Gala Dinner at Antonio Galloni's La Festa del Barolo, NYC, 4/27/2013

Gala Dinner at Antonio Galloni's La Festa del Barolo
at Del Posto Restaurant, NY (4/27/2013)

This was the evening gala dinner at Antonio Galloni's La Festa del Barolo 2013. I sat with members of my regular Barolo group at the Brovia table with Alex Sanchez (who along with his wife Elena Brovia runs sales and marketing at Brovia) and with Jeremy Sells (who works for Brovia's US importer Mad Rose Group / Rosenthal Wine Merchant). The Brovia Winery was founded in 1863.

Part 1 of this special day was an Afternoon Tasting of New Release Barolos (almost all 2008).

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The Wines.
The Food.
The People.
Other People's Bottles.

The Wines

The wines just kept coming, so this is one big flight with all the wines I tasted in the order I tasted them.

1976 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by me.] Earthy, almost dirty nose of sour cherry. Alive, but just barely. All sour cherry in the mouth. A little too late for this bottle, but this was never a great vintage. (86 points)
1979 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by me.] Much better than the 1976, but this is from a much better vintage. Beautiful black fruit nose. Sweet red fruit and spice in the middle. Good length. A lovely mature bottle of Barolo. (92 points)
1982 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Magnum brought by Greg dP.] A Beautiful, youthful bottle of wine. All sweet cherries with just the slightest hint of forest floor, tar and spice. Long life ahead in magnum. (93-95 points)
1968 Fratelli Brovia Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Very mature, but quite lovely and delicate. Impressive for such a weak vintage. (92 points)

1954 Cantina Mascarello Barolo Riserva - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Another terrific showing for this "off vintage" riserva from Bartolo's dad. Ethereal, sweet cherry nose. Fully mature, elegant. Very long finish. A treat to have again. A rare birth year wine for me. (94 points)
1955 Cantina Mascarello Barolo Riserva - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Sour but tasty. Not as lively as the 1954 Riserva, but an elegant old lady. (92 points)
1988 Vietti Barolo Rocche - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought over by Luca Currado.] Surprising fruit for this vintage. Showing beautifully tonight. (92 points)
1999 Vietti Barolo Rocche - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought over by Luca Currado.] Still too young, but excellent potential here. Needs 10 years. (93-95 points)

1959 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Jamie Wolff.] Very dark color. Heavenly nose. Much younger and richer than the same wine tasted yesterday (from the same case and source). That one seemed correct for a 54 year old wine. This seems quite youthful. Many at the table think there is something wrong here. Either a fake or some other grapes in there (Barbera or Aglianico?). I think it is great whatever it is. (95 points)
1961 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Jamie Wolff.] Much lighter in color than the 1959. More mature, but still beautifully sweet. More typical for its age. (92 points)

1990 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
A touch corked, but I can still tell what a beautiful wine it is. Still, not rated.
1985 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[From magnum. Carl K brought this by.] This has always been a beautiful wine. From magnum it is still very youthful. A gorgeous wine I could drink all night. (95 points)

1988 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
[Magnum brought by Jamie.] Nasty nose. One of many bad bottles of this particular wine. Others at the table like it more than I do.
1990 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Not the best bottle of this usually great wine. Cloudy. Perhaps shaken on the way over? Still worthy drinking! (93 points)
1990 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Collina Rionda - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Kelly.] WOTN for me. A stunning wine that easily stands out among all these great wines. (97 points)
1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
[From magnum. Bruce Katz brought this by.] Very young, yet still more ethereal than the the Falletto or Rionda. A great wine in its own right. (96-? points)

1971 Prunotto Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
[From magnum. Carl K brought this by.] Quite special. I did not know they made this. A lovely and delicate wine that is drinking quite well right now. (93 points)
1985 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
A beautiful and still quite structured wine. Surprisingly youthful for an 85. This bottle could use 10 more years. (94 points)
1990 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Monprivato - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Magnum brought by Greg dP.] Brovia did great things with this plot the few years they had access to it. Quite young still. Should drink well for 20 more years from magnum, at least. (94-96 points)
1989 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[From magnum. Marc DB brought this by.] Still quite young, but hence showing more oak than I like. Really stands out for that in this company. I'm sure it would show better on its own. I certainly have enjoyed this wine in the past. NR

1990 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Vigna Cicala - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Magnum brought by Henry K.] Elegant, rich, young. Beautiful. (93 points)
1982 Scarpa Barolo Tettimorra - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Dirty, shitty wine. Label looks nice.
1989 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[From magnum. Carl K brought this by.] 2nd WOTN for me. Great wine. Long, rich. Amazing depth and structure. Love it! (97 points)

2001 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Rocche dei Brovia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Alex.] Cocoa red fruit nose. Great structure and depth. Impressive. My favorite tonight of these 3 Brovia 2001s. Long future here. (95 points)
2001 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Villero - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Bob.] Not showing nearly as well as the Rocche, but the greatness is in there. (93-95 points)
2001 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Garblèt Sué - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Bob.] Really backward and tight, but might someday be the best of these 2001s. 95-? (95 points)
2000 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Garblèt Sué - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
The vintage differences could not be more obvious having the 2000 after 3 2001s. This is much sweeter today and much more forward. I would even say it might not get any better, but certainly in no danger of fading. (92 points)

1968 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo Monfalletto - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Some guy named "Bill" came by and gave me this because he "liked my SQN website"! Still has structure and a bit of fruit. Doddering, but hanging in there. (92 points)
2008 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Ca'mia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Brought by Alex.] Big finish! Sweet, thick, backward, tannic. Tons of potential. (94 points)

Tasting notes posted from CellarTracker

The Food

The food at Del Post is mostly very good, especially the pasta courses.

This year's first course was a better match to the wines.
Vitello Tonnato with Olive Crostone, Caper Shoots,
Parsley Stem, & Lime Cells.

First Pasta Course: Veal Agnolotti with Grana Padano. I could eat this all night and be happy.

Second Pasta Course: Garganelli Verdi al Ragu Bolognese.

New York Strip Steak with Parmigiano Puffs, Wild Mushrooms & Bone Marrow Sauce.
This dish left me flat. Maybe because there was so much wine already,
but we had this same meat last time and it has very little flavor.

Trio of Piemontese Cheeses.

The People

Our Table
My regular Barolo group was seated at the Brovia table with Alex Sanchez
(who along with his wife Elena Brovia runs sales and marketing at Brovia)
and with Jeremy Sells (who works for Brovia's U.S. importer Rosenthal).

Jeremy Sells, Alex Sanchez, Jamie Wolff.

Jamie Wolff, Bob Hughes, Joe Gagliano.

Joe Gagliano, Henry Kahn, Dan Tisch.

Dan Tisch, Kelly Walker, Greg dal Piaz.

Henry is a
most happy fella.

Del Posto Wine Director
Jeff Porter visits our table.

Having fun.

Luca Currado of Vietti comes over to visit.

Josh Leader and Meridith Wilford visit with Joe and Dan.

Carl Klapper visits with Dan.

Bruce Katz visits with Dan and Kelly.

Alex, Jamie, Greg.

Nicolai Søegaard chats with our table's sommelier, Liz Nicholson,
who was also our sommelier the night before in her regular job at Maialino.

Nadia Cogno & Valter Fissore of Elvio Cogno who made
one of my favorite wines of the afternoon 2008 tasting.

Franco Conterno of Aldo Conterno and Guido Fantino of Conterno-Fantino.

A collection of Aldo Conterno wines from the evening.

Other People's Bottles

There were 16 tables at this event. One was the head table where Antonio and Marzia sat. Each of the other tables of 8 people had at least one representative of one of the 15 wineries and possibly another family member or a US importer. Each table was identified by the name of a vineyard associated with that winery. For example, we sat with Alex Sanchez of Brovia, so our table was labeled ca'mia.

Here you see the backroom where the sommeliers are each taking care of the wines for the table that he or she were assigned to. Note the table names above the wines. I believe those are the wines for our table in the foreground of the first photo and you can just see Liz Nicholson's hands in the lower left:

Wines for the G. Conterno table:

More great wines for other tables:

More great wines for Carl K's table, I think:

More great wines for other tables:

There was also a nice Champagne to start:

Bottles Left on Other Tables

Taking photos of other people's bottles may seem a little weird, but I took these photos just in case these bottles turn out to be ones that I am missing from one of my charts (or charts to be). Still, I thought it might be of interest here to see what kinds of wine people brought and shared at this event.