Monday, November 26, 2007

1990 Altesino, Brunello di Montalcino, Montosoli, Tuscany, Italy

The wine puzzles me. I used the François Audouze slow decanting technique. The bottle was opened at 4 pm and poured in the glass at 8 pm. The first impressions had a lot of peppery, liquorice, overripe cherries and wet cellar. If blind guessing on this one could easily guess on a wine that has spent more than 25 years in the bottle. I must admit it was a breathtaking nose as it had a lot of Italian charm. It didn’t make it any worse that I served it with pasta with homemade basil-pesto with loads of Parmesan cheese. The acidity did the perfect Sangiovese job and cut trough the rich pasta texture - lovely so far – we are in the mid nineties for sure. But there is a problem – the nose turns out to be rather one dimensional. Without the paste the acidity becomes more focused on the front palate and only glints of fruit is transacted to the back palate. Why does it puzzle me? – On the nose the wine held up its appearance even if it never was able to produces new layers. Still it never gave up and held its concentration – however the acidity and taste of the wines dries out somewhat and is in need of some fruit. Also - it’s a bit hard to drink without food. My conclusion – if holding this wine I would drink it now. (92?)

1990 Altesino, Brunello Montosoli, Tuscany, Italy

Old socks and fart, slowly fading and more fruit present. The wine divided the group and I was on the path of the more positive. The taste is beautiful with perfect structure and bite – nothing old here. After the old socks; raspberry, sweet liquorice and pepper fruit. Very nice (95)

Tasted 1st of April 2005 - Era Ora

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