February 2022 – SocialVino

Puligny-Montrachet Tasting

Published on February 22, 2022 by Bruno DonaggioLeave a comment

Pressoir.wine is run by the team behind La Paulée and La Fête Du Champagne. In addition to running those events they also host (very expensive) Burgundy dinners and about once a month a Burgundy “happy hour”. At the happy hour they pick a village in Burgundy and showcase about a dozen, mostly premier cru wines from that village.

On February 10th it was the appellation of Puligny-Montrachet which has 17 premier crus of mostly white wines made from Chardonnay.

The tasting was open to the consumer and was a casual, walk around tasting held at their tasting room and clubhouse located at 285 West Broadway in lower Manhattan. Most of the wines were from the 2017 vintage which is considered a good vintage. I found a lot of lemon, tart notes on the finish. There were also a sprinkling of other vintages as well.

As usual, knowledgeable staff were on hand with information on what they poured and to answer any Burgundy related questions.

White wines I sampled:

2018 Domaine Bachelet-Monnot “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, toasty nose, nice fruit with firm acids.

2017 Domaine Genot-Boulanger “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, closed nose, tight with some oak notes on the back end, firm acids.

2017 Domaine de Montille “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, dried herbs and white flower on the nose, middle fruit with lemon tart on the finish.

2017 Domaine Leflaive “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, honey, ripe kumquat and toast on the nose, tight with citrus notes on the finish.

2018 Jean-Luc & Paul “Champ Gain”: Medium gold, oily, toasty nose, light lemon fruit.

2017 Domaine Faiveley “La Garenne”: Very light in color, ripe fruit on the nose, moderate fruit followed by crisp acids on the finish.

2017 Etienne Sauzet “Les Perrieres”: Medium gold with a floral nose, tight fruit with tongue coating acidity.

2015 Domaine Bachelet-Monnot “Les Referts”: Light gold, honey on the nose, nice balance of tropical fruit notes with good acidity.

2017 Etienne Sauzet “Les Combettes”: Medium gold, toasty nose, juicy with dried herbs on the finish with good acidity.

2015 Etienne Sauzet “Les Combettes”: Medium gold, closed nose, light with moderate acidity.

2015 Etienne Sauzet “Champ Canet”: Medium gold, honeyed nose ending with some tart notes.

Slow Wine Festival at Eataly

Published on February 16, 2022February 16, 2022 by Bruno DonaggioLeave a comment

Eataly is on a roll with consecutive wine events at both their locations so far this year. On February 2nd they held the Slow Wine Festival New York at Eataly downtown which is located at 101 Liberty Street in lower Manhattan.

Slow Wine is part of the Slow Food concept. It’s an Italian wine organization with a commitment to sustainable agriculture and whose mission is “good, clean and fair” wines.

The trade portion of the event was held in the afternoon with a consumer tasting later that evening, I attended in the afternoon which I was told was a larger event with more wines than the late consumer tasting.

It was a huge event with over 100 wines poured. The majority were Italian with all the regions from North to South represented with wines in keeping with the Slow Wine concept.

Along with the Barolos, Chiantis, Brunellos, Amarones and other world-famous Italian varietals, I made a point to sample wines made from unusual or rarely seen varietals such as Freisa, Colorino, Ciliegiolo, Grignolino and even an Italian Tempranillo.

There were a few tables of New World wine from California, Oregon and Long Island where I sampled some nice wines from Adamus Winery, Burgess Vineyards, Domum Vineyards and Left Coast Winery to name a few.

Brunello Camp Eataly

Published on February 8, 2022February 8, 2022 by Bruno DonaggioLeave a comment

During the last week of January, Eataly Flatiron held Brunello Camp which were a series of Brunello themed events. On Thursday January 28th I attended their walk-around tasting of Brunello wines. Eataly Flatiron is located at 200 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

Brunello is a red wine produced in the Piedmont region of Italy along with its famous cousin Chianti though Brunello came into being much later, courtesy of Clemente Santi in the mid 1800’s. The differences between the two is that for Brunello, it must be 100% exclusively from the Sangiovese Grosso variety which is a large berry form of Sangiovese and the aging requirements. Regular Brunello must be aged for five years before release while the Riservas for six years. In the meantime, to have some income flowing into the wineries, they produce a younger version of their Brunello, Rosso di Montalcino which are available after one year of aging.

It was a snowy evening this Thursday, a perfect time to spend indoors drinking wine. The event was open to the consumer and featured over 50 wines. Most were from the 2016’s and 2017’s vintages which were back to back blockbuster vintages. There were also a few older vintages poured. There was a table in the seperate wine shop that poured a handful of extra older wines (20+years).

Most of the wine tastings have been held at Eataly dowtown and this was the Flatiron stores first wine event in a couple of years. I don’t think that they weren’t expecting the size of the crowd that showed up as we were jammed into a space literally cheek to cheek at the tasting tables. Still, I didn’t have to wait too long for a pour and Management promised to use a larger space next time around.

Coming from a couple of great vintages there were some very nice, elegant wines with good acidity being poured. The only disappointment I had that evening was at the table in the wine shop. Brunella has a reputation as age worthy wines, but I found most of them tasting old.

Some of the producers I sampled:

2004 Tenuta Frigiali	2012 Fuligni
2013 Il Palazzone	2013 Lisini
2014 Il Paradiso	2012 Barbi
2015 Podere Le Ripi “Amore Magia”	2015 Le Ragnaie
2016 Col d’Orca	2015 Vigna Nastagio
2016 Fanti	2017 Argiano
2016 Campogio Vanni	2016 Collemattoni
2016 Mastrojanni	2016 Castel Giocondo
2016 Pietrosso	2016 Antinori Pian delle Vigne
2016 Ferrero	2016 Barbi
2015 La Togata	2016 Poggia Cerrino
2016 San Polino	2016 Molino di Sant Antimo
2016 Collemattioni	2015 Fuligni

Chianti Lovers U.S. Tour 2022

Published on February 1, 2022 by Bruno DonaggioLeave a comment

On January 11th I attended the Chianti Lovers U. S. tour. This was another wine event promoted by the I.E.E.M. (International Event & Exhibition Management) and showcased member wineries of the Consorzio Vino Chianti, an organization established in 1927 that oversees the regulations for the seven subdistricts of the Chianti region.

The event was for members of the trade and was held at the Eventi Hotel at 851 7th Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

The event consisted of a seminar in which we blind tasted a horizontal of 2017 Riserva Chianti from each of the seven subdistricts. That was followed by a walk-around tasting.

Since it’s the job of the I.E.E.M. to promote the wines and winereis, the wineries pouring today are small producers that are looking for exposure and a Distributer so there weren’t any trophy wines but a very good selection of off the radar wines from the various sub districts of the Chianti D.O.C.G.

This was supposed to be the first of two Chianti tasting with a Chianti Classico event for the next week but that event was postponed.

Seminar: Horizontal Tasting of 2017 Chianti D.O.C.G. Riserva (Tasted Blind)

Pietro Becconcini (Colline Pisane)

Medium brick, tar, fennel and crushed rock on the nose, tight with some vegetal notes on the lighter finish.

Cantagallo Il Fondatore (Montalbano)

Dark brick in color, closed nose of tar, tree bark and herbs, medium to light bodied with a tight and dusty finish.

Poggio Del Moro (Colli Senesi)

Opaque dark brick, perfume of violets, tar and vanilla, tight and dusty ending with tongue coating tannins.

Podere Dell’ Moro (Montespertoli)

Dark red in color, camphor and crushed black fruit on the nose, starts juicy with crunchy tannins ending with firm acids and bitter almond notes on the balanced finish.

Torre Acona Badia a Corte (Fiorentini)

Clear medium brick, sweet ripe fruit on the nose, medium fruit with wood notes, bitter cherry, firm tannins ending with mouthwatering acids.

Buca Nerta (Arentini)

Opaque dark red, closed, oily nose with young silky fruit, firm, dusty tannins and firm acids.

Fattoria Selvapiana (Rufina)

Clear medium brick, perfume of sweet fruit, tar and raspberry, silky fruit with bitter cherry notes with firm tannins and acids on the finish.

Some of the producers I sampled wines from at the walk around tasting:

Cantina Sorelli	Colle Adimari
Dianella	Fattoria l’Arco
Fattoria Montecchio	Fattoria San Michele a Torri
Fattoria Uccelliera	Il Palazzo
Podere dell’Anselmo	Tenuta Coeli Aula
Tenuta di Castelfalfi	Val di Botte
Valvirginio	Grignano