A wonderful Piedmont lunch this week. Great food so sympathetically paired to the wines made this probably the best lunch of the year so far. Mature Nebbiolo in the right hands has to up there as one of the most sublime wine experiences. A range of styles in the various bottlings we shared but each one added something to the joy.
Yesterday we were four in downtown Milano for dinner and behaved a bit like tourists, poor tourists trying to avoid spending a fortune in wine.
We ordered this Pietradolce 2022 looking mainly at the price, but very lucky we were.
Delicate on the nose, perhaps too much. A very satisfying flavor of earth and stone. The tannins remained for a long time which I like. And the mind wandered around the slopes of Etna volcano for a reasonable price (if you are sitting in Piazza Missori).
Walter Speller (from Jancis Robinson’s site) is a fan of Pietradolce. The most recent one rated by him was the 2020 which he gave a 17+. The 2022 is available at The Wine Society @ £21. Might try and grab some.
€ 21,18 here, I just bought 12. Do you reckon it can take 10 years?
We liked it, not sure about ageing.
Walter Speller thought the 2020 would be good for a decade.
From my Back Blocks Off Site wine cellar in the bush over the weekend.
Still holding up well.
Man o’ War Chardonnay 2008 NZ
Vidal Syrah 2004 NZ
One of the few things better than fish and chips.
I think I have more Donnhoff than any other German producer. Always stunningly precise whatever the style.
Back in Portugal. Watched the sunset while enjoying a very nice/crisp Vinhos Verdes before walking back to the villa to bbq some chicken kebobs with a Portuguese version of Caeser salad. We had a lovely red from Alentejano – a blend of 5 grapes – with the meal
Dolcetto d’Alba, Renato Fenocchio 2021
Very agreeable to my tastebuds.
Bought it for cellar stock but it says to ‘Drink now’ …so carrying out the instructions 
Ooh steak tartar, wonderful! I’ve not indulged for a few years…
This evening we have been living high on the hog with a Gigondas my partner bought me for my birthday, in the summer. Utterly sumptuous, all rich dark fruit and delicious mouthfeel with a long, spirity finish. I think I can genuinely say that it seemed like no other wine I have had. Very, very enjoyable.
