Last Saturday I attended the Grand Tasting event at the Food Network Food & Wine Festival being held around town. The event was held at the Hudson River Park Pier on W 15 Street. The place was huge, the size of an aircraft hangar and it was packed with thousands of festival goers. It was a zoo. Sort of like the subway during rush hour only more crowded.  I usually don’t have high expectations for these consumer events since they usually have a lot of mediocre wines. There were many restaurants serving bit size portions of food but you had to fight you way in to grab a bite. What food I got my hands on were pretty tasty though.

There were some decent wines at the event. I enjoyed the 2009 Goldeneye Pinot Noir and the  2009 Duckhorn Merlot.  Jordan Vineyards poured their 2010 Chardonnay and their 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon which I enjoyed as well. Silverado Vineyards poured their 2007 Mt George Vineyard Napa Merlot which was excellent.

Afterwards I headed to the Standard Hotel to attend a vertical tasting of Fontanafreddas single vineyard “La Rosa” Barolos. Compared to the mostly mediocre wines at the fest, these wines were outstanding.

Six Barolo were poured.

The 2006 Barolo La Rosa  was medium red to dark red with a nose of dried rosemary. Big fruit with firm tannins I thought it could use some more time to balance out.

The 2005 Barolo La Rosa had a big nose of tar and leather with silky fruit with great balance on the finish. Delicious

The 2000 Barolo La Rosa was dark red to black with tar and black cherry on the nose. Unusual to get black cherry with a Barolo but that’s what I was getting. I thought the wine was drinking at its peak right now with good acidity on the finish.

The 1999 Barolo La Rosa was dark in color with a nose of stewed fruit and roasted nuts with firm tannins on the finish. I thought it was a little unbalanced.

The 1996 Barolo La Rosa was dark with a slightly closed nose of dried herbs and mint. Tight fruit with a long finish with crisp acidity.

The 1982 Barolo La Rosa was dark in color with a nose of stewed fruit and dried leaf. The fruit was big and silky with balanced tannins and acids. Wouldn’t hold on to it much longer but was drinking nicely now.

All the wines were excellent Barolos made in a fruit forward, new-world style. That’s not such a bad thing since Barolos can be tannin bombs when they are young.