01
Mar
2016
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
(February 19, 2016) ... The interesting part about Brunello is that it is not a one-size fits all wine and there are so many different styles to choose from: classic Brunello with its old world charm, modern Brunello with its high alcohol and big fruit and then there are Aussie-style Brunello that have gobs of fruit and wood and spice; what a fellow writer called “for the North American palate” (funny part is, he was from North America).
Today 127 producers showed off their wares from the 2011 vintage, plus the 2010 Riserva and a number of other wines – without getting too in-depth 127 producers with a minimum of two wines to taste equals 254 – and that’s not taking into account single vineyard offerings, Rossos and any other specialty wine they wanted to showcase; and with only a day to taste one must make hard choices of what to specialize in … I chose the 2011 Brunello di Montalcino.
Below are some of my selections (based on the wines I tried – looking at the above numbers and the time restraints, I hope you would agree with me when I say, one just can’t do ‘em all):
Click here to see the reviews of the wines tasted
26
Feb
2016
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
(February 17, 2016) ... Gorgeous little town this San Gimignano, the streets, the walkways, the views from the hillsides, back alleys and cute little shops … sadly at the time of my writing this I can’t show you any of it – I lost my camera and as one Italian resident pointed out during my search, “If this were say Scotland, you’d get it back, but this is Italy” – turns out he had lost his camera in Scotland and days later it was returned to him in Italy … God bless the Scots.
What I did not lose were my notes from the Anteprima of San Gimignano – their 50 Anniversary of being a recognized DOC (the first in all of Italy - 1966) and then upgraded to DOCG in 1993.
Today 38 producers stepped up to their tables pouring the preview of the most recent vintage (2015) – most were about a month away from being bottled – though some will wait longer.
By clicking the link below you will see a list of the wines I thought showed a lot of promise for the coming year (I do not rate them because a lot can happen between tank and bottle) but I do think these wines will be something special … plus I rate a few older vintages that are quite delicious. Will we see them in Ontario? Probably not, but they are worth keeping an eye out for, if you are ever kicking around the world (or better yet in Italy visiting San Gimignano).
Click here to see the reviews of the wines tasted and those promising bottling soon to be available.
