Each year for the past decade Jan and I have gone to my favorite tasting of the year, the Brunello tasting at the Gotham Hall in NYC. It has always been held at Gotham Hall in late January... Well that is until recently.
A couple of years ago some brilliant Italian trade commission honcho decided to fold it in to a bigger and broader tasting at one of the hotels and completely changed the dynamic of the day. Seperated into different conference rooms on different floors you are able to taste wines from all over Italy. It sounds good on paper but let me tell you, it all became too much. Even though it was in a bigger space overall, the rooms were smaller and the tables closer together. Not as many vineyards were represented from Montalcino and it became just another region in a massive show.
Ok, so what is the point of my whining about wine tasting in NYC? First, let me take you back a couple of years to what was my favorite tasting of the year...
As many of our customers know, I am an avid Italian wine fan and when you show up at Gotham hall for their annual Montalcino tasting you are treated to more than 50 vineyards showing the great wines of Montalcino including Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino along with some of the best Super Tuscans available. The idea that many of the producers also bring their Olive oil to taste and some even have one of the worlds great desert wines, Moscadello di Montalcino with them.
To top it off, in the center of the room you have a table full of the great foods of the region including artisanal cheeses and cured meats, fresh made pastas and polenta, along with any number of other delicacies. All of it suddenly yanked away as we led up to the release of the 2006 vintage which if you are a fan of the regions wine you will remember was a great one. Then we missed 2007 because I just couldn't bring myself to go back down to the crowded little rooms where none of the important producers were going to be anyway.
This year we got the good news... They're moving the tasting back to gotham hall!
Over to the calendar I went and marked it "Patrick and Jan off"!
So, last Thursday we hopped on the train and went into the city for my favorite tasting.
Sad to say it was for the preview of the '08 Brunello vintage and well, 2008 isn't exactly a stellar vintage and... many of the producers that I was hoping would be there weren't.
The good news is that they were also previewing some other wines from the area as I had mentioned earlier so we got to taste through some very good 2010 Rosso di Montalcino's and I have to say that at about half the price of their big brothers, the Brunellos, the 2010 Rosso's in most cases showed better. There were a few olive oils and a couple of moscadello's that were fun so all was not lost.
There were also a couple of great characters like the one in the picture with Jan, Fillipo Chia, owner of Romitorio (Ok so there were
some important producers there). Fillipo is the perfect blend for a winemaker. He is part scientist and part artist. It is a unique person that is a wine maker. Most of us are either artistically minded or scientifically minded but these guys are a bit of both. Standing at his table and listening to him talk about his passion was one of the great conversations of the day. He oozes Romitorio, not arrogantly or in a sales pitch. It is pure unadulterated love for his wine. Look at his smile, it is infectious and while he looks like a scientist the glasses have those great rims that remind me that in his heart he is an artist. Some may be familiar with his father Sandro chia the neo
expressionistic artist whose work is on each bottle. Also a great character but not at the tasting.
Overall I would say that the day was a 7 out of 10 but the next two vintages of brunello are supposed to be good and excellent so I will keep my fingers crossed that some of the missing producers will make their way back and that the guys at the commission will keep the tasting where it belongs.
On now to find a few more great 2010 Rosso di Montalcino’s for our shelves!
