Thursday 23rd of January 2014, private room Murano Restaurant, this was the date and venue for a hugely entertaining and delicious lunch with Angelo Gaja. In attendance were the great and good of the Restaurant trade, all primed and ready with their questions for the King of Barbaresco. Angelo was on sparkling form holding court with his views on composting and improving quantities of red worms in his vineyards and their positive effect on vine health and improved fruit quality. The menu created by Head Chef Diego Cardoso was a triumph with the wines that were served and the sommelier team did a brilliant job juggling all the different glasses required to showcase a stellar line up. All in all a wonderful event with a true wine legend, here are my notes for the wines;
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Gaia & Rey Chardonnay 2010 (2011 now available)
Aromas of ripe peach, sweet melon, toast, toffee and nut. Palate is rich but elegant with ripe fruit, fig, peach and then notes of toffee, toast and smoky oak on the long finish.
Lovely intensity of ripe berry fruit, cherry and blackberry, good concentration with ripe structured tannins, good acidity and length, drinking beautifully now.
Lovely bright aromatics, rich cherry, strawberry fruit, hint of earth, leather, touch floral. Very polished, sumptuous fruit weight, with good tannic structure, supple, rich fruited with good length.
Barbaresco 2009 (2010 now available)
A concentrated dense nose of black cherry, roses, dark chocolate, earth and wood notes. Palate has power and grip with a rich acidity, thick black fruit, aromatic once more with floral, earth and wood notes, ripe and long.
Dark,floral, black cherry, toasty wood, earth, savoury meaty notes on the complex nose. The palate has richness and power with grippy ripe tannins, dark fruit core, chocolate, mineral notes with a balancing bright acidity and impressive intensity on the long finish.
Beautifully floral, almost powdery dried flowers, then meat, liquorice, leather, earth, incredibly expressive. On the palate notes of rich meat, cherry, flowers, leather, liquorice and cedar, great balance and poise hugely impressive.