Tag: Tuscany

Vino Nobile di Montepuliano Tasting NYC 2025

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Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a red wine produced in the Tuscan region of Italy as are its more well-known and more famous cousins of Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino.

As with Chianti and Brunello, they are Sangiovese based wines with their own particular Sangiovese clone called Prugnolo Gentile.

Vino Nobile is a D.O.C.G. designated wine with the rules dictates the use of 70%-85% Sangiovese depending on the designation of entry level, Riserva or Pieve.

Pieve is a new designation approved in 2025 and is the level above Riserva. Pieve is broken down into 12 sub districts (Pievi) and the grapes must be from vineyards at least 15 years old and managed by the producer/bottler.

A walk around tasting of the wines of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as well as a sit-down, guided wine seminar was held on May 21st for members of the trade. At the guided wine seminar, they poured 12 wines from the 2021 vintage from various producers

Since these wines aren’t as well known as the other wines from Tuscany, the winemakers had to step up their game and focus on quality to win over consumers and I tasted that in the wines I sampled.

Guided Wine Tasting

2021 Carpineto Pieve Sant’Albino Vigneto Poggio Sant’Enrico Grande: Clear medium red, stone and black cherry on the nose, concentrated dusty red fruit, dusty tannin, nice grip.

2021 Podere Casanova Pieve Sant’Ilaro DOCG: Clear medium red, purple rim, red cherry tar on the nose, juicy red fruit with white pepper notes, firm tannin.

2021 Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano Pieve Sant’Ilario DOCG: Clear dark red, purple rim, sweet tarry red cherry on the nose, bright red fruit with leather notes, crisp acids and bitter cherry on the finish.

2021 Tiberini Pieve Caggiole DOCG: Clear medium purple, black fruit and varnish on the nose, juicy red fruit, dusty tannin with moderate acidity.

2021 Poleziano Pieve Caggiole DOCG: Clear dark red, purple rim, black cherry and petroleum on the nose, juicy and chewy black fruit, dusty tannin, nice grip.

2021 Fattoria Svetoni Pieve Cervognano DOCG: Clear medium red, tar and cigarette smoke on the nose, juicy, a little bland, firm grip.

2021 Le Berne Pieve Cervognano Alto: Clear medium red, sweet red fruit, black pepper and some earth on the nose, juicy red fruit, tight with firm tannin.

2021 Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano Pieve Cervognano DOCG: Opaque dark red, ripe fruit and tobacco on the nose, juicy red fruit, firm, dusty tannin.

2021 Marchese Frescobaldi Pieve Cervognano Tenuta Calimaia Viacroce DOCG: Opaque dark black, tar and ripe dark cherry on the nose, chewy black fruit ending with mouth coating tannin.

2021 Talosa Pieve Le Grazie Vigna Chiusino DOCG: Opaque black, purple rim, perfume of violets, thyme and black leather, concentrated and tight with tongue coating tannin.

2021 La Ciarliana Pieve Cerliana DOCG: Opaque dark red, purple rim, tar and crushed black fruit on the nose, chewy black fruit with mint notes, tongue coating tannin, moderate acidity.

2021 Gracciano Della Seta Pieve Gracciano DOCG: Clear medium red, sweet tree bark on the nose, juicy red fruit, firm tannin and crisp acids.

Zachys Escape to Tuscany Italian Tasting 2024

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Zachys has been a family-owned seller of fine wines and spirits since 1944. As with most wine shops they will host tastings for consumers at their store. On occasion they will hold a more intensive tasting that you need to buy a ticket to attend.

I’ve been to a few of those ticketed events, and they have been worth the cost of admission and the hour train ride to Port Chester as they can be counted on to pour quality juice for whatever theme they are pouring for that day.

They held one of those ticked tastings on Father’s Day weekend last June. The “Escape to Tuscany” was a tasting of 50+ Italian wines from the (mostly) 2021 vintage.

In addition to the wines, they had a handful of premium spirts on hand to sample. That included single malt Scotch from Dalmore, Laphroaig and Port Askaig, Tequila from Hiatus and Italian malt whiskey from PUNI.

Some of what I sampled:

2021 Vallepicciola Bianco (Tuscany): 100% Chardonnay. Medium gold with a floral nose, tight with nice acidity with lime notes.

2021 Fattoria le Pupille Piemme Bianco (Tuscany): Clear yellow with a floral nose, moderate fruit with a touch of sweetness in the back end, good balance.

2019 Vallepicciola Migliore (Tuscany): Bordeaux Blend. Opaque dark red with tar, dark cherry and cigarette smoke on the nose, silky, smoky fruit with silky tannins and a good grip at the end.

2021 Tenuta Luce Luce (Tuscany): Opaque medium purple, closed nose of tarry meat, tight red fruit ending with big tannins.

2021 Le Serre Nuove Ornellaia (Tuscany): Clear dark red, earthy, black cherry nose, crushed dark fruit with oak notes, gritty tannins.

2021 Poggio Valente Le Pupille (Tuscany): Clear light brick, red cherry tar on the nose, juicy red fruit, good grip. long finish.

2021 Greppicaia I Greppi (Tuscany): Opaque medium red with a brick rim, tar, smoke and graphite on the nose, silky, violet and tarry fruit with a red cherry finish. good grip.

2021 Tenuta di Biserno Il Pino (Tuscany): Clear medium red, closed nose of tar and barnyard, chunky dark chocolate fruit ending with firm, gritty tannins.

2021 Tenuta di Beserno Berseno (Tuscany): Clear medium red, crushed red cherry on the nose, red cherry fruit, moderate acids, long bitter cherry finish.

2021 Voliero Rosso di Montalcino (Tuscany): Clear light brick, spicy tar on the nose, silky red fruit with moderate acidity and firm tannins.

2021 Antinori Guado Al Tasso (Tuscany): Clear medium red, black cherry and barnyard on the nose, cherry dark chocolate and dark black fruit, great balance and a long finish.

2021 Torre Alle Comete Campo Alle Comete (Tuscany): Clear medium red, perfume of earth and smoke, chewy, silky fruit ending with firm, silky tannins and a long finish.

2021 Montepeloso Nardo (Tuscany): Clear medium red, earthy tar on the nose, silky fruit, silky tannins with a good grip on the great finish.

2021 Montepeloso Eneo (Tuscany): Clear light brick, earthy, smoky dark chocolate on the nose, silky and smoky fruit with smoke notes on the balanced finish.

2021 Castello dei Rampolla Chianti Classico (Tuscany): Clear medium reds, earth, tar and leather on the nose, tight silky red fruit ending with dusty and firm tannins.

2020 Felsina Fontalloro (Tuscany): Clear light brick, earth and tar on the nose, chewy red leather fruit with firm acidity.

2019 Brunello Revisited

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Brunello del Montalcino is an Italian red wine made from 100% of the Sangiovese Grosso grape grown around the town of Montalcino in Tuscany, Italy.

They produce a regular Brunello and a Brunello Riserva. According to the DOCG rules, the regular Brunello has to age a minimum of four years and can be released on January 1st of the fifth year. The Riserva an extra year.

That means the current release, the 2019’s, were released in January of 2024. In November of 2023, the Consorzio del Brunello, an organization representing the Brunello estates, held their Benvenuto Brunello tasting in New York City for members of the restaurant trade which was a pre tasting of the soon to be released 2019 vintage wines.

This was an opportunity to sample the wines before they were released to the consumer.

Those pre release tastings can be a little tricky. The wines have just been bottled and they are awkward at this point and a little rough around the edges, but you take that into consideration when tasting.

Keeping that in mind I attended the event and tasted many of the 2019 wines (and a few 2018 Riserva).

I have to say that at the end of the day, I wasn’t that impressed with the wines, knowing that they were way too young to be drinking at the time.

Since then, I’ve been hearing a lot of accolades about the vintage. Accolades such as “an excellent vintage”, “vintage of the decade”, etc., so I was hoping to be able to try the wines again with a few more months in the bottle.

Fortunately, that opportunity came on May 4th at Zachys wine shop. The wine store, located at 30 Midland Avenue in Port Chester New York, held a consumer tasting of the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino.

Zachys is a wine store in business for 80 years. As most wine stores do, they hold complimentary tasting for customers. On occasion, they have more intensive tastings that purchasing a ticket is required for. Those tastings are worth the hour ride on Metro North since they can be counted on to pour quality juice.

They poured 25+ Brunello, a handful of grappa, and a trio of some excellent organic Sicilian vermouth from Naturlale.

The tasting was very different this time around. The wines were starting to drink well, still young and some more accessible than others, but I enjoyed the quality of the wines overall.

Some of my highlights:

2019 Brunello di Montalcino

Val di Suga: Clear medium brick, tar and leather on the nose, earth notes and nuts on the fruit with silky tannins.

Val di Suga “Poggio al Grancho”: Clear light brick, sweet cherry and bacon on the nose, tight with gritty tannins.

Talenti: Clear light brick, dark chocolate and roast meat on the nose, silky fruit, good grip, nice balance.

Cal di’Orcia: Clear light red, perfume of roses and dark chocolate, balanced, silky red fruit, long finish.

Castelgiocondo Frescobaldi: Clear light red with a brick rim, forest floor and dark chocolate on the nose, firm finish, nice balance.

Piancornello: Clear medium brick, perfume of roast meat and vegetable, silky red fruit with a nice balance.

Poggio Salvi: Clear light brick, perfume of barnyard with earthy fruit and firm but silky tannins.

Castello di Camigliano: Medium brick with a perfume of red tar, silky fruit, firm, silky tannins.

Casanova di Neri: Clear medium red, earth and dark chocolate on the nose, silky red fruit. firm fruit.

Casanova di Neri Tenuta Nuova: Medium brick, perfume of barnyard and dark chocolate, silky red fruit with dusty tannins

Biondi Santi: Clear light brick, tar and cigarette smoke on the nose, tight fruit with a bitter cherry finish.

Tenuta Luce: Clear light red with a brick rim, crushed red fruit and green herbs on the nose with silky red fruit.

Banfi: Clear light red with a brick rim, forest floor and dark chocolate on the nose, firm fruit with a nice balance.

Pioggiotondo: Clear light brick, dark chcocolate on the nose, silky chocolate fruit, firm tannins.

Pelagrilli Siro Pacenti: Clear medium red with a brick rim, barnyard and sweet black fruit on the nose, chewy dark fruit ending with firm tannins.

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Benvenuto Brunello NYC 2023

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On November 28th I attended the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino Benvento Brunello New York City stop of their world tour.

This was to showcase to members of the Restaurant trade and Media, the upcoming release of the current vintage of Brunello. Since according to the DOCG regulations, the regular Brunello have to wait 5 years to be released and 6 years for the Riservas, this was the 2019 vintage for the regular Brunello and 2018 vintage for the Riservas.

The event was held at the Public Hotel on 215 Chrystie Street in the lower east side of Manhattan.

The set up was similar to what they had during Covid era and was a sit-down tasting. You would download an app with the wines that were available, and you would order up to five wines at a time to sample and they would bring the wines to your table.

Since they wines that were served were the new releases, I thought that they were still very young and could have used some more time in the bottle to smooth out the rough edges. On the 2019’s for the most part I was getting a lot of bright red fruit with very crisp acids. The 2018 Riservas were more appreciable with more dark fruit and earth notes.

Some highlights:

2019 Argiano: Clear light brick, smoky tar on the nose with nice red fruit, good balance.

2019 Carpineto: Clear medium red, earthy nose, juicy fruit with tar notes with a nice balance of moderate tannin and acid.

2019 Casisano: Clear light red with a brick rim, tar and barnyard on the nose, juicy red fruit with moderate acids and a dusty finish.

2019 Donatella Cinelli Colombini: Clear light brick, tar and leather on the nose, with firm, dusty red fruit.

2019 La Fornace: Clear light brick, sweet tar on the nose, red fruit with firm acids and earth notes on the finish.

2019 Nardi: Clear medium to dark red, tarry nose, juicy, earthy full red fruit, firm finish.

2019 Pacenti “Rosaldo”: Clear medium red, tar, anise and earth on the nose, chewy black fruit, nice and balanced, drinkable.

2018 Caprilli “AdAlberto” Riserva: Opaque medium red with a brick rim, tar and dark chocolate on the nose, red fruit with gritty tannins, anise notes, nice balance.

2018 Corte Pavone Riserva: Clear medium red with an amber rim with juicy black fruit and slate notes on the firm but balanced finish.

2018 Donatella Cinelli Colombini “Vento” Riserva: Opaque dark red, dusty tar and anise on the nose, chewy fruit with tree bark notes ending with big tannins.

2018 La Serena “Gemini” Riserva: Clear medium brick, sweet perfume of tar and smoke, tarry fruit with firm acids.

Other producers I sampled:

ArmillaCapanna
BanfiCol D’Orcia
La FioritaRuffino
Val Di SugaFanti
UccellieraSanpolo
TalentiIl Poggione
CortonesiElia Palazzesi

Maremma Toscana

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On March 15th the I.E.E.M. (International Event & Exhibition Management), a Miami based agency that organizes, markets and manages events held a press release/seminar for wines from the Maremma region of Italy, “From the Mountains to the Sea…A Pristine Land: The Tuscan Maremma”. The event was for members of the restaurant trade and they held a sit-down tasting of eleven wines followed by a walk around tasting of about thirty more wines. The I.E.E.M. held  this type of event last October at the same venue, Il Gattopardo restaurant at 15 West 54th Street in midtown Manhattan. 

The Maremma district is in Tuscany, Italy along the coast, west of the more famous Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino wine districts. In a country with vineyards planted for hundreds of years, the Maremma is a relatively new wine district since for most of its history the area was swampy. Those swamps were drained in the early 20th century.

Some famous Super Tuscans such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia are produced in the Maremma but this tasting was to showcase and focus on the smaller, lesser well know producers looking for exposure and importers and to showcase the local grape varieties such as Ciliegiolo and Alicante. 

 

These were the wines served at the sit-down tasting:

2019 Argentaia “Le Papese” Rosato: A Rosé from 100% Sangiovese. Clear light copper, cantaloupe on the nose, melony finish with mouth watering acids. 

2019 Sassotondo: 100% Ciliegiolo. Opaque dark purple, cedar and crushed red berries on the nose, dusty, metal shaving notes on the fruit with tight tannins and acids on the finish. 

2019 Sequerciani: 100% Ciliegiolo. Opaque dark purple, sweet nose of tar, fresh herbs and olives with juicy, dusty, tart cherry fruit. 

2018 Cantina “I Vini Di Maremma” Alberese: 100% Ciliegiolo. Opaque dark purple to black, closed nose of pixie stix and green herbs, moderate juicy fruit, nice balance with olives , herbs and silky tannins on the moderate to long finish. 

2018 I Cavallini: 100% Ciliegiolo. Opaque dark red, tar, leather and wet earth on the nose, moderate bright fruit with very tart cherry on the finish. 

2016 Cantina LaSelva: 100% Ciliegiolo. Opaque dark red with some garnet on the rim, tar and leather notes on the nose, juicy with mouth coating tannins and tart cherry. 

2015 Sassotondo “San Lorenzo”: 100% Ciliegiolo, Pitigliano single vineyard. Opaque black with a purple rim, black olives and red leather on the nose, slate notes on the fruit with mouth coating tannins. 

2016 I Cavallini: 100% Alicante. Dark garnet, green herbs and black olives on the nose, moderate fruit with silky, firm tannins and tart earth notes on the finish.

2016 Fattoria Mantellassi “Querciola”: 100% Alicante. Opaque black with sweet spice on the nose, medium juicy fruit followed by firm, gritty tannins and low acids.  

2017 Cantina “I Vini Di Maremma” Territorio: 100% Sangiovese. Opaque dark red with some earth notes on the nose, light fruit with cooked fruit notes on the finish with mouth filling tannins. 

2018 Le Sode Di Sant’Angelo “Sassi Dautore”: 85% Sangiovese, 15% Alicante. Opaque dark red to black, closed nose of crushed rocks. tight with slate notes on the fruit, firm acids. 

 

 

 

2016 Cordella Rosso di Montalcino, Tuscany

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Rosso di Montalcino is the “junior” version of Brunello di Montalcino. They both come from the same area in Tuscany, and are made with 100% Sangiovese Grosso. The big difference is that Rosso has a bit more leeway in where the grapes are planted and the aging that’s required before being released. Brunello has a minimum of 4 years aging (5 years for Riservas ) before being released while Rosso needs only to age for 1 year before release. This gives the winemakers an opportunity to have some cash come in while the Brunello’s are aging.  

 

2016 Cordella Rosso di Montalcino

Clear red with an amber rim with tar, black pepper and tobacco on the nose, chewy and firm red fruit with bitter cherry on the long finish. Was getting a metallic aftertaste on the finish.  

 

 

2016 Brancaia “Tre” Rosso Toscana

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2016 Brancaia Rosso Toscana “Tre”

Juice from three of their Tuscan estates with 80% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Clear medium brick, complicated aromas of gun metal, tar, roast meat and sweet red fruit on the nose, starts out with dark fruit notes and ends with bitter cherry, dark chocolate and firm tannins at the finish.