Wine Jabber

Thoughts on Restaurants, General-like

Contrary to what some people believe, after my stint as owner of Primitivo, I love all kinds of restaurants and food – not simply the refined & fancy ones. Just after I’d opened the restaurant, I was invited to friends’ home for dinner; they were uncharacteristically nervous about me coming over – as she explained it, she’d seen a friend that afternoon and had told her “the owner of Primitivo is coming over! What am I going to cook that’s going to be good enough!!!???” Rest assured, I love meatloaf, mac and cheese, peas and rice, and cheeseburgers, not just the fancy stuff. Besides, who wants to eat like that every day? To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, I love food that is blessedly free of truffle oil, foie gras and other exotic ingredients.

Two Great 1988's

Dinner, grilled ribeye steak, with fresh creamed corn, grilled mushrooms, mache salad.

Wines: 1988 Ch. Lafleur, Pomerol and 1988 Aldo Conterno, Barolo "Granbussia"

I often feel that consuming two well-cellared and unique wines next to each other is a waste - they only suffer in comparison. But, one has to drink something ... so these two it was.

1988 Ch. Lafleur, Pomerol
Nose of dried and fresh plums, eucalyptus, coffee beans, cassis, red flowers, with a slight orange peel/sherry aspect. Color is light. The palate was very smooth, with dried fruits, dark chocolate and eucalyptus. This wine is definitely fading, but still very pretty. It is very silky in the mouth, but has begun to lose fruit. An elegant old lady. This was purchased off the shelf about 12 years ago at Zachy’s in New York, and has been in my cellar ever since. I should have consumed this about 3-4 years ago. (AEM 4.0-nb)

1988 Aldo Conterno, Barolo Granbussia
Nose of violets, black cherries, mushrooms, minerals and earth, peppercorns. Lovely garnet color, still intense. On the palate, still deep and flavorful, with black cherries, cranberries, violets, tar, mushrooms, and mineral aspects, with notes of licorice and spices. This is still an amazing wine, and is holding up beautifully. Long in the mouth, with beautifully defined tannins. This is showing very well – the finish keeps going and the balance of primary and secondary flavors is impressive. Very smooth, elegant and balanced. I was sad when we poured the last of this out into our glasses! Purchased from the Rare Wine Company about 12 years ago. Should hold up for another 5 years max. (AEM 4.5+nb)

Thoughts: Overall, the Conterno wine was showing much better, and was less evolved, than the Lafleur. In general, Merlot is not an ager like Nebbiolo, though both of these wines were made from the appellations best known for making high-quality and long-lived wines. The Lafleur was incredibly pretty, but lacked substance, while the Conterno was simply amazing at all levels. 1988 was a good vintage in both these regions, though it was probably a touch better in Barolo.