+- WineBoard (https://www.wines.com/wineboard)
+-- Forum: TASTING NOTES & WINE SPECIFIC FORUMS (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-200.html)
+--- Forum: Italian Wines/Varieties (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-24.html)
+--- Thread: Two Good Valpolicellas (/thread-7787.html)
- barnesy - 09-10-2001
1999 Corte Sant'Alda Valpolicella
Very balanced wine. Wonderfully elegent nose. A mix of dark fruit and strong, but not overpowering spice and earth. Same on the palate. A long smooth finish. Not much fruit, but just enough for interest and a very interesting mix of spice and earth. Best descriptor of this wine is elegent and supple. $10.50
1999 BG Valpolicella Classico
Tommaso Bussola
I think this one would fall into Roberto's "Ass" category. No fruit to speak of. All spice, earth and other things I'm less familiar with (both on the nose and the palate) Good finish as well. This one is much more brash and burly, especially when compared with the one above. $12.50
Barnesy
- quijote - 05-20-2003
I had been wanting to try a Valpolicella, so tonight I popped open a Tommaso Bussola 2001 BG Valpolicella Classico and paired it with field greens and a plate of good ol' spaghetti and meatballs in Marcella Hazan's onion-butter tomato sauce.
The color was a deep cherry red with a blackcherry hue. Lots of earthy, barnyardy, raisin-and-cheesecake aromas on the nose, but on the front- and mid-palate this was all cherries with a slight dash of cream soda. The fruitiness became toned down in the finish, with only the merest trace of bitterness. A fairly simple but very tasty wine. 13.5% Alc. $15.
[This message has been edited by quijote (edited 05-20-2003).]
- Botafogo - 05-20-2003
Quijote, just curious, how did you happen to remember a post from almost two YEARS ago to respond to when you had a tasting note about Bussola?
And, long live and give us some more "ass", Roberto (three weeks from Brasil, bunda on the brain)
- Innkeeper - 05-21-2003
Roberto we do have a search function on this Board. It's a good idea to see what others have said about the same wine.
- quijote - 05-22-2003
That's right, I used the search function to see if anyone else had commented on the wine. If only my memory were so good, Roberto!
By the way--not sure I should be asking--but what is an "Ass" wine??
- Botafogo - 05-22-2003
From a thread from a couple of years ago entitled "file under 'ASS'":
We had a VERY interesting experience this week: we let five unsuspecting consumers ranging from a 20-something Ad-Grrrrl to a 60-something electrical engineer taste two wines side by side, a VERY famous and expensive Cabernet based wine from Napa and a ten year old Aglianico from Basilicata whose vendor gave it his highest praise when he exclaimed "it smells like ASS!" (as in barnyardy and fecund). We did this in the presence of the winery owner from Napa (but without the consumers being aware of this) and EVERYONE preferred the "rustic", "old style" wine and noted that the fancy Claret was "good" but kind of one dimensional and had too much "fruit" as opposed to "wine". We didn't even tell them that the Aglianico was $12.99 and the Cab WHOLESALED for $40!!!
We think that the people who make and sell wines on a wholesale basis spend WAY too much time talking to restaurant and retail buyers (who don't want to have to work too hard) and not nearly enough time getting a true read on actual consumers. Which led us to this:
"The FUNK-ateers return with a real slice o' life!
Just like George Clinton battling the "R&B Smootherizers" by making the funkiest music on the planet, we are in your corner fighting to bring real wine (not fruit juice) to your table. These are very Old School, know where the One is, get on The Good Foot from the get go and are just plain as funky as they wanna be. Uhhhg! Maceo, hit me one time....Excuse me while I do the Boogaloo.....this stuff makes me feel like a Sex Machine......
Sasso Aglianico del Vulture 1991, Basilicata
Yet another find in our archeological dig at an importer’s warehouse, this is for the “show me the dirt and aged beef†crowd: it’s WINE, not fruit juice! If you are tired of the ongoing trend touting expensive grape juice concentrate as great wine and handing out scores based on the level of fruit concentration rather than the TRANSCENDENCE of fruit into something magical, then you need to try this. We would venture to say that if we let you smell it blindfolded you might have trouble deciding whether the aroma presented to you was coming from a nice piece of aged sausage, a lump of iron rich dirt or a glass of wine (or better yet, a piece of sausage and a lump of iron ore IN a glass of wine). That's a GOOD thing! They don’t call Aglianico “The Barolo of the South†for nothing.....
This sold the wine out (twelve cases) in about 48 hours. No scores, no "gobs and gobs of thick unctuous fruit glazed with sweet vanilla", just the Merde, the Real Merde and nothin but the G-damn Merde! Comments????????? Do you like WINE or fruit juice?
Discuss.........
That ol' shit stirrer Roberto
- quijote - 05-22-2003
I guess I like them ass-wines, then.... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
I just looked at that thread, as well as the "redux" thread, and loved 'em. I hope no one minds that I took the liberty of resuscitating the "redux"; I found it quite provocative and informative....
- Thomas - 05-23-2003
Roberto, this point came home to me once again just yesterday, during the judging at which I was a panel member.
The group was largely made up of food writers (a few wine people like Peter Sichel were sprinkled about). I sat next to an ex-Gourmet Magazine writer; couldn't help notice that his wine scores were quite high for New World oak and fruit bombs. So I asked him what kind of food he would pair with the wines. He said: "I don't."
Then I asked him if he found any differences in the wines he liked. He answered: "Not much."
Point rested.
- Innkeeper - 05-23-2003
Which is why I will stick to Rum Bloody Marys on airplanes.
- barnesy - 05-24-2003
Maybe we should make a new category for the board- Ass Wines. Wines so funky they're guarenteed to may your toes curl.
[img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
Barnesy