Sunday 24 February 2013

In Search of Brunello di Montalcino´s Soul - Chapter XV

Yesterday I tasted these three youngsters from Col d´Orcia, as a prelude too a tasting of the estates 1975, 1977, 1980 Riserva and 1985 which we are going to carry through within a few weeks time.

1999 Brunello di Montalcino, Col d´Orcia
A seedy, tight, somewhat mature nose with notes of red currants, lingonberries, dried flowers, violet pastills and a touch of tobacco. A little withdrawn in character. Cool. Good but no more.
The taste is cool, seedy and tight with a lukewarm lingonberry fruit with notes of dry licorice, balsa wood, gravel and tobacco ashes. It is good but lacks charm. Drink now for this is going to become more dry with time.
83p   (tasted 2013/02)

2004 Brunello di Montalcino, Col d´Orcia
A young, warm, upfront fruity nose with notes of dark cherries, licorice, violets, burning autumn leaves and bay leaves. A touch of oak. Very fine. Needs some time to open up.
The taste is young, tight and seedy with a warm, herbal Sangiovese fruit. Notes of red cherries, lingonberries, licorice, rosehip and gravel. The taste is a bit more foursquare than the nose. Needs time. The tannins are nicely integrated. A medium long, dry finish. I guess that this could evolve into something nice but give it 3-5 years, at least.
88p   (tasted 2013/02)


2007 Brunello di Montalcino, Col d´Orcia
The 2007 vintage keeps impressing me. I didn´t think that Col d´Orcias 2006 was much to write home about, but this is something else. The nose jumps out of the glass with a lovely sweet fruit and a bold character. There are notes of sweet lingonberries, red cherries, licorice, sweet flowers, bonfire and new leather. The sweetness of the fruit is really amazing. Medium deep. Very, very good.
The taste is medium big, young, fresh and dazzling, with gorgeous notes of blueberry bushes, black cherries, thyme, a hot Tuscan dirt road and a touch of dark chocolate. More black than the more "red" nose. A medium long, fresh finish with a fine cleansing acidity. This is a very promising creature. And for 30 Euro a bottle, I´m loading up!
91p   (tasted 2013/02)

2 comments:

  1. Ah, thank you for that report. Now I have to go and buy more Brunello, it's a cruel world ;).

    Btw, Hope to see you on Thursday.

    ReplyDelete