Just back from Piedmont

We had an absolutely amazing time in Piedmont. The food and wine was the best we've ever tasted. The beauty of the Langhe hills was breathtaking with ancient castles and towns perched atop hills covered with vineyards as far as the eye can see. If you were thinking of visiting I cannot recommend it more highly.

We brought back only three bottles, a magnum of Mascarello Barolo 2001, a Rinaldi Barolo 2001, and a Gaja 2001 Barbaresco. We found a cafe in Alba offering Gaja Centeissa 1997 for $25 Euros/glass. It was the finest wine I've ever tasted, powerful and full but with an elegant finish. I told the co-owner I could hear angels singing with each sip and he reminded me the genius in the Gaja family was named Angelo.

We now have relationships with local wine makers and importers for getting more wines shipped to us. It turns out that shipping wine back to the US is pretty expensive unless you already have a cozy arrangement. The best deal we found was charging $150/case.

Unfortunately our visit to Bruno Giacosa's winery was cancelled as Bruno is now gravely ill, but we were able to visit Bartolo Mascarello's winery and meet his widow and daughter. We bought the last year of his Barolo on the first day of its released. We tasted a glass and it was glorious just minutes after opening.

I have more notes which I'll post soon when I'm feeling less jetlagged.

Reply to
Professor
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Of course. It's Italy!

Is Bruno terminally ill? That would be a shame. I have had a few of his wines and found them to be stunning.

Uhh.....right. "....just minutes after opening". Not "several hours".

Reply to
UC

Sounds like a great trip, look forward to further notes. Nice that you're open to all styles, bringing back one modern and two traditionalists. I think the Gaja is probably the Conteisa, no?

Reply to
DaleW

Dale, don't forget to challange him on if he really went to Italy. Prove with tickets. See his receipts. Prove you had the wines you had. Don't forget it's your style.

Also, don't forget to warn that if he post notes you want proof the wine was actually tasted an consumed.

Your self appointed heckler!!!!

Reply to
Richard Neidich

Yes Dale you're right, it was the Conteisa. The jetlag has affected even my spelling. ;^) I usually go for the traditional Nebbiolos, but had always been curious about what all the fanfare about Gaja was. The color was different from any Barolo or Barbaresco I'd had before, more purple than red. Although nine years old it didn't seem particularly mature, a huge deep aroma still powerful and full-bodied. I can imagine the wine will be drinking for decades. It reminded me of a couple Super-Tuscans I've tried. I figured I may never again see a Gaja offered by the glass and I'm happy I went for it.

I'll post a big report on my trip in a few days when I've gotten caught up with everything.

Reply to
Professor

I think Gaja makes great wines. Just if I was going to spend that kind of money, I'd usually prefer something more of its place. I remember thinking of one of his wines (a Sperss? a Sori Tilden?) that it could slip blind into a Pomerol tasting. For my personal tastes, I'd rather have 2 Giacosa Barbarescos than the one Gaja Barbaresco I could buy with same money (or maybe 6 Produttori del Barbaresco single vineyards, or 4 Marcarini Barolo single vineyards, or...).

And yes if I saw that for $25 I'd almost certainly buy!

Look forward to your notes, get your rest!

Reply to
DaleW

Yes, those are quite good values, but nothing else quite reaches Gaja's level.

Reply to
UC
Reply to
Michael Pronay
["Sori Tilden/Tildin]

That's good one!

Was that Yell-o'Tale ...

M.

Reply to
Michael Pronay

In all seriousness, Michael, I think that the problem in this instance might be that Tilden is an (uncommon) surname in English, hence somewhat familiar to Anglophones, whereas Tildin isn't. I've also puzzled for years over the frequent misuse of "Reisling" and why that's so common. For that, I've got no explanation at all, especially since most every English-speaking child learns the rule "i before e except after c," and the long e sound of Riesling is consistent in English with the spelling, whereas "Reisling" would be pronounced as a long i, more or less as in German.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Perhaps because many Americans are familiar with the name of Einstein, with its double example of "ei," they mistakenly assume that whenever those two letters appear in German, that's their correct order.

Reply to
Ken Blake
Reply to
Michael Pronay

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snipped-for-privacy@apris.de/msg36006.html

cheers!

Reply to
DaleW

Thank you. I know one poster in person, so that really impressed me.

Otoh:

Google hits "sori tilden" English: 517 Google hits "sori tilden" German: 38

M.

Reply to
Michael Pronay
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Michael Pronay
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Michael Pronay
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Michael Pronay

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