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The December 7, 2006 tasting of wines from Southern Italy was exactly the kind of tasting for which the society was founded. Member Mike Aria presented excellent wines from an area not well explored by our group and, in fact, quite new to many of us. In the Wine Atlas of Italy (Simon & Schuster 1990) Burton Anderson writes that there is evidence of wine making in this part of Italy extending back to the Bronze age. When Phoenician traders arrived in Puglia around 2000 B.C., they supposedly found an active, if rustic, wine industry. The Greeks referred to this part of Italy as Oenotria, the land of wine. However, prior to the last decade of the 20^th century “in no other part of Italy has such obvious potential been squandered or left untapped” (Anderson). Ten years later the same Burton Anderson in the “Best Italian Wines” (Little Brown/Websters 2001) notes “each of the four regions [Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, and Calabria] has shown signs of revival in the premium field”

Mike certainly presented some great wines for this tasting. The favorites of the tasting were the 1999 Masciarelli Villa Gemma (Montepulciano d’Abruzzo), a rich, full solid and mouth-coating wine and the 2002 Firrato Ribecca (Sicily), a spicy, big and tannic example. Tied for third place were the 1997 Argiolas Turiga (Sardinia) and the 2003 Selanova Aglianico (Campania), the former showing complexity and a sweet, peppery. chocolate bouquet and the latter a bouquet of rich blackberries. Other wines in the tasting, the 2003 Montevetrano and the 2003 Feudi San Gregorio Serpico from Campania had some supporters because of their great fruit and good structure. A wine from Central Italy (Marches) the 2001 Le Canietto Roso Piceno Nero di Vite deservedly received two glasses (out of three) from the Italian wine bible, the Gambero Rosso and the 2002 Donnafugata Milleunanotte (Sicily) received three glasses because of “its very ripe red and black fruits”. An interesting wine which stood out was the 2003 Prima Mano Primativo resembling, as it were, its long lost sibling Zinfandel. Both derive from a grape which originated in Croatia.

For the first tasting of 2007 on January 4, member Tom Bonito will present wines of the Northern Rhone. We will be tasting wines from Cote Rotie, Hermitage, and Cornas. These areas are not large. Cote Rotie has an area about the same size as Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Latour combined. Hermitage is about ten percent smaller than Cote Rotie and the total area of Cornas approximates that of Chateau Lafite Rothschild. John Livingstone-Learmonth (The Wines of the Northern Rhone University of California Press 2005) says that the Northern Rhone is more like Burgundy rather than the Southern Rhone. Both the Northern Rhone and Burgundy are at the northern limits for the successful ripening of their respective grapes, syrah and pinot noir.

The Cote Rotie (literally “roasted slope”) is “one of the most exciting, if geographically extremely limited, red wine appellations in France” (Jancis Robinson ed. Oxford Companion to Wine Oxford University Press 2006). The vineyards are on a steep incline, facing southeast for the most sun and are sheltered from the cold winds. The advance of Cote Rotie since the 1980s can be attributed to the expertise of Marcel Guigal (E. Guigal) and the advocacy of Robert Parker who called Guigal “one of the best wine makers on the planet”. For our tasting we will be tasting two wines, the 1999 Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde described as chocolaty/cedar full bouquet… closed… raspberry/bilberry. . . long life four stars (of six) (J L-L 2005) and the1990 which shows signs of drought and slow ripening. Medium weight. Parker (Wines of the Rhone Valley Simon & Schuster 1997) says it is “outstanding. . . rich, velvety-textured. . . lush”.

We will have two producers from Hermitage – each with two wines. a younger and an older. Domaine du Columbier has a style which is “very clean and ‘en finesse’… tannins are orderly and the wine is typically likely to age well over 10-16 years” (J L-L) The 2003 has a “sweet, lush nose. . . ripe cassis, dark plum . . .rich and powerful on the palate. . .finishes cherry, juicy and long” (International Wine Cellar 91 pts)

The 1998 Hermitage is described as “classic Hermitage, full with sinew, good tannic frame. Some end mineral, persistent flavor” (J L-L). The second Hermitage will be the 2003 Delas Les Bessards which is said to have a “harmonious bouquet. . . black fruit peeps out of a mass of wine. This is a solid knit, no chinks do[sic], licorice final. Balanced appeal, long life ahead” (J L-L). Parker calls the 1990 a “blockbuster, deep purple colored . . . dense and rich . . . massive and broad-shouldered (93+)”.

Our wines from Cornas represent two different types of producers, one more modern (Colombo) and one more traditional (Clape). For Auguste Clape Livingstone-Learmonth would ask for a stone to be placed in Cornas with a legend on it to read something like “Wisdom, Integrity, and Humanity”. He goes on to describe Clape’s 2001 Cornas as having “a full robe, handsome black fruit aroma . . .elegant fruit. . . very good structure . . . length and width. Very classic Cornas (2024-28)”. Columbo wines “stylistically are a cross-breed. The notion of terroir is not faithfully adhered to, but neither is it given a beating” (J L-L) His use of new oak has been a departure from the norm. “Their texture remains outside the traditional Cornas minerality” (J L-L). His wines are fleshier and require less aging to become soft and rounded. The 1999 Columbo Cornas Les Ruchets is described as having toasty oak, minerals, pepper . . . impressive finish (20-25 seconds) (J L-L

The following session will be a Port tasting on February 15, 2007 (note date) conducted by Robert Bower of the Taylor-Fladgate Partnership. Mr. Bower is the tenth generation of his family to be involved in the production of Port. Our society’s founder, Herb New, suggested the tasting because some our newer members have not been exposed to Port. Older members remember fondly when Mr. Ramos-Pintos from the winery of the same name presented his wines.

The cost of the Northern Rhone tasting will be $67 for members and $81 for guests

In vino veritas and a votre sante

Bob and Howard