Welcome To The Birthday Week


Domaine Marquis d'Angerville, Volnay Premier Cru, Taillepieds, 2011

The way we wine geeks learned about Burgundy 20 years ago was this. We bought whatever Tomer Gal and Hadas Ezer imported (that we could afford), then we read Clive Coates' books. That's where I read about d'Angerville. Oh, and what fun it was asking Tomer why he didn't import the Marquis. Burgundy, the land of a thousand names, fences and cat fights. I bought a bottle abroad about 15-16 years ago. Then Daniel Lifshitz started importing. d'Angerville is expensive as shit, but well worth the price.

Even in an off-vintage like 2011, the house made lovely wines. There's a hint of iron in the nose, red and black berries and a touch of green that is the trademark of the cooler vintages. The palate builds up volume with air, with a soft juicy center that is also something you often find in these backbench vintages. It's pure and fragrant and, in the end, more about seduction and beauty than about power and extroverted complexity. (July 17, 2021)

Terre Nere, Etna Rosso, Moganazzi, 2018

Moganazzi is considered one of the finest crus in the Castiglione di Sicilia township, the largest on the North side of the Etna appellation. For years, Terre Nere were on the lookout for parcels in the cru, and finally managed to buy enough for a commercial bottling, starting with the 2017 vintage. It's a lovely wine, combining, as is always the case with this great Etna estate (and a personal favorite of mine), a perfumed, beguiling, nuanced nose with a balanced palate of understated power. Etna, as portrayed by the Terre Nere vignerons, is truly landscape of varying terroirs. Every tasting I've attended has shown that quite well. All the wines show the bright red fruit, fruit that comes from a land where the vines successfully struggle to ripen, braced with minerals, speared with acidity that combines with the fruit for a saline effect - and then the differences between the vineyards start to talk. The only other vintage of the Moganazzi that I've tasted was the 2017 and it showed distinct notes of truffles, which I also get here. My old note doesn't talk a lot about the personality of the wine, but the 2018 is feminine, almost delicate is some aspects, and it's a heartbreaker! (July 22, 2021)

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