e had a special treat earlier this week. Myself, Thomas and Matt sat for a tasting of 2004 Brunello di Montalcino's. One of our agents had sourced these wines from 4 different producer's, and once all of them had arrived, cleared customs, and had been delivered, Tuesday night was set as the night! The four wineries represented were Poggio dell'Aquila, Collemattoni, La Gerla, and Mastrojanni.First, a little education-Montalcino (Mon tal CHEE-no) is an area of wine production in Tuscany. It is about 110km southwest of Florence. Brunello, roughly translated, means 'nice dark one' and is the name
of the Sangiovese clone used to make the wine. Brunello di Montalcino is 100% Sangiovese Grosso. The last 'outstanding vintage' as designated by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello, was in 1997...until the realease of the 2004 vintage! These wines are some of the best produced in Italy. Fragrant, full flavours of dark red raspberry, cherry, and sweet vanilla. I was unfamiliar with all of the wines we were to be tasting, so I did a little research. 3 of the 4 I could find data on, and 3 of the 4 had been reviewed and tasted in Tuscany by Wine Spectator-the April edition had an alphabetical listing of all 2004 Brunello's tasted and their scores. Much to our delight, the Collemattoni, was on the list and had been given rave-reviews and a 95 point score. The Mastrojanni had been given a 90, as had the La Gerla.
I was SO curious to see if we could taste the difference a 95 point score makes. I didn't want to tell the guys which one I knew was 'supposed' to be the best. After 2 enjoyable hours of tasting (we had the Rosso di Montalcino from each winery also, and two super-tuscan's) and deliberating - we were able to make our buying decision. Understand that these wines come with a well deserved $70 price tag, and we have to consider what we can sell, and how much of it, being the small business that we are. We did decide on the Collemattoni-not just for the score, but for the fact that we found it to be absolutely amazing. The aromas, the full flavours, the well-integrated Slovenian oak..it was approachable now, yet will age for 10-20 years. It was a big wine. We are bringing the Mastrojanni in in larger format for the holidays 1.5L
More to come on wine ratings and what they mean to us, the retailer.
Erin
That Collemattoni Brunello 2004 is still drinking great after 4 days open without any preservation. I have tasted it everday since and it shows no sign of falling apart and some new character every time. Amazing bottle that I am looking forward to selling around the holidays. thomas
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that Brunello producers also made Rosso di Montepulciano....
ReplyDeleteThey don't...they make Rosso di Montalcino. Rosso di Montepulciano is a different wine altogether. Rosso di Montepulciano is the little brother to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Both are made primarily with Sangiovese (like Brunello) but with different rules and from a different town. None of these should be confused with Montpulciano d'Abruzzo which is another wine made of the grape Montepulciano and from the town Abruzzo. I'm sure that is more confusing than helpful. thomas
ReplyDeleteWhoops...that was a typo on my behalf..We had the Rosso di Montalcino from each producer..my bad. I edited it in the post! The Rosso di Montalcino is the little brother to the Brunello, if you will.
ReplyDeleteErin