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Brunello
: A Beginner's Guide
Ciao
tutti,
When
I decided to do this, I struggled with how to start. Gear this to
the newbies, to those with experience? I mean, this is supposed
to be a "public service message" of sorts right, so it needs to
be geared to the largest possible audience. With that in mind, and
the fact that many here, while not newbies by any stretch, are somewhat
"green" when it comes to Italian wines. Hopefully, this will not
be tedious to read!
The
Background:
Brunello
di Montalcino – Is it a grape? a place? or a wine? The answer, is
yes. Most Italian wines are labeled one of three ways:
By
geographic location:
With a Proprietary name or,
With a combination of grape name and geographic location.
Sounds
difficult?
Not really. Here are examples of all, followed by
"Domestic" analogies to help ease the transition.
Barbaresco
= Napa Valley
Tignanello = Insignia
Brunello di Montalcino = Cabernet of Napa Valley
Ok,
so the last analogy is not real, but it illustrates the point.
Brunello,
in Tuscan dialect means "brownish" and gets its name from the tint
of the grape skin color. This is the grapes defining visual characteristic.
Brunello di Montalcino is made from a clone of the Sangiovese grape,
more formally known as Sangiovese Grosso. Grosso implies that the
individual grapes are larger in size than normal Sangiovese grapes.
In the Brunello zone, most people will refer to the grape as Brunello,
although there really is no "grape" with any such name. Brunello
is the name of the wine, made from Sangiovese Grosso grapes. Montalcino
is a town within the Brunello zone, a geographic area, from which
the wine gets the latter part of its name. Only wine made in the
geographic zone, from Sangiovese Grosso grapes, may be called Brunello.
So you will never see Brunello di Lazio or anything like that. Capisce?
Laws
:
To
become Brunello, the wine must age for four years, three of which
must be in large oak casks. To become Riserva, it must age for an
additional year. These are the old laws, but many producers still
adhere to them. Under the new laws, the aging may be reduced so
that Brunello can be released after 3 years, 4 years for Riserva.
Producers have embraced this new law very enthusiastically, since
it allows them to release wines from weaker vintages sooner, thereby
"saving" the wine from excessive oaking. Many of the 1991 and 1992
Brunello were dried out and tired upon release after 3 years in
oak. Producers could have made much better wine had the laws been
relaxed then. 1993 is the first vintage in which producers were
allowed to avail themselves of the new laws. Most producers that
I have either had first or second hand knowledge from intend on
following the old law when the vintage permits. When the vintage
is weaker, these producers will more than likely release early.
The
Vintages :
Top
vintages prior to 1990 are few. They are 1982, 1985, and 1988 with
1986 being a solid "good". 1985 was tremendous and properly cellared
Brunello from that vintage should be glorious now. The 1988's are
more elegant and refined and are drinking beautifully now and should
continue to do so for several years. These vintages are not that
easy to come upon so I will not spend much time here.
Here
is the JFO vintage chart for Brunello. The comments are probably
more noteworthy than the actual order.
1990
- Without a doubt, the best of the decade thus far and probably
the best in recent times.
1991 - An underrated vintage. The better producers made good wine
1992 - Subpar. Even the best producers, after declassifying Riserva
fruit if they could, made ordinary wine
not worth what they cost.
1993 - This will prove to be a very good vintage with some producers
making excellent wine. When
history prevails, I think it will be compared to 1988, but is definitely
not as good as 1985 or 1990.
1994 - This is the most recent vintage to be released and while
the wines seem good, most agree that they
are for current drinking, while the more tannic, ripe and structured
1993s cellar.
These
are the most current vintages. Italy, however, is on a roll, and
all the Brunello vintages from 1995 through 1998 look to be very
promising. I have recently spoken to some people in Montalcino who
have conveyed their excitement for the 1999 wines as the harvest
is under way. All in all, there should be lots of good Brunello
on the market over the next 4 years.
The
Producers :
If
anyone recognizes anything from my past posts regarding Italy, that
would be my mantra of choosing Producer over Vintage. This is reinforced
time and again when I taste and I believe in it strongly. The better
producers never seem to miss the mark even in the weakest vintages.
However, I have encountered terrible Brunello in some of the best
vintages when there should be no excuse. All that said, here is
my "A" list for producers followed by groupings for most of the
other "major" producers.
Castello
Banfi, Argiano, Poggio Antico, Fattoria dei Barbi, Lisini, Costanti,
L. Pertimali, Pieve di Santa Restituta (Gaja), Soldera (but who
can afford it) and Altesino
The
next level down would include: Caparzo, Castello di Camigliano (Antinori),
Campogiovanni, Castelgiocondo, Ciacci, Tenuta Friggiali and Tenuta
il Poggione
Finally,
the last level : Biondi-Santi, Carpineto, Capanna, Col d'Orcia,
Il Marroneto, and Casanuova di Neri
I
will not go into my reasons for grouping them as I did, suffice
to say that it is based largely upon my tasting preferences and
my experiences with the producers. If anyone has specific questions
relating to this, I guess either post them or email me and I will
attempt to explain my reasoning.
General
Styles :
I
was unsure whether or not to include this section, but decided that
it could be more potentially useful that it would be confusing.
Style plays a big part in the Brunello's that I favor which leads
to a lot of my groupings above. Nevertheless, this will attempt
to touch on the basic styles of the major producers above. The classifications
are by necessity very general, so again, if you have questions,
pipe up!
Elegant,
with refined silky tannins, exceptional balance and grace of terroir
: Castello Banfi, Argiano, Poggio Antico, Barbi, Lisini, Pertimali
Fuller,
more fruit forward Brunello, a bit more emphasis on oak : Pieve
di Santa Restituta, Tenuta Friggiali, Altesino, Tenuta il Poggione,
Carpineto, Col d'Orcia, Castelgiocondo, Campogiovanni
Rustic,
harder wines, rough around the edges, traditional : Biondi-Santi,
Il Marroneto, Ciacci, Capanna
Riserva?
To be or not to be? :
I'm
asked a lot what a Riserva is, or what it means or if it's worth
it. These are valid questions and they are difficult to answer because
it depends a lot on the producer and his fruit sources. What Riserva
"must" mean is simple : It must be aged one year longer than the
"normale". That's it. So, in theory, any producer could set aside
a certain amount of fruit from the same source that he makes his
normale from, age it for an additional year and call it Riserva.
It may be good, it may be terrible. But one thing is certain, except
for the age of the wine, it's not any different!
The
key here is know which producers have special lots of fruit that
they use to produce a Riserva bottling. Often times it is fruit
from a single vineyard, but it does not necessarily have to be the
case. However, these wines are usually more distinct, in both ripeness,
concentration, complexity and terroir. Some examples of Single Vineyard
Riservas that merit attention are : Castello Banfi's Poggio All'Oro,
Lisini's Ugolaia, Caparzo's La Casa, and Altesino's Montosoli. Argiano
and Barbi usually make excellent Riserva as well, and although they
are not always vineyard designated, they do share the characteristics
I mentioned above.
Brunello is a special wine. It can be rich, perfumed, brawny and
elegant all at the same time. For me, it is a unique experience
that I have yet to find in any other wine. It is, without a doubt,
one of my favorites. I hope that my passion for it has enabled me
to allay some of the ambivalence and/or timidness you may feel when
confronted with this magical nectar.
Salute
e buona fortuna!
Giovanni
Copyright
© John Fodera, October, 1999
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