Badia a Coltibuono Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 2005. Picked up a 375 and probably will try it soon. It is a raisin wine. Curious of others experience with this genre as this is completely new to me. As is typical - one can find just about any type of wine in italy including dessert wines - ice wine, botyris, late harvest, straw wines, etc… Really an amazing oenological country. The grapes just grow everywhere!
Yup, Jack…agree that Italy is an amazing country…food-wise, oenological-wise, everything. And even Burlisconi is a piece of work. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Tuscany’s speciality in the dessert wine category is VinSanto. I find them a bit of a mixed bag…sometimes very sweet, sometimes
near dry. Sometimes w/ some oxidation, sometimes hardly any at all. I think they’ve become more consistent in style over
the last 10-15 yrs than they used to be.
For Italian dessert wines, I tend to prefer the passito wines. Sometimes they’re left to dry on trays (traditionally straw mats…now mostly
on plastic trays w/ dehydrators a-running), sometimes left to raisin on the vine. I especially like the ones made from Muscato grapes.
One of my absolute faves is the Vignalta Arancia, from the ColliEuganie, from OrangeMuscat grapes. The owner, LucianoGomerei (sp?),
is known as the “King of Radicchio” and grows nearly 80% of the world’s supply in Salinias, CA.
If you have access to a TraderJoe’s, they often have an Ipsus Moscati Possito. And absolute steal at $9/500ml.
Tom
Oh man, I would kill to try some Italian icewine. I also agree that Vin Santo is all over the place, but I generally prefer the ones with a fuller body, strong sweetness and fruit flavor, and some nice rancio from oxidization and long barrel aging. I have a couple of 04 Badia a Coltibuono myself left. It’s a particularly good one as it is organic and very clean tasting as a result and comes off as very fruity and sweet despite having a much lower residual sugar level than many other Vin Santos. You should enjoy it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Lornano Vin Santo is incredibly rich in sweetness, fruit flavor and rancio. It is clearly done in the “meditation wine” style and I think should be had on its own or with a light dessert. The Badia a Coltibuono above I can drink with my main meal. Same with the Sorelli.
I also have a strong liking for Passitos like Tom above as well as reciotos. I’m curious to try an Accinonobli Italian botrytis wine but they are even more expensive than some Sauternes here in Canada.
If you can afford it, I would buy a half. I’ve only had one and it was spectacular. Kind of a blend between sauternes and icewine actually, the best of both worlds. The complexity of a sauternes with the vibrancy of fruit of an icewine.
Done - thanks for suggestion.
Report back!
Aw dammit, I guess I’m going to have to get one too now. How can I not with that description?
It’s a trip to see the barrel room of a Vin Santo producer. They don’t quite treat it as anally as a lot of wine is treated. I checked out a number of them this year. The barrels are all old and nasty looking. Lots of patches and bleeders. Seems like they tend to keep them in the attics with no temp control other than some windows. The oxidized characteristic is no surprise as is the wide range of quality.
Avignonesi is the go to for a splurge. I also like the Cappezzana, Isole y Olena, and Cacchiano.
Anotther Italian (sicily) passito that is consistently excellent is Donnafugata Ben Rye.
Probably my favorite Italian stickies are the Veneto dessert wines by Maculan. Their Torcolato and Acininobili are great.
Felsina’s looked nice and clean. Gosh I want to go back to Tuscany!!!
The traditional method of making Vin Santo is indeed oxidative. Late harvested white grapes -sometimes airdried to further concentrate the must- were pressed, fermented, sometimes fortified and left to age oxidatively in small barrels made of chestnut rather than oak, sometimes in attics or even outside.
When it comes to vintages, remember that a good vintage for Tuscany in general does not a good Vin Santo make. This has to do with the fact that a long dry autumn is needed to dry the late harvested grapes. 1996 for instance, was very difficult for Sangiovese, but produced magnificent Vin Santo.
I’ve never tried the Badia à Coltibuono version, but tend to like other traditional ones. The Avignonnesi is indeed quite an experience, worth the splurge and if you can find it a Sangiovese version called “Occhio di Pernicche” is also very interesting. Other good ones have been mentioned -I am also quite partial to Isole è Olena and Capezzana- and I would like to add San Giusto à Rentenanno and Selvapiana from Rufina to the list. I’ve not tried the Badia.