With a lasagne dinner a few nights ago, I went down to the cellar for a Sangiovese and found a couple of wines that had flown under the radar (i.e., not appeared in my database). The first wine I came back with, a '95 Le Bocche Chianti Classico Riserva was corked, so back down for:
1996 Mazzei "Fonterutoli" Chianti Classico Riserva nose: pencil lead, a hint of tart fruit palate: medium body, high acidity, modest fruitNot a whole lot there, really, though this wine was still fairly vibrant. Chalk it up to a lackluster year in Tuscany.
Tonight, with a dinner of homemade cappelini in a sauce of fresh tomato, onion, garlic and spiny lobster tail, I opened:
2000 Bott-Beyl "Furstetum" Pinot Gris color: dark amber nose: honey, apricot, butterscotch, slightly Sherry-like palate: good acidity, full body, fairly sweet, stone fruit and honeyDid this bottle say "Vendange Tardive" on the label? Cellartracker tells me that it is, and my own impressions back that up, but damned if I can see it on the label. I had gone down in search of a dry or off-dry wine and had bypassed the Muscadets and Huet demi-secs in favor of what I supposed was going to be a full-bodied but off-dry wine. What we got was a good deal sweeter than that. Was there a hint of botrytis in there? Mayhap. Jean pours salt in the wound by telling me that she'd assumed that I'd come up with a Chablis -- I didn't even think of looking over in Burgundy territory. Quite a nice wine, but not the wine for the meal.
Mark Lipton