Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino
Opening wine of the tasting. I dearly love this bottling, but haven’t had one this early in its life since tasting at the winery almost 20 years ago. While I don’t specifically Recall the TN at that tasting, it couldn’t have been too bad, as it’s sparked a double decade love affair, especially for this bottle. Not this time. Tart verging on sour red fruit, orange peel, Tuscan terroir spice and cedar. And so much balsamic it’s overwhelming the whole project. My idea of a young brunello at this point is a 2015, so perhaps this wasn’t a fair fight to begin with, but I didn’t enjoy this at all. I heard from our somm that the house philosophy has shifted to a leaner, meaner style, but I just didn’t like this. At all. I have no idea whatsoever what the others giving this high 90s scores are tasting, but any resemblance between this and prior TNs I’ve had is purely coincidental. ‘10 and ‘13 are both drinking brilliantly, and in the case of the latter, can be had rather reasonably, and I suspect that well-stored bottles from much of the aughts can say the same. So, I’d put your money there if you want some more certainty of getting the best of this bottling’s abilities, or put this, in the words of a certain former veep, in a lockbox. Rating withheld.
Ok, here we go again. After the thud of the ‘20 CdN TN, one of my favorite bottlings, we have another ridiculously young Flac, another go to in the $100 range I’ve had from oh so many vintages and consistently loved over the years, but never one anywhere close to its bottling date as this, as I hope this $100 tasting gets on track. Again, perhaps with confirmation bias showing its ugly head, baffled by the high scores for something I found undrinkable, unratable. There’s moderate notes of tart verging on sour red fruit, with a bit of black thrown in for good measure, mixed herbality and earthy minerality, but this mostly tastes like bitter dirt. Again, not what this supposed to taste like! I guess this is promising in the same way a kid on your son’s HS baseball team is who hits a 450 foot home run followed by 15 strikeouts is, but I wouldn’t be giving it a NC 2A scholarship. Rating withheld, in the name of mercy.
Our third installment of, My God, what have I spent my cee note on with a bottling that I’ve had once or twice before but hasn’t been a regular part of the carte like the preceding CdN or Flac. Once again, I feel like I’ve run into a stone wall, with fairly muted dark fruit notes far eclipsed by tar, iron and tannins, tannins and still more tannins. Yep, I love highly structured wines, but hush my mouth, this made me wonder if maybe Mike Smith or Kirk Venge could pretty please make an appearance. Again, there may or may not be promise here, but I’d expect that even if there is, cars will be flying, literally, first. Rating withheld.
My feelings about this tasting were approaching despair, and one of the least likely things to change them seemed to be a young barolo, with this varietal’s tendencies toward enamel peeling early in their lifespans, but the magic of vinoculture came through, and zing, boom, this youngster shined, with ruby red fruit, iron, rose petals and mixed florals and a laser beam of well-calibrated acidity giving this an electric feel with wonderful lift. So good now but seems inconceivable—this is a barolo, after all—it won’t get even better. Best young barolo I’ve had siince the ‘19 Vajra Bricco at Slow Wine a couple of years ago. Drink or hold. 95++
We get to the business end of the tasting, and things get really interesting. At a tasting about 6 months ago at which a ‘11 Solaia sparkled (98), a young Ornellaia was a trainwreck, making me wonder, in light of the first 3 disasters, how this would fare, and the answer was outstandingly. Still just the slightest bit shy, this deeply purple-black wine had a super sexy nose led by cassis, black currants, char, balsamic, mixed herbs and a floral-herbal note. Rich and creamy, more tannic than acidic with a spine of steel, this is stunning already, with the promise of true greatness. Leaving aside terroir, individual bottlings, etc., this wine, with almost the mirror image of Tig, shows me why, for my palate, a cab blend with a bit of sangio is just a bit more on point than vice versa. Would love to try this in 5-10-20+ years, with a big, thick steak or even to have let the glass sit for a couple of hours, but to paraphrase a former defense secretary, you go to the wine tasting with the wines they got, and I was damned glad that they got this. 97++ now, 98-100 potential
After the bar was set so low by the first 3 disasters, the Einaudi moved it higher, and the Solaia looked like tough competition for best in show. Then came Masseto, this one, my first, a wow wine if there ever was one. Spicy, floral, with sweet red berries and cherries back by darker fruit notes, orange peel, earthy herbality and vanilla. Rich and creamy but lithe and bracing, this is indescribably good and open at present it’s almost inconceivable how this improves. Right there with the ‘18 Lafleur as the best, by far, merlot-based (a bit of CF is apparently waved over this) wines I’ve ever had. 3x the top of my budget range, a bottle of this seems, alas, unlikely to ever grace my collection, but man, if it does and you want to share, plan on bringing over something memorable. 100 with a bullet
2020 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova
Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino
Opening wine of the tasting. I dearly love this bottling, but haven’t had one this early in its life since tasting at the winery almost 20 years ago. While I don’t specifically Recall the TN at that tasting, it couldn’t have been too bad, as it’s sparked a double decade love affair, especially for this bottle. Not this time. Tart verging on sour red fruit, orange peel, Tuscan terroir spice and cedar. And so much balsamic it’s overwhelming the whole project. My idea of a young brunello at this point is a 2015, so perhaps this wasn’t a fair fight to begin with, but I didn’t enjoy this at all. I heard from our somm that the house philosophy has shifted to a leaner, meaner style, but I just didn’t like this. At all. I have no idea whatsoever what the others giving this high 90s scores are tasting, but any resemblance between this and prior TNs I’ve had is purely coincidental. ‘10 and ‘13 are both drinking brilliantly, and in the case of the latter, can be had rather reasonably, and I suspect that well-stored bottles from much of the aughts can say the same. So, I’d put your money there if you want some more certainty of getting the best of this bottling’s abilities, or put this, in the words of a certain former veep, in a lockbox. Rating withheld.
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2021 Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT
Italy, Tuscany, Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT
Ok, here we go again. After the thud of the ‘20 CdN TN, one of my favorite bottlings, we have another ridiculously young Flac, another go to in the $100 range I’ve had from oh so many vintages and consistently loved over the years, but never one anywhere close to its bottling date as this, as I hope this $100 tasting gets on track. Again, perhaps with confirmation bias showing its ugly head, baffled by the high scores for something I found undrinkable, unratable. There’s moderate notes of tart verging on sour red fruit, with a bit of black thrown in for good measure, mixed herbality and earthy minerality, but this mostly tastes like bitter dirt. Again, not what this supposed to taste like! I guess this is promising in the same way a kid on your son’s HS baseball team is who hits a 450 foot home run followed by 15 strikeouts is, but I wouldn’t be giving it a NC 2A scholarship. Rating withheld, in the name of mercy.
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2020 Nervi-Conterno Gattinara Vigna Molsino
Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Gattinara
Our third installment of, My God, what have I spent my cee note on with a bottling that I’ve had once or twice before but hasn’t been a regular part of the carte like the preceding CdN or Flac. Once again, I feel like I’ve run into a stone wall, with fairly muted dark fruit notes far eclipsed by tar, iron and tannins, tannins and still more tannins. Yep, I love highly structured wines, but hush my mouth, this made me wonder if maybe Mike Smith or Kirk Venge could pretty please make an appearance. Again, there may or may not be promise here, but I’d expect that even if there is, cars will be flying, literally, first. Rating withheld.
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2021 Poderi Luigi Einaudi Barolo Cannubi 95 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
My feelings about this tasting were approaching despair, and one of the least likely things to change them seemed to be a young barolo, with this varietal’s tendencies toward enamel peeling early in their lifespans, but the magic of vinoculture came through, and zing, boom, this youngster shined, with ruby red fruit, iron, rose petals and mixed florals and a laser beam of well-calibrated acidity giving this an electric feel with wonderful lift. So good now but seems inconceivable—this is a barolo, after all—it won’t get even better. Best young barolo I’ve had siince the ‘19 Vajra Bricco at Slow Wine a couple of years ago. Drink or hold. 95++
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2022 Antinori Solaia 97 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
We get to the business end of the tasting, and things get really interesting. At a tasting about 6 months ago at which a ‘11 Solaia sparkled (98), a young Ornellaia was a trainwreck, making me wonder, in light of the first 3 disasters, how this would fare, and the answer was outstandingly. Still just the slightest bit shy, this deeply purple-black wine had a super sexy nose led by cassis, black currants, char, balsamic, mixed herbs and a floral-herbal note. Rich and creamy, more tannic than acidic with a spine of steel, this is stunning already, with the promise of true greatness. Leaving aside terroir, individual bottlings, etc., this wine, with almost the mirror image of Tig, shows me why, for my palate, a cab blend with a bit of sangio is just a bit more on point than vice versa. Would love to try this in 5-10-20+ years, with a big, thick steak or even to have let the glass sit for a couple of hours, but to paraphrase a former defense secretary, you go to the wine tasting with the wines they got, and I was damned glad that they got this. 97++ now, 98-100 potential
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2020 Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Masseto Toscana IGT 100 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
After the bar was set so low by the first 3 disasters, the Einaudi moved it higher, and the Solaia looked like tough competition for best in show. Then came Masseto, this one, my first, a wow wine if there ever was one. Spicy, floral, with sweet red berries and cherries back by darker fruit notes, orange peel, earthy herbality and vanilla. Rich and creamy but lithe and bracing, this is indescribably good and open at present it’s almost inconceivable how this improves. Right there with the ‘18 Lafleur as the best, by far, merlot-based (a bit of CF is apparently waved over this) wines I’ve ever had. 3x the top of my budget range, a bottle of this seems, alas, unlikely to ever grace my collection, but man, if it does and you want to share, plan on bringing over something memorable. 100 with a bullet
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