My Article: "Off Vintages" in the Kitchen

(HONG KONG, JAN.13, 2010) I wrote this as I was flying to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific from Rome. I was thinking about a couple of meals this week that I had in my kitchen with Italian wine producers next to a roaring open fire. It’s a great way to discuss, to learn, and to taste wine. Among the guests were Piedmont’s Pio Boffa of Piedmont’s Pio Cesare, and Tuscany’s Enrico Viglierchio of Castello Banfi and Bibi Graetz of Testamatta.

We tasted a number of really interesting wines. A dinner with Pio and Enrico was for a video comparing 1997 Brunello versus 1997 Barolo as well as the same wines in 2006. I

am not going to tell you what the verdict was because it was on film and you will see it soon enough. But the wines went fabulously with the roasted rabbit with crunchy potatoes and sautéed spinach. Sangiovese and Nebbiolo have more in common than you might think, and my guests agreed.

At the end of the meal I pulled out a dusty bottle 1960 Croft from my cellar that was a knock out. It was the best bottle of that Croft that I ever had in my life. I remember I didn’t rate it very well in my book Vintage Port. It was full body, with a dense and sweet palate, and full of raspberry and blueberry jam. The tannins were super soft. There was even a sort of wet earth character on the finish. It’s a 93-point VP. It was perfect with my Cigar of the Year – Cuba’s Trinidad Robusto T. 

The next day, Bibi stopped over for a simple lunch of pasta pesto and a green salad, and I found a forgotten bottle of 1987 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. You probably remember that 1987 was a pretty average year in Burgundy. I was regularly traveling to the region then and I was tasting the wines all the time. So I remember how the summer was very cold. Burgundy was so inexpensive then!

Anyway, I didn’t have high expectations for the wine, but it was wonderful with delicate flavors of lemon crud, apple pie and cream. It showed limey acidity on the palate. It was hard to believe it was 24 years old, and it was supposed to be from a weak vintage. I think I bought it in London at a close out for $10 in the late 1980s. If I had to score it, I would give it 92 points. What a fun wine. I am happy that I have a few bottles left.

Days like those and bottles like those make you happy that you have a cellar of wine. It’s wonderful to share great bottles with friends at the dinner table. Also, remember that “off vintages” can offer some wonderful wine experiences.