It really was a pleasure to do some more tastings, especially on a one-on-one experience as is usually the case at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  I also do enjoy the more structured tasting events that they enact as well, as each offers different experiences.

The next wine that I had was Azienda Agricola Demarie Giovanni Langhe Nebbiolo 2023.  The Demarie family’s interest in winemaking goes back to the late 1800s, but was officially founded in 1957 by Giovanni Demarie, and it is still a family business and now run by Aldo and Paolo Demarie.  They have a thirty-hectare estate in Roero but use the Langhe DOC designation.  In 2013, they built a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly winery powered by solar energy.  This Nebbiolo wine is from twenty- to thirty-year-old vines planted on sand, marl-sandstone and fossilized seashells on exposed hillsides and using dry-farming techniques and hand harvested.  The wine undergoes maceration with the skins for twenty days and they used indigenous yeasts for fermentation in temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tanks. The wine then ages for six months in concrete vats, and after bottling it rests for an additional four months prior to being released.  It is clarified using clay and only lightly filtered, they produce 850 cases of this wine.  This ruby colored wine offered notes of raspberries and blackberries, followed by violets, leather and spices.  On the palate the medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of red cherry and raspberry, followed by traces of cocoa, blending with fine tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of red fruit, spices and terroir.

We followed up with Casa Vinicola D’Angelo Aglianico del Vulture DOC Basilicata 2019.  Casa Vinicola D’Angelo has spanned four generations and almost a century in the history of Aglianico del Vulture.  While the winery was established in the thirties, in 1924 the wines were exhibited at the IV Commercial Fair in Bari.  In 1971 Aglianico earned the DOC designation.  Mount Vulture is an extinct volcano and is part of the landscape of norther Basilicata.  The wine must be made exclusively from Aglianico, on volcanic soil, and altitude is an important factor in that it must be planted between 200m and 700m.  The fruit is manually harvested, and basic Aglianico del Vulture wines must be aged in oak barrels for at least a year, before being released.  The D’Angelo wine undergoes ten days of maceration on the skin and is aged for eighteen months in large barrels.  Their first vintage was 1960, and the average age of the vines is from 30-35 years of age.  The wine was a deep garnet color and offered notes of black fruit, Sous-bois, sage and licorice.  On the palate this medium-to-full-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of black cherry, earth and tar and a very chewy wine with firm tannins that ends with a medium-to-long count finish of fruit, spices and terroir.

I thought I was done and they brought out one more wine and who am I to say no?  A bottle of Philip Togni Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2014.  Philip Togni Vineyard is a small, family-owned Napa Valley wine producer, and one of the oldest in the Spring Mountain District.  The winery was planted in 1981 by Philip and his wife Birgitta on a ten-acre plot (four hectares) and all the wine is estate grown and they are ably assisted by their daughter Lisa.  The winery is solar-powered.  The wine is described and likened to an age-worthy Margaux-type blend of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  They also annually hold back a portion of the newly bottled wine to re-release when it is ten, twenty and thirty years old.  This deep garnet colored wine offered notes of dark fruits and cassis, orange zest, and Sous-bois.  On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of black cherry, blueberry and plum blending with a touch of minerals and silky tannins and ending with a nice long-count finish of refined fruit, terroir and just a touch of ethereal sweetness, an elegant wine.