Category Archives: Italy

2007 Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco

I can’t believe it but this is my 100th post since Moby and I started Grapestorm last year…thanks to everyone who has followed us! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have. On to the wine:

Last week we went into town to check out a Polish deli and Pig Fest at a local restaurant. We got kielbasas and blood sausage then went and had a great pork themed meal. We started with meatballs and pork belly then I had roasted suckling pig while moby had the braised pork and garlic polenta. A delicious meal and a fun evening.

colonelgrape: 75. Let me start by saying that this is not a bad wine…I just think it’s mislabeled. If I were drinking this blind I would have said it was a very nice Nebbiolo for $20-$25 a bottle. Great nose and flavor profile I like in Nebbiolo: licorice, leather, earth, red fruit however it was really lacking in body and finish. It was good up until you finished the sip then it just disappeared. I like my Barolo to be big, robust, and have a long finish and I like my Nebbiolo to taste similar but be a “smaller” wine. If this were a $20-$25 Nebbiolo I’d have given it a 92 however as a Barolo it falls short. Tasty wine, just not worthy of being a Barolo or $50+.

MobyGrape: 93. This is the cleanest dirty wine I’ve had in a while. Smelled a bit licorice-y and leathery and musty. Had a velvety texture with a little tannic kick at the end, it was very pleasant with a pork-centric dinner. Can’t seem to go wrong with this producer, The Rat makes a great everyday Barbera, and a great Barolo to match.

2011 Dell’Oltrepo Pavese Bonarda

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Despite the creepy cat label this was actually a good wine. We tasted our first Bonarda at the annual Vin Bin tasting last weekend. It’s a fun, light, and fruity grape that reminded us of Barbera only less “serious” which makes sense since they grow side by side in Piedmont. I wouldn’t pair this with a heavy meal but for something light that you don’t want to overpower this could work. We’ll have to taste more Bonarda before we add it to the weeknight wine menu. I tend to prefer more mature, heavier wines during the winter but I could see this working during the summer.

Fall NJ Trip

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Moby and I took a half day Friday to take a trip down to visit Aunt, Uncle, and Cousingrape last weekend. We ate great food and drank fantastic wine making a perfect weekend. We also stopped by wine library and stocked up on Champagne and Cotes du Rhone. Here’s the wine lineup along with a few blurry pictures in here and some wonderful hand modeling by Auntgrape and Mobygrape:

2007 Domaine Bruno Clain Corton-Charlemagne

NV Albert Boxler Cremant

2010 Domaine Blain Gagnard Chassange-Montrachet

1988 Chapoutier Cote Rotie

1990 Campo Delle Piane Boca

1989 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron

1990 Chateau Leoville Barton

For me the wine of the night was hands down the 1989 Pichon. With the wine market the way it is Moby and I do not have the luxury of drinking mature Bordeaux regularly but thanks to Unclegrape it’s a special treat every so often. The tannis had melted away leaving structured and delicious fruit. From nose to finish you get a complete wine experience, just outstanding. I’ve developed a taste for younger Bordeaux but honestly it’s not even close…if you have the will power age your Bordeaux. Be patient, it’s worth it. Moby really enjoyed the Cremant as well. Light, refreshing, not as big as a Champagne it’s a great aperitif. We’ll definitely be having more Cremant in the future.

You may have noticed the oddball Nebbiolo in our otherwise French theme. I found this bottle at Vin Bin recently and brought it along. We enjoyed it quite a bit and will be purchasing a few more bottles. It wasn’t a fair fight vs. the 89 Pichon however a delicious mature Nebbiolo at $65 is a steal.

Plate of the Trip:

Foie Gras from Le Rendez-Vous Bistro. Wow. Perfectly cooked, creamy, melt in your mouth liver with a balsamic reduction and carmelized apple. There’s a strong possibility this was the best plate I’ve had all year.

Purchase of the Trip:

Completely unnecessary yet completely necessary at the same time. Aunt and Unclegrape have two parrots so this was the perfect purchase. Does it work? Who cares…It’s a Corkatoo and it’s hilarious.

2008 Marina Cvetic Montepulciano

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73: What the hell, 2008! You took a perfectly fine wine and ruined it! I had this one at dinner the other evening and wowed my dinner companion by proudly ordering the 2007 Cvetic from the menu. I then proceeded to horrify my dinner companion by sending the waitress back to the kitchen when they brought out the 2008. When regaling one of my friends with this story they called me “GrapeDick”, which may have to be my pseudonym for when I give bad reviews. Anyways, sadly they were out of 2007 but I figured we’d try the 2008 anyways, and found myself increasingly annoyed as the night went on. It started out all right, it was rustic and kind of leathery, but where the 2007 smoothed out as it sat, this one seemed to get incredibly pissed off that someone was drinking it. It somehow had a sour finish, maybe I was able to taste it more since I ate my meal already, but I did not really enjoy it without food.

2009 Poderi Lorenzo Alutto Barbaresco

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We had this wine last week with a simple pasta and homeade redsauce. Normally I’d reserve our Barbaresco bottles for bigger meals but we were feeling Italian last week and opened it anyway. The tannis were smoother than I expected from a 2009 and in fact the fruit was not as lively as I expected. This tasted more like a 2004 than a 2009 which was a pleasant suprise. Great translucent, brick color, also making it seem older than it was. There was also a distinct mineral undertone to the wine which gave it a nice, lasting finish. A really curious bottle but one I’d recommend, I think this would fool a lot of people at a blind wine tasting. Have it with a bigger meal though, it’s still a big wine.