Image:Found a great Italian (and an incredible Scotch as well)No, nothing to do with Lotus(phere) this time, but after a long hiatus a small wine-blog-entry.
Yesterday, at my wine club 'Het Negende Vat' (the 9th Barrel) we had a great (and expensive) tasting. The subject was Italian Brunello di Montalcino.
Now, I'm not a great fan of Italian wine (except for Sicilian Nero d'Avolo and Alto Adige's Lagrein), but I was pleasantly surprised.
The star of the evening was the Casanova di Neri 2003 (Tenuta Nuova):

  • very dark rather concentrated color (unlike most Brunello's)
  • ripe black forest fruit, black pepper, blond tobacco in the nose.
    You just could keep on sniffing ! Even the empty glass smelled delicious !
  • powerful taste, well balanced, integrated tannins, full bodied, very long spicy finale
  • sangiovese (of course), 14,5% alc., 44 EUR (in Belgium e.g. sold by Vinhmm), around $70 in the US (e.g. here), 92 Parker points
Runner ups: Fanti 2004, Lambardi 2003, Palazzo 1998.
Thanks a lot Heidi, for this nice selection.
If it wasn't for the price, I would surely buy more Brunello.
Image:Found a great Italian (and an incredible Scotch as well)Bjorn, her husband, opened a couple of bottles of Grappa (a few from Montalcino too), but I'm not into this stuff.
Was it to please me, I don't know, but he came up with a very nice bottle of Scotch Whisky:
a Talisker single malt, from the Isle of Skye. A rather strong peat smoke in the nose, but smooth on the palate.
I'm normally not that enamored by this strong smokiness, but I did like this one.
I'll try to blog a bit more about wine this year, that's a promise.

Category:  Wine  | TechnoratiTechnorati:

Comments (0)