I’m still not sure I can get my mind around this vintage qualitatively.
I recently opened an 06 Stella di Campalto Brunello. It was a huge wine with a lot of substance and extract and held up nicely after 2 days.
Haven’t opened any other 06 Brunellos yet and I only have Soldera Case Base which I will not open young
Don’t do it! Way too young. Did this with a Ciacci and my thought was good, structured wine, but would be better down the road.
+1
I am approaching my 2004s with caution and not touching 2006s until 2016.
I liked certain wines on release (the Conti Costanti immediately comes to mind), but I would not personally be drinking any of these wines now. When Rick Gregory used to post here he talked about 15 years being a good time to start checking out better vintages, and at least in my experience, that’s not a bad rule of thumb. I will be starting to retaste my 99’s in the coming months to see where they’re at, but other than a bottle here or there consumed for “scientific purposes”, I am not bothering with 2001, 2004 or 2006 yet.
Conversely, if you buy any “lesser” vintages, I think a lot of the 2005’s are drinking well right now.
I’ve found many 2004’s to be drinking well right now while a lot of '99’s and '01’s are not quite ready.
Between '99 and '01, I’ve found '01’s to be closer to prime than '99’s.
Haven’t touched any '06’s and don’t plan to for quite awhile.
2005 and 2007’s seem to be early drinkers, I’ve had pretty good luck opening them.
To my palate, '05’s lean towards elegant, '07’s more lush, but the best ones are still nicely balanced with good acidity.
I haven’t opened any 97s in a while, but some of the big names were surprisingly advanced six or seven years ago.
Just drank an 01 Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello over the weekend and it was wonderful. No experience with 06 yet.
Just had a wonderful '06 Talenti a couple months ago.
I would also say stay away from the 06 vintage - the wines I have tried within the last year ( Ciacci, Col D’Orcia, Salvioni ect.) seems way to young and totally out of balance so I hope that they will smooth out with time as I actually find most of the too heavy and intense at this stage - so I agree about the uncertainty about the vintage and I try to buy 04’s if possible
I agree with Bob and the others. Stick with 03 and 05 for now if you need to open a more recent vintage.
Find some 95’s. They are relatively cheap and drinking very well. I’ve been pleased with Cerbaiona, Pertamali, Altesino, Canallichio di Sopra, Collosorbo and several others over the past year.
Tom, any recommendations on where to source older vintages on our coast?
+1 on the '95 Canalicchio di Sopra. Had a bottle a year or so ago. Outstanding. I liked it more than the '97 I had last fall.
95 Poggio Al Vento is great also
Yes, I had this wine in Luxembourg in 2001 or 2002 and it was fantastic.