In Los Angeles this week for a series of business meetings for a new and thrilling restaurant project (more on that later) and a working dinner with one of NN+’s (my band’s) agents… and NO trip to LA is complete without a visit to the BEST WINE BAR on the planet (IMHO): Lou on Vine (with AW, of course).
As always, Lou poured an incredible flight of wines for our tavolata… but the wine that simply annihilated me with its goodness was the 2008 Nero d’Avola “Nero di Lupo” (a toponymic designation), vinified in amphora and cement… and, in this case, open from the day before !!!… think blood sausage and sour cherries and volcanic rock in a glass… unbelievable wine… So fresh, so focused, and so beautiful in the glass… Highly, highly recommended and even better, Lou said, the day after… This is definitely a wine that “you call the next day, no one night stand…”
Lou is predominantly Francophile but Italy — and southern Italy in particular — is his mistress… We also drank…
So young but showing so gorgeously right now…
Can you hear the Stevie Wonder in your head?
And though you don’t believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overnoyed, over loved, over me
(How’s that for a pun, Thor?)
Lou called it “a little farty” at first and didn’t pour it until it had aerated for about an hour. It’s so hard to find Overnoy in this country and I was thrilled to get to taste the 07 (which we drank at the end of flight… a perfect closer…). I love the mouthfeel of these wines (at once light and heavy), with that nutty oxidative note balanced by apricot and honey… utterly delicious…
Rebbe Lou presides over what is IMHO the best wine program in the country. Perhaps a little radical for some but always right for me: thrilling, delicious, and always something I haven’t tried yet… If only we could clone Lou and have him open a Lou on Vine in every major American city… we’d have a brighter and stronger next generation of young wine professionals…
Do Bianchi 
a little nero di pupo to go with your farty overnoy, stevie?
@Tracie P it’s not hard to believe: there was a lot of poopy talk last night. AW is still talking about the “eliminative function” of natural wine…
I’m 91 points on that pun. To get the last nine points, you need to rework the pun so it makes sense in the French pronunciation. But still, high marks. ;-)
that was the wine we brought from domaineLA! Jill and i went to Lou to open some bottles from the store and that sample of COS and have some dinner. glad you got to enjoy it too! delish.
Funny, used a Nero di Lupo 2006 in a tasting yesterday. People were all baffled by the finesse, elegance, freshness and certainly the incredible length of this wine. To my taste their best cuvée.
I’ve remarked on COS before – great wines, Nero d’Avola and Frappato. Had the 2007 vintage of the very wine you tried Nero di Lupo at the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries in 2009 – maybe the best of that grape variety.
Lovely Nero…just ordered 2 cases! Hope D.C. likes it (they will)