Here’s a wine tip: a world class red, 1997 Palazzo Rosso Nebbiolo d’Alba. $18…and worth every penny. I’d read about Barolos in Jim Harrison’s food book and asked a local wine guy what they were, he said “The king of Italian reds. Pricey. $50 and up.” I asked “What could I try that’s in the neighborhood?” He said “Keep your eye out for Nebbiolo.” I bought the first one I found, the above.
Later on I asked a clerk about it due to what happened to me when I drank it. He said, “Ah yes, 97, the year of Tuscany.”
At a party I ran into a guy who owns a top wine store, I hollered to him while he was dancing, to be funny: “Nebbiolo!” and he hollered back “Heroin!”
So there ya go. To me, it was like Heaven.
Now I know why wine people use all those funny descriptive words. This wine makes you start babbling and feeling expansive. It’s a whole new level of wine! It’s great for spicy red spaghetti, I’d say to serve it a bit cool, and aired for an hour. It really changed with the airing! It hugely opened up and seemed to triple in quality. It was a mind boggling experience! My first such with wine.
(After that I went to a tasting hosted by several young white wine makers visiting from France. Their work let me taste and clearly understand why people devote their lives to this work. Their wines tasted like someone had really cared and tried. That came through in the wines. You can’t get such an experience with corporate wine that’s blended to hit a broad flavor type. It tasted like wine, not like a product! I suspect in France, in the towns where it was made, that you could buy it quite affordably, maybe even by the bucket. It just seemed like wine made for people, by people, and that it really went well with certain foods, probably foods grown and made near the wine-makers. It’s not about subtle refinement, but simply about flavors that work and about caring. …With the Nebbiolo we have a kind of grape that has a kind of aroma and flavor that I find to be both complex and accessible. And very cheery with certain foods. I suppose rich foods would be best. Stinky cheese, strong meat.)
