Third Annual White Truffle Charity Dinner

Del Posto Ristorante

85 10th Avenue

New York, NY 10011

Tel. +1 (212) 497-8090

I am deeply grateful to a small group of food and wine lovers who came together in December 2009 to support my annual White Truffle Charity Dinner, held to benefit the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a debilitating brittle-bone disease, has difficulty attracting funding for research because it is such a rare disease relative to heart illness, diabetes, breast cancer all of which are much more common. I would also like to thank proprietors Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianch and Mario Batali for their generous contributions. Executive Chef Mark Ladner prepared a brilliant menu to match our wines. Each course was generously topped off with fragrant white truffles, a touch that elevated all of these dishes into the stratosphere. Proprietor Joe Bastianich and Wine Director Henry Davar made sure all of the details were executed to perfection. I say this every year at the conclusion of the event….but it will be hard to top this night next year!

A magnum of Krug’s 1976 Vintage kicks things off grand style. It remains an awesome, powerful wine packed with rich, textured fruit and an enveloping totally extroverted personality. Sadly, a magnum of Pol Roger’s 1975 Sir Winston Churchill, here in its first vintage, is slightly corked and impossible to evaluate.

I have had great luck with Bruno Giacosa’s wines from some of the lesser-known vintages of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, so I thought it would be fun to warm up with some long-forgotten wines before we moved into the Red Label Riservas. Not much is known today about vintages 1968 and 1969. Sheldon and Pauline Wasserman, among the foremost English-language Italian wine experts of their era, rated both vintages 0 out of 5 stars, as did Renato Ratti, the renowned producer and scholar the Wassermans cited frequently in their books. But as the old saying goes, there are no great vintages, just great bottles, and that is certainly the case here.

Giacosa’s 1968 Barbaresco Santo Stefano is delicate, pretty and wonderfully intact. To be sure, this is a relatively small-scaled Santo Stefano, yet the wine reveals gorgeous balance and a soft, perfumed finish. It is the perfect wine with which to start the evening. The 1969 Barbaresco is soft, round and perhaps even a touch simple, but it, too, is quite pretty and alive. The real surprise here is the 1969 Barbaresco Santo Stefano, which comes across as rich and powerful, showing awesome richness and depth. Although no upside remains with any of these 1960s Giacosa Barbarescos, if perfectly stored, they should keep another few years. Still, I am not tempted to push my luck with my own remaining bottles at this stage. Ceretto’s 1971 Barolo Vigneto Pitattore in Cannubi, an exceedingly rare wine, is a bit of a historical curiosity, but inserted blind into this flight last-minute it shows very nicely. The bouquet in particular is quite expressive and very much in the style of other important wines from this site, one of Barolo’s most famous. Though fully mature, the wine is quite beautiful and harmonious.

Above: A trio of pristine 1960s Bruno Giacosa Barbarescos

I have had the privilege – and I do mean privilege – of drinking Bruno Giacosa’s Red Labels from the 1960s and early 1970s a number of times recently and have never been anything less than deeply impressed. The wines are firing on all cylinders on this night. The 1964 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva is sublime. Still showing touches of firmness, the wine flows with layers of sweet, spiced fruit, revealing incredible clarity, precision and the broad shoulders typical of the Barbarescos of Neive. There is a timeless elegance to this wine that I find incredibly appealing. The 1967 Barbaresco Asili Riserva is perhaps just a touch less interesting than the 1964 Santo Stefano. The fruit is wonderfully long, pure and silky but the wine is a bit more resolved. I have had the 1971 Barolo Riserva Le Rocche di Castiglione on two other occasions over the last few weeks, but this bottle is on another level. Entirely. Everyone at the table stops talking for a moment. Still deeply colored, the wine emerges from the glass with tons of dark fruit intermingled with sweet, mentholated, balsamic notes in a virile, powerful expression of this vineyard. The wine is utterly profound. That’s all there is to it.

We arrive at one of the most eagerly anticipated flights of the night. As requested by one of the attendees, this flight consists of four Giacosa wines from the fabled 1978 harvest, one of Giacosa’s very finest. Eddie asks why the Barbaresco Gallina has been dropped from the line-up. It hasn’t, but for some reason I forgot to open the bottle along with the other wines. Not a problem, the bottle is quickly opened and it is magnificent from the start. This wonderfully spiced, fragrant, mid-weight Barbaresco impresses for its purity and finesse. What a fabulous bottle. The 1978 Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano lives up to its reputation as one of the most profound wines ever made. The fruit shows a remarkable intensity, depth and purity. This is a sensual, compelling Barbaresco that conquers everyone at the table. The 1978 Barolo Riserva Villero is impeccable in its round, sweet fruit, with the sweet, balsamic notes that are the hallmark of this site. Giacosa’s 1978 Barolo Riserva Collina Rionda is sweet, ethereal and intensely perfumed in its roses, tar and licorice. This is an especially sensual, feminine bottle of the 1978 Rionda that contrasts dramatically with a much richer example I tasted a few weeks prior. Still it is exquisite and makes for a fine finish to this profound flight of Barolos and Barbarescos.

Above: An epic flight of Bruno Giacosa’s 1978 Barbarescos and Barolos

These four early Barolos from Giacomo Conterno are all beautiful, though in retrospect I should have placed them earlier in the evening next to Giacosa’s wines of the same era as it took some time for palates to recalibrate to this style after the massive 1978s. The 1961 Barolo is surprisingly fresh and far better than a bottle opened a few minutes prior. The aromatics are fresh and vibrant, and the wine reveals terrific balance in a mid-weight, ethereal style. The 1964 Barolo shows more fruit, depth and richness, with sweet mentholated notes that add complexity to the spiced fruit. Both the 1961 and 1964 are fully mature, and even under the best of circumstance the wines need to be drunk over the next few years at most. The estate’s 1967 Barolo takes things to another level in terms of its intensity and sheer depth. Though a touch rustic, it is a beautiful bottle from Giacomo Conterno. The 1971 Barolo is powerful, tannic and totally enveloping in its focused, vibrant fruit, foreshadowing what will come in the next flight of reds. The 1971 remains a benchmark Barolo from Conterno, and it is superb on this night.

The 1975 Dom Pérignon Oenothèque (third plenitude) is one of my absolute favorite Champagnes, and it enjoys a stellar showing, although to tell the truth, I had originally envisioned drinking it before starting on the Conterno wines. No matter, the 1975 Oenothèque is brilliant. This bottle seems a touch more filled out and darker than was the case 1-2 years ago, when the wine was decidedly fresher and more energetic. Still, it is fabulous!

Our last flight is sensational, as we taste through four of the most legendary vintages of Giacomo Conterno’s Monfortino. The 1971, 1978 and 1982 are all tightly wound and youthful, while the 1985 is the only wine that comes across as ready to drink! The 1971 Barolo Riserva Speciale Monfortino is powerful and sinewy as it flows across the palate with layers of intensely perfumed red fruit. This is a magical bottle. Conterno’s 1978 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is a decidedly darker and more brooding Barolo than the 1971. Here the fruit is explosive and multi-dimensional as the wine blossoms with extraordinary elegance and grace. The finish is round, powerful and all-enveloping. The two wines are fascinating to taste side by side, as the 1971 was made from purchased fruit while the 1978 is the first vintage Conterno made from their then-recently planted vines in the Cascina Francia vineyard, yet stylistically they are remarkably similar. Barolo freaks will note that both the 1971 and 1978 are labeled as Riserva Speciale, a designation that was eliminated when Barolo gained DOCG status in 1980.

Above: A flight of Conterno Monfortinos from the great vintages of the 1970s and 1980s

The 1982 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is one of my very favorite Barolos, and tonight it is fantastic. This is an especially elegant, refined Monfortino that impresses more for its inner sweetness and perfume rather than the extroverted fruit that defines vintages such as 1968, 1978, 1985, 1990 and 1997. The wine’s length and overall balance are nothing short of spellbinding. Conterno’s 1985 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is the most open and accessible wine in this flight. Some tasters pick up on the overt ripeness and slightly pruney character, which are the result of the warm year. Those qualities are made even more evident here, as the 1985 is tasted in the company of three decidedly more classic Monfortinos. Still, the wine is exceptionally beautiful, elegant and rewarding. This is a great flight with which to finish a wonderful evening of food and wine to benefit a worthy cause.

Above: Shaved white truffles are fabulous, even on ice cream!

Food:

Assaggi, Spuntini & Snacks

Carne Cruda

Risotto of Vacca Rossa

Tortellini in Brodo

Veal Bracciole with Porcini & Barolo

Robiola Due Latte with Grilled Bread & Mosto Cotto

Sicilian Tangerine Sorbetto with Sicilian Olive Oil

White Truffle Tartufo with Apricot & Almond

Cookies, Candies and Frutta

Wine:

1976	Krug Vintage (magnum)	95
1975	Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill	?
1968	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano	90
1969	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco	89
1969	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano	93
1971	Ceretto Barolo Vigneto Pittatore in Cannubi	90
1964	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano	95
1967	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Asili	94
1971	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Le Rocche di Castiglione	98
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina	94
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva	97
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Villero	97
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Collina Rionda	98
1961	Giacomo Conterno Barolo	92
1964	Giacomo Conterno Barolo	92
1967	Giacomo Conterno Barolo	94
1971	Giacomo Conterno Barolo	94
1975	Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon Oenothèque (third plenitude, dis. 2005)	97
1971	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Speciale Monfortino	97
1978	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Speciale Monfortino	100
1982	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	99
1985	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	96

 -- Antonio Galloni