Italy is unfair. They make better versions of many grapes than some people in the “original” homes of those grapes. If they can make good Cab Franc and Merlot, and they most certainly do, I have no problem with that. I don’t think grapes “belong” to one particular place or another. So why not?
If they have traditions with other grapes, that’s nice. Those traditions had to start and at one point they were radical innovations. Tradition should give you more options, it shouldn’t imprison you. So they ended up with Sangiovese in Tuscany. That doesn’t mean it’s the “best” grape for every hill in the region. I’m completely happy if they plant Graciano, Zweigelt, Marselan, Pinot Noir, or anything else in the region. If it makes good wine, that’s all that matters.
Oreno: I have not had the wine though have briefly tasted others from the winery. Unless things have changed recently, the consultant winemaker, and the one calling the shots if not designing the wines, is the same as at Petrolo. You better make sure you like the style. To me it’s the pinnacle of manipulative, non transparent, non genuine winemaking. Others disagree.
On an absolute basis certainly. Of course. On a relative basis, no.
There are some fun, nice and good wines among them - the usual suspects - and some great experiences - notably an epic taste off I had with scintillating 1988 Ornellaias and Solaias a few years ago - but prices got way ahead of the intrinsic quality, especially on a relative (to Bordeaux) basis …and unlike Bordeaux their ageing prognosis is still somewhat uncertain.
I have sold cases of Sassicaia in the last year or two. A pure cab-sav blend, most of the time, does not have the complexity of a Bordeaux blend. And when you compare Sassicaia with Dominus and Penfolds 707 I usually prefer the latter two. But better still at that price point I would much rather have a super second, which I think are a long way ahead.
I’ll agree with you on that. There is a “heavy hand” in the wine-making that doesn’t speak to wine more to a receipe for Coca Cola or Pepsi (maybe Caymus is a better parallel). I’d rather drink wines that cost half that and are more genuine to what I look for in a wine.
I’ve been sipping on a firm, tannic 2007 Carpineta Fontalpino ‘Do ut Des’ [Toscana IGT] the last couple of nights. It’s still dark purplish, and showing a nose of prunes, licorice, fennel. If there is sangiovese in here, only a light amount sneaks through the palate with a touch of cherries and blackberries. If someone had poured this blind for me, I would have assumed it was a grippy young Graves, maybe 2015 vintage or something. It’s actually pretty rich, well flavored, but the wrong call for a 105F afternoon. For some reason I had thought it was a lighter Sangio type of effort that would have been ok for poolside sipping (which only lasted 15min before I decided it was too hot and repaired to conditioned climes). There’s a little iron in the taste too. It’s a good wine, high quality, but for my tastes - generalizing - I’d rather buy Italian wines that are composed of native varietals. Probably unfair, but I’ll slot this into the B+ zone.
I served a 2004 Petrolo Galatrona (I think 100% merlot) to some experienced tasters this week and everyone was wowed. And I thought it tasted more of the place than the variety — very Tuscan in spirit.
Having said that, I do usually prefer sangio and blends within Super Tuscans.
Just had a bottle, the Tenuta Belguardo, in the all Bdx variety Tuscan red category. As others have noted can be the case in this category, this comes across much more as more Tuscan than as international Cabernet, despite being 90% CS/10% CF.
Given that Maremma is a fairly recent phenomena, I don’t think a wine like this should be seen as displacing Sangiovese or other native varieties. It speaks of place, tastes good, and in that respect is quite successful.
2013 Marchesi Mazzei Maremma Toscana Tenuta Belguardo- Italy, Tuscany, Maremma, Maremma Toscana (6/20/2021)
Drinking well with short decant, as others have noted. Cherry, leather, currant, cedar and fleeting hints of tar. Very Tuscan/Italian profile: mid-weight, medium+ acidity, red fruited flavors, fairly linear. Very fine tannins, solid finish, palpable minerality.
Doesn’t have the layering/depth to reach next level, yet what is there is full of character. This disappeared quite quickly with dinner.
Given finite funds and finite storage space, I tend to stick to sangiovese-based wines (which I love) when I buy Tuscan, and to buy my Bdx-variety wines from Bdx or CA. That said, I used to buy a little Sassicaia, Solaia, and especially Ornellaia when they were still reasonably priced (haven’t bought any of those this century as the prices got silly around the end of the last one) and loved all of them. 1998 Ornellaia at age 20 was a real treat.
Yep. '85 Sassicaia is one of the greatest wines I have ever had. Plenty of other terrific Super Tuscan wines ‘Senso Sangiovese’ that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
I’ve been chewing on the 2010 Tenuta Degli Dei ‘Cavalli’ [Toscana IGT] the last couple of nights. This dark, tannic 14% Bordeaux blend is 60% Cab Sauvignon 25% petit verdot (!) and 15% cabernet franc. There is a tremendous amount of caked on sediment in the heavy, deeply punted bottle. The owners are Italian fashion impressarios, and the label is indeed very stylish, with unusual side bands of lacy golden motifs on separte stickers from the main front label. There are Indian kitchen spices on the nose, then long dark black fruit flavors on the palate. The texture is chunky and chewy with years of tannin left to still melt away, not tempered by a Vinetto pourer, nor 24 hours of breathing in a half empty bottle. Dense, structured wine but overpriced. I have preferred the Sangiovese driven Tuscan’s from 2010. This feels like a wine that does better in a blind panel, consumed in an INAO thimble, but is wearisome when a whole bottle is to be consumed. Still, lots of depth and density, and a B+ on my ledger is more my bias, than anything ‘wrong’ with this wine.
