A quartet of Brunelli

WINE TALK
#1

Went out to a local Italian BYOB Monday night (BTW, for those in the West Chester area, I was very impressed with Limoncello - food was excellent, and while not strictly a BYOB, they allow you to bring your own Sundays, Mondays & Tuesdays). At any rate, I brought along a quartet of reds, as follows:

1990 Poggio Antico Brunello Normale
1999 Poggio Antico Brunello Altero
1999 Ciacci Brunello Vigna di Pianrosso
2001 Livio Sassetti Brunello Pertimali Normale

All four wines were drinking fine, but I would be remiss to not mention that (at least in this bottle) the Pertimali was screaming good, the unanimous WOTN. I am not normally a fan of drinking Brunello this young, but I had wanted to have a “status check”, and I was shocked at just how delicious this wine showed. If you have this in the cellar in any reasonable quantity, I highly recommend pulling a cork.

In addition, the '99 Altero is also a young wine that is showing very well right now - not quite as ripely gorgeous as the Pertimali, but perhaps showing a little more structure/backbone, and giving every indication that it’s only gathering steam.

The '90 Normale was a nicely mature Brunello, but I have never considered this to be a great wine, and this showing was consistent with my opinion - nice, but blown off the table by it’s younger siblings.

The '99 Ciacci is still a little closed in on itself, and I think this was the one wine that might have benefited from a little decanting. A lot of potential here for the future, but currently overshadowed by the Altero and Pertimali.

[cheers.gif] [cheers.gif]

#2

So I’m sitting here sucking down a glass of the Ciacci 48+ hours post-opening. Color in the glass is still a fairly dark translucent red. Primarily menthol & red fruits on a “cool” nose. Sweet fruit on the palate, with a hint of bitterness that serves as a nice exclamation point on the lengthy finish - like the Pertimali the other night, this is a pretty nice young Brunello, and gives every sign that it will be around and providing drinking pleasure for quite some time.

I also had a last glass earlier of the '90 Poggio Antico, which had a nice melange of sotto bosco & funk on the nose - I probably underrated this wine a tad on Monday, but that happens when you are drinking side-by-side with wines that are rocking & rolling right from the outset like the Altero and Pertimali were. Still, if you have any of these wines in your cellar, all four of them are wines that merit a look in the near future to see where things are (although if I had to defer gratification right now, I would definitely think about putting the Ciacci in a dark corner of the cellar).

#3

Thanks Bob. The 01 Pertimali was very tasty early on. I’m debating whether to live vicariously through your note or do some diligence on this one. Thanks for the update.

#4

Agreed on the 01 Pertamali… a delicious wine, up there with Costanti and Pianrosso for fav 01 Brunelli.

I had a 99 Pianrosso about a year ago and had a similar experience to you with it… very good but closed in a bit and in need of many years.