Happy Cellar Saturday! It's the first Saturday of a new month, so time to dig deep in the cellar to find some wine at least a decade in the making to open and enjoy. I'll admit today's post was the result of a confluence of events that ultimately worked out, despite my second thoughts! You see, I knew that my favorite TV chef, Gordon Ramsay was going to make spaghetti carbonara on "Ramsay in 10" on Instagram today, so I thought that sounds like a perfect meal, so I need to find a great Italian wine to pair with it. Then came the beautiful weather today, the first time this spring we approached 80 degrees, and when I was mowing the lawn, all I could smell was my neighbors cooking out, and I just really wanted a nice steak! Well, discipline prevailed and I went with my original plan and made linguine Carbonara and opened a bottle of 1996 Lazzarito Barolo! Now I freely admit that I really cannot tolerate a wine from Piedmont that's less than a decade in the making, but since this one is now clearly of legal drinking age, let's see what it has to offer!
The wine is a rustic garnet color in the glass, with a tinge of amber at the edges as you might expect from a wine of this maturity. The nose presents aromas of leather, anise and spice box, that brings me back to the time I spent in Rome and Florence in the mid 1990s. The taste is a rush of floral notes, with flavors of rosehips that gives way to earthy flavors of tar and tobacco midpalate, as you might expect from a Nebbiolo. The finish is still quite vibrant, with nice balanced acidity that frames a wonderfully long, dry finish.
Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9.5, as this Barolo is just singing right now and approaching a peak in terms of flavor and complexity. This wine would pair with a broad range of Italian dishes, from a classic morel mushroom risotto to a bisteca fiorentina. But tonight, I am enjoying this one with the classic Gordon Ramsay linguine carbonara, made with pancetta, garlic, petit peas, and some lovely egg yolks and creme fraische, finished off with some shaved parmesan and parsley. Cheers!
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