TN: NYS reds, plus some Italians, Loire, Languedoc, and Bdx

"DaleW" ha scritto nel messaggio news: snipped-for-privacy@f5g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...

2004 Rivera "Il Falcone Riserva" (Castel del Monte) Not sure exactly where this is from or what grapes. Black cherries, currant with some firm tannins and some light vanilla/oak notes. Ripe but with decent acidity, fairly long finish with some spice notes. This was a little big for the food, but I'd like to try this again in maybe 5 years to let tannins and oak integrate a bit. A conservative B.

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The wine comes from Puglia. It is a blend of the local grape "Nero di Troia" (Troy's Black? :-)), and Montepulciano, in the 70/30 ratio. Nero di Troia is a strong, tannic grape, and montepulciano is added to smooth it a bit. Italy is full of this kind of grapes, consider Sagrantino, Ciliegiolo, Raboso, Uva Longanesi, just to make some example, and the debate how to "gentle" them, if using barriques, that in general add tannin to tannin instead of smoothing it, blending with merlot, or using big barrels (and time), is still open.

Luk