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December 14, 2004
Dear Friends and Fellow Wine Lovers:
What a terrific Piedmont tasting! We had
eleven delicious examples of the 2000 vintage and based on the opinions
expressed by the attendees, each glass was better than the prior glass. The
favorite wine of the evening, as voted on by those in attendance, was the
Barolo “Campe” by Rivetti. This wine was an added wine at the last moment
but I am certain we all agree that it was a great addition. Unfortunately,
it was also the most expensive wine of the evening at a price of $114. The
next most popular wine was the Clerico Pajanna with a price of $70.
Interestingly, after these two wines, the voting reflected a broad based
appeal in almost every other wine Mike Aria served that evening. Mike did a
great job in selecting the wines for the tasting.
There was a brief discussion at the tasting
about the time a Barolo is required to be in cask or bottle before release.
Tom Bonito sent us some information on this point. Barolo has a minimum age
in cask dating from January 1 following the harvest of two years. Barolo
normale has a total of three years in cask and bottle and Barolo riserva has
a total of four years (DOC) or five years (DOCG) in cask and bottle. Barolo
riserva speciale (DOC) has a minimum of in cask and bottle of five years
before release.
Our next tasting will be held on January 6,
and will be of Australian Cabernet Sauvignons. Most of us tend to drink and
think about Shiraz when we discuss Australian wine. Nonetheless our leader
for the evening, Ron Schwartzman says that the Australian efforts with
cabernet sauvignon have come a long way. It is apparent from reading the
opinions of Robert Parker in the Wine Advocate (Issue 155, October 25, 2004)
that Robert agrees with Ron.
As many of you will recall from when Ron
lead an Australian Shiraz tasting several years ago, he does a great job of
showing us examples from a number of the main winemaking region of
Australia. That will hold true for this tasting as well. We will taste
examples of cabernet sauvignon from Coonawarra, Margaret River and Barossa
among other regional wine producing areas.
The vintages in Australia are reported to be
fairly uniform throughout the country even though the Barossa and Clare
Valleys are near Adelaide which is about 1500 miles from the Western
Australian vineyards of Margaret River (near Perth). The Coonawara area is
half way between Adelaide and Melbourne, about 250 miles south of
Adelaide.
Although the majority of the wines we taste
are from the 2002 vintage and are in the market at the present time, we will
taste several wines from the outstanding 1998 vintage as well and some of
these may still be available. Parker does rate the 1998, 2001 and 2002
vintages at 95. He goes on to say that the 2002 vintage was “a record
setting very cool year with a long growing season that has produced many
spectacular wines.”
One of the wines we will taste will be the
Clarendon Hills 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Sandown Vineyard which has a St
Emilion-like personality and received a score of 90 from Robert Parker. Two
of the Barossa wines, the Noon Reserve 2002 and the Craneford 2002 have
received Parker ratings of 93 and 91 respectively.
As a rule these wines are reasonable in
price and they are available at our local wine retailers as mentioned above.
As a reminder all individuals on our waiting
list ARE invited to join us at our tastings with or without a member.
We hope to see all of you at our next
tasting on January 6. The cost of this tasting will be $57 for members and
$65 for non-members.
The following tasting of the Southern Rhone
wines will take place on February 3.
In vino veritas and a votre sante,
Bob and Howard
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