1988 Roagna Cricht Paj

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
1988 Roagna Cricht Paj 13.5%
To celebrate Brazil's not-so-convincing-despite-the-score victory over Chile, I opened something maybe special. Chambers got a stash of this several weeks ago, and for some reason Roagna had originally been forced to choose between calling it generic Barbaresco DOCG or Cricht Paj VdT. The label, bearing the classic Leonardo drawing of two superimposed naked men with outstretched arms, a famous illustration of the golden rule (which is, of course, the ratio between successive numbers in the Fibonacci series), led me to expect harmony. The naso was classic nebbiolo sour cherry, crushed rose petals (Marcia disagreed with violets) and a secondary (or whatever) festival of tar, rubber, iodine and leather. Alas, all under a potent voile of brett, like a chador concealing the beckonings of the flesh. Tasted very structured, dense, almost chewy (ChewBacchus), with still lively tannins and good acidity spine. Marcia declares it her favorite Roagna ever (quite something, since she became leery of Roagna, despite ideological empathy, after witnessing less-than-ideal sanitary conditions at the winery last November). The second pour, oddly, has a strange little fizz, like secondary fermentation. I'm puzzled, it's as if the wine had sedimented into geological strata that do not mingle when poured. At the end of the bottle, only Marcia was happy. I was under the impression that we were more or less equally brett tolerant, but last night the bitter little critters, veiling every positive sensation under a bilious shroud of Turin, got in the way, on final thought making the wine a reflection of the afternoon's game.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
1988 Roagna Cricht Paj1988 Roagna Cricht Paj 13.5%
To celebrate Brazil's not-so-convincing-despite-the-score victory over Chile, I opened something maybe special. Chambers got a stash of this several weeks ago, and for some reason Roagna had originally been forced to choose between calling it generic Barbaresco DOCG or Cricht Paj VdT. The label, bearing the classic Leonardo drawing of two superimposed naked men with outstretched arms, a famous illustration of the golden rule (which is, of course, the ratio between successive numbers in the Fibonacci series), led me to expect harmony. The naso was classic nebbiolo sour cherry, crushed rose petals (Marcia disagreed with violets) and a secondary (or whatever) festival of tar, rubber, iodine and leather. Alas, all under a potent voile of brett, like a chador concealing the beckonings of the flesh. Tasted very structured, dense, almost chewy (ChewBacchus), with still lively tannins and good acidity spine. Marcia declares it her favorite Roagna ever (quite something, since she became leery of Roagna, despite ideological empathy, after witnessing less-than-ideal sanitary conditions at the winery last November). The second pour, oddly, has a strange little fizz, like secondary fermentation. I'm puzzled, it's as if the wine had sedimented into geological strata that do not mingle when poured. At the end of the bottle, only Marcia was happy. I was under the impression that we were more or less equally brett tolerant, but last night the bitter little critters, veiling every positive sensation under a bilious shroud of Turin, got in the way, on final thought making the wine a reflection of the afternoon's game.
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Never had a bottle that wasn't exactly as you described. Many have been fizzy out of the gate. We had a huge problem with this bottling at CSW from a stash in 2007. I avoid it like the plague since my experience with it. Too bad as its supposedly good when its not frizzante.
 
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
Not so convincing? They dominated! What more do you want?
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I want Brazil to be the better team by the same differential with which they have the more skilful players. That rarely happens. Yesterday's score reflected the difference in skill but not the difference in overall team performance. I don't think Brazil dominated play, but relied on counterattacks to catch the Chileans off guard. The Chileans had equal or more ball possession and the Brazilians were often desultory between the flashes of brilliance. It's a bit ludicrous that the team with the best players on the planet is nowhere near as good a team and essentially relies on inspired counterattacks to defeat a less skilful adversary. In short, yes, I want more.

Lyle, amazing how quickly they sold out. Maybe they've gotten their hygiene act together in the new winery (with the agroturismo), which I hear is spotless. It's frustrating that the older stuff can be Coturri-like. The half bottles of 96 La Rocca e la Pira have been fine.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

a famous illustration of the golden rule (which is, of course, the ratio between successive numbers in the Fibonacci series),
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Golden ratio - the golden rule is something like "He who has the gold rules" if I recall correctly.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

The half bottles of 96 La Rocca e la Pira have been fine.
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I've actually seen a lot of variation with this. I liked all the variants, and none were fizzy, but still.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Anyone ever read D'Arcy Thompson, "On Growth and Form"?
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Yep. Great book, endlessly stimulating. It was one of the highlights of intro biology for me.

Mark Lipton
 
Variable results both between and within bottlings and an overall low success rate have made me leery of Roagna, despite some awfully good bottles in the mix.
 
originally posted by Josh Beck:
Variable results both between and within bottlings and an overall low success rate have made me leery of Roagna, despite some awfully good bottles in the mix.
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I am a fan of Roagna in general, and have had much success.
 
Just to clarify a bit:
we purchased a few of cases of this wine (refered to in Lyle's post); at first it seemed terrific but then serious bottle variation emerged and we stopped selling the wine. Recently we discovered about 3 cases in the cellar here, and decided to put in our 'bargain bin', at a price below our cost - maybe not a great idea but somehow more appealing than tossing it all at once. Some of those bottles have been very good, and some - well, fizzy or some such not-so-good appearance. Now it's all gone...
 
It was the same dude who imported Radikon before Dressner. Matthew Fioretti I believe. I trust the Dressner wines way more.
 
originally posted by Lyle Fass:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
1988 Roagna Cricht Paj1988 Roagna Cricht Paj 13.5%
To celebrate Brazil's not-so-convincing-despite-the-score victory over Chile, I opened something maybe special. Chambers got a stash of this several weeks ago, and for some reason Roagna had originally been forced to choose between calling it generic Barbaresco DOCG or Cricht Paj VdT. The label, bearing the classic Leonardo drawing of two superimposed naked men with outstretched arms, a famous illustration of the golden rule (which is, of course, the ratio between successive numbers in the Fibonacci series), led me to expect harmony. The naso was classic nebbiolo sour cherry, crushed rose petals (Marcia disagreed with violets) and a secondary (or whatever) festival of tar, rubber, iodine and leather. Alas, all under a potent voile of brett, like a chador concealing the beckonings of the flesh. Tasted very structured, dense, almost chewy (ChewBacchus), with still lively tannins and good acidity spine. Marcia declares it her favorite Roagna ever (quite something, since she became leery of Roagna, despite ideological empathy, after witnessing less-than-ideal sanitary conditions at the winery last November). The second pour, oddly, has a strange little fizz, like secondary fermentation. I'm puzzled, it's as if the wine had sedimented into geological strata that do not mingle when poured. At the end of the bottle, only Marcia was happy. I was under the impression that we were more or less equally brett tolerant, but last night the bitter little critters, veiling every positive sensation under a bilious shroud of Turin, got in the way, on final thought making the wine a reflection of the afternoon's game.
Click to expand...

Never had a bottle that wasn't exactly as you described. Many have been fizzy out of the gate. We had a huge problem with this bottling at CSW from a stash in 2007. I avoid it like the plague since my experience with it. Too bad as its supposedly good when its not frizzante.
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'88 Crichet Paje is the only issue I have had with Roagna. Others have been good to great to semi-life-changing.
 
Jamie,
Kerri and I grabbed one the day we saw you down there (jura tasting, etc). I am fine with it fizzy or not...low risk, high reward type situation. I love finding stuff like that at chambers and elsewhere it's nice to have access to stuff like that and be able to let folks give them a try without breaking the bank. Availability of stuff like that in Boston leaves much to be desired (though hopefully we are helping to change that). Ill let you know how it goes when we crack one. I am a big Roagna fan in general.
 
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