Six <i>vini naturali</i> from top to boot-tom

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
2008 Angiolino Maule I Masieri 12.0%
Muted lime and floral aromas. Excellent acid/sweet balance, vibrant mouth feel. Very fine, especially for a second wine. Bordering on lovely.

2008 Angiolino Maule Sassaia 12.5%
Oxidative aromas, though light, are enough to mask whatever lies underneath. Richer, more mineral mouth feel, excellent balance and acidity, but ends very yeasty. As it warms in the glass, the yeasty finish becomes a turn off. Could have been a contender.

2007 Monastero Suore Cistercenci Coenobium Lazio 13.0%
Organic. Trebbiano, Verdicchio, Grechetto.
Jackfruit, sweat and anis. Unctuous and peppery, more sweet than acid, the latter still well within the acceptable.

2007 Monastero Suore Cistercenci Coenobium Rusticum Lazio 13.5%
Organic. 55% Trebbiano, 15% Verdicchio, 20% Malvasia, 10% Grechetto
Decanted six hours. Oxidative, epoxy and white flower aromas. Lovely texture, more sweet than acid, but not flabby. Not quite the beauty that was my previous bottle.

Diversos_004.jpg
We turned the decade on the island of Madeira, where we visited an isolated omelet called Curral das Freiras (Nuns' Corral, as in "shootout in the nun's corral"), so named because therein a monastery used to lie, hidden from marauding pirates. As a souvenir, we brought back this bottle caparison. I just knew one day I would have the right use for it.

2008 Frank Cornelissen Contadino 6 14.5%
From the franksite: A blend of various local grapes, white and red, from different contradas. A more humble, modestly priced, natural, vintage wine. Normacorc Premium (boo!). Tart cherry, tar and metallic gunpowder aromas. Powerful and somewhat harsh tannins, good acidity, mild yeast aftertaste. Interesting, bordering on fascinating, but not delicious.

2006/07 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso 4 14.0%
A blend of various vineyards (contradas) as well as various vintages, as expressed through a selection of only our precious ripe Nerello Mascalese. Our Mongibello expresses the lost traditions of blending particular vineyards for the making of the once reputed Etna Rosso. Regular cork. Interesting mlange of cherry, iodine, eucalyptus and church spices. Slight CO2 fizz. Darker, less metallic, even more interesting than the Contadino, but, judged from the slow pace of downing, also not delicious.
 
2007 Monastero Suore Cistercenci Coenobium Rusticum Lazio 13.5%
... Not quite the beauty that was my previous bottle.
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You know, I just don't think these are meant for anything other than 'immediate drinking'. I had the same response to the first year these came out (which was what, 05 or 06?): the first drank better than the second. Obviously, here the last shall definately not be the first.
 
Orange wine and ageing is a really interesting question, not least because some of the normal markers that would seem to indicate longevity are skewed in terms of orange wines. In other words, if a white wine tasted like such and such, you would hazard so many years for it, but in the case of an orange wine, the same guess can be hazardous.

There have been instances where the tannins don't give up but the rest of the wine seems to have. Fruit character can be lost, and certain wines have come off as exceedingly dry after some time. Some start to exhibit more funky, earthy tones as the fruit starts to receed. It can be a open question as to how much of that change is desirable. Some people have talked quite favorably about wines that I thought were past their best day.

I'm still sort of grappling with the whole, in terms of experiental data.

But there are '97s, there are '01s, there are others that are only beginning to show. Some 2000s aren't even doing that. In terms of white Burgundy, that might not seem like too long. But in terms of white wines made in northern Italy, it is actually a pretty good long while.

So it is a question.
 
Having had quite a few at various ages, though not as many as Levi, I've come to a similar conclusion to his: it's just impossible to guess with confidence via the usual precursors. Some dry out, some don't. Some get really boozy (if there's one persistent "problem" with these wines, it's alcohol-derived weight that does not reward cellaring), some don't. Some age like reds, some age like whites, some age in weird ways, some don't age, some last rather than age, some fall apart.

It's kinda fun. I wish it was less expensive fun, but it's fun nonetheless.

If I can make any tentative assessment, it's that orange wines that taste out-of-balance tannic in their youth don't often shed that tannin, while orange wines with little apparent tannin age more in the way you'd expect whites of similar construction to age. But there are exceptions to both. And to be honest, the category is way young to be making blanket assessments. The oldest orange wines of all just aren't that old, yet.
 
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