Monday, January 20, 2014

2008 Fontanabianca BARBARESCO "Bordini" (Piemonte, Italy)

Jaysus!  This was like putting a skinny badger in your mouth.  Fiercely tannic and unfriendly.  I kept the bottle open, uncorked, for a full 24 hours to see if it softened a bit, and it did, but not by much.  If you have this, forget about it for 10 years, and maybe -- maybe -- it will come around.  If you don't have it, don't get it.

Color is a deceptively unsaturated medium dark ruby garnet.  The first night, the nose was all dry underbrush and scorchiness.  Little fruit.  Night two, it was a bit better.  Dry gravel, minerals, and tart cherry on the nose.  In the mouth, the first thing that hits isn't the flavor but the texture: very aggressive tannin puckers the mouth before it can register any flavors!  On night one, I got nothing but tannin. On night two, I at least got some cherry fruit to go along with the "dried leaves"/scorchy trademark of an overextracted wine.  I'm not sure this will ever come around.  I can't give it a letter grade.  Let's just say "?" I got this for $29.99 from WTSO.com, making it a bad value and making me feel foolish.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Admit it. You miss Specs!
Just messing with you. Keep up the good work

Wtso has been hit or miss for me lately

Tom Casagrande said...

I do miss Spec's. Northern VA's wine options are OK, but not up to that level. I need to try some of the bigger shops in DC but it's so much easier and less of a time suck to just "click."