Saturday Night – That’s Amore – Part 1

Jan and Chris were kind enough to have Mick, Amy, Kathy and myself over dinner this past Saturday night.  We reviewed three new wines and were treated to three wonderful new dishes as well.

 

The first course was a Mediterranean Tart which had roasted goat cheese and a wide array of roasted vegetables in it.  This was paired with a bottle of Louis Roederer Champagne.  We have reviewed the Roederer before so I won’t go into much detail.  It did pair well with the food but was funny as with certain bites it was an amazing pairing and at other types it was OK; the tart had a very wide range of flavours so this was a tricky dish to pair with. 

The main course was Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce.  Jan paired this with two different Italian reds – a 2006 Salcheto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and a 2008 Palazzo Della Torre.  I’ll review the Salcheto first in Part 1 and then cover the other wine in Part 2.

The nose on the Salcheto was easy to find with powerful aromas of leather, pine, eucalyptus with some plum and black pepper notes in the background.  Tasting the wine, you will find sour cherry and black peppers flavours that run the length of the wine.  The structure of the wine was good though it was a bit acidic at times.  The finish on the wine lingers around for quite a while.  I wasn’t too keen on this wine on its own as the acidity was very noticeable but it was quite good with the food as the acidity was neutralized and it went down very nicely with the rich food.

Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 88, Mark - 86, Kathy – 88, Amy – 86, Overall – 87.

 

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

 

SALCHETO VINO NOBILE DI MONTEPULCIANO 2006

VINTAGES 685180
750 mL bottle
Price $ 24.95
Made in: Tuscany, Italy
By: Salcheto
Release Date: Nov 24, 2012
Wine, Red Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Sangiovese (Chianti)
Sugar Content: 5 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

 

Tasting Note -  The 2006 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano shows the darker side of Vino Nobile in its wild cherries, scorched earth, grilled herbs and leather. This is a decidedly muscular, authoritative Vino Nobile endowed with considerable richness and depth. Though delicious today, it really begs for another few years in bottle. It is a fabulous effort. The estate's Vino Nobile is 100% Prugnolo Gentile (Sangiovese) fermented in large oak vats and aged in a combination of small French oak barrels and in large Slavonian oak casks for a total of 24 months. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2022. Score - 92. (Antonio Galloni, erobertparker.com, Oct. 2010)

 

Click here for Part 2