Big D! Episode 6: steve8 does Dallas.

Last night steve8 was in Big D! so naturally he had to call out the DAWGS for a round of great wines, wonderful food and fantastic company. The venue for last night’s event was De Tapas in North Dallas on Beltline Road just off the North Dallas Tollway. In attendance were steve8, escape, Sapril & guest, MikeB, THE291, PURPLE and wineismylife. Wines were mostly focused on Italians in an attempt to mix things up a bit from our normal Spanish theme at De Tapas tapas restaurant. I must say that the Italians showed really well with most of the varied cuisine and I look forward to trying this again in the future.

On to the show…

Whites
2003 Elio Perrone Moscato d'Asti Sourgal
2002 Terredora Fiano di Avellino Terre di Dora
2003 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough
2002 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Russian River Valley

Reds
2000 Sassoalloro IGT
2000 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rabajà
1997 San Felice Toscana Vigorello
1998 La Poderina Brunello di Montalcino
1998 Beni di Batasiolo Barolo
2000 Finca Allende Rioja Calvario

Every wine showed really well. There was not a bad wine in the bunch and some of them were simply fantastic. I’ll try to type up some notes shortly but I can STRONGLY recommend you pick up some of the 2000 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rabajà. This will be the pick of the litter with some age. The Finca Allende Calvario also shined. It showed so well we ordered 3 x 6 packs of the 2001 for the group to splitwhile we were at dinner.

Thank you to every body that attended and I look forward to seeing everybody again at a future offline.

Sounds like a fun night Joe. I can't believe you were ordering wine while stillat dinner. Was the phone # on the bottle or something????

MikeB ordered it. He has the phone number memorized.

As promised, here are my brief tasting notes. I'll post these to the appropriate forums shortly.

WIML Tasting notes:

All wines were tasted in Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glasses. None of the wines were decanted.

Whites
2003 Elio Perrone Moscato d'Asti Sourgal
Light yellow color in the glass. Moderate everescent. Nose of passion fruit and lychee. Flavors of peach and orange blossoms. A nice little summer quaffer. Drink now.

2002 Terredora Fiano di Avellino Terre di Dora
Light yellow in color. Nose of melons with a whisper of what smelled like butter. Flavors of citrus fruits and peaches. A light and crisp style of wine. Would be a really good wine to pair with shell fish. Drink now.

2003 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough
Light hay color. Nose of grapefruit and fresh cut grass. Flavors of orange and grapefruit. Light and crisp in style but nothing to really offer on the finish.

2002 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Russian River Valley
Yellow color. Big nose of butter and oak. Flavors of butter, vanilla and cream. Don’t get me wrong. This is not an overoaked monster. More “moderate” in style and one of the better California Chardonnays I’ve had this year. Balanced and fairly easy to drink. Drink over the short term.

Reds
2000 Sassoalloro IGT
Ruby color in the glass. Leathery nose of cherries, red licorice and earth. Palate of dusty earth, ranier cherries and a small cinnamon note. A very nice IGT that continued to develop over the evening. Drink now with one hour decanting or wait for the short-mid term.

2000 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rabajà
Whoa baby. Back up the truck and start loading up. Dusty rose turning towards ruby in color. Big nose of red licorice, mint and chocolate notes. Flavors of plum, Bing cherry, white pepper and an earthy finish. The longer the night went on the better it got. We had a really hard time trying to Bogart this wine at our end of the table. This wine will be smoking in about 3-4 years. Hold.

1997 San Felice Toscana Vigorello
Dark purple color. Nose of black licorice and plums. Flavors of red cherries, vanilla and blackberries. Earthy finish. A good wine that can be drank now with just a little decanting or over the short term.

1998 La Poderina Brunello di Montalcino
Dark purple color. Nose of blueberries, leather and cherries. Flavors of black cherries, blackberries and plum. A solid effort. I’d wait another year or two before trying again.

1998 Beni di Batasiolo Barolo
Garnet color. Nose of fennel, anise, licorice (how many ways can I say the same thing?). Flavors of sweet cherries, white pepper and plum. Can be drank now with minimal decanting or let it sit for another year.

2000 Finca Allende Rioja Calvario
Yowza baby. Me likey. Dark purple color. Attractive nose of blueberries, pepper and earth. Flavors of red licorice, sweet cherries and currants. This wine is drinking really well right now and was probably showing the best tonight. Drink now through let’s say 2012. Gotta buy some more to beef up my Spanish section of the cellar.

Great notes Joe, Thanks.

great notes joe. while i trust his taste of wine, i do hope you set him on the right path, musically? the boy has problems....