This was a pretty informal tasting with a great dinner of beef pot roast, asparagus, mashed potatos, cheese cake, and pear torte. None of the wines really jumped out and separated itself from the field, but all of them showed well.

'98 Solengo: Very fresh, overt, floral and fruity nose. Very good tannic structure, but the fruit doesn't seem to fill out the tannic skeleton. Medium long finish of subtle smoke and coffee. Not the best balanced Solengo, but still an outstanding wine with serious grip. 91 Drink now, IMO.

'97 Banfi BdM: Nice Crimson color, with a mildly perfumey aroma of mineral, spice, and cherry. Filled out the mid-palate well and had a fairly long finish. With time, cocoa and mushroom were noticed. Considering the large production (over 30,000 cases made), this is impressive. While it is very drinkable now, my sense is that it still has a couple years to truly peak. 93

'97 Isole e Olena Collezione Cabernet: For many, this was the WOTN. Dark currant aromas and flavors, decorated with rose petals and chocolate. This lasted the longest over the span of the evening as well, with pleasing herbal notes developing late. Great balance and harmony. 95 Drink now or hold 1-3 yrs.

'00 La Spinetta, Barolo Vigneto Campe: The cork had leaked some juice, so I decided to open this early. Great depth to the fruit on this already. There's cedar, tobacco, and leather hiding in this wine, but it never really opened up. -Can't blame it at this age. Full bodied, but well-balanced. I'd give it 93-94 already, but with another 5 years or so, I can easily imagine this being worthy of the 98 pts Suckling awarded it. WAIT.

'59 Ferrari, Solaria Jonica: Tawny nose of caramel and espresso, but the palate isn't as horizontal as a port. Raisin, chocolate, and espresso on the palate, but also a red-fruit core that made it still seem rather young, despite the dark color. Truly unique and worth tasting once, but for the $150 admission ticket, I'll be satisfied to have tasted it once. 95

Nice notes Stickman. Haven't had the '97 Isole e Oleana Cabernet, but have had a couple bottles of the '98 and think it is a great wine. Think I have 3 more and you gave me the urge to open one up soon.