In preparation for a
forthcoming blind Italian-Vino-Guessing-Game next Friday I'd like to
strengthen my general palatal (and of course visual as well as nasal)
abilities with a Happening Now Tasting of a red blend wine from a
pretty much unknown and for my palate totally uncharted territory! I
suppose this wine would have been far too viciously mean as a
participant in a blind tasting after all! Or who has ever heard of
Chambave Rosso or Petit Rouge? Today, for a change, I am totally
honest! Me - NEVER ever! Anyway ..., for a simpleton like me this stuff sounds
awfully French, doesn't it?! What is it then? Well, in short: this Chambave Supérieur
Quatre Vignobles from 2010 comes from the partly French speaking Vallée
d’Aoste in the very North-West of Italy. Its producer La Crotta di
Vegneron is probably the most famous cooperative winery in the
valley. At least to my limited knowledge. The main raw material,
about 70%, for this wine is the very late ripening small and
"dusty" coloured Petit Rouge. An
autochthonous grape varietal from Vallée d’Aoste. The other 30% is
a wild assortment of other local varietals like Pinot Noir, Gamay,
Cornalin, Fumin etc. There is probably more information to find about
this wine! But I am too lazy right now! I am thirsty! Now it is time for some
decent Chambave …
6:21
pm (popped and poured)
Colour:
juvenile looking semi-murky ruby red colour with consistent
colouration
Nose:
plenty of dark blue berries, very ripe and juicy ones, a bit flowery,
quite a lot of peppery spiciness – a bit dornfelder'ish, slight
animal odour; right now a bit impetuous and savage, not really
reserved or shy.
Taste:
very fruitful and a bit “jump starting”, rather soft and not a
lot of tannic edges; again plenty dark blue berries, some traces of
sweet Amarena cherries, nice lean and not too complex
chewiness,pretty spicy (again a bit pepper-dornfelder'ish), to the
end a bit of dried pork, gentle smoke, gentle acid and medium length;
already pretty quaffable!
7:40
pm
Nose:
the dornfelder'ish spiciness is diminishing with every second (at
last!), the fruitful character is getting even bolder, dark blue
berries or blueberries and emerging bramble are hitting the nasal
stage, the flowery (violet'ish) component is still in existence,;
right now there is more roundness and balance in this wine at the
moment, the once rather savage character might say farewell … soon
Taste:
here the Dornfelder character is still prevailing, of course the
chewy fruitiness is evident, but this special spiciness is really
dominating this Chambave at the moment; the structure remains not
overwhelmingly subtle, the finish is fine, so far no substantial
change!
9:03
pm
No
substantial changes; on the palate a bit more sweet, emerging traces
of liquorice, special dornfelder'ish characteristics remain; overall
a bit more lame and developing worries of flatland'ish features -
freely interpreted it is getting a bit boring ...
8:16
pm (the day after)
Nose:
right now a bit more slightly boiled fruit, a bit flinty for some
reason, rather mild pepper (Dornfelder pissed off! Finally!), perhaps
a bit more sweeping, the nice flowery accent vanished
Taste:
no boiled characteristics, the blueberry and cherry fruit seems more
relaxed and not as dark as yesterday, overall still rather lively,
perhaps a bit more brawny, the finish appears a bit longer as well,
overall a bit more gentle and not that erratic anymore (I think this
has to do with the almost pissed off dorfelder'ish characteristics)
Overall
a close to decency red blend with certain appealing attributes. These
excess-dornfelder'ish-peppery-flavours made this wine a little bit
tricky to enjoy. Not quite decent, but certainly so
la-la***
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