2009 Passopisciaro Passopisciaro
Community Tasting Note
forceberry wrote:
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - Harvested much earlier than is typical for Passopisciaro, fermented quickly in stainless steel with minimal maceration, aged for 18-20 months in 3000 and 5000-liter neutral oak barrels.
Luminous, translucent raspberry red color that turns to almost colorless towards the rim. The nose shows ripeness and richness, yet it is conspicuously closed and restrained with sweet yet reticent aromas of ripe red fruits, some sunny plummy fruits, a little bit of jammy blackberries (reminding me a bit of cheap Aussie Shiraz) and a touch of smoky minerality. The wine is moderately full-bodied, ripe and quite warm with rich flavors of wild strawberries, sweet raspberries, some ripe cranberries, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, a hint of sunny dark fruits and a touch of peppery spice. Contrasting the typically crunchy Passopisciaro style, this is relatively softly-structured with its medium-to-moderate acidity and ample but very ripe and gentle tannins that contribute more to the texture than to the structure. The finish is soft, ripe and medium-long with a hint of tannic grip, moderately high and bright acidity and more savory than sweet flavors of sour cherry bitterness, ripe wild strawberries, some tart lingonberries, a little bit of brambly raspberries and a hint of alcohol warmth.
A noticeable step down from the usual Passopisciaro style, which was rather evident in a vertical tasting of wines from the first vintage (2001) to this one. 2009 was a hot vintage, and it is quite obvious here as well: this wine seems noticeably sweeter and lower in acidity than Passopisciaros in general. That's not to say that this wine is particularly jammy or low in acidity, but enough for me to rate this lower than average for Passopisciaro. Stylistically this is still a young wine and most likely it will continue to develop in a cellar pretty well, but I heavily doubt that even with age will this wine become as good as most of the older vintages are now.
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