The BK Hotel Delmano Sherry night surpassed lofty expectations, yet was somehow promptly followed by another evening plucked from a Woody Allen movie. Intellectual, unabashedly New York, and full of a cast of characters…

Abe being the rockstar he is, assembled a dozen or so of us for an examination of Nebbiolo.  Each flight was served blind and we all took some time to gather our thoughts and notes before discussing the glasses before us.

Flight 1- 1970

1. Oddero- dusty rose petals, sweet dusty fruit, and quite delicious. “gentle”
2. La Morra Brezza- corked unfortunately with some metallic bite that comes with age
3. Produtorri di Barbaresco- rich and quite full bodied, in a super place right now, cohesive, and just fucking awesome. “noble”

Flight 2- younger yet

1. 2000 Damiliano- youthful, tannic, balanced, modern and quite forward yet still with refinement. This has many years ahead.
2. 1984 Clerico- one of very very few of my birth year wines I have tried, and except for the Haut Brion Blanc, the best yet! eucalyptus with huge acid bite, super dry on finish. This is the beginning of modern Barolo
3. From TWM: 2004 Bourgogno- grippy, bit disjointed with lovely dried leaf and savory mushroom notes, this needs more time to resolve, although popular opinion was perhaps there was microx and it won’t…

Flight 3- my notes are getting worse, so apologies for poor spelling

1. 2008 Castello di Veduno- big, creamy, with loads of new oak, rich and will benefit from some age.
2. “Mystery Wine from Gabriella” with no distinction of what it is. And I can’t remember. But the notes read “The human pageant does not stop” which must have been hilarious at the time. Chocolate, purple fruit, with dusty tannins and some raisination. Delicious nose…

We then shifted into the Champagne portion of the evening…

After researching and writing about Ulysse Collin for work, it was such a treat to finally (like 1 week later) try one! “caramel-ish, popcorn hay, textured, delicious buttery but not rich” sums it up best, or at least did at the time. 

Charles Ellner proved quite tasty, and Egly Ouriet Tradition Brut NV once again proved how crazy delicious EO always is.  And that last sentence proves that I too often use the word proves..

Lean and acid driven, if I am correctly deciphering my notes. 

And the Champagnes kept flowing, but this kid had to get home, for tomorrow was wedding dress shopping…