TN: 1997 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli

  • 1997 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli - Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino (3/30/2014)
    Decanted for about ninety minutes. Dark garnet hue. Nose of dried cherry, dark plum, earth, a bit of moca. Autumnal flavors of dusty red plum, tart red cherry, soy, and leather on the palate with smoothed off tannins and modest acidity. Long, persistent finish of red fruit, earthiness, and spice. Lovely showing, if a bit evolved. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I’ve had the 1990 and 95 of this and found them both fascinating and complex but also a little austere and advanced. Your “a bit evolved” comment is consistent with that. I wonder if these peak early and if so why? Montosoli’s supposed to be A+ terroir.

Dan,

I echo your thoughts about the vintage being perhaps different due to the heat that year. I am certainly no expert on Brunello but it seems that the 1997’s may have peaked early. I should add that I’ve had three bottles of this so far with fairly significant bottle variation, so my experience with this bottling may be atypical.

Regards,
Doug

I also found my recent bottle of the '95 Montosoli to be perhaps a little further ahead of the curve than I’d expect. But then, a week or so ago, I had a bottle of Altesino’s 1978 “regular” Brunello (I don’t think they even made the “Montosoli” back then, so it was all blended into the “classico”) looking and tasting incredibly young, fresh and powerful (if still a little monolithic), which seemed more than in line with Montosoli’s reputation for making long-lived wines.

Cernos,

I have a few more bottles of the ‘97 left so I sincerely hope I am wrong about early maturation. We will have to see. I would appreciate your and other folks’ views on recent samplings of other 1997 Brunello regarding longevity.

Cheers,
Doug

I didn’t buy lots of '97, mostly because it was never quite my kind of vintage. I liked '95 and particularly '99 much better. Nonetheless, a bottle of Vasco Sassetti’s Campo Belavista '97 recently was firing on all cylinders: the package is perhaps a little more exotic and lush in 1997 than would be the norm, but still quite balanced, very enjoyable, and most certainly not over-evolved. I have one left and I’m leaving it for at least another 10 years.
Despite what I said about '97 not quite being up my street stylewise (I didn’t really mean to overgeneralise, more a simple matter of somehow allocating my resources :slight_smile:), I feel that lots of good producers made great wines in '97 that will age for a long time (I remember monumental wines from the likes of Salvioni, Il Poggione, Livio Sassetti, Salicutti, Franco Pacenti… just off the top of my head).

Good thought, Cernos.

I purchased a fair amount of 1997 and 1999 Brunello, and have just a smattering of 1995’s. I have found the 1995 and 1999 bottlings a bit more balanced, and so far less variable as well. Still a relative newcomer to this region so I appreciate the info.

Cheers,
Doug

The comments about the wine being “evolved” and “advanced” are interesting. I had the 1997 Montosoli within a year of its release, and it was entirely approachable and really enjoyable.

Dave,

I didn’t open my first bottle until 2009 (and thought it was pretty good then, actually) so missed the opportunity to test one right out of the gate. Glad it showed well at that point.

Cheers,
Doug

Doug,

I’ve had several of those lately and they are definitely ready to drink. No real hurry but probably not getting any better.

Phillip,

I would agree. I think I have two more of these so more data points to come. Based upon this bottle perhaps sooner than later.

Cheers,
Doug