Marchese Villadoria
Riserva Speciale Barolo Nebbiolo
Barolo, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy
I got impatient and opened my birthday wine 2 days early. Who wants to celebrate on a Monday, anyway?
This wine was made a year before I was. What a bottle! I felt like I was opening a pirate's treasure. There are 2 leather straps wrapping around the bottle that are stapled to the cork under a TON of wax. There's also a handy birthday candle attached to the bottle, being held in a cute little metal thing. Wax and leather straps- what kind of birthday is this?? Cork came out beautifully with the ah so.
The color is an awesome deep tawny brown, like a jug of sun tea that mom put out in the backyard.
First whiff: grandma's basement. It smells its age. Earthy and medicinal, too.
First taste: tart cherry pie! Cherries, dough, rosemary. Second wave shows a bit of mint and mushroom. Plenty acidic from start to finish, but the tannins are almost fully dissipated. The wine finishes like a sip of tomato soup with herbs in it.
This was a super fun experience, and one that paid off. I'll wager this was superb 5-7 years ago. I wish I could post more photos of the bottle and the wine; it's got a lot of character. Cheers, my friends!
Listening to Bill Evans
I got impatient and opened my birthday wine 2 days early. Who wants to celebrate on a Monday, anyway?
This wine was made a year before I was. What a bottle! I felt like I was opening a pirate's treasure. There are 2 leather straps wrapping around the bottle that are stapled to the cork under a TON of wax. There's also a handy birthday candle attached to the bottle, being held in a cute little metal thing. Wax and leather straps- what kind of birthday is this?? Cork came out beautifully with the ah so.
The color is an awesome deep tawny brown, like a jug of sun tea that mom put out in the backyard.
First whiff: grandma's basement. It smells its age. Earthy and medicinal, too.
First taste: tart cherry pie! Cherries, dough, rosemary. Second wave shows a bit of mint and mushroom. Plenty acidic from start to finish, but the tannins are almost fully dissipated. The wine finishes like a sip of tomato soup with herbs in it.
This was a super fun experience, and one that paid off. I'll wager this was superb 5-7 years ago. I wish I could post more photos of the bottle and the wine; it's got a lot of character. Cheers, my friends!
Listening to Bill Evans