a night of brunellos

LeatherPalate and Claudio161 came over to my house to have a blind brunello tasting. LP brought some great cheese and Claudio brought some awesome baked ziti.

The capsules and corks were removed and then bagged. We then mixed them up a bit on the table and put numbers on them, but we didn't exactly pull a wine according to number, it was more to keep track of stuff

I busted out this chianti to roll us into the tasting and to have something out before hand while we chatted and got ready for the main event

• 2004 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva 88 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG

  nose: a bit tight on the nose, even with it being decanted for a good 90 minutes and some good swirling this wasn't giving off much. Was able to get some plum, earth, cherry, and floral notes
  
  taste: nice and soft with cherry, earth, and floral tones
  
  overall: a very nice and full bodied chianti. Has good structure and a nice lasting finish, this one will probably be better in two or three years

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I threw in the Vino Nobile as a ringer and it worked well. It was great doing these blind as we don't get influenced by labels and knowing what they got scored etc etc. Everything showed pretty well, but obviously some of these will be much better in a few years

• 2003 Cantine DEI Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Bossona Riserva 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montepulciano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

  nose: nice pungent nose with floral tones, smoke, black cherry, cedar box tones, and hints of mint. Very nice and full with some nice elegance to it
  
  taste: good and firm with tobbacco, earth, dark cherry, and vanillans
  
  overall: it's young for sure, but there's a lot of promise on this. THe tannins are taking apart the mid palate a bit, but it then leans into a nice floral and peppery finish. Will get better with some age on it

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• 2001 Conti Costanti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 91 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  nose: a lot of dark red fruit with a faint candy smell along with dried figs, cherry evolving more in glass, and even bits of tobbacco leaf
  
  taste: lots of cherry on the attack with some earth, tobbacco, and a nuttyness to it too
  
  overall: it's very explosive on the attack and mid palate, but finish is slightly lacking, but that is more due to this being a very young wine. This will certainly get better as it ages and more integration happens

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• 1999 Casisano-Colombaio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 95 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  nose: huge cherry nose with various cherries, hi-floral tones, tea notes, cigar leaf, lots of mixed berries, and bits of earth. Just utterly sumptuous and insanely balanced and deep at the same time
  
  taste: huge and elegant that is just pure silk on the palate with leather, pepper, tobbacco, lots of silky cherry, mixed berries, and floral tones
  
  overall: wonderful balance and length. Very classy finish that just doesn't quit. The tannins are still firm, but this is just utterly amazing

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• 1997 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova 91 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  nose: very interesting nose of smoke tones, blueberries, game notes, floral tones with slight flavors of compost tones, cherry, black currant, and flavors of clay. Really dense nose that changed a lot in the glass
  
  taste: nice and silky, but not nearly as deep as the nose with cherry, smoke, wild game, floral tones, and a bit of blueberry
  
  overall: a really interesting wine. It changed a lot in a short time and is very elegant, but the finish doesn't bring as much and the mid palate is a bit thin. While possesing some really interesting characteristics, there is a bit lacking that turns this into a amazing wine

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• 1999 Castelgiocondo (Marchesi de' Frescobaldi) Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Ripe al Convento 91 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  nose: big fruitful nose of cherry, vanilla, blueberry, and leather, with some definite oak influence on the nose too
  
  taste: the tannins are just thrashing the palate. The fruit is there with cherry, cranberry, tobbacco, and leather, but it's obvious that this will develop a lot once the tannins resolve more
  
  overall: insanely tannic right now, where the tannins almost feel like a chainsaw. There is a lot of promise to this wine and there is enough there to see that it will certainly turn into a "wow" wine, but it's just not fully ready right now. THe finish is really long and the weight is perfect

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I had this as a pitch in wine where we all ponied up for it and I grabbed it from work. This wasn't blind and was more so that we just had some more brunello to drink

• 2001 San Polo Brunello di Montalcino 93 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  nose: big perfumy nose of lilac, cherry, blueberry, cedar, and mixed nut tones. Very pretty and elegant nose
  
  taste: there's just a real nice and soft elegance to this with lush cherry, blueberry, lilac, and earth tones
  
  overall: a beautiful and classy wine that is filled with elegance. It still posseses nice and firm tannins with a great attack and very lengthy finish. Just beautiful

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A really great night. A bunch of great wine was drunk and a lot of fun was had. The quality was tremendous and it's always fun to drink brunellos in the first place, it's just better when you do it with friends