To be Contadino'd...

J

Joel Stewart

Joel Stewart
2008 Cornelissen Contadino 6 Rosso, Etna, Sicily - (13.5%)

With all the discussion lately about these wines, I decided to try Disorderly Ned's preparation and serving method. The bottle was stood up for a couple of weeks. Decanted off it's sediment (a bit of dark red sludge) and let sit for an hour while dinner was prepared.

Of course I took a sip right then and there. Aromatically pinot-like...earthy, touch of funk, but very clean...attractive nose, nothing odd. Palate too was pinot-esque, red fruit present but held in proper check, a decent earthiness and acidity, and finishing with a distinct snap of tannins still young and astringent. Tasty stuff, not at all strange (a little surprised it's far more "normal" than what I was led to expect, but not disappointed by any stretch.)

We drank this over a period of 3+ hrs with dinner (venison sashimi, venison steak, various sauces, grana padano etc.) and the development of the wine was in a general arc with no sudden shifts...just a gradual filling out of it's form.

By dinner time and our first glass, the wine mostly reminded me of the Lapierre wines I've enjoyed over the last 6 months. I mean this not only in flavor profile, but also in the sensation of the wine being alive in the glass. The only difference would be that tannic snap on the end here, but otherwise, there was the presence of red fruit without it being more forward than other aspects, a polite saline and earthiness underlying the fruit, plenty of food-friendly acidity. The tannic jolt on the finish interestingly had an almost youthful Bordeaux-like quality to it. As the evening went on, a bit of savory salinity was more noticeable, but again, everything was nicely balanced, even rather elegant I should say. It paired well with just about everything on the table.

So....this was no radical wine for me. Am I disappointed? No. Maybe all the fuss about these wines happens when the provenance is questionable? Next time, I may try the pop and pour (as the winemaker suggests) and see what the difference is. At $20, I thought the value was quite good.
 
Venison sashimi? Nice pairing, can't say I've ever had that. It sounds like you got the intended experience of the wine. It also sounds like your first experience with Cornelissen. What you describe really matches my experiences too. I think you've communicated it better than I did.

That tannic snap seems to characterize the Cornelissens I've had, and I see it as an Etna terroir characteristic. One could think of it as the black volcanic soil element. As for the fuss, these are very fragile and pure wines, Cornelissen has done nothing to "prepare" them for consumers expectations or brace them for shipping. Along with what shipping issues can do to them, I think popping unsettled bottles in
animated social tasting situations with other more conventional wines is where controversy begins.
They just don't "perform" in that setting as this one did for you. My guess is you will see what I mean.
As for Cornelissens recommendations, he gets to taste at the source and I think that makes a difference.
 
This is officially the first time I can say "I have been on this board long enough to get one of Joe's jokes". I even considered putting a link to the picture of Sharon's raw chicken. Is it time for me to get a life yet?
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Thank the Noodle you went for the venison sashimi, not the chicken sashimi.
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I hereby thank the Noodle for guidance provided.

I also thank the mofo who shot Bambi and passed this gorgeous venison onto us.
 
originally posted by Ned Hoey:
Venison sashimi? Nice pairing, can't say I've ever had that.
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It's been awhile since I've had it....the sashimi was thinly sliced (but not the frozen, paper-thin + shoyu style, this was more like carpaccio) and very much like roast beef actually, though much cleaner and deeper in flavors. Not at all "gamey".

originally posted by Ned Hoey:
That tannic snap seems to characterize the Cornelissens I've had, and I see it as an Etna terroir characteristic.
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Come to think of it, the '00 Calabretta Etna Rosso we had recently showed a distinct finish like this too.

originally posted by Ned Hoey:
As for Cornelissens recommendations, he gets to taste at the source and I think that makes a difference.
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Maybe I'll get a chance to ask him.....he'll be in Kyoto next week at a vin natural event.
 
I've had many a venison carpaccio and tartare, but never a sashimi. Sounds yummy.

Elk burgers tonight, with wild boar bacon worked into the patties (to improve the dismal fat percentage of ground elk). Possibly the best burgers I've ever made.
 
originally posted by Thor:
I've had many a venison carpaccio and tartare, but never a sashimi. Sounds yummy.

Elk burgers tonight, with wild boar bacon worked into the patties (to improve the dismal fat percentage of ground elk). Possibly the best burgers I've ever made.
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'm game.
 
originally posted by Thor:
I've had many a venison carpaccio and tartare, but never a sashimi. Sounds yummy.

Elk burgers tonight, with wild boar bacon worked into the patties (to improve the dismal fat percentage of ground elk). Possibly the best burgers I've ever made.
Click to expand...
To be honest, I'm not sure that what is called "shika no sashimi" (in the rare restaurant that might serve it here) isn't what you'd call venison carpaccio. The frozen, paper-thin slice version may just be a hunter's trick (as you basically have to slice it off and pop it in your mouth within seconds). Whichever, if you haven't yet, the latter is worth trying...sort of like the essence of fresh venison melting on your tongue like a snowflake....or something like that. I had a few slices this way off a frozen strip while I was preparing the carpaccio from a thawed steak...this venison was so good it didn't need the shoyu.

I've never had wild boar bacon....where did the boar come from? Elk/Boar bacon burger sounds pretty nice.
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
To be Contadino'd...2008 Cornelissen Contadino 6
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Compared to earlier vintages of the Contadino the 6 is pronounced more tannic than all others I have tasted. It is also "cleaner" and fruitier than it used to be, even cleaner and fruitier than the 5.
 
originally posted by Arnt Egil Nordlien:
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
To be Contadino'd...2008 Cornelissen Contadino 6
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Compared to earlier vintages of the Contadino the 6 is pronounced more tannic than all others I have tasted. It is also "cleaner" and fruitier than it used to be, even cleaner and fruitier than the 5.
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Interesting. I hope to try a few more...thanks, Arnt.
 
Opened a Contadino 6 tonight after picking up a couple recently. And, yes, truth be told I did check out a bio calendar to see if it was a 'fruit' day. Why not? Nothing like having all your bases covered. I had my buddy who I bought it from stand it up for me, so the bottle had been standing up for about two days before I opened it. Decanted it off whatever sediment/twigs that had found its way to the bottom and drank it over roughly four hours. Didn't go with the venison sashimi option as I am not wont to trust the venison in our freezer as being at sashimi level; as well as being frozen and all.

The first few sips were really quite tart and sour cherry-like with face-smacking tannins in tow. I was really curious to see if some food would possibly compliment whatever charms potentially lay hidden under this initial brashness. I had just made some msg-ladened ramen noodle thing for the kids that I bought at the Japanese market and had leftovers in the fridge, so I thought 'let's try the umami angle'! Heated up the noodles and... nope. As the kids like to say, it was just meh; no highs, no lows (just look at the comments in this post for context: Sigur Ros = Meh). At this point I should say that throughout drinking the entire bottle by myself, I never thought of the wine as being hot or overly alcoholic, but it is listed at 14.5%. And, damn, it's taking me a long time to write this up.

Anyway, here are some of the other wines I thought of while drinking this: First hour or so it really reminded me of the '06 Dard et Ribo Crozes-Hermitage, in it's exuberant freshness and super bright red-fruitedness. At about the two hour mark, is when I felt it really hit it's stride. Seemed to come together and fill out a bit more; wasn't so jumbled up and tightly wound as at first. It was about this time that we had dinner which was roasted vegetables and sausages over polenta. Now this, this the Contadino went really well with. Just wrapped itself around each bite and gave it a big high-five as they all hung out together. Yum. Also at this point, it really started to remind me of the COS Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Maybe it's just the Sicily thing or the dark cherry thing, but I couldn't get that thought out of my head. And oddly enough around the four hour mark, I couldn't shake the thought that it was tasting and smelling a lot like the regular Coenobium. Besides the fact that there evidently a multitude of white grapes in here, who knows where that one came from.

In the end, I'm with Joel, not a radical wine to me, but I can see how some/most might not go for it.

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Thanks for the nice notes, Lars. Indeed, not radical and, at least the way I perceive some folks' taste for certain wines here, the Contadino 6 I think would satisfy rather than offend for it's food friendly drinkability, intriguing nuances and value. Not having had any of the wines "higher" up the Cornelissen ladder, I can't say anything about them....nor can I say anything about bottle variation, which appears likely.
 
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