Warehouse Wednesday Finale

 

Alas, the time has come for containers and containers of wine to arrive on these fair shores, meaning no mas Warehouse Wednesday until we sell it all.   We're stocked to the brim, so please, if you ever want to see another Warehouse Wednesday, start ordering :)

Last night we had another full house for our Italian themed tasting.  We had hoteliers, entrepreneurs, toy makers, manufacturers and more, all in for a taste of something Italian.

Here's how WW works.  Julia and I take turns leading the tasters through different wines and regions.  We touch on style,varietal characteristics, food pairing, classifications, and methodically analyze appearance, nose, and palate to make a judgement about the wine.

We began with our favorite Prosecco; Uvagio Storico 2011.  From the only DOCG area in Veneto for making Prosecco, Valdiobbedience, it's dry, crisp, fruity (stone fruits), and goes down ohhh so easily.  Is it just me or does Prosecco go down dangerously fast?

Then Julia taught us about some famous Piedmont wines, and highlighted Barolo.  We all sipped our Carlin de Paolo Barolo DOCG 2007 as we heard about the Ponte family and their vineyard.  Although not a very typical Barolo with a lot of power and complexity, this for me would be a great afternoon alfresco pizza.  Sun, simple light pizza, with a light Nebbiolo.  Bliss.

Next up the wine that Carlin de Paolo is famous for, Barbera d'Asti Superiore DOCG 2008. Big acidity with lighter tannins than its neighbor Barolo, this again is super food friendly (pasta with tomato sauce anyone?) and perfect for day or night.

After a break to munch on an assortment of snacks (truffle toasts, provolone with truffles, Parmesan, duck rillettes toast, spicy olives, cheese stuffed peppers, and Italian hams, oh my), we dove right into our powerhouse; Montemercurio 'Messeggaro' Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG 2007. 

Unlike it's friend bearing a similar name, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, this wine is 100% Sangiovese and is produces in SW Tuscany.  Montepulciano is town name in this case (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo- Monte= grape, Abruzzo=locale) and Montemercurio the producer's name derives from the god Mercury.  Messeggaro was chosen to express that the producer, small with only 3.5 hectres of Sangiovese, wishes to spread the message of fine Italian wines to the rest of the world.

And spread we did.  This is a lovely wine! Here is my tasting note I wrote after we sipped last night:

Handpicked, with 24 months in Slavonian oak, this wine is elegantly powerful with ripe tannins and ripe red fruit at the forefront.  Bone-dry and medium to full bodied, it’s perfect as a meditation wine or as an accomplice to wild game ragu, pork sausages, roast lamb, wild mushrooms over polenta, or truffle anything! 

Our tasters agreed.  We rounded out the tasting with our favorite sweet wine, Carlin de Paolo Moscato d'Asti. We tried the 2012, the newest vintage, and it was just as fabulous as the previous vintage.  Superb.

A big thank you to everyone who came all the way out to Kwun Tong last night to hopefully learn a little something new about Italian vinos.  Salud!