2008 Brunello Tasting Report

WINE TALK
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Over the past several months, Tuscan Vines has been tasting dozens of 2008 Brunello. This report, published before most wines are released in the main stream markets, is the culmination of those tastings. Here’s an excerpt.

Montalcino has been graced with many excellent vintages over the last decade. Beginning with 2004, 2006, 2007 and the hopeful promises of 2009 and 2010, producers in and around the tiny village of Montalcino have many reasons to be gratified. To a soul, many have remarked to me that they cannot remember a greater string of top vintages.

Most retailers continue to sell the 2006’s and 2007’s. Even in my selection rich market, it’s unusual to find a merchant selling a large selection of 2008 Brunello. By law, Brunello may be released in January of the fifth year following the harvest. Despite this, as of this writing, many 2008’s have not yet been released. However, as the autumn breezes begin to roil, wines from the current vintage are beginning to trickle to market.

What better time to analyze the vintage and shine a light on the most recent wines coming from Montalcino? Over the past several months, TuscanVines has been conducting extensive tastings of 2008 Brunello in order to provide readers with insight as to the overall characateristics of the vintage and it’s wines.

Overall Vintage Impressions

Generalizations are limited by their very definition. However, as I progressed through these tastings a pattern became easy to discern. The consistency among the wines is the first thing that became apparent as we tasted the samples. In fact, the consistency was so perceptible as to approach homogeneity.

The 2008’s are not powerful like the 2006’s. They are not as concentrated and exuberant with their fruit like the plush 2007’s. 2008 was a cool growing season marked by degrees of rainfall during harvest. The key for the producers was waiting to harvest until after the rains had subsided. Those who did fared better than those who did not.

The 2008’s tasted for this report were very nice wines. They are elegant, in a delicate feminine manner. They are highly aromatic and have pleasing, mouth watering acidity. However, they lacked the power or masculinity of the aforementioned vintages. Many of the wines seemingly display no tannic structure to their texture. They are wines that will be best suited for near term consumption over the next 3 to 5 years. Indeed, 2008 will be an ideal “restaurant vintage” as the wines will afford early charm and accessability.

This sort of characterization should not be dismissed. 2008 presents a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the best wines of the vintage while providing a “barrier” between your corkscrew and the wines in your cellar that could benefit from additional aging. The key for the consumer is to identify those wines.
Pertimali2008.jpg
All, please enjoy and I welcome your comments.

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Hi John,
Interesting report. Wondering if you tasted Brunello from Casanova di Neri and if so are able to share your impressions.
Many thanks,
kent

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Hi,

For this report I tasted only the white label which is included in the report. I doubt there will be a Cerretalto made based on what I know of that wine. Tenuta Nuova was released too late for me to include it in this report. I’ll have that as a separate TN and topic later this fall.

Thanks,
John

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Thank you so much for this thread and that report.

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Thanks for posting the link - a lovely read and very comprehensive notes.

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Kent and Rob, thanks very much for the comments.

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Hi JFO (shout out to the WCWN). Thanks for this very helpful report.

It reads to me that the '08 Brunello are similar to the '05s and '00s. Would you agree?

When I read a review like yours, I feel a certain measure of relief that it’s not a “can’t miss” vintage. From the perspective of a consumer, a review like yours suggests that I can pass on this vintage without regret. I don’t need to spend $50 on a “drink now” Brunello. There are plenty of wines at half that pricepoint that meet that need. From the perspective of the producers, I would treat such a vintage with concern; there is a lot of Tuscan wine, spread over multiple recent strong vintages, with inventory backed up in the market place, and here is a new vintage of less-than-stellar reviews to add to supply to sell.

“Many of the wines seemingly display no tannic structure to their texture.”
This is absurd. Perhaps these wines should be called Rosso and sold at half the price.

Thanks specifically for the Mastrojanni review. No surprise that this was one of the better wines.
Ditto on the Sassetti Pertimali. I have been dipping into my '99s and '01s which are fabulous right now. BTW, the '06 and '07 Sassetti were available recently for $30, which highlights the pressure in selling the inferior '08s.

Thanks again for the report.

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I was very disappointed with the 8-9 Brunello’s from the 2008 vintage i tried in tuscany earlier this year. Only bought Poggio Sotto (which is Great) and Costanti which is great at its pricepoint. I agree with you on the Ciacci normale, but the Pianrosso was good (i gave it 90 points) although it didnt stand a chance in direct comparison with the 2006 Pianrosso which is really stunning at present!

The pertimali would be one of the few i may seek out to hold from this vintage, if i can find it that is!

Thanks for the report

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Thanks for the report. No wonder there hasn’t been much press about these. Sounds a lot like the 2005’s, but there are joys found there. I feel with Brunello, the powerful vintages get hyped more than the earlier drinking years, possibly to earn the high dollars charged for them.

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Gents,

Thanks for the comments. A few thoughts. Comparison to 2005 is fair I think. I didn’t taste many 2000s for obvious reasons so I don’t make that comparison. Asher, if you are not invested in a particular producer, then yes, it’s a vintage you can skip. It is a drink now and at $40-$50 thats a bit of a stretch. This is why I call it a great restaurant vintage.

Mattias, Ciacci amazes me. I am never impressed with their base Brunello but Pianrosso is always a different issue. I have a 2007 of the latter I’m waiting to try.

Markus, I agree, though like I said, it’s hard to find these right now. I think they are still being held at distributors and some have not yet been released from Italy.

It’s all about careful buying and hopefully his article points that way. I’d love to drink the 3 wines I mentioned any day. But they won’t be easy to find and other than Banfi’s PaM, they will not be cheap.

Cheers!

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And Asher… If you search my site, there are a lot of reviews on Mastrojanni and many more to come. They are firing on all cylinders over the last 4 vintages or so. No drop off at all since the purchase.

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Very nicely done. Thank you, John.

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Thanks for the report John, my observation with 08 is also that the wines somehow lack structure but again one is quite use to big structure from the likes of 04,06 and 07! I still haven’t tried the Poggio De sotto yet and will try to soon since it seems that everybody likes it

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FWIW the 2008 Uccelliera is drinking very well at the moment.

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excellent report.

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2008 is not 2004, 2006 or even 2007. It is not a vintage that can match up with those strong vintages. But on it’s own it’s does have some charm. Casanova and Mastrojanni are very nice. For the right price, and both have value, they are a good choice to add to the cellar.

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Guys, thanks for all the comments. I appreciate the feedback. Most of the wines are showing very well at the moment. That’s the point of the report mostly. Short term cellaring? Yes. But anything more than that comes with risk I think. Pretty vintage.

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I’m curious what, if anything, you guys think of the wines of Máté? I was unfamiliar with them prior to this tasting but they showed very well and I have several wines of theirs to go through in the near future. The Mates are new to the scene, since 2000 I think and own a very small piece of land. I’ve tried their pure Merlot already and it was great too. They also make a pure Syrah I’d like to taste. Any experience with them?