January 24, 2020 - Ready and at its prime now. A solid example of vino nobile, a hint of leather and strong tannin, balances with a smooth clean finish. Drink now!
March 5, 2017 - Similar to your standard Ruffino profile, rugged Old World, but in this case much more rounded and with a polished "chocolate finish." Firm cherry and dark berry fruit profiles, muddy tobacco, "tea", and a bit of the Ruffino funk. Medium to light bodied - a pasta wine eh!
I returned to this one and found it completely different than my first bottle...NOT BAD! Not great either.
Semi-traditional.
September 29, 2016 - PnVnD 2/3 bottle. Let air for 1hr. Deep sparkly garnet clear with clear rim. Toasty charcoal and cherry nose. Medium(-) weight with steeped black tea tannins. Cherry with cherry cough syrup touch of licorice and a strong stemmy note on the palate. Hot on the finish. Over oaked and over extracted. Disappointing and not a re-buy.
Day 2. Better integration with oak settled down not as hot. +2pts. Still not a re-buy.
December 6, 2015 - While I agree that this offering was a bit thin for a Vino Nobile di Montelpulciano, it was, however, very enjoyable. Drinking more like a Chianti, while pale in color, it does offer up nice cherry & oak aromas, a mid-weight mouth feel and red berry flavors. The taste of this wine, as well as many others, is highly influenced by the food that accompanies it. In this case, hot soppressata brought out the best qualities in this wine, including sweet tannins on the finish.
October 25, 2015 - Meh! Strawberry-mocha mush. Low tannin, low acid - possibly flawed with little to no cellar-ability. Batch variance may be an issue with this mass produced wine. This variety falls EXCEEDINGLY short of its reputation and provides no "zing" whatsoever.
Hardly worth the $13 I paid and certainly not worth the $27 it is promoted as.
A dud. :(
October 20, 2015 - Ok, middle of the road Vino Nobile
Drink now-2018
September 14, 2015 - Disappointing. Flabby and uninspiring.
April 18, 2015 - I found this wine barely adequate. Much too developed and without much character, it was also slightly hot. On the positive side it had acid and tannin balance and with an ice cube it was okay. I would avoid this.
February 16, 2014 - Anteprima Vino Nobile Montepulciano - 25 TN inside! (Montepulciano (Si)): Nice brilliant ruby red.
Fine at nose with red ripe fruits and sweet spices.
Correct at taste, but without personality. IV: 83