Brunello di Montalcino

Another top BdM from the consistently top producer.  Ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, spice, and a bit of tobacco.  Medium to full bodied.  Light tannins.  On the palate, this has a tight complexity that unwinds in the glass.  Lots of cherry fruit with some underlying forest floor and slight tea leaves.  Good finish.  This is a classic pizza wine and in fact, went great with some really creative wood fired pizza.  Drink over the next ten years.  

Purchased at the winery.  Garnet in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, tea leaves, and coffee.  Full bodied.  Good acidity.  On the palate, bright cherry fruit.  Plenty of depth.  Layered.  Underlying tobacco/forest floor notes.  Long finish.  This is nice on its own but better with food.  A big plate of pasta is the obvious choice.  Drink over the next five to eight years.  

Garnet in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, dried cherries, dried tea leaves, and some spice.  Medium bodied.  Good acidity.  Light tannins.  On the palate, this is a bit tired and past prime but still with something to offer.  Cherries, dried cherries aand forest floor notes along with some old leather.  Moderate finish.  This is better with food at this point.  It will work well with a nice plate of pasta.  Drink up.  

Classic Brunello from a stellar vintage.  Garnet in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose opens quickly showing cherries, cranberries, sandalwood, and slight tea leaves.  full bodied.  Strong backbone of acidity.  On the palate, cherries with slight black cherries.  Firm tannins.

This is a big, modern-styled Brunello that is absolutely delicious.  Purple in color with some ruby swirls, clear and bright.  The nose is powerful with black cherries, baking spices, cedar and slight tea leaves.  Full bodied.  Nice acidity.  Firm tannins.  On the palate, black cherry fruit with some spice/oak.  Wonderful texture.  Long finish.  This is not yet at peak but close.  As the oak and tannins integrate, this may yet improve even more.  That said, no harm drinking now.  It drinks well on its own and will work well with bigger foods.  Osso Buco would be a great choice.  

Ruby to deep ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, tea leaves, some baking spice and roasted herbs.  Great texture; juicy but plush.  Full bodied.  On the palate, cherries, black cherries over spice and charred herbs.  Good acidity.  Complex and deep.  Long finish.  This seems to be just on the younger side of peak.  Very tasty.  It should drink well for the next twelve to fifteen years.  A nice match with Lamb Ragout.  

This is a big, modern styled Brunello.  It is also outstanding.  Purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, forest floor, sandalwood and chocolate.  Full bodied.  Firm tannins.  On the palate, plenty of oak coming off as spice and chocolate but plenty of cherry and black cherry fruit.  This bottle is still youthful but getting close to maturity.  Depth.  Delicious.  Nice finish.  This drink great on its own and need some heavier food right now.  Short ribs with Polenta seems like it would work well.  Drink over the next ten to twelve years.  

Very nice showing for this wine.  It has the reputation (fueled by its 15% abv?) of being a bruiser but at this stage in its life, showed plenty of refinement.  Ruby in color with some purple swirls, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, slight sandalwood, slight tea leaves and an interesting rosemary note.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, cherries, slight black cherries, hint of soy with a bit of char.  Medium tannins.  Good acidity.  Long finish.  This may still improve but either way has another ten to twenty years left of good drinking.  It drinks nicely on its own b

This is the basic Brunello in Altesino's line-up.  Drinking well right now.  Deep ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose takes some time to open, then shows cherries, tobacco, some forest floor and slight chocolate and spice.  Medium bodied.  A nicer backbone of acidity.  On the palate, there is some depth here with vibrant cherries and underlying dust and fresh tobacco.  Nice finish.  This is drinking well with just a bit of air.  Moderate tannins.  It works better with food and past with Bolognaise sauce would be great.  Drink over the next seven to ten years.  $75 purchased at a tren

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