So, every once in a while, instead of doing the dog and pony show with a supplier, it is fun to get a group of people together to taste the new vintages of a wine and eat some good food together and look at the wines in the context of how they pair with food. The modern way of selling wine on the wholesale side is you trot around with open bottles and taste wine buyers at their place of business and gauge their reactions and take orders or don't take orders depending upon how much they liked the wines. But all of this is done in a pretty shallow fashion as the buyers don't have much time to devote to learning about the wines and the tastings are done fast and without food and there is little or no contemplation. But if that same buyer can sit down with the producer, relax a little bit and get the chance to taste the wine in the context of a meal and be able to ask questions between sips of wine and bites of food, this changes the dynamic between the wine and the buyer and the winery.
Last week, I had a chance to have a group of buyers join Giuseppe Vaira of G.D. Vajra and Luigi Baudana at Il Moro in Los Angeles to share a meal and drink the new vintages of G.D. Vajra and Luigi Baudana wines.
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| Decanting really brings the young wines to life |
NV G.D. Vajra N.S. della Neve Spumante
2011 G.D. Vajra Dolcetto d'Alba
2010 G.D. Vajra Barbera d'Alba
2009 G.D. Vajra Barbera Superiore
2009 G.D. Vajra Langhe Freisa "Kye`"
2008 G.D. Vajra Barolo "Albe"
2008 G.D. Vajra Barolo "Bricco delle Viole"
2008 Luigi Baudana Barolo "Cerretta"
2008 Luigi Baudana Barolo "Baudana"
Below are some photos of the wines as we decanted them.
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| The Barolo "Cerretta" is tasting pretty darn sexy right now. |
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| Freisa, Barbera, Barbera Superiore et al. |
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| Freisa, Barbera d'Alba |
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| Barolo Bricco delle Viole, Dolcetto d'Alba |
A great time was had by all and of course, a huge thanks to Giuseppe Vaira for his friendship and the greatness of his family's wines.
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