Tasting Notes (June 12): La Dolce (e Amaro) Vita

"and so she seems a wondrous thing sent down from heaven to earth"

The great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri wrote these words in the 1300's, and they would seem to be a simple celebration of the divinely beautiful woman who is the subject of the poem. But a closer look reveals a separation, a distance, between the speaker and this ideal woman: by virtue of her divinity, she can never be his. He knows this, of course, but, like many poets of the time, Dante (or, more accurately, his narrative voice) delights in the paradoxically painful pleasure that worshipping her from afar offers. Indeed, it is to Dante, Petrarch, and other inheritors of the Troubadour tradition that we owe the greatest debt for the prevalence of this concept in our own cultural traditions and forms, from Juliet's "parting is such sweet sorrow" to John Cougar Mellencamp's "hurt so good." (Yes, I just implicitly compared JCM to Shakespeare, but I'm on a roll, so I'm going with it.)

So powerful is this idea, in fact, that it's no stretch at all to transfer it from the sight of a beautiful person to the taste of a stunning wine. Great wines, like all great experiences in life, never satisfy completely. It's easy, that is, to toss back a glass or two (or three) of a juicy, inexpensive Shiraz with an equally juicy burger and settle into an evening of fine contentment. But not so with your more stratospheric wines. Maybe they tease one into regret, into thinking that in another year or two they would have offered even more. Maybe their complexity overwhelms the senses, so that the part of you that wants to put the experience into words can never quite catch up with the torrent of flavors and textures rushing over your palate. Or, maybe, they are so hauntingly delicious that as soon as you finish the bottle you begin dreaming about the next one. Whatever the reason, it is this play between pleasure and desire, between satiety and appetite, that makes wine "a wondrous thing sent down from heaven to earth." And, like Italian poets, Italian wines compel us to celebrate this paradox of the human condition: the things we desire the most are the things we can never fully have.

Now, the notes:

1. Gaja Rossj-Bass Chardonnay 2006 ($48.99/bottle)
As utterly beautiful as a couple of the reds in this lineup were, it was this chardonnay that I found myself thinking about in the week following the tasting. Medium-bodied and exquisitely balanced between crispness and richness, this wine offers aromas and flavors of citrus, melon, and gunflint-like minerality, with even a faint nuttiness emerging on the back end. The long finish is deliciously stony. Outstanding.

2. Petra Ebo Val di Cornia 2003 ($19.99/bottle)
This red from the coast of Tuscany has a beautiful nose of black cherry, leather, clove, and dried leaves and flavors of sweet blackberry liqueur, sour cherry, tobacco, and black licorice. Medium-full bodied, with fine, drying tannins on the long, anise-laden finish. Very nice, and a great value at <$20. Drink now through 2013.

3. Monsanto Chianti Riserva 2003 ($24.99/bottle)
This medium-bodied red offers aromas of plum, leather, oak, and spice, and flavors of tart but ripe cherry, plum, leather, and earth. It ends with a long, dark finish. Nice acidity for pairing with a wide variety of foods, from pasta with red sauce to grilled rib eye.

4. Capezzana Ghiaie Della Furba 2000 ($55.99/bottle)
This red has a wonderful nose of grilled plums, tree bark, and sweet woodland flowers. Big, bold flavors of ripe berries, lots of leather, and dusty pepper lead into a long, pancetta-laced finish. Every wine in this lineup has been very nice, and this one is no exception.

5. Ceretto Barolo Prapo 2001 ($87.99/bottle)
In this full-bodied red from the Piedmont, the nose of mixed berries, dark brown sugar, and road tar is buoyed by a bright floral note. On the palate it is both massive and luxuriously silky, with flavors of blackberry, red currant, toasty oak, leather, and spice. Big and tannic--think meat roasted on a spit for an ideal food pairing--this is the liger of wines: a cross flavor-wise between the lion of Chianti and the tiger of Bordeaux, it is bigger and more powerful than both. Outstanding.

6. Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2001 ($99.99/bottle)
The nose on this red is subtle and caramelly, with a distinct animal/barnyard character and a hint of charred wood. The palate offers enticing flavors of ripe black fruits, sweet spiced orange, tobacco, and a hint of dark chocolate. The long finish is dark, bitter, and very sensuous. Very smooth, and very tannic, this wine is drinking well now but needs several years to fully come into its own.