The recent posts by Don and Emilio took me straight to this bottle last night…
We enjoyed it a great deal… Rich, deep, plummy-black cherry fruit with balsamic accents. This wine showed a completely different face than the last time I enjoyed, perhaps 2-3 years ago, when it was rich but perhaps the oak had integrated. It opened nicely to reveal a range of more piemontese aromatic notes, including anise and baking spices. I enjoyed the wine a great dea. Don’t know much about the 02 vintage in the Valtellina, but I’d say this wine had progressed quite a bit and perhaps slighlty past its peak? I think I should drink my other bottles in the next few years, unless these were signs of a less than perfrect bottle. But these are not criticism… this was a first rate, complex, deeply satisfying nebbiolo that was ideal for a prematurely cold fall night…
Thanks for the note, Henry… I love Sandro Fay. Have you tried their “superiore” wines from this vintage? I loved the '01 Sassella, but I haven’t seen any subsequent vintages on local shelves.
I have an '04 of this so I appreciate the note. My limited understanding and experience with Valtellina is the wines, especially Sforzat, have the ability to age well. When I worked at a wine shop, we sold Balgera’s current release Sforzat from '96 & '97 and this was last year. And Melissa-we had the Il Glicine and Sassella from '04 in stock then. Very good wines, imho, though I think Conti Sertoli Salis was may favorite producer from the region.
Henri, did you get that from us? Either way, that was a KILLER vintage in the Valtellina and shows that “Italian Vintage Charts” are ridiculous from the get go…
… and the guys who write those charts don’t drink Valtellina anyway.
Roberto – Italian Wine Merchant… i must say that the bottle seemed to be quite a bit more advanced than the last one I had in 06 or 07… glad I have a few more…