Bruno Giacosa: Memorializing the "Maestro of Nebbiolo" with attendance at a "timely" wine dinner

I had never met Bruno Giacosa so, on his death, I could not pen touching and heartfelt tributes such as done by Laura Seal (Decanter), Antonio Galloni (Vinous), Jeremy Parzen (DoBianchi), Bruce Sanderson (Wine Spectator), and Monica Larner (Robert Parker Wine Advocate). But I was able snag a spot at a previously scheduled Wine Watch Bruno Giacosa tasting dinner, attendance at which, I felt, would allow me to pay hommage, in my own little way, to his monumental contributions to this space that we all love.

All of the tribute-payers mentioned above remarked on his taciturnity. Beyond that, they marveled at his "ability to recognize the best growing sites" and "his encyclopedic knowledge of Langhe cru sites." Antonio Galloni referred to him as the "maestro of Nebbiolo" and credited him with a number of innovations:

• The first producer in Piedmont to wholeheartedly embrace the philosophy of single-vineyard cru Barolo and Barbaresco
• One of the first to have a state of the art cellar with temperature control
• An early adopter of French oak.

The most comprehensive knowledge base on Bruno Giacosa is curated by Ken Vastola on his site finewinegeek.com. I summarize some of his key information on Bruno Giacosa, and his Barolos and Barbarescos, in the chart below.

I have previously described the new Wine Watch Wine Bar where the dinner was held. I stepped into the bar and was heartened to see that the mood was upbeat. Andrew Lampasone (the proprietor) was pouring Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis with abandon and I did not hesitate to join in the mix.

The tasting was fully subscribed. The wines on offer are shown in the figure below. I posted this picture to instagram real-time and the feedback was "great tasting but those 'sale' prices are crazy" and "I'd hate to think his passing spiked pricing ..."

The dinner began with the 2014 Dolcetto d'Alba paired with a Beef Tartare with a Quail egg and aioli sauce. Sweet dark plummy fruit on the nose with dark notes on the palate. Medium-bodied with a hint of tannins. Almond finish.

The 2014 Barbera d'Alba showed ripe cherry fruit on the nose and was juicy and approachable on the palate. Easy drinking.

After the introductory wines, we switched to the cru Barbarescos and Barolos, beginning with the 2011 Santo Stefano. As indicated on finewinegeek.com, this will be the final bottling of this label. Savory on the nose along with coal and spice. Complex. Great weight on palate. Balanced. Drinking beautifully.

The 2012 Barbaresco Asili was floral. Rosewater, cigarette, and smoke on the nose. Explodes on the palate. Silky tannins. Beautiful rounded mouthfeel giving way to a lengthy finish.

The 2009 Rocche Falletto showed tar, tobacco, and dark fruit on the nose. Builds to a crescendo on palate. Weighty. Long finish.

The 2011 Falletto showed red fruit, rose petals, tar, and spices on the nose. Great weight on palate. Rich. Slightly aggressive tannins. Lengthy finish.

Tar, kerosene, asphalt were the the characteristics associated with the nose of the 2008 Falletto Riserva, Tamarind on the palate. Balanced. Metallic finish.

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pine Nuts

Osso Buco

The 2001 Barbaresco Rabajà Riserva was one of my favorites of the night. Tobacco, tar, dried rose petals, and cigarettes on the nose. Fine-boned on palate. Tamarind. Elegant. Long, sour finish.

The 1996 Asili Riserva had notes of licorice, mint, smoke, and tobacco on the nose. Rich, sour red fruit on palate. Tamarind and spice. Tannins not yet fully resolved.

This was a meaningful tasting. It was not packed with stellar vintages of Giacosa's greatest wines (such as, for example, the La Pizza Fresca tasting held two weeks prior) but it was a tasting of his wines shortly after the announcement of his death and everyone in that room felt and understood the import of the moment. This tasting had been scheduled and announced weeks in advance; his passing made it more than a run-of-the-mill wine tasting dinner.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The wines of Poderi Aldo Conterno at the Wine Watch White Truffle Dinner

I visited Poderi Aldo Conterno in Bussia in 2012 as a member of a Decanter Reader Team and was enthralled by its origin story, its holdings and practices, and its wines. The focus of our tasting on that trip was the estate's 2009 vintage. The Wine Watch White Truffle  Dinner, held at the new Wine Watch Wine Bar, offered me an opportunity to relive the tasting portion of my prior experience, this time with a focus on the 2013 vintage, and with Franco Conterno, eldest of the trio of brothers managing the estate, as the headliner, instead of Giacomo. I report on the tasting in this post.

The evening began with copiuos amounts of Lo Sparviere Franciacorta being poured in the bar area for attendees' pleasure. After the passage of some time, Andrew invited us to take our seats at the table set up in the southwestern corner of the bar.

All of the wines had been pre-poured and stationed at each attendee's position. Andrew introduced Franco and then turned the floor over to him. He also advised us to begin tasting the wines.

Franco gave a short presentation that was affected by the noise from the other sections of the bar. I was seated at the far end of the table and could not hear much. After I protested about the noise, Andrew walked over and asked them to tone it down (which, in fairness to them, is not what you expect to hear when you go to a bar. Andrew communicated with me by email as to how he expects to address this issue going forward.).

I began tasting the wines during Franco's presentation. First up was the 2013 Bussiador Chardonnay. I asked Franco about the 2013 vintage for this wine and he characterized it as a classic vintage for Chardonnay. It was cold with a lot of sun in the summer (great for ripeness and polyphenols, he said). There was enough water in the summer and September and October were pretty good. This produced a balanced wine with elegance.

The Chardonnay grapes are grown on 35- to 40-year old vines resident on 2.56 ha of the Chastain vineyard and, while the winery has the capacity for 30,000 bottles, they only vinify 6000 bottles.  The wine is placed in stainless steel tanks until the initiation of alcoholic fermentation when they are transferred to 100% new oak barriques for its completion and for malolactic fermentation.

A nuttiness on the nose. Beautiful feel on the palate. Walnut character and a slight salinity. Beautiful weight on the palate. Balanced and elegant with a lengthy finish. This is an absolutely beautiful representation of Chardonnay.

Two dishes book-ended Franco's presentation: A White Truffle dish done pancake style followed by a Ravioli with Herb Ricotta and Quail Egg. Both of these dishes were of extremely high quality.

The next wine tasted was the 2014 Conca Tre Pile Barbera d'Alba DOC. Grapes for this wine are sourced from Conca Tre Pile, "a hilly area in Bussia Soprano whose main vines are Barbera," said vines being a maximum of 45-years old. The wine is vinified in stainless steel and its first aging period is within those vats. It is transferred into oak casks for the final months of aging.

Red fruit on the nose with bright red fruit on the palate. An easy drinking wine with good concentration. Medium finish.

Next up was the 2013 Langhe Rosso. This is a blend of Freisa, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot sourced from various vineyards in Bussia. Like the Conca Tre Pile, this wine is vinified in stainless steel and then aged in a mix of stainless steel and oak casks.

Easy drinking. Bright, intense red fruit.

At this time the third dish was served, a pleasantly earthy, salty, almost-transparent Veal Carpaccio.

I next tasted the 2011 and 2013 Il Favot Langhe Nebbiolo DOC.  The grapes for this wine are sourced from 20-year-old vines from a number of vineyards in Bussia.  After hand harvesting, the crushed grapes are allowed to stay in contact with the skins in stainless steel tanks in order to increase the color and tannin levels in the finished wine. Vinification occurs in the stainless steel tanks where the wine remains for 6 months post-vinification.  The wines are transferred to 100% new oak barriques at the end of that six month period and will mature therein for another 18 months after which they are bottled.

The 2011 showed violets, tar, olives, earth and baking spices on the nose. Medium body with a definite savoriness on the palate. Medium finish  Similar characteristics on the 2013 though weightier and less developed.

Franco Conterno

The 2013 Barolo Bussia is made with grapes from 15- to 20-year-old vines drawn from a number of vineyards in Bussia. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel tanks and then transferred to oak casks for aging. A bit of a plum note to accompany tar, roses and licorice. Concentrated with a great mouthfeel. Beautiful wine.

The 2012 Colonello Barolo DOCG was made from grapes grown in the highest position in the namesake vineyard.  Bright red fruit, herbs, tar, and spices on the nose. Powerful red fruit. Textured.

The Granbussia Riserva DOCG is the flagship wine of the estate.  The 4950-bottle production is made from grapes drawn from the Cicala (15%), Colonello (15%), and Romirasco (70%) vineyards. These grapes are co-fermented in wood with 60 days of skin contact and spend another 32 months maturing prior to bottling.  The wine is stored for another 12 to 18 months after bottling.  We tasted the 1999 edition of this wine.

On the nose tar, roses, herbs and an earthiness.  Started off slightly tired on the palate but took wing after some time in the glass. Powerful, richness, and tar.  Long finish.

All in all, a pretty good tasting. I had not been to a Wine Watch tasting in a long while so I was excited to revisit as well as to meet one of my New York City tasting pals there. Andrew has been doing these events for a while and, as such, he knows his customer base and the producers that pass through. I privately gave him some of my thoughts on the event and he was gracious enough to respond in a detailed fashion.

Looking forward to future tastings at, and visits to, the brand new Wine Bar.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Wine Watch Wine Bar (Fort Lauderdale, FL): A welcome addition to a wine bar desert

Wine Watch is a "boutique" wine retailer located at 901 Progresso Drive in the Flagler Village section of Fort Lauderdale. The store, for me, has been characterized by a lack of external signage, a nondescript exterior, no visible/easily detectable entrance, and, once you enter, a wide range of wines from around the world scattered throughout the darkened interior on a mix of shelves, carts, boxes, etc. That being said, this is one of the few retail establishments in Florida where you can walk in and buy very old vintages off the shelf.

The store is well known for its winemaker dinners and other wine-themed events. Wine-tasting dinners, when held on site, were squeezed into a devoted area in the shop. There is no kitchen so these events were always a logistical challenge.

No more. As of June of this year, Wine Watch has opened an honest-to-goodness wine bar just down 3rd Street from the retail store.

Location of new Wine Watch Wine Bar shown in relation to the
wine shop

I was unaware of this development so when I went to last Thursday's Aldo Conterno dinner, and I got there early, I went into a bar down the street to pass the time. And, as in the case of the retail shop, there was no external signage to alert me to the fact that such an entity existed.

As it got close to the time for the dinner (and I saw no cars outside the retail shop), I called to double check as to where the event was going to be held. I was told at the wine bar across from the retail shop.

As I stepped through the door, this amazing tapestry unfolded before my eyes. Beautiful wood floor; OWC ceilings; front walls adorned with original bottle labels (many signed by producers); cork-and-bottle chandeliers; lots and lots of racks containing neatly stacked bottles; a well-appointed bar to the left front; beautifully appointed and apportioned customer spaces; and, in the distance, a full kitchen.

Wine-label festooned walls

Cork-and-bottle chandeliers

According to Andrew (Lampasone, Proprietor), the bar is open Wednesday to Saturday in the evenings and he is trying to get patrons acclimatized to that schedule. Friday night folks tend to bring great bottles from their cellar to share and Saturday is "Brown-Bag Day" for those willing to participate.

The wines on display in the shelves are available for purchase by the bottle but there is also a phenomenal by-the-glass program. For example, on the night after the dinner, they were going to be serving 1995 L'Evangile out of magnum by the glass. All BTG wines are opened fresh each day.

For our event, a long table was set up to the back left of the bar. The setup was pleasing to the eye. The one shortcoming was a lack of separation between the participants in the dinner and the other patrons. From time to time it was difficult to hear what the winemaker was saying.

I tasted three dishes from the kitchen and each was extremely good.

This is a welcome addition to a wine bar desert with the only other wine bar of substance (now heavily outclassed) in the area being Vienna Cafe and Wine Bar in Davie. I will be visiting this bar frequently.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme