Brunello di Montalcino
This was an excellent visit and I highly recommend it to anyone planning to visit wineries in Tuscany. I had arranged for our group to have a tour and tasting in the morning and then we stayed for lunch afterwards. The grounds of the estate are so fantastically beautiful that it's an amazing location to sit and have an Italian-style lunch over several hours and the food was excellent. So excellent we were too late for our afternoon's appointment. Be warned - you will probably spend longer here gawping at the scenery than you originally planned to!
Rather amazingly Alasdair's harebrained travel plans worked out perfectly with his flight arriving early(?!), which enabled him to arrive in time for lunch.
Tasting:
1. Rosso di Montalcino 2007
This is aged for 10 months in tonneau before being bottled. Lots of black fruit, long and well balanced. Very good, much better than rosso usually is.
2. Brunello di Montalcino 2003
This is made in a traditional style with 3-years in Slavonian oak. The nose has confected black fruits and a somewhat gamey character. High tannins and high acid. Well balanced and long. This was excellent but needs a bit of time - the palate is still quite aggressively tannic and has plenty of fruit, acid and tannin so no worries about aging potential.
3. Altero Brunello di Montalcino 2003
This is made in a modern style with new french oak aging. There is noticeable wood on the nose but not so much on the palate. Plenty of black fruit, but also leather, smoke and spice. Very high tannins. Again, this has plenty of acid to balance the tannin. Still quite aggressive but more approachable now than the traditional style (#2). However, this one will also benefit from age.
4. Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2003
So far this century Poggio Antico have only made a riserva in 2001 and 2003.
This has pronounced intensity on the nose - jumping out of the glass. Concentrated fruit aromas, some red but mostly black. Lots of smoke, tobacco and leather. Brooding. Very high tannin and acid, still very grippy. Intense black fruit, this is still very fresh and young tasting. A baby - needs a fair amount of time. Or a huge steak. This one was outstanding.
5. Madre 2006 (IGT)
This is their 50% Cabernet and 50% Sangiovese supertuscan. Plenty of cassis on the nose as well as some gamey and earthy notes. The tasting note given by the woman at the estate was "morbido" a rather worrying sounding Italian word that, as far as I can tell, means that it tastes smooth rather than it tastes of death! This wine had plenty of tannin and acid and is quite long, but nothing like as long as the riserva. Very good, more approachable in its youth than the others.
Poggio Antico
53024 Montalcino
+39 0577 848 044
mail@poggioantico.com
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