Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Fresh berries and violets, with white pepper and iodine. Good structure and weight, good balance, light and pleasant tannins, all pure and clear. Everything seems right, yet the necessary io no so ciò che is missing.
2006 Sella Lessona 13.0%
- Thread starter Oswaldo Costa
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Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
It's a lame attempt to say "je ne sais quoi" in Italian...
I don't know if it was vintage or just this bottle, but the '05 Lessona tasted recently like it was ready to go, and that waiting too much longer might not be a great idea. But would love to hear from those that know more. I have just discovered these wines a few years ago and am eager to learn.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
FlJim wrote several positive reports on 01 Lessonas at around age six or seven, so I tried a few 01s and found them OK, but nothing special. The 06 was on sale here last month, so one bottle was worth a shot. Though young, it didn't seem like it would require the 10-15 years of its southern neighbors.
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Oswaldo, please stop the northern Nebbiolo hate.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Ouch, absolutely not the case. Will open another Carema soon to get a better sense of what went wrong with last week's.
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Feeling something was lacking, I put away the aerator, found a nice recipe for Agnolotti del Plin with wild mushrooms, and laid out some prosciutto with melon beforehand. I ate out of doors on the patio, it was approaching dusk, and there was a friend's dog there who liked to play catch, something I obliged him in the fading light.
Interestingly, I found that the je ne sais quoi that I was looking for was a matter of context which I myself provide, and not some random moment given on from high by the wine gods of pleasure. It was about then that I understood Sella Lessona to be an incredibly pure expression of something that I hadn't known to look for before because in no other bottle had I been given any reason to suspect it existed.
Interestingly, I found that the je ne sais quoi that I was looking for was a matter of context which I myself provide, and not some random moment given on from high by the wine gods of pleasure. It was about then that I understood Sella Lessona to be an incredibly pure expression of something that I hadn't known to look for before because in no other bottle had I been given any reason to suspect it existed.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
An elegant piece of scolding, to be sure. But, over the years, with enough wines on enough evenings, and most frequently in the unvarying context of a simple meal at home, the wine gods of pleasure have bestowed exactly such graces from on high, graces I had not previously been given reason to suspect existed, so that surprise was part of their charm. That has been a part of the magic of wine for me. The Lessona would have tasted better, without a doubt, in the context of an Italian sunset, but far too many wines have worked their magic, unassisted, in the prosaic setting of my dinner table.
Florida Jim
Florida Jim
As is the case with most things, I suspect.
Nicely said.
Best, Jim
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
One wonders if those wonders were as wondrously inexpensive as the wonderful Sella Lessona.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Since the more expensive wines are reserved for special occasions, the day-to-day ones I was talking about have mostly been in the same price range.
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Huh. Cause I'm pretty sure 2001 is the year some people think is overoaked, owing to Dante's being away from Sella as duty called at Giacosa. The wine was left in barrels longer than normal.
I dunno, Levi. The '01 got a lotta love around these parts (or our previous digs, as the case may be) from many folks who are fairly quercophobic, including myself on several occasions. That proves nothing, of course, but if there was more than normal oak in that wine it certainly managed to hold it well.
Mark Lipton
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
I speak of Mr. Lillie and Zul, and also myself. I will mention it to David on the next occasion and see if my memory serves.
As I recall, Zul dropped off for me a sample of the 2001 San Sebastiano allo Zoppo, I mentioned to him later that I thought it had too much oak, and he told me the story of Sella, 2001, and the extra time in oak.
As I recall, Zul dropped off for me a sample of the 2001 San Sebastiano allo Zoppo, I mentioned to him later that I thought it had too much oak, and he told me the story of Sella, 2001, and the extra time in oak.