Wines at Carmine’s

Does anyone age wine anymore?

Once it was standard practice for a restaurant to purchase wine with the intention of aging before presenting to the consumer. But today, market pressures make this quite rare as the cost of inventory, space, and knowledge limit the opportunity.

Here at Carmine’s, we strive to offer a simple, uncomplicated wine list composed of all Italian wines (which can be very confusing to consumers). We are committed to serving the finest wines we offer after some extended aging in an effort to show the true sense of Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello di Montalcino wines, for example.

Recently, we were offered the current vintage (vintage = the year the grapes are harvested) of these “big three” to add to our wine cellar. We tasted 2009, 2010 and 2011 vintages. We try to project development of these “young” wines so that they can be offered in a rotation with other purchased wine when they are more ready for the consumer.

Some of these same wines are on our wine list today from the 2001, 2004 and 2006 vintage! We will try to save a couple of bottles from special vintages for those times when a consumer is really searching for something special. So we typically have a few bottles of quite special and more aged wines when requested. This category represents a small corner of our total wines sold, but it occupies a large portion of interest and intrigue as we get to follow these wines in their development.

Next time you dine with us, feel free to inquire about the following wines:

Cogno “Vigna Elena” Barolo 2004

Allegrini Amarone 2006

Gianni Gagliardo Barolo 2006

Pe’re Allesandro “Vigna Giaia” Barbaresco 2001

Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2006