Fascinating to see the varied experiences of this wine on CellarTracker. Large amount of bottle variation is the only way I can think to explain it. So, the following is just my experience with a particular bottle. That’s always the case but feels especially relevant here. This bottle looks to be in great shape- clean label, high fill, cork only soaked ¼ of an inch. A huge amount of muddy sediment at the bottle of the bottle. In the glass, the wine looks super youthful, pale bright red, translucent, watery rim, no bricking at all.
The nose, on the other hand, is much more developed. Prominent aromas of leather and saddle soap, manure, wood shavings, miso, a touch of soy sauce. There is a little bit of unpleasant cheap cigar smoke that I wish would go away, but doesn’t. Behind all these tertiary aromas lurk some dried cherries, dried black currants, dried lavender. The overall impression is quite concentrated, dark, and aged: almost like a Bordeaux. It’s a very complex and intriguing nose, mostly, though not entirely, attractive.
Tasted like an old wine in the mouth- not one that is over the hill….yet. There are more fruits on the palate than on the nose. They are dark; black currants, prunes, black cherries. There is an equal measure of tertiary flavors, by far the most dominant being leather. I taste a graphite type flavor/aroma that I usually associate with Bordeaux blends, that feels a little out of place. The finish is long, and skews away from fruit. Holds up well over 4 hrs in a decanter.
This is a nice bottle, and I (mostly) enjoyed the wine, though it feels a bit heavy, clunky, and plodding for Sangiovese. I know Montalcino can be hot, and Google tells me 1999 had a particularly hot end of season, but I prefer Sangiovese to have more lift and grace than this. I enjoy darker/heavier wines as well, but if I wanted that, I’d drink a Cabernet. I was surprised to see the ABV was 13.5% (I expected higher). In summary, enjoyable, though of a particular style that will appeal to some drinkers. I’m somewhere in the middle.