February 23, 2024 - Magnum. Youthful color, showing no signs of age. Nose was highly aromatic and fresh with dried cherry, herbs and flower notes. Palate was smooth and integrated with red fruits, spice, tea leaf. Very impressive.
February 2, 2024 - Lovely heady cherry on the nose, alongside damp herbs. The palette is in extraordinary balance between the above. A really outstanding wine.
January 27, 2024 - Stood up for a month. Double decanted six hours in advance. A deep ruby core fading to a medium ruby outer edge. Expressive aromas of damp herbs, black shoe polish, black cherry, and a feint spiced, fermented component that’s challenging to decern. A sheer delight on the palate, which is deep, sleek, and polished. A superb showing with no signs of slowing down.
December 8, 2023 - It smells lovely notes Rick. A touch tight and closed on opening but with lots of raw power in there.
March 3, 2023 - Six months after the last bottle, and slightly less convincing tonight. Drank over 3h. Perfect bottle condition with a dry and clean top of cork, and an in neck to bottom neck fill. Dark garnet, no browning. Again, I am amazed that this is the same Sangiovese grape as the BdMs we usually drink. Unlike any BdM I have had, this almost 30 year old Sangiovese is still fairly rich and round on the attack, but at the same time does not show absolutely any oxidative tendencies. In this sense it resembles more a dry Cab / Bdx blend. The mid palate does not entirely measure up to the attack It lacks a bit in concentration compared to the attack and then fades towards a slightly acidic finish. The rather difficult 95 Tuscany coming through after all I guess. Still very good for a 1995 Sangiovese from Tuscany but best to drink up.
August 21, 2022 - Recent purchase of a few 95s and 97s out of curiosity and without much expectations. The Sangiovese we drink is almost exclusively Brunello, and with very, very few exceptions at the top end it’s a wine I like to drink within 15 years even for the best vintages since the 90s as it picks up oxidative notes beyond that.I was always assuming that it must also have to do with very ripe fruit and too oxidative wine making approach in Montalcino in recent times as I have had quite a few BdMs from the 70s and they show no such issues even at age 50.
This 95 Fontalloro seems to support this theory. Pnp and the wine is showing a fairly dark garnet with no browning whatsoever. Incredibly fresh, the acidity however perfectly integrated which is not so often the case for Tuscany, medium tannins, a bit lean the fruit, some wood spices, but a great wine with food or on its own if you don’t mind a somewhat austere style. Would be curious to see which 95 Brunello could match this today.
Once again kudos to Tanzer who despite the poor vintage gave this 92+ on release and commented that it was built for the long haul (whereas Bob gave it 87 and suggested to drink within 5-6 years…). Pitty we don’t have Stephen at Vinous anymore - he was the very best Tuscany critic.
June 30, 2022 - Deep dark reddish-purple in color with clearing at the edges. Full, fragrant & mature nose of ripe fruit aromas of cherries, blackberries & plums with overtones of earthy/dusty & some floral notes, herbs, minerals, leather, olive notes, mint & a hint of cedar in the background. Full bodied with a very good concentration of well balanced & smooth textured, matured, ripe fruit flavors of cherries, blueberries & plums with spices, minerals, iron, cocoa & a hint of cedar. Long lingering finish. Drinks quite well with decanting & airing but at 25 years of age, it is at its' peak of development although it may hold here for a few more years if stored properly.
May 18, 2021 - Fully mature and drinks well out of the bottle. Ripe fruit, balance, nice secondaries. Not the best conditions to taste this but I really enjoyed it. A-
June 30, 2020 - Perfectly mature nose of plums, chocolate, red and dark berries, as well as some leather notes. Good acidity with well integrated tannins and flavors of iron, red fruit, leather, and underwood on the palate. Nice finish. This is my second bottle within a few months and although I didn’t take notes on the previous one, this bottle is way better!
November 6, 2017 - Black cherry, leather, underbrush. Resolved tannins, balance acids, tasty and ready. B+