Brunellos
By Codey Foster
This week we’re featuring Brunello—a muscular clone of
Sangiovese that is known to produce some of the finest red wines in all of
Tuscany. Despite Brunello’s reputation of being bold, extracted, concentrated
and extraordinarily long-lived, it is often compared to Burgundy/Pinot Noir for
its food friendliness and accessible soft tannins.
Brunello’s finest growing region is in Montalcino, where it
produces wines that are dense in their youth and prime candidates for long-term
cellaring. It really takes five or six years for most Brunellos to reach their
prime and as a result—our 2006 and 2007s are just becoming drinkable while our
2003s and 2004s have really hit their stride.
For brilliant Brunello pairings look to roasted meats like
veal, ham, and pork loin. Basic preparations are best—sea salt, fresh cracked
pepper, and rosemary paired with a mushroom sautee and polenta fries would do
wonders.
To name a couple of our Brunellos that we’re particularly
excited about:
2006
Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino - A Fine, Cellar-Worthy Wine
The ripeness of the vintage meets a classic sense of
structure as this bold, full-bodied wine takes shape in the glass. It offers a
virile, masculine expression of Sangiovese.
2007
Poggio Antico Altero Brunello di Montalcino - Dark & Concentrated
Rich, powerful, extremely concentrated yet elegant and
velvety. The silky and ripe tannins make it particularly smooth to the palate.
"Very powerful and rich, with blackberry, licorice and
light toasty oak. This has pure fruit. Turns exotic and decadent. Big and
full-bodied, with dense, powerful tannins, but velvety and beautiful."
~(Wine Spectator)
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