Tuscany

• Brunello di Montalcino
• Chianti

A nice, Chianti, this is 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Deep garnet in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, black cherries, forest floor and some anise.  Medium bodied.  Nice acidity.  On the palate, cherries and black cherries.  Moderate finish.  This is drinking well now and should continue for the next five to eight years.  It works better with food, pasta with meatballs or mushrooms would be a nice choice.  

Beautiful showing for this wine albeit young.  A blend of 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc.  Deep garnet in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has cherries, black cherries, sandalwood, and slight anise.  Full bodied.  Medium to firm tannins.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Cherries, black cherries and spice with underlying char and slight tea.  With air, a bit of tobacco.  Layers of flavors, deep and complex.  This should continue to improve for the next five to eight years.  It will drink well over the next ten to fifteen.  

This Super Tuscan blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Sangiovese, and 5% Cabernet Franc.  Garnet in color, purple at the core, opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black cherries, dust, tea leaves, slight tar with just a slight volatile acidity that lifts the aromas.  Full bodied.  Light tannins.  On the palate, there are black cherries, cherries, slight sour cherries with some hay, tobacco and dusty earth notes.  Great acidity.  Long finish.  This seems to be getting close to peak but not quite.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.  It will work well with lots of meat, lamb or

Tasted blind with a group of experienced tasters.  In all, three bottles of Italian wine were opened and we all agreed that there was a surprising lack of acidity, across three vintages 2011, 2015, and 2016.  It used to be one of the real clues for identifying an Italian wine, blind.  Not sure if this is a trend, global warming or random chance, or perhaps just.  Maybe being the last day of Libra it was just a root day.  :-)  In any event, I thought it was a Loire Cabernet Franc.  Deep garnet in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is nice with dusty, cherries, and some tobacco.  Full

Anyone who has ever visited San Gimignano probably has a soft spot in their heart for it.  A beautiful picturesque hillside town, famous for its towers.  This winery has been making wines here since 1996, so how come I am just now hearing about it?  So it goes in  the world of wine.  But this wine is excellent!  Light yellow/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with apples, some minerals and slight pine.  Medium bodied.  But the tension in this wine.  It's precision.  Tight layers.  Bright acidity.  It wakes up the palate and then satisfies it.  The palate has great minerality

This is a nice, straightforward Chianti that is drinking beautifully right now.  Purple in color with some ruby swirls.  The nose is nice with cherries, baking spices and tea leaves.  Medium bodied.  An excellent backbone  of acidity.  On the palate, lots of cherries with a slight undertone of forest floor.  Nice finish.  Drink this over the next four to six years.  It is a nice choice for pizza or pasta with a tomato based sauce. 

This is 100% Sangiovese grape from Tuscany grown near Sienna.  It is unclear why this is not labelled as Chianti (though it probably could be), but no matter, this is very enjoyable.  Delicious and punches way above its weight class.  Ruby/purple in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose has bold cherry fruit with some tea leaves and a touch of wintergreen.  On the palate, the cherries come thru with a bit of spice.  Firm tannins.  Black licorice on the finish.  This is drinking well now but will certainly mature and possibly improve.  It drinks well on its own, but wines like this are m

Wow.  This was a first time trying this wine and it is excellent.  ColleMassari is the largest estate of the Montecucco appellation in central Tuscany.  This is a blend of 80% Sangiovese and 10% Ciliegiolo and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine spends 18 months ageing in oak barrels and barrique then 12 months in bottle.  Tasted over two nights, it was even better on night 2.  Purple in color with some ruby swirls, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black raspberries, black cherries, cherries, and a bit of pepper and spice.  Initially, there is also some mint on the nose, but

From the Montecucco DOC in Tuscany.  La Pianore is a certified organic farm with a zero carbon footprint situated in a nature refuge.  The wine is a blend of Sangiovese (at least 60%) and Merlot aged in 25% Wood and 75% Stainless for six months and then another six months in bottle before being release.  Ruby/purple in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose has nice cherry fruit, hay and salinity.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, this has an interesting rustic quality.  Light tannins.  Flavors of cherries and slight orange peel.  A bit of a bitter almond on the finish.  There is s

From the little known Montecucco Songiovese DOCG in Tuscany, this wine really showed well.  Served to some friends, everyone agreed that this was really very nice.   This wine is aged for two years in French oak barriques, and a minimum of another six months in the bottle.  This is 100% Sangiovese.  I believe the 2015 is the current release.  If served blind, I would have guessed Brunello.  Ruby in color, with just a hint of browning, clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, allspice, and slight forest floor.  Medium to full bodied.  Serious tannins that resolved slightly with air.  On the