April 13, 2024 - sangiovese as it were made in a ripasso style. more akin to zinfandel and not at all what i'm looking for in a brunello. couldn't take more than 3 sips.
July 19, 2023 - P&P. Medium(+) garnet, barely translucent, slow moving tears @14% abv. Perfumy nose black fruit, cherry complemented with savory arad leather, tobacco, licorice (drop), oak notes. Dry, medium acidity, medium(+) tannin, medium(+) alcohol and body. Palate sliding from dark cherry, bluwverry, black plum, to leather, robacco, and chocolate. Long wide-ranging finish with gripping tannins, superslick acidity and beautiful fruit. Amazing freshness given the age!
Drink now - keep another 2-3 years.
July 22, 2022 - My previous bottles of this often had an offensive nose. That’s fine now
Plenty of fruit still remains. Honestly stunning
August 14, 2021 - Waited too long…
November 15, 2020 - Sunday Football with Walter (49'ers vs Saimts). 2.5 hour decant. Brownish purple in color. Heavy cherry cough syrup on the nose. Bold flavors of dark cherry licorice amd leather on the palate. There is a barnyard nuance (Beaucastel like, not unpleasant to me).Full bodied with some tannin still remaining. Big finish. I enjoyed it.
July 20, 2019 - PnP. Cork was excellent (could have been brand new, no streaks or leakage of any kind) and color of the wine was dark purple with even browning. A quick sniff showed no madierization or TCA and I was excited. Be sure to stand this up for a week and pour off or decant for sediment...
The nose is fairly giving/open with old library, plum, and sandalwood. The palate still had some fruit with medium-low acidity. Starting to get a little prune for my taste. Tannins have integrated well and the texture was very smooth (not a word I like in wine description, but here it worked).
This was good, not great - and having had my mind worked over by a 2006 Tenuta Nuova in the past, my expectations were slightly higher. This appeared to be a very sound bottle but didn't offer much in the way of complexity or layers. Neither I or my group had the sense it will improve further in bottle. I will open my other white labels about 5 years sooner, for my taste. One last thought: this improved significantly after opening, so a 30 minute decant or slow-ox may be of use.
November 12, 2018 - Gorgeous. Such class in this wine. Big nose, licorice, leather, dark cherry.
The taste is pure and very concentrated, earthy, but transparent, layered cool fruit, savory mid palate and long, solid finish. Fine, polished tannins.
Perfect window.
October 18, 2017 - Casanova di Neri dinner (Ai Fiori (Langham Hotel on 5th Ave)): Candidate of WOTN for me. This was really lovely. It's still quite young. Very bright. Lots of fruit and oak there but it feels like they've mellowed a bit and some of the secondary characteristics pop a bit more. More pulled together than the younger vintages. A great bouquet and very rich with a nice full body. CT window of 2018 seems much too short to me - could see this going for many more years.
December 5, 2016 - Earthy, dried leaves, old savory gravey like mushroom, vinegar-ish character, no fruit, just dirt. Clearly over, me thinks bad storage.
August 4, 2016 - Sangio night (Osteria Langhe): A caricature of a Brunello made in a rich, milk chocalaty style that is clearly not traditional. In that style, this was good, but the heavy handed winemaking is just too much and has not aged well. Aromas here are concentrated with black cherry, vanilla, spice and mocha. Palate is lush with ripe fruit. Good density and depth. Tannins provide grip. Balanced, for the style.