1997 Brunello Blindtasting Dinner (plus 1950 Margaux)

The idea of a gathering at Lupa was proposed by Keith via email on Monday evening, and we somehow settled on a theme -- '97 Brunellos -- and gathered up enough bottles to do a horizontal of 11 Bruenllos blind, by Thursday. Nicely done gang!

Virtually all of our Brunellos showed very well. (The one that didn't, the Castello Banfi, may well have been faulty somehow, as I'd tasted a much better sample a couple years earlier.) The Brunello of the night for me was the Siro Pacenti, closely followed by the Canalicchio Riserva. The other memorable bottle of the night -- thanks to Keith, who claims to have been born at the beginning of 1950 -- was a gorgeous example of 1950 Margaux. Getting the soft cork out of that bottle led to dramatic surgical efforts, employing two cork screws at the same time. Stephen Gold succeeded in getting most of the cork out that way (and the couple of remaining pieces adhered to the neck, so he was able to scoop them out without getting any cork to speak of falling into the wine). If opening a bottle of wine ever becomes an Olympic event, Stephen's two corkscrew maneuver would no doubt be medal worthy. And the strenuous effort of opening the bottle was rewarded by the delightfulness of the sweet nose and palate on the Margaux. (I wasn't such a fan of the '82 Palmer that accompanied the Margaux in that opening act, but others seemed to enjoy it quite well.)



Lupa, as usual, did a great job on our antipasti, pastas and a delicious osso bucco.

• 2008 Zuani Vigne Bianco 92 Points

  Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Collio

  Light yellow color; nice lemon, grapefruit, floral nose; lemon, orange spice, jasmine, mineral palate with good acidity; medium finish

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• 1950 Château Margaux 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Light medium brick red color with pale meniscus; lovely, sweet red fruit, cigar box, tobacco, smoke nose; tasty, mature, elegant, delightful, tart red fruit, mushroom, cigar box, mineral palate with balance, in remarkably good shape for 60 years; medium-plus finish 94+ pts. (the fill on this bottle--top shoulder--signalled that this was a well kept bottle, which was born out by the wonderful nose and palate)

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• 1982 Château Palmer 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Bricked medium red color with pale meniscus; slightly maderized, tobacco, vegetal nose; lean, smoky, tobacco, tart cassis palate, with chewy, firm tannins; medium finish 87+ pts. (not very giving at this point, and already on the downhill slide, at least from this particular bottle)

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• 1997 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino 91 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Dark red violet color; nice cherry, dried cherry, tar nose; tasty, youthful, tart cherry, red fruit palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish 91+ pts.

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• 1997 Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Dark red violet color; lovely tart cherry, raspberry, mineral nose; tart red fruit, mineral, tart black raspberry, tar palate with depth and grip; medium-plus finish (group's WOTF with 5 votes, my 2nd place WOTF)

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• 1997 Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino 95 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Dark red violet color; nice dried berry, dried cherry, tar nose; tasty, dried berry, tar, dried cherry, mineral palate, needs another 2 to 3 years; long finish (my WOTF, group's 2nd WOTF with 4 votes)

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• 1997 Conti Costanti Brunello di Montalcino 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Medium dark red violet color; tart red fruit, dried berry, dried cranberry nose; tasty, tart red fruit, dried cherry, mineral, cranberry palate; medium-plus finish

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• 1997 Le Gode Brunello di Montalcino 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Medium red violet color with pale meniscus; juicy cherry, raspberry, oak nose; tightish tart cherry, dried cherry, red fruit palate with balance; medium-plus finish 92+ pts.

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• 1997 Campogiovanni (San Felice) Brunello di Montalcino 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Dark red violet color; mushroom, dried cherry nose; maturing, mushroom, dried cherry, dried berry, chocolate palate, surprisingly mature; medium-plus finish

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• 1997 Argiano Brunello di Montalcino 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Medium dark red violet color; chocolate, dried cherry, dried berry, roses nose; tasty, dried berry, dried cherry, chocolate palate with depth and grip; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (my WOTF, group's 2nd WOTF with 3 votes)

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• 1997 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Very dark red violet color; tar, dried cherry, roses nose; rich, tasty, dried cherry, black cherry, tar, dried berry palate; medium-plus finish (group's and my 2nd WOTF)

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• 1997 Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Altero 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Medium dark red violet color; tar, dried cherry, roses nose, with a touch of oxidation; tasty, rounded, dried cherry, raspberry, nutmeg palate; medium-plus finish

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• 1997 Canalicchio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 94 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  Dark red violet color; lovely, roses, dried cherry, sandalwood nose; tasty, dried cherry, tar, roses palate with subtle chocolate, complex, with good acidity; medium-plus finish 94+ pts. (group's and my WOTF with 7 votes)

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• 2003 Antica Cantina S. Amico Lacrima di Morro d'Alba Venere Oro 89 Points

  Italy, Marche, Lacrima di Morro d'Alba

  Dark red violet color; chocolate, berry, pruney nose; chocolate, black fruit, plum, berry palate; medium finish

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