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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 87.7 pts. and median of 88 pts. in 26 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by West Coast Wine on 12/25/2023 & rated 89 points: 89 isn’t a knock on this wine. After 10 yrs in a bad vintage still is a great QPR and great straight forward wine great with or without food. (171 views) | | | Tasted by Winesbeforme on 7/20/2021: delicious and finishes smooth. (734 views) | | | Tasted by tominasia on 7/2/2020 & rated 88 points: Same as previous review (1004 views) | | | Tasted by ckwogkr on 4/25/2020 & rated 88 points: 토스카나 와인 답게 산도가 있으나 키안티 수준의 산도는 아니어서 좀 더 음용성이 좋은 편이었다 (1097 views) | | | Tasted by tominasia on 11/16/2019 & rated 88 points: Agree with previous reviewers. Excellent QPR. Dark fruit, smooth drinker with earthy undertones. Good to bring to a dinner party. Drinking well now; not one to lay down for long. (1293 views) | | | Tasted by wdlohr on 9/2/2019 & rated 89 points: dark brooding wine, tastes rich and full of black fruit with some green powder austerity. Score = 2/4 (1310 views) | | | Tasted by DeCorte.house on 7/4/2019 & rated 90 points: Great value wine. Beginning to drink well 2019 and probably peak will into 2020. (979 views) | | | Tasted by Mario1961 on 3/22/2019 & rated 79 points: Very dry pris à la maison avec Steph enjoyable as second bottle
Must try as first bottle (1051 views) | | | Tasted by Oenecnist on 3/11/2019: Bought for 24 instead of 48 during half-price night; best Searcher Pro price in the US is 20. Opened the bottle for a half hour before drinking. Good red color; fragrant sangiovese nose, good red fruit with help from the merlot. Tasty, nothing more--table mates wanted to look elsewhere on the limited list. My evaluation: I've stopped giving scores on a "100-point scale" as I've become less convinced that they can be meaningful to others. I use a 4-category scale (perhaps with +/-)--not including flawed--which runs outstanding/notable/drinkable/poor. I considered this notable when considering quality, age, and price (experience consistent with my TN of Oct 12, 2018). (974 views) | | | Tasted by Oenecnist on 10/12/2018: Bought from a neighborhood wine shop for 22--well above competitive retail (e.g., Empire price=15). Taken across the courtyard to the local casual restaurant in the same building; it does corkage (8/b for bottles from the shop; 20/b otherwise)--thus, I accepted the high retail under these circumstances rather than use restaurant wine list with 3x retail markups and limited selection. Attractive arrangement between the shop and the restaurant without restaurant running its own shop. No decant, unfortunately. Color seemed good in the dim-lit dining room; initial nose was bright and grapey, body was tart black cherry and lean, clipped finish. 14.5% ABV. Nose and body mellowed over 2-hour dinner so wine seemed rounder and more fruit emerged--tasty, though not complex; would decant at least an hour next time. I have some older Al Passo ('09) and prefer it with more bottle age. My evaluation: I've stopped giving scores on a "100-point scale" as I've become less convinced that they can be meaningful to others. I use a 4-category scale (perhaps with +/-)--not including flawed--which runs outstanding/notable/drinkable/poor. I considered this notable when considering quality, age, and price. (1155 views) | | | Tasted by jmcmchi on 8/25/2018 & rated 87 points: Tea cherry and bramble nose
Medium+ body, firm tannins, tea and cherry notes throughout with odd herbal elements (1050 views) | | | Tasted by sebastienjm on 7/11/2018 & rated 85 points: Quand on voit la qualité de la magnifique cuvée Valdisanti pour quelques euros de +, le positionnement de cette cuvée à 17 euros (achetée en ligne) est incompréhensible, c'est simple, fruité, court, peu de plaisir donc peu d'intérêt (1234 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Chianti Classico: The Stellar 2015s and Surprising 2014s (Jan 2018) (1/18/2018)
(Tolaini Al Passo Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By James Suckling
JamesSuckling.com (7/20/2017)
(Tolaini Toscana Al Passo, Red, Italy) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and JamesSuckling.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Tolaini Producer WebsiteSuperTuscan BlendSuperTuscan Blend refers to wines which feature a significant Sangiovese component combined with grapes not traditionally associated with Italy like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. This separates it from "Sangiovese blend" which is used for wines which are predominantly Sangiovese and combined with traditional Italian varieties. There is often confusion as many wines most famous associated with the term "Super Tuscan" like Sassicaia, Masseto and Ornellaia have no Sangiovese and are properly linked to 'Red Bordeaux Blend.'
In fact, Super Tuscan was a term coined to refer specifically to wines such as Sassicaia and Tignanello. These were wines that "fell out" of the official DOCG classification of Italian wines because they either contained grapes not permitted (international varietals such as cabernet sauvignon or merlot,) were aged differently (I.e. in barrique) or were 100% sangiovese - which was not permitted at the time for Chianti (E.g. Fontodi Flaccianello.) Forced to be classified as simply "Vina di Tavola" these wines nontheless quickly found favour in international markets and comanded prices above the highest quality DOCG Chianti Classico & Brunello di Montalcino wines at the time. The wine industry and press began to refer to these wines as SuperTuscans because of their popularity and quality, but also because of the prices they commanded. Subsequently, the Italian authorities, under the Goria Law 1992, redrew the classifications, and included the category IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) to classify the SuperTuscans.Italy Italian Wines (ItalianMade.com, The Italian Trade Commission) | Italian Wine Guide on the WineDoctorTuscany Tuscany (ItalianMade.com) | TuscanytToscana IGTHere is the Wikipedia entry for Toscana wine. |
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