

1997 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Reserve Madonna Piano
Chocolate, burnt coffee, smooth on the palate, smoked meat, vanilla, 93 pts

2004 Malleolus de Sanchomartin Emilio More (Andrew)
Vanilla, meat, chocolate coated cherries, sawdust, 94 pts

Vino Chinato Louis Dressner (Ron)
Amaro like with Nebbiolo base. Cinammon, bitters, 90 pts

pepperoncino

France Conquers Italy

Not since the days of Napoleon has it been so clear who ruled Europe.

Keith Edwards organized an extraordinarily informative tasting designed to compare ten Italian merlots with ten Bordeaux wines consisting of at least 75% merlot. In attendance were Keith, Parlo, Ron, Bev, Andres, Paula, Russell, Linda and I.

What a great location K Restaurant was! The appetizers before the event were also the best we’ve had, and included deviled eggs, crab hors d’ouvres, and some great cheeses.

LindaSteveRussellAtK

Blind Tasting

Wines were served double blind through a complex mechanism that guaranteed each flight would have one Italian and one French wine. Keith provided a wonderful tasting booklet for our notes.

The flights turned out to be:

Flight 1

1998 L’Evangile 250 (Andres) 92 pts

1998 Le Macchiole’s Messorio (Bolgheri, Tuscany) $238 (Keith) 91 pts

Flight 2

2006 Bellevue Mondotte $70 (Russell) 88 pts

2004 Petrolo Galatrona (Arezzo, Tuscany) $264 (Keith) 93 pts

Flight 3

1996 Tua Rita Redigaffi (Suvereto, Tuscany) $259 (Keith) 84 pts

1998 Valandraud $160 (Ron) 92 pts

Flight 4

2000 Clos L’Eglise $140 (Ron) 92 pts

1995 Castello di Ama L’Apparita (Chianti Classico, Tuscany) $254 (Keith) 88 pts

Flight 5

1994 Chateau Angelus $170 (Ron) 92 pts

2004 San Giusto a Rentennano La Ricolma (Chianti Classico, Tuscany) $115 (Keith) 83 pts

Flight 6

1997 Lamaione (keith) 92 pts

1957 Petrus $462 (Steve) 96 pts

Flight 7

1993 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto (Bolgheri, Tuscany) $234 (Keith) 94 pts

1996 La Mondotte $185 (Russell) 93 pts

Flight 8

2006 Petra’s Quercegobbe Merlot (Suvereto, Tuscany) $54 (Keith) 91 pts

1998 Chateau Pavie $200 (Ron) 92 pts

Flight 9/10 (combined because otherwise the last flight would be obvious)

1997 Gravner Rujno $179 (Keith) 86 pts

1995 Clinet (Keith) (Badly Corked)

1996 Clos Fourtet (Andres) 84 pts

2001 Miani Colli Orientali $250 (Ron) 83 pts

 

Observations on the Blind Tasting

  • With only one exception, the French wine was better than the Italian wine.
  • In almost every case it was obvious which country the wine came from.
  • The Italian wines were, with the exception of the Masseto, quite disappointing.
  • The last four wines were close to undrinkable.
  • The Petrus obviously didn’t belong in a blind tasting with these, but it was excellent. I was very worried because it was an off vintage, and had been open two hours before we got to it, but in fact it held up for five hours. I guess there’s a reason Petrus is so expensive.
  • The other wine that stood out was the 2000 Clos L’Eglise, which has an extraordinary candy shop nose. It turned out this wine was 30% Cabernet Franc, so it was disqualified as a merlot, but it was definitely the best contemporary wine.
  • Except for the Petrus, and perhaps the Clos L’Eglise, the good wines were all too young to drink.
  • It’s easy to generalize and say French wines are better than Italian (which may well be the case) but it’s important to remember this was a merlot tasting, and Pomerol merlots are among the best French wines, while one wonders if they should be growing merlot in Italy at all.

RonLindAtK

Dinner

After the formal tasting, we segued into dinner, which was excellent. Shrimp on spicy grits, heirloom tomatoes, duck confit with goat cheese and a crispy crusted fish over corn were the standouts.

The wines poured during dinner were, in general, much better than the tasting wines. My notes:

95 Klaus Riesling Schloss Schonborn (Keith)

An incredible match with shrimp on spicy grits, not too sweet, 94 pts

 

2001 Ch Chevalier Blanc (Keith) 

Nutty, lucious, waxy, 94 pts

 

1982 Savigny Les Beaune Lavieres Robert Ampeau (Steve) 

Refined, thin, dried flowers, rust, 90 pts

 

2009 Gavi di Gavi il Monterotondo Il Gabbiano white (Andres)

Balanced, good food wine, 88 pts

 

1968 Vina Valoria Rioja (Steve)

Dill, balanced, youthful, cherry, Burgundian, Andres loved this, chocolate coated dill pickles, just kept getting better in the glass, 95 pts

 

62 Chambolle Musigny J Henri Remy (Ron)

Rust, Cherries, meat, charred cedar plank, animal fat, herbs, 98 pts

 

1990 Hermitage La Chapelle Jaboulet (Keith)

Vanilla, sweet, balanced, chocolate covered cherries, animal fat, 100 point Parker wine, 96 pts

 

1966 Ch La Mission Haut Brion (Ron)

Tobacco, gravel, the sea, gun metal, sweet, always Paula’s favorite wine, 99 pts

 

That was all the fun Linda could take, so we said our goodbyes and left the group to ponder dessert and, no doubt, more wine!

K-Wines