Borgogno Barolo '04

£32.70, Les Caves de Pyrene

TOD arrived at mine at 9am. Early for lunch, one might think.

He was laden with an inexpliacle alarm clock*, an explicable weariness, and an unjusifiable conviction that he had power of veto over my intention to go to Borough Market that morning.

Things fell apart... We didn't make lunch... I didn't make Borough... We took a cab out West.

Saturdays seem to be becoming increasingly picaresque. We may have drunk at three separate establishments, or possibly twelve. One, a pub, served oysters (in August?!), another hamburgers. Most treated us with with suspicion, some with disdain, and at least one, I believe, with outright terror. Later on TOD lost his Blackberry, keys, mind and a peacock feather that I had rather generously bought him. A la recherche de temps perdu.

All of this I put down to the Barolo: full of a passionate intensity, and just too young.

2004 Borgogno Barolo
The elegant Pinot-ish colour feints rich red fruit and dark cherries on the nose, flowers and leather too. Exceptional concentration. The palate is more austere; juicy and crunchy but firm. Before the tannins hit. Fine grained and supple, then succulent and coating, then puckering and total.

It's a disparate and poorly integrated amalgamation of high-quality components (at the moment), and all out of time.

But then again, these days, what isn't?


*predicatbly non-functioning