The Wine Novice Jim Campanini and Wine Butler Mike Pigeon sample a pair of European wines with interesting stories: A structured, elegant Chateau Laurou from the Fronton Region in France and Dolcetto d’Alba, a juicy and fruity flavorful wine from the Piedmont Region in Italy #insidelowell
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Away so it’s been me and the clicker so that’s good very nice and we have uh Teddy posos our producer and uh how you doing this morning Teddy doing great guys welcome good morning good good uh this inside L podcast is coming to you from the WellPoint Studios UniCare is
Now WellPoint new name same commitment to Massachusetts at WellPoint your whole health is their whole point thanks for WellPoint huh we’re doing a good job here we’re getting uh all the studios being refurbished in the probably in uh a couple of weeks huh we’ll have a new studio Teddy and soundproof and lighting
And everything it’ll be a little smaller all that is that thick on all four walls you know you’re bringing it in it might be good for your singing voice too maybe you can sing some wine songs Dean Martin and stuff so um so so Mike uh what was
Your impression yesterday Mike and I took an Excursion we go on some wine excursions to check out the deals that we we talk about on this show in the vales and yesterday we visit our our good friend David mesina out at the wine Connection in North andova uh Dave is is
The Son of Sam missina who co-own the the place with uh his sister Tina but Dave uh who’s a umat Lal graduate has been there uh you know uh he set up uh he’s doing uh all the buying now for for the store and uh tasting a lot of the
Wine so uh it was a good talk with uh with uh with David yesterday and yep yep and it’s you know it’s kind of nice on a Monday the crowds are gone and uh from the weekend and you get no not bumping shoulders because there’s people that go
In there and good CH choice of wines it was a good time yeah and uh I saw you had a full basket when we left that St store what was some of the uh interesting wines that you uh you purchase well he has a good selection of
Bordeaux wines and I like that with the cabinet Savon cabet Fran and the Mero you know I’m not a big fan cabinet saon it’s a little too sharp of me but you put that Mero in there a little bit to it’s it’s nice so I I got about four or
Five bottles of that and then an Italian wine and uh my Spanish wine the Veo there oh yeah compo vao great wine for the price what did you what was your average price point you think for those Bordeaux wines $23 something right there $23 comfortable you know and uh I’ve had
Them before a couple of Brands I hadn’t but a couple I had before and they were good for that price so uh might as well stock up on them I like going out there and doing business with that family out there now you particularly like those
Wines from St Emon right yeah they they have one there yesterday oh absolutely they’re in palaral yeah they they’re just softer on that right Bank there then oh yeah they blend it with more mo low so uh so yeah we had a good time and
It was nice because like Mike said we we we uh we were there for about an hour just browsing talking to David looking at some of the new wines is bringing in but uh the big thing is this uh this weekend on Saturday okay from 1 to 4:
They’re going to have a special red carpet public tasting it’s free at the wine connection the tastings are always free and um if you go to their website today uh wine connection.com there’s more details about it but David gave us a few uh a few um uh hints of
What’s what’s going to be there there going to they’re going to have two tables with 12 wines that’s it and people going to be able to taste these new wines the new wines to the store and they’re going to be offering one day only special deals so one of the deals
Was he showed us the wine they they they brought in this new cabinet sovon now if you saw the latest edition of wine spectator or one of the more recent ones what do you say the average PR price of 100% cabinet solving your own wines from California it’s too discouraging to
Mention let’s no really that there’s such a thing they were all you know you start at $89 and go from there so uh uh David and his father was actually uh Sam who made a connection he saw this uh this this Winery uh a new winery uh in Napa Valley called vineed
29 and their bottle their wine is called crew Cru that’s SI but it’s a beautiful elegant bottle 100% cabinet and they’re going to feature that tomorrow now this bottle regularly sells for $70 a bottle okay which is still under price for for top uh cabinet uh sovar
Which like Mike said you know they they go for 801 $120 uh but it’s going to be on sale tomorrow I mean Saturday at the wine connection for $59.99 now you can go there and try that wine you don’t have to buy it there’s no pressure at the at the uh the wine
Connection so you should go there and take a couple of friends taste these he’s going to have a couple of French a couple of Italian but but the rest will be uh uh American Wines California Washington State but taste this wine and say to yourself wow is this good for for
For 60 bucks is it overpriced underpriced well you know that’s how you learn and if you like it at that price you should buy a bottle for for an occasion knowing what good cabernet go for yes knowing what good cabinet go for but uh knowing uh the Machin is they
They uh they don’t bring in anything unless it’s a good value you could check the yellow cards throughout their store where they put their price and the the the closest competitor which is usually the New Hampshire look at and they’re always under under the New Hampshire
Price and some of those I think he said a couple of those wines are from small wineries almost like Boutique wineries that the big stores wouldn’t be carried because they don’t put out that volume to ship over here but there Class A wines yeah so if you’ve never been there
It’s a nice place Eerie you can move around uh and you can browse the store like I said uh they’ll have uh they’ll have a uh local uh local uh uh pourers there um and uh and say hello to the msas you should meet them uh Sam is
Still on vacation but David will be there uh good kid uh and he’s really knowledgeable really knowledgeable so um yeah and then while we were talking to David he gave us two wines that have been uh flying off the shells and um uh he showed us several but two that we
Picked out and uh we’re going to we’re going to uh taste at least one today uh one of them is French and one of them is Italian this one is uh got uh 96 points from the Cana magazine it’s called it’s from chatau lau lau and it’s Le
Comp I think that’s how you uh you pronounce it I’m not good in French that’s why I passed I failed my first French wine exam you know I rallied second time around but the interesting thing is chatau Loro is located in Fronton now you hear about bordo the
Rome Valley this is south West France near too and the interesting thing is there’s a native grape that only grows in this area I’ve never had it before it’s in this bottle this is the blend it’s called nagr n g r t and uh it’s a it’s a it’s a fruity
Ruby it’s Ruby colored fruity grape almost like a you know it’s pinoir is is darker but this is a little lighter grape but it’s it’s bitter it’s got a bitter uh uh taste but a sweet pulp it’s got a bitter uh um a skin okay but it’s
Got a a a fruity uh pulp that’s what I I read about it and stuff so um and there’s a woman who who runs chatau laru who’s done a lot of work there so Mike and I uh David said try it and this uh this wine uh only cost
$4.99 okay 96 points from the Cana magazine so it the negret grape another trait about the negret grape very very aromatic raspberry strawberry those nice uh red uh red fruits so I’m going to swirl it oh this is uh 100% organic this wine okay uh bio
Certified um from the um once again from the Fronton region okay so we’re going to does have a nice you don’t like the fragrance it does have a fragrance oh yeah it’s there let see how the taste is yeah not perfumey but it’s uh it’s got a red uh
Nice red sweet spices or something there’s something in there yeah the aroma didn’t me didn’t seem that promising but the taste is good it’s good A little little bitter B it’s it’s good it’s boy it’s got a dry finish it it grabs you it grabs your uh but the uh so
So and uh what’s the alcohol level on this said that 14.5 14.5 so um that’s uh that’s a um that’ll clear the pallet that’ll clear the palette but it seems like it’s got a nice um once again these wines when they’re when they’re well structured and crafted and and uh most
French wines are nice aftertaste in it yes they get that nice fruity taste almost like a sweetness that hits the front of your tongue then they hit the mid pallet and they start you know they they start getting late layed you don’t have that fru now it’s going into that
Dry but what comes out of those uh secondary you know those secondary flavors and stuff the spices and stuff and then it it it’s got a nice dry a dry ending uh and naturally the higher alcohol content will tell you that right yep yep the higher the alcohol the less
Sugar in that uh the less sugar in that wine so uh see and you know this wine it says uh on the bottle the wine maker says um uh plenty of personality and charm it can be served and enjoyed with grilled beef or roasted chicken and the
More you drink you get a better personality too at 14.5 come right I think uh Mike is right there and uh because uh uh here we are and we just took a little sip and that thing’s going right through the bloodstream you so uh but it’s a it’s a
Nicely colored look it’s got a nice uh um red wi yeah dark color with Ruby highlights in there and like I said it is it is kind of fragrant now um uh the uh once again in my research um negret the the grape which only grows in this
Area that’s another thing you know this place this wine has a sense of place when we talk about Tera so uh They said that the negret negretti grape um does not do well in Limestone soils which and a lot of the soils are limestone not
Quite so if this was in Bordeaux s on it probably wouldn’t be as as as good or as tasty or pick up the traits that it does but it does really great great and uh in clay soils where there’s a high proportion of sand and gravel a lot of
Gravel in French uh French Vineyards and stuff so so the vines do do really well there and um and uh uh it it has Aromas of violet and red fruits okay we picked up the red fruits and then there’s a Rasberry and a little it says a little
Licorice did you detect that little licorice it’s hard for me to tell you have def definitely better taste buds than I do when it comes to that wanting one like this with bacon and eggs I’m not getting the licorice but I get those nice uh sweet spices and um a
Lot of raspberry a lot of nice nice raspberry now the other thing about nggr the grape is uh it it’s it’s a it’s a common grape they make beautiful roses in Southern France I’ve never heard of that grape before and uh and uh it’s
Used a lot in the uh the the local uh Southwest France to make uh stunning roses so if you if you see a friend I’ve never you’re right I’ve never seen a a French Rosé just made from um from and I hope I’m pronouncing that right
But um which tells me that a lot of it stays local and they consume it and and drink it up they probably it’s uh it like I said it’s probably a limited production table wine for the locals over there that doesn’t has doesn’t have
A big call yeah so uh but if you ever see a bottle of that if you go to Southern France uh especially the F Fontan area which is very very beautiful from what I’m told I saw photos of the uh the Chateau uh on the uh the internet uh
Very very beautiful a destination spot so you might uh you might take a take a a look at it and um last thing is the the woman who owns the winery uh I’m reading right here from my research paper um under the direction of wine maker Marie laor Charles the land was
Converted to Oran organic farming back in 2013 she takes pride in cultivating rear varial such as megret to offer truly unique style to her wines well so it’s got a story it is very unique if you serve this to your guest without even telling them they said tell them to
Guess what kind of grape is in this bottle never hit it yeah and then you you tell them tell them a little story about it but it’s a blend with the SAR I think it works really well for $499 boy it’s really worth uh you know any closing thoughts on that no um
Enjoyable yeah yeah you might look at look for a bottle at um at the wine connection if you go on Saturday uh and um uh as David said it’s uh it’s become a one of the best sellers at the store so so that’s uh that’s good I’m going to
Just uh toast this take a little water you need a little water put a little water in here and I’ll just flush it out here good now I saw you also in the spirit section yesterday looking at uh some different U you you you purchased uh did you purchase a whiskey Bott of
Whiskey there there was a woman in there that helped her out I I tried to Leo crean introduced me to that Basil Hayden bourbon and and I really find that fine and I talked her into hope she likes it into getting a bottle of that but it’s
So nice going into that they call it the back room and all the Bourbons whiskies scratches and um beautiful they it’s almost like going in a jewelry store the labels the bottles are so beautiful well I bought a bottle of uh my favorite bourbon the Four Roses Single Barrel
There they had a $6 uh discount special you know usually costs uh $47.99 uh the wine connection had it for $41.99 so I bought that for the to make my Manhattan I become quite a a Manhattan drink you know I might have one or two a week but um but I love that
Smooth yeah the smoothness of that um the four roses and stuff so I did buy a bottle so you might even look at the um that uh special section they have for all their distilled Spirits uh which is quite uh uh quite a section because uh they bring in some really unique uh
Whiskies scotches and um and uh they have JY vodka and the Bourbons the Bourbons are are fantastic so all right what do you think of that second one Mike the doletto take a look at it the Alba now that’s a region isn’t it but it’s a grape also the Alba region is
In the pedmont southern pedmont okay up in the Northwest uh it’s uh but this is the southern tiar of it okay and uh the uh giosa Bruno giosa we’ve heard of of of him but the this giosa family uh um has a you know has a winery
There uh and um right right near The Long Hills long means tongue thinging is you know the the the the the hills come out their valleys and the hills come out so there’s little valleys in between you know and uh it’s a beautiful place the elevations with the uh The Vineyards and
Stuff so an interesting story doletto dalba is a grape it’s also the name of this wine and it’s got on here sraco it’s short for Santa San Roco short for San Roco which is the vineyard and they call this s Morocco this is the 2022 now this is a region which is high
In you know the nebiolo grape okay where they make you know they make uh bolo from the nebiolo right the B the uh uh the barbaresco okay all different clones but the doletto dalba stands out uh uh with the barara which is a separate grape okay because it’s the drinking man’s
Wine the working man’s wine you know baras cost 60 and and up you know uh the more famous ones we saw some uh from gaja uh oh my God $800 $900 a bottle and stuff uh the brunellos so the these D chettos they can cost from um you know $16 to $30
They’re wellmade but they’re lighter they’re lighter wines frua uh and uh and the the you know the the you come home from working and stuff you might pull out a barara to drink with your food they’re great with food and stuff and doto has that doletto means uh
Sweetness in um you know in Italian Dolce is sweet that’s what they call the sweets the cookies and stuff like that doto but but the grape itself has a bitterness to it so so it’s got a once again a fruity core but a bitter
You know a bitter uh um uh uh taste to it that ends you know dry so you’re going from from from high to low and stuff but you know what let’s let’s open it up and taste it let’s get it go now David told told me that this is uh this has
Been a hot commodity at the store tough to keep it on the shells it’s something different you don’t you don’t find a lot of people going going out and ordering dolcetta dala but when you taste it oh man you smack your lips you love it you
Know and this bottle cost $19.99 at the wine connection it’s regular $26 so once again you’re getting a I got the a bottle of l p there yesterday it was $22.99 in other places it’s $28.99 so that’s happy I got it I it wait I get that uh I get the napkin
Here so once again you know you look at the color right mhm if you can see that color it’s uh it’s like a garet but a ruby very Ruby light you can see your fingers at the bottom of glass it’s got some highlights you can see the the Ruby
Highlights looks pretty in the glass I picked that up right away that yeah yeah yeah fragrant nose luscious very smooth I thought you said it was a little bitter I don’t get that bitterness in there at the end there the dryness but but um goes down
Nice but it it really it’s got a an intense um uh taste right off the bat that that uh Sweet Cherry you know Cherry yeah and then it um it it you know you you could tell a um the well-made wines when they give you a that’s very nice
Yeah they give you they give you layers of taste and they um they evolve they evolve in the glass and in your mouth so with this wine when you take a sip let it let it settle on your on your pallet you know the tip of your tongue usually detects the
Sweetness so right off the bat you’re going to get a little sweetness but then as it moves back you know your tongue is a great uh is a great instrument you know because as it moves further back you know it picks up the uh the acidity
The um the uh and different tastes the different taste points on your tongue and and some wines are just the same all the way through you know I don’t like those they’re they they’re they’re fruity or or sugary or some limited bitter or salty nice wines but they got they got no
Complexity this wine for $20 wine has some complexity it’s got It’s got layers of of uh fruit flavors that make it enjoyable you know you appreciate it uh is that a lot of money though for the people over there in that small section where they grow it you know I would I
Would think they’d maybe be drinking $112 $14 maybe it sells for less money in Italy with a um no I think that’s a reasonably price because do dalba once again just like that French wine we had it’s only made in this region so the grape does well near The Long Hills in
Those uh in those uh aluvial and uh soils and the there’s gravel a lot of clay some some some uh you know some Limestone but um but it’s not like it’s growing all over Italy or even if it can grow in the United States so so when you
Think of wine the pleasure of drinking it is knowing where that wine originates where does it start and like I said the the the all wines have a story doletto grape um uh you know it’s got a it’s got a history uh in the area
Goes back to the 17th uh uh Century uh it was growing uh a wild Alba you know because you you’ve heard of barara barara dalba right so barara grows in those two regions okay and it excels although it has thrived now they’re doing it in California
I have heard not heard of any doletto planted there so so when you think of it it’s it’s got a limited production they only make so many bottles because there’s so much there’s only so much land in the area and uh it picks up all those you know the characteristics of
Its environment so um so and uh you know a bad vintage uh for because of weather and stuff you know rain that could be uh the pedmont gets a lot of cold weather during the win M you know it could could wipe out half a crop and then the prices
Are going to go up because they’re not going to be making as much so so there a lot of factors that go into the pricing of a wine this is a 2022 and it’s very fresh uh it’ll probably last about uh uh you know three to five years but the
Best thing to do is to drink one of these wines uh uh quick yeah uh you know but uh there is a story to this and I I just want to tell you briefly so so there were four brothers okay this was in the late
1900s all right it was in the uh 1895 Four Brothers Leoni Giovani costantino and jeppe the late 1800s did I say that no no it was the the the the late 1800s yeah I’m sorry I should have said the late 19th century okay yes you’re right
So um you’re sharp today you know you’re very sharp today so so it’s interesting what happened uh uh they they were sharecroppers and they moved to Nev which is a which is a it’s a it’s a one of the top spots in the pedmont you know
For both bolo doat daa and even Babar Resco okay so Leon was killed in a hunting accident Giovani became a priest every family had a priest okay Constantino went to the academy and joined the kabaneri which is the national police force right and jeppi he had a dream that he wanted to
Become a wine maker and own his own wine seller so as part of this dream the numbers in the National lot lottery you know he saw four or five numbers in his head and he says I’m going to go play these numbers tomorrow he had him in a dream he played those
Numbers boom lightning struck he won the national lottery jeppe he bought this little spread and with his two sons he worked it for 40 years and then in the the 1930s 1940s he gave it to his two sons turned it over the two sons made a lot of improvements Innovation bought more
Land they turned it over to their two sons in the 1990s these two sons now okay the latest batch okay they have one daughter in the mix they also have uh two sons uh one brother has two sons and the other brother has a son and a daughter so now
They’re getting ready to turn it over to the next Generation it’s over a hundred years all right and Fratelli means Brothers m in Italian that’s why it says fraternity yeah Yesa frell jza Brothers although I think now that one of the daughters involved they might have to change the change the
Name or think about changing the name but it’s a magnificent story about a family run operation and they do make bolo which is very highly acclaimed but limited production you know and uh they get a pretty good price for it so if you want a taste of the giosa uh operation
It’s a good one to start with with the Fratelli and um once once again this like most Italian wines go go well with Italian food you know and who doesn’t like Italian food yeah so uh I don’t think there’s anything more I could add
Except that um that uh oh and it’s a low alcohol wine 11.5% alcohol this is yeah that’s what it says on the on the data sheet really will yeah yeah yeah so uh so different from that Fran wine and stuff so you might there there’s two bottles of wine
There with two different stories uh two different grapes that are worth a worth a try you know and uh if you go to the wine connection on Saturday take a look at them um and uh you know talk to David but he’s going to have a a great uh
Selection of wines with that red carpet uh tasting they’re free that is a good wine taste and we always bump into one or two people we know from the low area there’s always someone from and it’s a good crowd they have it’s fun it’s fun besides the wine and there’s a lot of
Parking right there at the first and Main Plaza it’s right across from the north end over town hall and uh there’s Boston chowa right at the corner so if you wanted a cup of chowa first you can go in there and stuff but uh you always
A good time there and um and David ms’s staff is uh very helpful they know they wines so they can talk to you whatever you’re looking for and um I went there looking for uh Chon yesterday for the the wine goddess and um they had some a
Nice um new one brought in from um California Gloria Gloria uh uh CH that was selling for $112.99 so the wine Godus hasn’t tried it yet but I picked up two bottles David said give it a try and um it’s it’s not a buttery chanay but it’s got a nice Oak
You know it does have oak oak flavors we’re looking forward we’ll try that the name of it is Gloria especially a nice wine coming up with Easter you want to put Gloria Gloria on the on the table and stuff so so anyway um yeah so that’s
Our show for today the uh the the wine from fatan Fran 1499 um Le which is the accomplice partners in crime okay and then the doel doletto dalba from the josa Fratelli Winery in the pante region of Italy okay 1499 1999 yeah any closing thoughts yeah both those wines are as comfortable to
Drink as is the price they’re very boy yeah br’s you Horizon a little bit more I never would have tried that uh other one that I can’t pronounce but it’s excellent for the price for the price yeah well until next week Happ V May the wine be with you