It is always an occasion for great discoveries when Oskar announces he will come by and bring some wine. This time it was even more the case since he brought 4 bottles of old vintage wine and my knowledge about old wine is very limited, so I had an opportunity to learn a lot.
Domaine les Veilles 1979, Saint Ferdinand, Côtes du Rhône
Once poured in a glass you can see light brown shades on the brim witnessing the age of the wine. Nevertheless this Côtes du Rhône is still young on the palate. You can still taste the fire and wildness of a southern French wine in terms of alcohol. On the other hand 27 years have made this wine a very burgundy stile round wine with little tannins and perfect balance. You can smell and taste red fruits but there is no fruit attribute or flavour which someone could distinct in particular except maybe a little earthy taste. A nice discovery!
Barolo Riserva 1984, Vini Pregiati Ferrero, Alba
One knows that Barolo is a wine which particularly needs a lot of aging time to reach their peak level (Especially true for the older ones; today a lot of Barolos are made to be drunken younger). So I was happy to come across this nice bottle. With 22 years of age it should be a at its best. The wine had a nice dark colour with light brown reflections on the side. It had a nice perfume at the beginning which somehow rapidly disappeared. On the palate it had a gentle licorice and condiment flavour and really soft tannins which felt like melting.
But I was still a little disappointed of the blunt or short nose… and went on with the next wine. Fortunately we tried all the wines again after an hour or so. And this Barolo went through an incredible metamorphosis! This time the nose wasn’t blunt but it was a true explosion of flavour, with a very intense mushroom and underwood smell which reminded autumn ( and went perfectly with the weather since it was rainy and cold in a late April day) and matched the idea I had of Barolo being an autumn wine which goes with venison dishes with strong sauces.
This wine was definitely my favourite of the tasting.
Roca I Mora Gran Reserva 1991, D.O. Tarragona
This 1991 Gran Reserva stayed 18 months in oak barrels, then it was kept another 30 months in the bodega before it was made available for customers. After that it stayed some 11 years in a private wine cellar. Maybe it was time to open this bottle and see how this old Spanish Senor compares to his European fellows.
The result is this wine could easily keep up. The nose was fruity and one could still smell very distinctly the wood. On the palate this wine tasted fruity again, mostly reminding red berries. The tannins were extremely soft and this wine just tasted yummy. It also had a great length. Here again the age didn’t do any harm to the wine but just smoothed out some edges.
Brunello di Montalcino 1995, Azienda Agrare Mastroianni
Our last wine of the tasting and at the same time our youngest with 11 years of age. This one still tasted really young. It had a high level of acidity and still lots of tannins. Nevertheless it had an interesting nose, fleshy or bacon and anise, but also cherries and red fruit. In the mouth it also had a little earthy taste as well as forest berries and a light mushroom flavour.
But this wine will profit of another decade in the cellar, the time it needs for the acidity level to fall and the tannins to soften.
This was really an interesting tasting with great discoveries. Thanks a lot, Oskar, I am sure you have some more nice surprises hidden in your cellar ;)
