by Ray Johnson | Oct 3, 2007 | Barbera, Italy, Piemonte
Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti Superiore Le Orme DOC 2005 As we found with the 2003, the wine displays textbook acidity in a very light bodied package with a bit of earthiness and some tannin. This works as a budget Barbera though won’t delight very many...
by Ray Johnson | Oct 3, 2007 | Brachetto, Italy, Piemonte
Monchiero Carbone Birbet nv Red fruits, light carbonation and sweetness that is not at all cloying. The lift of the carbonation lightens the weight of this wine. A natural for drinking with fresh berries. The grape is Brachetto grown in Roero at 200-300 metres...
by Ray Johnson | Sep 30, 2007 | Fortified dessert, Port, Portugal
Taylor Fladgate, Porto, Late Bottle Vintage 2000 Porty and pruny with a noticable sense of the fortifying spirit ““ true to type and sometimes the wine seems to have the alcohol integrated even better than usual. Bottled in 2006 in Oporto, by Taylor across in...
by Ray Johnson | Sep 30, 2007 | California, Dry Creek Valley, Lodi, Primitivo, Puglia, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley, Zinfandel
Gran Sasso, Puglia, Primitivo IGT 2005 Tasted in May ’08 this wine was blooming with brett and would repulse most consumers. A bottle tasted later in the summer proved to be a different animal. Oaky and earthy with new world fruit, an appropriate amount of acid...
by Ray Johnson | Sep 30, 2007 | Chianti Classico, Sangiovese, Tuscany, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
Isole e Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2003 Tonight’s bottle showed some herbaceousness and tannic grip, as well as evolving fruit. The bottle opened earlier in the year showed classic cherry fruit and complexing earthiness with some evolution and stewed fruit. 85%...
