Though firm, there is an elegance to this red, whose flavor profile ranges from strawberry and cherry to tobacco and tea. Taut and linear, with fine balance and a long, red fruit, stone and savory aftertaste. Best from 2025 through 2042
MENU
|
WINE LOCATOR
SEARCH
|
Though firm, there is an elegance to this red, whose flavor profile ranges from strawberry and cherry to tobacco and tea. Taut and linear, with fine balance and a long, red fruit, stone and savory aftertaste. Best from 2025 through 2042
This is one of my all-time favorite Brunellos, and although personal tastes are fluid and may change from time to time, there is something timeless and solid about this wine. It's like a touchstone. The Casanova di Neri 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova is graced with a similar interlude of elegant rose or crushed flower that we saw in the annata wine. It appears more prominently here, and with more shape and focused intensity. Make no mistake, Giacomo Neri builds wines for pleasure and sensual impact, and this wine (helped by a hot growing season and 15% alcohol) ticks all those boxes. But it also shows floral elegance and sour cherry freshness that defies our expectations of the vintage.
A pale straw color, the 2021 Derthona Timorasso is set to be released in May of 2023. It has a savory richness to its aromatics of pine resin, fresh lime flower, and melon and is tangy on the palate, with medium body, saline, the stony texture of wet asphalt, Meyer lemon, and chamomile. It feels very much like a Chenin Blanc, but a fresh style in a warm vintage. It is long on the palate with mineral persistence.
Another brilliant expression, reflecting a culture of kaleidoscopic blending to attain a greater whole: tank and oak (no new) ferments, partly induced and spontaneous, all at once. Rapier-like precision, depth and weight, without any excess or obvious winemaking artefact perceivable. Mid-weighted, yet intense, reeling off notes of smoked almond, stone fruit allusions, pickled mango and kumquat. The finish is impressively pliant and majestically long.
Perfumed, composed and agile with notes of cherries, wild strawberries, white pepper, frozen raspberries, dried flowers and some stones. Full-bodied with fine, chalky tannins and crisp acidity. Bright and vertical with controlled power throughout. Textural and subtle. Great tension and energy on the mid-palate and onto the long, focused finish. From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Try after 2030.
This wine shows its MGA name "Roncaglie" on the front label for the first time. That's because Vietti recently acquired additional land in this cru site. The total holdings now span two hectares of vines. The 2018 Barbaresco Roncaglie Masseria is made as if it were a Barolo (instead of a Barbaresco) and is released one year after its peers. It shows tart fruit and dried cranberry with some mild spice and tarry smoke from two years in large oak casks. Exactly 5,026 bottles were made.
Distinctly savory and spicy in the glass, the 2018 Brut Oudeis wafts up with notes of crushed stone, dusty sage, ground ginger and citrus zest. It's elegant and round on the palate, with saline minerals and brisk acidity enlivening the tart orchard fruits. This finishes with a balanced inner sweetness, and sour lemon hints add a lovely contrast. The 2018 Oudeis is a big step up from the 2017 tasted last year. It's a blend of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay.
The 2021 Barbera d'Alba Vigna Scarrone is dense, plush and explosive. A rush of dark red cherry/plum fruit, mocha, licorice, spice, rose petal and a kick of French oak all build in the glass. Potent and quite deep, the Scarrone is another lights-out Barbera from Vietti. In recent years, the Scarrone has come along very well. Then again, these vines were planted in 1989, so they are no longer ‘young', just younger than the Vigna Vecchia, where the oldest vines date to 1918.
|
|