1969 Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 91.7 points

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  10/29/2023 - chrispaw Likes this wine: 89 Points

  2,0: Farbe: ausgebleichtes rot, dünn. Nase: Soja, Fleisch, Mund: Säurestich, wenig Frucht. Noch moderate Power.

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  10/27/2021 - andtheodor wrote: flawed

  From a seeping bottle with a cork that was the texture of spackling. Smells like day old beef stock, celery, chili peppers, socks. Acetic and stripped of sweetness, pickled cherries, mint. More like a shrub than a wine.

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  10/19/2021 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  Bottled in a 0,73-liter bottle. 13% alcohol. Tasted in Barbi Brunello 2010-1968 vertical.
  
  Medium-deep, moderately translucent and still relatively youthful brick-red color with an almost colorless rim. Fragrant, vibrant and still quite youthful nose with aromas of strawberries, some lifted notes of cool herbs, light almost-foxy notes of cassis and grape juice, a little bit of sweet pipe tobacco, a hint of wizened red fruits and an oxidative touch of beef jerky. The wine feels ripe, juicy and moderately full-bodied on the palate with bright flavors of tart lingonberries, ferrous blood, some wizened sour cherry tones, light oxidative notes of salt-cured beef and bouillon, a little bit of pipe tobacco, a lifted herby hint of minty coolness and a touch of balsamic VA. Even though the wine is over 50 years old, it still retains impressive sense of structure, thanks to its high acidity and powdery, fine-grained and still somewhat grippy tannins that slowly pile up on the gums, making the wine ultimately come across as moderately tightly-knit and tannic. The finish is dry and quite grippy yet also very fresh, lively and juicy with focused flavors of crunchy cranberries and sour cherry bitterness, some balsamic tones, a little bit of lifted, herbal greenness, light notes of tobacco, an oxidative hint of salty rancio and a touch of dried red fruits.
  
  An exceptionally fresh, vibrant and lively Brunello that hasn't fallen apart yet, but instead retains quite a bit of both fruit and structure. Probably the most impressive vintage in our vertical, along with the slightly more evolved yet still similarly impressive 1968 vintage of Poggio alle Mura Brunello. Although youthful, there's no denying that this wine feels very mature, but comparing this to the other vintages from the 1960's and 1970's we tasted, this felt way younger than any other vintage we had. Terrific stuff. Most likely the wine won't evolve anywhere from here but down, so there's no point in aging it any further, but since the wine doesn't seem to show any signs of decline, there's no real hurry, either. Drink or keep.

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  1/22/2021 - tward Likes this wine: 94 Points

  I'll lead with the QPR. I had to go back to receipts to confirm I bought this for $60. There are average-ish current release BdMs selling for more than that. I'm not worthy.
  
  The color was stunning, dark red and vibrant with modest bricking.
  
  Beautiful out of the gates. Wild animal, aging and fresh meat, dried brush, dried herbs, menthol / eucalyptus, a touch of wet horse, dried caramelized cherry and apple, wild mushrooms, dark cherry. All of this super clean with medium finish and little bursts on the back end.
  
  Oftentimes the aged wines at modest prices are the ones that quickly fade. So it was with some regret that this was consumed from PnP over only about an hour and a half. It kept getting better! The last half glass put on more forest floor and depth.
  
  Great stuff. Paired great with a risotto dish that includes beans and salami with red wine.
  
  Note: I tried to finesse the cork starting with the Ah-So, but a bit of downward pressure sent the cork flying down the neck at least an inch. I was lucky it didn't end up completely clearing the neck. I was able to angle my trusty Waiter's corkscrew with its sharp leading edge to dig into the cork, gently winding and pulling, which was able to bring it back up as it crumbled a bit as it exited. Slow and patient, the cork could be fully removed. So, as always, be careful and patient with these old bottles.

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