2008 Tesco Finest Brunello di Montalcino

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 88 points

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  6/25/2016 - Andrewbdc wrote: 88 Points

  Similar note to previous bottle, although this was fresher and less developed and certainly could age further. Had opened out very nicely on second day. Overall I'd still recommend drinking in next couple of years.

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  5/21/2016 - Andrewbdc wrote: 88 Points

  The wine is clear and medium garnet in colour.
  The nose is clean with medium (+) intensity aromas of tertiary flavours - fruit development (fig, prune, tar, cooked black cherry) and bottle age (leather, earth, truffle) and secondary flavours - oak (smoke, clove). The wine is fully developed.
  The palate is dry with medium (+) acidity, medium (+) tannins, quite firm and grippy, medium (+) alcohol, medium (+) body, medium (+) intensity flavours of cooked black cherry, fig, prune, smoke, leather, earth). The finish is medium (+).
  The wine is very good quality. It has complexity from secondary and tertiary development, and still has good concentration, which is balanced by the acidity and the tannins. However it lacks freshness as the primary fruit is completely gone and the finish is not long.
  The wine should be drunk now and is not suitable for further ageing. The lack of primary fruit means that further tertiary development won't be possible, and the wine is likely to start to fade leaving just the acid and tannin structure. This bottle is a lot more developed than the last - drink in next 12 months.

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  5/6/2016 - Andrewbdc wrote: 88 Points

  The wine is clear and medium garnet in colour.
  The nose is clean with medium (+) intensity aromas of red fruit (cherry, raspberry), black fruit (blackcurrant), herbaceous (thyme), oak (toast, smoke), dried fruit (fig, raisin), tertiary (leather, Earth, barnyard). The wine is developing.
  The palate is dry with medium (+) acidity, medium (+) grippy tannins, medium (+) alcohol, medium body, medium (+) intensity flavours of cherry, raspberry, smoke, fig, leather, Earth. The finish is medium (+) length.
  The wine is very good in quality. The acid and tannins balance the fruit, which has reasonable concentration and complexity from primary, secondary and tertiary clusters. The finish is quite long. However the alcohol sticks out a little and the palate feels a little dilute with not as much intensity as the nose.
  The wine should be drunk now (over the next couple of years) and is not suitable for further ageing. Although it has the structure, it feels as if the fruit is starting to fade, and it's unlikely to develop significantly more tertiary complexity.

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  3/27/2016 - mjwstickings Likes this wine: 88 Points

  This is a very good wine, to be sure, if rather basic for a Brunello. Medium-bodied and with some orange-rust around the edges, it has a lovely and complex Sangiovese nose of blackberries, raspberries, cherries, earth, leather, Italian herbs, and spice, with a hint of smoke in the background as well as a curious touch of barnyard that comes and goes. There's a strong sense of maturity here, yet the cran-cherry acidity that hits the palate suggests remarkable freshness. There may be further aging potential, but there isn't much fruit depth, and indeed the flavours really thin out mid-palate (even if the length is quite good). But this is still a rather elegant and well-composed effort, and a fine introduction to a rather expensive and impressive region.

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