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2006 Azienda Agricola Montevertine Pian del Ciampolo Toscana IGT - Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT (4/9/2010)
Good things come to those who wait longer than I did. Lovely clear medium ruby in the glass. After tasting a very tight, rather unyielding glass of this on Night 1, I recorked and waited another day to let things open up a bit. On Night 2, the nose gives up an alcoholic blast of red fruit, but still none of the earth and spice than I recall on previous vintages. Pleasingly lightweight in the mouth, but disappointingly simple: plum and cherry, not much else. Where’s the leather and earthy notes I expected? An hour or so later, floral notes and a rounder overall profile. Still not a lot of secondary flavors, but a more pleasing palate.
Not as complex or nuanced as the '02 bottling, even discounting age. Despite its lightweight frame, there’s enough fruit, tannin, and acidity to hold for a while - maybe this wine will come together in a more satisfying package with some additional age.
Posted from CellarTracker
I had a totally different experience with this wine earlier this week. I find the wine perfectly beautiful right now, alluring bouquet of sour red cherry fruit against a classic leathery backdrop. MV is always austere and unlike anything else in Chianti Classico, and recall this is the youngest vines, but I found this bottle to be singing and immediately reconnect me with some of the heights of prior vintages of their better bottlings. Took me right back to one of the most profound epiphanies in my winetasting career, the 79 PT out of mag at Pinchiorri in the mid-80s…
Henry, I appreciate the delicacy of this wine, and my previous experiences with other bottles of the Pian del Ciampolo were similar to yours - if not quite so sublime. I made the assumption that my less-than-stellar experience with the 2006 was due to the vintage, but perhaps it was bottle variation or a storage problem. Glad to hear your experience was so much better - it makes me want to try the wine again.
Do that. Inspired by your note (and some great leftover pork roast) I opened a bottle of 01 Montevertine Rosso last night. It had a beautiful boquet – telltale red cherry, slightly tart, with a dusting of menthol, but the wine seemed a little tight. I recall the 99 being more revealing at a similar age. Let’s see how the bottle performs tonihgt
I was looking for something light tonight to go with a simple turkey based meat sauce and my last bottle of the 06 PdC caught my eye. Happened upon this note note from memory but from the berserkers search engine…
Man is this in a beautiful place, at least in terms of an extensive palate memory of wines from Montevertine. It has taken on some more weight and has beautiful, classic Montevertine aromatics of morello cherries, tobacco, spice and daresay a hint of camphor… Brings back a swirl of great bottles from my hands down favorite Tuscan producer, in an appropriately scaled package for a snowy winters night and some “turkey loose meat gravy” as my late mother-in-law (from New Orleans) would say… Pehraps too elegant for the sauce but oh so satisfying… I think I drink even this entry level bottling too young and must correct that habit…