Saturday, 18 January 2014

I´m Continuing The 1988 Theme Tonight - Two Bottles Of Brunello

Lately I have had a craving for Brunello - that project really wetted my appetite for Brunello.
Tonight I opened these two bottles to go along with grilled chicken fillets with a porcini pasta (from Morelli (www.pastamorelli.it) - a fantastic pasta) and a mushroom and rosemary sauce.
It went well...:-)

1988 Brunello di Montalcino, Chiesa di Santa Restituta
Right out of the bottle - what a seductive, mature, intense nose with notes of forest floor with a hint of truffle, rowan berries, dried raspberries, sweet tobacco and a touch of meat stock. Very, very complex. A wonderful maturity. Keep going all night.
The taste is like drinking velvet with perfectly polished and integrated tannins and notes of sweet lingonberries, warm tiles, undergrowth, tobacco and black tea. A lovely mouthfeel. This has matured into a graceful, amazing Brunello. Just stunning!
95p   (tasted 2014/01)




1988 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Fuligni
I tasted this almost a year ago. And on this night it behaves almost identical. The fruit is younger than the Santa Restituta above and delivers a bit more punch and sweeter fruit, but it hasn´t reached the perfect maturity that the Santa Restituta shows on this night. But this is bloody good never the less!
93p   (tasted 2014/01)
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8 comments:

  1. New Hampshire Wineman19 January 2014 at 16:37

    Wonderful post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Montosoli20 January 2014 at 20:33

    Is La Chiesa propriety the one bought Gaja long time ago..?

    This label do not exist anymore.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joakim21 January 2014 at 08:06

      Yes, this is the property Gaja bought in the beginning of the 90´s, I think.

      Delete
  3. The Ultimate Wine Kick27 January 2014 at 23:36

    Wow, sounded like the Santa Restituta is a true stunner. Bad that the producer is not around anymore though. A lot of great producers keep on selling off in Montalcino even nowadays.. :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joakim28 January 2014 at 12:00

      It really was! But Gaja manage to make some decent wines on the property nowadays...:-)

      Delete
    2. The Ultimate Wine Kick30 January 2014 at 00:13

      Ok, but did you really mean that the Fuligni wasn't peaking yet?? :-) Amazing..

      Delete
    3. Joakim30 January 2014 at 11:13

      Oh yes, I think that it could develop some further, at least based on those two bottles I tasted 9 months apart. But then it depends on what state of maturity you personaly like, and it is no secret that I am in the necrophilic camp...:-)

      Delete

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