Similar to that - I was in New York on business for a couple of months and one night we went to a Bring Your Own Bottle restaurant. My boss chucked me the corporate card and told me to go to the liquor store down the road and get whatever I wanted. I opted for 3 bottles of Barolo at $100 a bottle (this was in 2005 or 2006). I joined my boss and our colleague and proceeded to have the most incredible evening eating a proper Italian meal, chatting and laughing and burying a bottle each of the most amazing wine. No effort at all - it just slid down the throat and left me wanting more. It was one of those nights I will always remember because it ended with me staggering back to your apartment as the sun was rising over Manhattan and I got some brilliant photos.
Since then I'll always look for a Barolo if I get the chance but as I'm the only one in my family that drinks red I find a whole bottle is usually a bit much for me so some goes to waste.
If you get a decent Barolo above 30 quid and some under you're probably drinking it too young.... like we all do. Have a couple of glasses one night, put the cork back in, and then the next finish it off: The next night it'll probably in flavour be moving towards how it should be in it's sweet spot of maturity. The Slavonian oak they uses in their botti/barrels gives it a real nice cedary grain in the palet, which often comes out better when air get's to the young wine. Personally don't bother with Barolo that's been in French oak: Usually smaller and called barriques.
@ColinTat That's interesting about Barolo. I haven't been able to enjoy many, but always understood they need time to develop. So recently I had a 2010 from Bersano, gift from a mate, and was a little disappointed with it. But since it was at dinner with guests it was decanted and had to be finished that evening.
But last year I bought a 1998 (Marchesi di Barolo) from a guy who was closing down his little wine biz. After I got it, I was a little concerned to read on Cellar Tracker that the drinking window given was 2008-13. What do you think? Drink asap?
As it's 'old' drink straight away. Probably not worrying too much about decanting as it may have too little to develop with oxygenation. Check a little to see if it's clear and smells/tastes ok, ie no wet cardboard, then pour a glass and give it a little time if ok.
I'm not anywhere near a learned novice in Barolo but..... Traditionally Barolo was said to have to be laid down for 10 years before the overally chewy and oaked wine calmed down. Probably since late 90's modern/younger winemakers have made it the norm that it can be drunk after 5 years of laying down. Now people seem to describe it in Burgundian terms, of elegance and florality. Yours will be all tertiary flavours or gone. Think mushrooms, truffles or maybe earthy.
Give it a go. It's all a bit of fun. But if it is boot polish bitter or smells of wet cardboard -especially- don't it'll turn your stomach and the next day won't be pretty: That's what it does to me. I have an acquaintance who'll insist on drinking lightly corked wines and doesn't do anything to him. I would nae wish to drink anything near corked, because I'll be on the toilet frequently the next day. But an old wine doesn't necessarily mean corked, it may have other faults or just be dead in flavour profile, and corking can be in young or old.
@NapaAddick. You and I have messaged a couple of times. Interesting to hear your background. I live in Walnut Creek and belong to the Wine Club of Jessie Cellars in Yountville. I think they do really nice reds. They are a sister winery of Handwritten based in St Helena which is more high end. Do you know either of these wineries?
As it's 'old' drink straight away. Probably not worrying too much about decanting as it may have too little to develop with oxygenation. Check a little to see if it's clear and smells/tastes ok, ie no wet cardboard, then pour a glass and give it a little time if ok.
I'm not anywhere near a learned novice in Barolo but..... Traditionally Barolo was said to have to be laid down for 10 years before the overally chewy and oaked wine calmed down. Probably since late 90's modern/younger winemakers have made it the norm that it can be drunk after 5 years of laying down. Now people seem to describe it in Burgundian terms, of elegance and florality. Yours will be all tertiary flavours or gone. Think mushrooms, truffles or maybe earthy.
Give it a go. It's all a bit of fun. But if it is boot polish bitter or smells of wet cardboard -especially- don't it'll turn your stomach and the next day won't be pretty: That's what it does to me. I have an acquaintance who'll insist on drinking lightly corked wines and doesn't do anything to him. I would nae wish to drink anything near corked, because I'll be on the toilet frequently the next day. But an old wine doesn't necessarily mean corked, it may have other faults or just be dead in flavour profile, and corking can be in young or old.
I had a corked Malbec before i knew what corked meant. Next day... Wish I'd kept the cork.
Have a Portuguese white in the fridge called "Lobo e Falcao". It doesn't give much more away than that other than its from "the banks of the Tagus north of Lisbon". Hopefully that is prime wine growing! From laithwaites so hoping it's ok
Let us know how you get on. I find Laithwaites whites so disappointing that I've given up.
It's alright. Distinctive flavour. Won't bother again (it was one they chose)
Great story Napa. You sound like a really interesting bloke.
Can I ask why top level Napa wines have much earlier and shorter drinking windows than Bordeaux equivalents? Is it simply because the climate is warmer?
Thanks!
We ask ourselves all the time why Napa Cab does not age as well as Bordeaux. I don't think it's the warmer weather because Barolo also comes from a part of Italy about our temps and it ages forever.
Our best guess is that the higher mineral content in French soils help lead to longer life. Also, we pick so much riper than they do, with alcohols of 14-15.5% that we think the lower acid levels present here might hinder ageing.
That's wicked Napa. I've never chatted to a garagista! If ever I'm over I'd buy one but I'm an old world wine lover..... Not that I don't love a Napa Cabernet when I can get a decent one over here for £20-£30. I love most Oregon Pinot Noirs I've tried, might switch as can't afford red Burgundy anymore.
Yeah, we do make amazing wine over here and the stuff Decanter reviews is not really considered top stuff, out here. A pity.
Oregon's Pinots are pretty nice, I know a bunch of producers up there. I did not know much from there made it to England.
I have made my niche by bringing buyers into the process and showing them up close how the wine is made. If you have not already, check out my video blog a few months back about the "economics" of a $100 bottle.
Dug into the cellar last weekend when friends came round for lunch - rioja Alta ardanza 2007, a very nice St Joseph by Gaillard and a decent Chianti. Slumming it tonight with a pizza and the Society's Sicilian Reserve, a bargain at under 8 quid
I love the Society's Sicilian selection. Never had a bad one. Just took delivery of some 2012 Chianti Classico's that were sitting in bond and wasting me 8 quid a year in storage. Need to keep for 2-3 years but will I be able to......
Anyways it's a weekend off drinking for me I'm off to my French Muslim inlaws. Though I might sneek off to the French costco round the corner. Shhhhhh......
Also slumming it with a lamb dhansak and a SA Pinot noir. It's from M&S who I find patchy, but it's actually not bad. Might switch to beer when the curry turns up.
I have made my niche by bringing buyers into the process and showing them up close how the wine is made. If you have not already, check out my video blog a few months back about the "economics" of a $100 bottle.
Do you know that Napa wine (Clark-Claudon) my buddy gave me? He has a very juicy back story to why he is such a fan, which I will write up on here, but first I need to make sure I nail down his story, as it is potentially libellous (I will leave out the names to ensure it isn't).
My buddy is in Toronto. Do you ship there? He might well be interested, he would not baulk at the price, whereas I am afraid I would, at least for more than a couple of bottles to put away for a very special dinner.
Yesterday bought an M & S Peironte 2012 Barolo £19 but I got a staff 40% discount. Looked up on cellartracker - poor reviews! Just about to try it with casserole.
Anyone of you connoisseurs care to recommend a widely available wine? Could even become a regular Charlton Life feature - recommend a wine, some us buy & drink it over the coming week and see what we all think of it .....
Well the wife's casserole - great. The M & S Barolo was not great, overpowered by the high alcohol content so not a good finish. I suspect 1 hour of breathing was not long enough so - will will report tomorrow after a pasta !
Sadly as we all learn you get what you pay for generally. Still it was interesting just to feel the structure of the wine.
Anyone of you connoisseurs care to recommend a widely available wine? Could even become a regular Charlton Life feature - recommend a wine, some us buy & drink it over the coming week and see what we all think of it .....
Don't know how widely available, but if I can get it here, I bet you can get it there. I see "Chambers Street" has carried it in the past.
2014 Thierry Navarre Saint-Chinian "Le Laouzil" Rouge. Runs about 12-16 pounds and $15-18 here in Napa.
A killer, pretty, food-friendly but plush, biodynamically made red from the Languedoc. A steal and better than many Napa wines at 3x the price, frankly.
Unfortunately addicteoldgit Barolo and Brunello are just not worth it at the cheaper end. They're both obviously in different areas and different grapes but for various reasons they're expensive places to grow grapes and vinify.
However I would recommend paying similar money in a supermarket/wine shop for a Barbaresco or a Rosso di Montalcino. These sister appelations of the B's utilise the same grapes of their big brother appelations and offer affordable quality.
I used to love the Tesco's Barbera and Asda's Barbera d'Alba. Tesco don't do it anymore but..... Asda if they have the Barbera D'Alba in your one is 6 quid at times. Great smooth fruity pizza/pasta wine.
Anyone of you connoisseurs care to recommend a widely available wine? Could even become a regular Charlton Life feature - recommend a wine, some us buy & drink it over the coming week and see what we all think of it .....
Waitrose has 20% off Lugana, now at £8.79. I think this is a very good wine for this price and I have just topped up. It's Trebbiano, so out of the mainstream. Shared a bottle with a French mate a few weeks ago. She is fussier than me but really liked it too. I encourage you to give it a go.
Driving to Holland for holiday this year starting with ferry to Calais. Anyone recommend which hyper market to stop at and any particular wine fans to buy.
Great suggestion. I'm not hugely useful for this (and am anyway not a connoisseur), because I mostly don't buy in the UK. Although we do have M&S wines here, and I recently stocked up with some on special offer. So far, nothing to rave about.
Maybe it can be helpful to mention wineries that seem to be consistently delivering, so here are a few I trust:
Australia: Peter Lehmann. At any price point, good value wines. Waitrose stock some.
France/ Rhone: Chapoutier. First encountered his wines on a cycling holiday in 98, he was doing Crozes Hermitage from his Tarn L'Hermitage base, now he has expanded southwards. Never had a duff one.
Argentina: Bodega Lurton.
South France, low-end: Gerard Bertrand always seem to be decent (Minervois, Cahors, etc). Great for that midweek meal when you just want to award yourself a glass of wine
Realised all the above are reds..I don't have the same drinking record with whites.
When it comes to champagne, M&S used to have Union de St Gall at a price point above Oudinot, and they were bloody excellent. It wasn't just me who thought that, as one of Prague's top restaurateurs offered them for a while as his house champagne. But I haven't seen them in M&S for a while.
Anyone who's interested, got the Lidl Barolo tonight. It's pretty good. Even better next weekend it's £4.99 a bottle
I'll try it at that price. As I work across from a a Lidl I'll take it back if it's bad. I know a few wine writers have recommended it, but I can't see it'll be anything more than a medium bodied black cherry with a bit of the forrest about it. If it's that at 11.99 it's OK value, but that isn't good Barolo in my limited knowledge. I'd go after a good Langhe Nebbiolo that'll blow it's lightly oaked barrels off at the same price. Still thanks for the info as it's always fun to try something especially at £4.99!
I quite like Lidl wines but anything I've had from respected appelations have been atrocious, whilst under a tenner more general single varietals have been pretty good.
Anyone who's interested, got the Lidl Barolo tonight. It's pretty good. Even better next weekend it's £4.99 a bottle
I'll try it at that price. As I work across from a a Lidl I'll take it back if it's bad. I know a few wine writers have recommended it, but I can't see it'll be anything more than a medium bodied black cherry with a bit of the forrest about it. If it's that at 11.99 it's OK value, but that isn't good Barolo in my limited knowledge. I'd go after a good Langhe Nebbiolo that'll blow it's lightly oaked barrels off at the same price. Still thanks for the info as it's always fun to try something especially at £4.99!
I quite like Lidl wines but anything I've had from respected appelations have been atrocious, whilst under a tenner more general single varietals have been pretty good.
@ColinTat.....i don't think I have done anything but salivate over everyone of your posts on this thread.
I had the Langhe Nebbiolo you mention... a 2015 by a producer called Andrea Oberto. thought it was great value for the 16 odd quid i spent.
BMW wine......yes there is such a thing! Botham Merrill and Willis. Discovered by Ian Botham and Bob Willis on an England tour some years back and together with the producer Geoff Merrill from South Australia set about importing it to The UK......and with great success it would seem! I'm no expert but all I can say is it's a damn good Shiraz and I can thoroughly recommend it.......around £18.00. They also have other wines, though I've never sampled them.
Comments
But last year I bought a 1998 (Marchesi di Barolo) from a guy who was closing down his little wine biz. After I got it, I was a little concerned to read on Cellar Tracker that the drinking window given was 2008-13. What do you think? Drink asap?
I'm not anywhere near a learned novice in Barolo but..... Traditionally Barolo was said to have to be laid down for 10 years before the overally chewy and oaked wine calmed down. Probably since late 90's modern/younger winemakers have made it the norm that it can be drunk after 5 years of laying down. Now people seem to describe it in Burgundian terms, of elegance and florality. Yours will be all tertiary flavours or gone. Think mushrooms, truffles or maybe earthy.
Give it a go. It's all a bit of fun. But if it is boot polish bitter or smells of wet cardboard -especially- don't it'll turn your stomach and the next day won't be pretty: That's what it does to me. I have an acquaintance who'll insist on drinking lightly corked wines and doesn't do anything to him. I would nae wish to drink anything near corked, because I'll be on the toilet frequently the next day. But an old wine doesn't necessarily mean corked, it may have other faults or just be dead in flavour profile, and corking can be in young or old.
Educational and inspirational.
We ask ourselves all the time why Napa Cab does not age as well as Bordeaux. I don't think it's the warmer weather because Barolo also comes from a part of Italy about our temps and it ages forever.
Our best guess is that the higher mineral content in French soils help lead to longer life. Also, we pick so much riper than they do, with alcohols of 14-15.5% that we think the lower acid levels present here might hinder ageing.
Oregon's Pinots are pretty nice, I know a bunch of producers up there. I did not know much from there made it to England.
I have made my niche by bringing buyers into the process and showing them up close how the wine is made. If you have not already, check out my video blog a few months back about the "economics" of a $100 bottle.
Anyways it's a weekend off drinking for me I'm off to my French Muslim inlaws. Though I might sneek off to the French costco round the corner. Shhhhhh......
Also slumming it with a lamb dhansak and a SA Pinot noir. It's from M&S who I find patchy, but it's actually not bad. Might switch to beer when the curry turns up.
My buddy is in Toronto. Do you ship there? He might well be interested, he would not baulk at the price, whereas I am afraid I would, at least for more than a couple of bottles to put away for a very special dinner.
Just about to try it with casserole.
Could even become a regular Charlton Life feature - recommend a wine, some us buy & drink it over the coming week and see what we all think of it .....
I suspect 1 hour of breathing was not long enough so - will will report tomorrow after a pasta !
Sadly as we all learn you get what you pay for generally. Still it was interesting just to feel the structure of the wine.
2014 Thierry Navarre Saint-Chinian "Le Laouzil" Rouge. Runs about 12-16 pounds and $15-18 here in Napa.
A killer, pretty, food-friendly but plush, biodynamically made red from the Languedoc. A steal and better than many Napa wines at 3x the price, frankly.
However I would recommend paying similar money in a supermarket/wine shop for a Barbaresco or a Rosso di Montalcino. These sister appelations of the B's utilise the same grapes of their big brother appelations and offer affordable quality.
I used to love the Tesco's Barbera and Asda's Barbera d'Alba. Tesco don't do it anymore but..... Asda if they have the Barbera D'Alba in your one is 6 quid at times. Great smooth fruity pizza/pasta wine.
I encourage you to give it a go.
http://waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=42367
Great suggestion. I'm not hugely useful for this (and am anyway not a connoisseur), because I mostly don't buy in the UK. Although we do have M&S wines here, and I recently stocked up with some on special offer. So far, nothing to rave about.
Maybe it can be helpful to mention wineries that seem to be consistently delivering, so here are a few I trust:
Australia: Peter Lehmann. At any price point, good value wines. Waitrose stock some.
France/ Rhone: Chapoutier. First encountered his wines on a cycling holiday in 98, he was doing Crozes Hermitage from his Tarn L'Hermitage base, now he has expanded southwards. Never had a duff one.
Argentina: Bodega Lurton.
South France, low-end: Gerard Bertrand always seem to be decent (Minervois, Cahors, etc). Great for that midweek meal when you just want to award yourself a glass of wine
Realised all the above are reds..I don't have the same drinking record with whites.
When it comes to champagne, M&S used to have Union de St Gall at a price point above Oudinot, and they were bloody excellent. It wasn't just me who thought that, as one of Prague's top restaurateurs offered them for a while as his house champagne. But I haven't seen them in M&S for a while.
Probably the least good Barolo I have ever drunk as it is a wine I normally love.
I quite like Lidl wines but anything I've had from respected appelations have been atrocious, whilst under a tenner more general single varietals have been pretty good.
I had the Langhe Nebbiolo you mention... a 2015 by a producer called Andrea Oberto. thought it was great value for the 16 odd quid i spent.
lots of love for Piedmont on here. good stuff
Botham Merrill and Willis.
Discovered by Ian Botham and Bob Willis on an England tour some years back and together with the producer Geoff Merrill from South Australia set about importing it to The UK......and with great success it would seem!
I'm no expert but all I can say is it's a damn good Shiraz and I can thoroughly recommend it.......around £18.00.
They also have other wines, though I've never sampled them.