WSET Extra Study Class - Round 2

Vesevo
Fiano di Avellino DOCG
Vendemmia 2007
Pale, lemon with watery rim. Clean with medium intensity. Fresh, zesty and floral. Youthful - smells as though it should be massively refreshing and crisp... This is borne out on the palate. The nose had more stone fruit than the palate which was definitely on the citrus side of things. Youthful on both nose and palate. Medium body, acid. Medium-high flavour intensity on palate, which is more intense than would be expected from the nose. Good length for the style of wine, medium length for a general white wine. A very good wine of its type.

Vigneti di Foscarino
Soave Classico (DOCG)
2006
My first tasting note was dead mouse. Not an auspicious start! Corked. Damn!

Particularly annoying since (i) the only other time I've had an expensive Soave (Pieropan) it was very interesting and (ii) this was my disappointing contribution to the evening.

El Quintanal, 2006 Vendimia Seleccionada
Ribera del Duero
Medium-high intensity. Nose developing interesting savoury aromas. All of us agreed on a definite smoky-bacon crisp aromas (frazzles)! Definitely something smoky and meaty. Plenty of vanilla. Fruit was slightly jammy cherries.

Medium bodied with medium acid and surprisingly low tannins. Relatively short. However, opened up very nicely. The savoury flavours which dominated in the beginning gave way to caramel after an hour or so..

Good, but a little disappointing. The smoky notes were overpowering on the finish and the rest of the flavours were too short. Drink now.

Marques de Caceres
Reserva 2001
Rioja DOCa
A little googling suggests that this is not far off the current release (2002 seems to be current) so they obviously err on the side of caution with meeting the minimum age requirements for a reserva. Plenty of vanilla on the nose with red cherries. Surprisingly young-tasting given the age, but not that surprising when one considers the fact that this is only recently released. Medium-high body, acid, flavour intensity and length. Tannins a little less than would have imagined given everything else. Black fruit on the palate, but a little unbalanced on the finish, which is dominated by oak.

Good, ready but can age. Probably needs more time for the oak to integrate properly. Although, having said that, the Ribeira showed better than this after an hour or so.

Castillo de Calatrava
1998 Gran Reserva
Tempranillo
Quite restrained on the nose, but with lots of complexity. Some savoury spice (cloves?), showing reasonable development. Far more fruit on the palate than on the nose. Really ripe fruit on the palate. Medium-high acid `and tannin, medium bodied. Mainly red fruit. Good length.
Very good, ready but can age.

E Pira & Figli
Vino Barolo
1967
Superb! Definitely the highlight of the night. When it was being decanted it was met with sceptical looks by those who doubted the aging power of Barolo. Admittedly, the colour would not inspire confidence in someone who has not had one of these before being the colour of a 20-year old tawny port and quite cloudy as well. However, the nose was phenomenal. There was plenty of smoky, tobacco, tar, violets, savoury/meaty characters. Plenty of development, as you'd expect from a 40+ year old wine. Every time we smelt this wine it was different. Still lots of tannins and acid, even after all this time. Well balanced until the end.
Subtle, complex and long, with the flavours coming in waves. This is what Barolo is all about.

Alberto Longo Primitivo
Salento (Puglia)
The suggested tasting notes were getting somewhat silly by this stage with this wine being declared "a breakfast drink". Maybe for Winston Churchill it would be, but I think I'll stick with coffee... at least during the week! There were lots of interesting aromas - I thought it smelt of good-quality BBQ sauce. Others thought tomato and Worcester sauce. Medium acid. Tannins were quite high (medium+ in WSET language) but very soft and very ripe. Lots of bitter black cherry with meaty savoury notes. Quite a lot of complexity, well balanced with good length.

Adam thought "outstanding" and whilst I wouldn't quite go that far it was very good.

Lusitano 2007
Alentejo VR
Portugal
Bitter cherry, smoke and eucalyptus on the nose. High, rough tannins. Quite a shock after the smooth (but high) tannins of the previous wine. A bit too short - the fruit character died very quickly and the mid-palate is quite hollow. Having said that, there is an earthy aftertaste which hangs around for a while. The tannins are out of balance and not sure the acid is high enough to age it long enough for them to integrate properly. However, with a steak I'm sure it would be good.