Cavallotto Piedmont Vigna Scot Dolcetto d'Alba 2012

The Cavallotto Piedmont Vigna Scot Dolcetto d'Alba 2012. The 2011 made my best of last year. This one will also and is my new Clubhouse leader.

I do love Dolcetto. This wine is just soooo beautiful and balanced and sexyasnuts and all the stuff that makes the wine drinker swoon. Full of roasted brown spices on the nose - cardamon, cinnamon and cassia bark. After a while in the glass the wine evolves with subtle scorched earth and prickly dark fruit. The palate is more spice and dark fruit with hints of salty fish sauce all held together perfectly with tight and fine tannins and acid. Superb. Just superb.

Drink till 2017
Drink with Guinness braised beef pie
97
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $36-$39

Girabaldi Piedmont Nebbiolo 2011

Ripe and juicy and stuck in a room with what seems to be a low ceiling. The Girabaldi Piedmont Conca d'Oro Nebbiolo 2011 is a wine that needs some air; either a good decanting or double decanting. A good decanting will do. After all of this you get a youthful Nebbiolo soaking in slick layers of bitter chocolate, dried flowers and herbs, tar, and what was a warmer than usual winter, a lick of warming alcohol - 14%v/v. A great little Nebbiolo and only $26. Bargain!!!

Drink with lamb shanks
Drink till 2018
93
Quality cork 14%v/v $26 Seddon Wine Store

Renato Ratti Piedmont Dolcetto D'Alba Colombe DOCG 2010

Ernest Hemingway wrote the classic WWI novel, 'A Farewell to Arms' where he chronicled his time as an ambulance driver in the Italian army. It is one of my favourite books. Early in the book Hemingway, in great, detail describes and then mocks the many beautiful army uniforms that the Italians were famous for, but not their fighting. If only Hemingway got a load of the is.

The Renato Ratti Piedmont Dolcetto D'Alba Colombe DOCG 2010, with the splendid army uniform circa the Napoleonic War, is all finesse and style but still has the mongrel and grunt to hold it s own on any front. Dusty garnet in the glass, the nose throws up earth and spice, tart dark fruit with as hint of bitter chocolate. The palate is pretty much more of the nose with tart dark fruit - think prickly plums, spice and earth all kept in tune with seamless acid and tannin balance. I love it!!!

Drink with bloody lamb
Drink till 2018
97
Quality cork 13%v/v $35 Seddon Wine Store

Giovanni Almondo Piedmont Roero Arneis 2010

Sometimes you can stick your nose in a glass and wonder and ponder on what you are smelling; citrus, honey, butterscotch, chocolate. Yep, the olfactory is a mysterious thing. But sometimes the aroma just goes bang. The Giovanni Almondo Piedmont Roero Arneis 2010 is such a wine with a wackity-wack-wack of spiced quince; quince baby, where's the cheese I say. But don't drink with cheese, its gotta be pork. That's whats on the menu tonight. Just get it.

Drink with pork - that's a Susan!!!
Drink till 2015
95
Quality cork 13%v/v $35 Seddon Wine Store

Ettore Germano Piedmont Dolcetto d'Alba 2009

Its turning out to be a Dolcetto year I reckon.

The Ettore Germano Piedmont Dolcetto d'Alba 2009 has had a very good run here in Brunswick this year, and without prejudice will continue to find its way in to our recycling bin. Bright and tart cherry aromas flow primary on the nose with a lick of nougat at the back of the nose. The palate opens up with fine chalky tannins and persistent acid and more cherry flavours flowing from tart to prickly ripe as the bottle develops over the night.

This is a wine for all you Pinot Noir drinkers who are eagerly waiting for the cracking 2012 wines to develop just a little bit more.

Drink with spicy pork sausage
Drink till 2016
96
Quality cork 13% $29 Seddon Wine Store

Moondarra Gippsland Beurot Pinot Gris 2012

We hear a lot about terroir in the wine world. We also hear a lot of people compare Australian wines to Burgundy or Champagne or Piedmont. Me included. What we need is to how to use terroir in terms of where the wine comes from and what terroir means to that growing region. Its an open ended question if there ever was one but a question that needs to asked whenever we compare our wines to those of the old world.

Anywhoo, the Moondarra Gippsland Beurot Pinot Gris 2012 is all about, yep thats right, terroir. Coming from a region where the soil is rich with a friable clay soil profile, this wine screams what the vines are grown in. Soil and wet earth. The nose is full of dried porcini mushrooms and wet earth. Its quite amazing really. This just goes on and on and on. Quite amazing actually. In the palate the wine continues with more mushroom flavours with lush layers of checked acid, prickly pear and quince, and finishes with tiny talc-like white tannins. Just a great wine Mr. Prentice.

Drink till 2015
Drink with porcini risotto
96
Screwcap 11.5%v/v $25 Seddon Wine Store

Cavallotto Piedmont Dolcetto d'Alba 2011

“If it is true that there is no greater sorrow than to remember a
happy time in a state of misery, it is just as true that calling up a
moment of anguish in a tranquil mood, seated quietly at one's desk, is
a source of profound satisfaction.” Primo Levi, The Periodic Table

All things beautiful do not always come from a happy place.


The Cavallotto Piedmont Dolcetto d'Alba 2011, like Primo Levi from near Turin, is a seductive work of tart red cherries and chalky fine tannins that flows in layers and just keeps giving. A beautiful work of art. Yes art. A stunning wine indeed.

Drink with osso bucco
Drink till 2024
98
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $33 Gertrude Street Enoteca, Fitzroy

Ettore Germano Piedmont Serralunga Barolo 2006

"When viewing the universe as a closed system, it also stands to reason the universe began in a state of high order, and when it ends, will be in a state of extreme disorder." Stephen Hawking on order and disorder.

Order - a full bottle of Ettore Germano Barolo 2006.
Disorder - an empty bottle of Ettore Germano Barolo 2006.

It stands to reason that Stephen Hawking is right. The man has never been wrong in his life. The Ettore Germano Piedmont Serralunga Barolo 2006 is simply quite stunning, and in the life of a Barolo, still very much an infant. Very dusty on the nose, the wine opens up with dusty dry morello cherries, ink, garden herbs and dried flowers. The palate is achingly dry like to nose with more morello cherries, violets and bitter chocolate all woven together by endless acid and tannins. A wonderful, wonderful wine.

Drink with steak au poivre
Drink till 2025+
97
Quality cork 13.%v/v $90 Seddon Wine Store

Luigi Scavino Piedmont Azelia Dolcetto d'Alba 2010

The club house leader for 2013. The Luigi Scavino Piedmont Azelia Dolcetto d'Alba 2010 may not be sweet, but by golly packs a sweetasanut punch. Very dark in the glass, the wine gives lifting notes of tart cheery, brown spice and dusty tones that sort of gives the palate away. The mouth is full of direct tart fruit; raspberry and plum to the fore, with tight and checked tannins and acid working in perfect unison. If you like your red wine in summer, this has it in spades and then some. Just go and get it.

Drink with grilled eggplant and lamb back strap

Drink till 2019

96

Quality cork 13%v/v $30 Seddon Wine Store

Prunotto Ochetti Piedmont Nebbiolo d'Alba 2008

My lament is that only one glass gets washed around here these days; Erin only having wine a few days a week, which is cool though. Pitiful lament I know. But its the case so half bottle season it is! The Prunotto Occhetti Piedmont Nebbiolo d'Alba 2008 is all bells and whistles; its really everyhting you love about Nebbiolo, or Barolo for that matter, only its in a little bottle and perfect for one glass - 2 1/2 really. Chicken or the egg meets tomato/potato kind a thing if you get my drift.

Drink with juicy lamb chops
Drink till 2020
96
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $40ish Albert Street Food & Wine, Brunswick

Cascina Morassino Langhe Nebbiolo 2008 DOC

'O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, 
Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse 
Without all hope of day.'
John Milton - Samson Agonistes

Not quite the end of the world stuff, but dark nonetheless. The Cascina Morassino Langhe Nebbiolo 2008 DOC appears almost black in the glass with the hue seemingly black also. The nose is all true Nebbiolo with tar steaming off the surface. The palate, like the nose, is again all Nebbiolo with lip smacking tannins and acid all holding tart red fruit in check. No need to wait for the apocalypse to enjoy this.

Drink with osso bucco
Drink till 2020
94
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $50 Blackhearts & Sparrows, Fitzroy North

Fletcher Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo 2010

About 4 months ago I reckon, Tony Nowell of Moor Street Wines sent me a message to see if I wanted to have a taste of a new wine he took on in his portfolio. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it? At the time I was flat chat, and to be honest the list at Albert Street was pretty solid, so I passed on this occasion. Like I said, Hindsight!

So there I was last week in Blackhearts in Fitzroy North pondering on what to drink with my lamb chops. It was the last one so I thought I'd give it a whack. The Fletcher Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo 2010. Sexxy. Awesome. Breathtaking. Oursum. Capitivating. Orsum. Sexxy. These are just a few of the adjectives that I wrote down in my little wine black book.

Very much still in its juvenile stage, the Fletcher Neb does not come across as being in the new world Nebbiolo category; far from it. Checking back on the email Tony sent me, it mentions that the Fletcher, David, has spent many years in Nebbiolo world - Piemonte - where he has obviously learnt a thing or two about the why's and the what's of Nebbiolo. The wine has the slightest brown/bronze hue in the glass. The nose is all herb garden with sage leaf coming through with an intensity I have never seen in an Australian Nebbiolo. Sour cherries, subtle black fruit and youthful chewy tannins all held in check by lip smacking acid. As close to perfection as anything going around today from Australia. Awesome.

Drink with rosemary crusted lamb chops
Drink till 2030+
98
Diam cork with wax coat 13.5%v/v $50 Blackhearts & Sparrows, Fitzroy North or http://www.fletcherwines.com/

Produttori Langhe Barbaresco DOC 2009, Piedmont Italy

When it's cold you should drink wine that warms you up; gives you a hug is something I have been known to say in this case at Albert Street Food & Wine. Well this wine does that without giving you a nose bleed due to excessive alcohol. The Produttori del Barbaresco Langhe DOC 2009 from Piedmont is a wine that is oozing in all things sexy that is Barbaresco, which for those not aware surrounds Barolo in Piedmont. Dusty dark red in the glass as on the nose, the palate is all racy tannins and acid up front with a generous lick of tar and juicy black licorice at the back. But it doesn't end there. After about an hour or so in the decanter the wine opens with effortless floral notes of violet and garden herb aroma's. What is even better is the palate shakes off some of those dusty old tannins and effortlessly delivers sumptuous black and blue fruit with an almost earthy feel as well. And like the first sip, gives you gorgeous tar and black licorice at the end. Sexy as!!

Drink with 2 day old cassoulet
Drink till 2029
96
Quality cork 13.5%v/v (unfortunately not available at Albert Street, but in due time, it will make a return to the shelves)

Benevelli Piero Piedmont Langhe Nebbiolo 2010

Since returning to the restaurant/retail side of this business, I have been reunited with one of the first loves of my wine life - Italian varieties.

Back in the dark days of the 1990's wine industry in Australia - where for the best part of 6 years I was away in the US and Europe honing my wine passion - pretty much all of the focus was on Australian Shiraz and Chardonnay and the new romance with Burgundy. What was lost were the Italian verities that Australia was effectively weaned on in its wine infancy; Sangiovese, Dolcetto, Barbera, Pinot Grigio, Trebbiano and the rich man's Italian Bin 389 - Nebbiolo.

Thanks to the Tobacco Road growers in North Eastern Victoria, Australian-Italian varieties were once again slowly finding their way back in to restaurants and retailers, but they were still seen as a poor man's wine with memories of the great Chianti Fiasco's sitting in Lygon Street eateries with a candle subtlety wedged in the top of the neck.

So it is no surprise to me that restaurants such as Cutler & Co - be it 2 years ago - were found to be pouring Brown Brothers Prosecco amongst other Australian-Italians on the list. I'd be going far these days to find a list that doesn't have at least one Italian variety on BTG; right now Albert Street has four BTG.

So this Italian segue has been brought to you by Benevelli Piero Langhe Nebbiolo 2010. A young Nebbiolo, but what a beauty it is. Dusty on the nose with wafts of violets and black fruit peaking through after a while in the decanter. After a while in the glass the palate opened up with mouth watering tannins and acidity tightly bound around tart cranberries and raspberries with an almost dried green herb finish.

NB this wine was positively singing three days later - could have gone a week, but who has the patience I ask?

Drink with osso bucco
Drink till 2020
96
Quality cork 13%v/v $37 Albert Street Food & Wine, Brunswick

Pinga Bridgewater on Loddon/Bendigo Nebbiolo 2007

Seeing that I am still on Melbourne time and that it is 6.20am in Perth and I have been wide awake since 5am, I thought I’d fill in some time while the kids watch ‘The Flintstones’ with a post on possibly the finds of the year – for me anyway. The Pinga Bridgewater on Loddon/Bendigo Nebbiolo 2007. From my understanding this is a second label from the Pondalowie folk in Bendigo, with Bridgewater on Loddon being found midway between Kyneton and Daylesford in Victoria’s Spa country.

Dark and brooding in the glass with an almost endless deep set tawny colour with purple hue, the aroma is straight out of the Piedmontese – a tight bouquet of lavender and violet with that evolving to black olive tapenade over the following two days. The palate displays tight and fine tannins and acid combined with effortless apricot, dark chocolate and after two days the trademark tar. All in all a super wine and priced in the mid 20’s is a dead-set bargain – simple!

Drink with slow cooked beef daube
Drink till 2016
97
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $25 from Red, White and Amber in Kew

Terradavino Piedmont La Casa In Collina Barbaresco DOCG 2005

If you are living in Melbourne right now and not in a coma, you will have noticed how bloody cold it has been this month. Before I rant anymore I must add that I am a winter person with no real affection for anything north of about 28°C, but this current cold spell has me longing for Calypso cricket and my boardshorts. But this cold spell has had me in the kitchen cooking my world famous ‘Old Lady Stew’s’ (Thanks Pam). And when you have an ‘OLS’, you need a hearty wine; by gollies’ you do! The Terradavino Piedmont La Casa In Collina Barbaresco DOCG 2005 is just that wine.

First the stew. Now stew’s can pretty much take any veg and meat that you have hiding in the fridge and pantry. What makes the stew though, for me anyway, are the stock and the one or two additions that are not so garden variety. for this stew I used mushroom stock and some saffron.
Recipe:
1 tsp saffron threads
2 cloves
10 black peppercorns
5 cloves garlic
½ cup of chopped parsley
Sea salt
Olive oil
1 cinnamon stick
1½ kgs chuck steak
2 red capsicums, deseeded
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, chopped
5 potatoes, cut into chunks
440gms of tinned tomatoes
½ bottle of red cooking wine

In a pestle, pound saffron, peppercorns, cloves, garlic, cinnamon stick and sea salt into a paste and transfer to a bowl with warm water. Heat oil in a large oven proof pot and fry off meat until browned then set aside. In same pot fry off cap, onions and carrots until soft. Return the meat to pot and add spice mix, wine and tomatoes and bring to boil them simmer for two and half hours. Sweet as a nut!


Now the wine. The Terradavino Piedmont La Casa In Collina Barbaresco DOCG 2005 is a 100% Nebbiolo from Piedmont and is quite often confused as a hoity-toity Barbera; not so. The Barbaresco area is strikingly similar to that of Barolo with soil, altitude, weather and grape all pretty much the same. It is in fact a very small zone, the production of which is about one third of its more famous neighbour on the other side of Alba.

In the glass this wine has a very deep garnet colour with an aroma packed with spice, red cherries and bacon. It is balanced beautifully in the mouth with elegant firm tannins, lively acidity and bright fruits ranging from currants to tart cranberry the longer in the glass. An absolute cracking wine and a fair dinkum Susan for this stew.

Drink with my saffron stew
Drink till 2017
93
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $28 from Mediterranean Wholesalers in Brunswick

Marcarini Piedmont Barolo La Serra 2001

Indulge me, it’s my birthday!

Barolo, you sexy beast, you. I first saw you on my travels to Italy when I was young and fanciful and only really liked two types of wine – red and white.

There I was, alone, vulnerable and staring into another empty glass of wine. That’s when you appeared. Dark and brooding, you stood tall and handsome in front of me with a stately world view, yet seemed too easy with a commonly rustic charm. Your breath was warm and savage; your scent strange yet wonderfully alluring. You came at me. It was strange and I was overwhelmed. What was this in front of me?

I was trapped. I wanted to run away but was somehow drawn back to your sweaty elegance. It was over; my lust could not be contained. Seconds seemed like hours, minutes turned into days – I had to have you, I had to have you now.

My Visa in hand I returned again and again. Soon I had nothing left. My craving for this ancient beast had left me with nothing but a hunger and a need for more. There was nothing left.

I decided then that the only noble and proper way to have my craving restored was to write a message in big letters on a white sheet and take myself down to Kennington to watch the annual AFL game and hold aloft my plea:

Send money now Mum!!!

And the wine, the Marcarini Piedmont Barolo La Serra 2001 - pure and utter perfection.

Drink till 2023

Drink with the curtains drawn and a little Barry White

100/100

Quality cork 13%v/v $90 five years ago

Pio Cesare Piedmont Barolo 1997

One of the best food wines I have ever had. The Pio Cesare Piedmont Barolo 1997 is an absolute monty for a Susan when paired up with osso bucco or cep risotto. An achingly dark colour with the nose throwing an abundance of roses, ripe strawberries, tart cherry, spice, earth and tar – busier than Bourke St mall in December! Even though it has 12 years on it, I would still decant this wine using a Pomerol decanter; this one has a very small egress as not to allow too much air contact with the wine. Thick tar on the palate with the acid still very relevant. A long, elegant finish with plenty of time left in this one – simply incredible!

Drink with osso bucco
Drink till 2025
99
Cork 13.5%v/v $$$$ from http://www.langtons.com.au/

Terre Da Vina La Villa Roero Piedmont Arneis DOCG 2007

Wonderful colour to this wine, with a developed yellow to it even though it is only an 07. The Terre Da Vina La Villa Roero Piedmont Arneis DOCG 2007 is a fantastic example of how a wine should taste when grown and made properly. Arneis to me is a youthful enough wine with very easy and floral aromas followed by a citrus herbal palate – and low alcohol; I have seen some New World Arneis coming in at 14-14.5%v/v!

Again, a great yellow in the glass with green pear and floral notes on the nose. There is a little spritz on the tip of the tongue followed by subtle acid with a finish of herbs – anise comes through at the end.

A great wine made for lazy summer days.

Drink with antipasti or Fish and Chips
Drink till 2011
89
Cork 12.5%v/v $16.95 from Mediterranean Wholesalers, Sydney Rd Brunswick

Paesi Tuoi Piedmont Barolo DOCG 2003

Do me a favour; just humour me for a sec. You know the song they play at baseball games where it ends with, ‘Charrrrrge!!!’ When I first had this wine, all I that was happening in my head was the baseball Charge song, with ‘yum yum yum yum yum.....’ – It was a Kodak moment I guess. Anyway, that wine was the Paesi Tuoi Piedmont Barolo 2003, and it was fantastic!

Yet another find from Mediterranean Wholesalers on Sydney Road, this wine gave me everything I wanted for a very good price, for Barolo anyway. There is plenty of SO2 in this wine so give it a good decanting before drinking. The colour of this wine had a real deep red garnet to it, yet still had a subtle translucency with the onset of an orange hue. As I said, give it plenty of time in the decanter – it needs it, and after a while the nose shows plenty of dried apricot and tar. The palate is puckery dry with a very distinct cranberry tart flavour about it; lovely and long and very Nebbiolo. Mucho Fantastico!!

Drink with Corsican slow braised beef with papadelle
Drink till 2035
97
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $45 at Mediterranean Wholesalers.