Montalcino Report

Il Poggione stand number at Vinitaly

The 43 edition of Vinitaly begins on Thursday. Please come visit me and my father at: Padiglione 8, Stand B2

Brunello di Montalcino production regulations

DENOMINAZIONE DI ORIGINE CONTROLLATA E GARANTITA (DOCG, July 1, 1980)

Production zone: Township of Montalcino

Grape variety: Sangiovese (designated "Brunello" in Montalcino)

Maximum yield: 80 quintals per hectare

Yield of grapes into wine: 68%

Required wood aging: 2 years in oak

Required bottle aging: 4 months (6 months for "riserva")

Color: intense ruby red, tending toward garnet with aging

Aroma: characteristic fragrance and intesnse

Flavor: dry, warm, a little tannic, robust, and harmonious

Minimum alcohol content: 12.5%

Minimum total acidity: 5 grams per liter

Minimum net dry extract: 24 grams per liter

Bottling: can only be performed in the production zone

Market release: 5 years after the year of harvest (6 years for the reserve)

Packaging: Brunello di Montalcino can only be sold if packaged in Bordolaise-shaped bottles.

Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino by the "quartino" at Mario Batali's Otto

We were very happy to learn that Il Poggione 2006 Rosso di Montalcino is being served by the quartino and is featured in a "Tuscan wine dinner" at Mario Batali's Manhattan restaurant Otto Pizzeria.

"The 2006 Rosso di Montalcino by Il Poggione is drinking very well right now," said Otto wine director Dan Amatuzzi, above. "It's extremely approachable but it still expresses the unique qualities of Montalcino. At a restaurant like ours, where we often have patrons who are new to Italian wine, it's a wine that is accessible and affordable and extremely food friendly for the dishes that we offer."

"It goes great with all of the in-house cured meats that we serve and the imported Italian cheeses but my favorite thing to pair it with is the Rigatoni with Stracotto, pasta served with a tomato-based sauce of slowly braised pork — similar to the classic Tuscan pairing of wild boar ragù and Sangiovese."

Dan "grew up in a typical Italian household consisting of long sunday dinners with extended family members. Wine was always consumed, and it was then I was introduced to the divine drink. The interest to learn more than the average Joe blossomed only after my return from a semester in Florence in 2003." He has been working at Otto since May 2008. He also contributes wine and spirits articles to the New Jersey-based publication 201 Magazine.

Otto's Italian wine education program is widely considered one of the best in the U.S. and celeb Italian chef Mario Batali and leading Italian wine expert Joe Bastianich often drop by for tastings and demonstrations. 

Check out the schedule here. And click here to find more and to inquire about availability.

New reviews of 04 and 03 Riserva and an important tasting of Brunello di Montalcino

At Il Poggione we have been very happy to see the many positive reviews of our 2004 Brunello di Montalcino and our 2003 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva "Vigna Paganelli", our cru Brunello di Montalcino, which both were presented to the journalists and the public at Benvenuto Brunello 2009 for the first time. 

Here are some new reviews from the prestigious German magazine, Falstaff. (Click on the links for the original German.)

Brunello di Montalcino 2004 – 91 Points. Bright, deep ruby garnet. Very clear and finely crafted nose shows notes of ripe cherries, a little cinnamon, leather. On the palate the games open with fine tannin, built on a long, minerally, salty, meaty long reverberation.

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2003 Vigna Paganelli – 92 Points. Intense, bright ruby. Very clear nose with lots of juicy cherry fruit, finely drawn, with cloves on the background. On the palate, ripe cherries and a lot of plums, fine tannins, unfolds with very good length. The persistence is salty, and long lasting; the alcohol is well integrated.

We were also glad to be included in an important tasting (the photo above) led by journalist Franco Ziliani on Monday, March 16, 2009, and organized by the Associazione Italiana Sommelier in Italy. Il Poggione was chosen as a best example of a Brunello made from grapes grown in the south "area, vocatissima, di Sant’Angelo in Colle", in the "very well-suited" for growing Sangiovese "area of Sant'Angelo in Colle".

"One could drink it if one had to with a thick steak": new reviews of 2004 Brunello di Montalcino by Il Poggione

One of the most classic pairing for Brunello di Montalcino is "bistecca alla fiorentina", Florentine beefsteak, a Porterhouse cut of beef butchered from the Tuscan "Chianina" breed of cattle. The steak above is served at the Trattoria il Pozzo in our village Sant'Angelo in Colle that lies across the piazza from our house. The steak is seared on the bone and then on either side and then is served "al sangue", blood rare, dressed with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. 

We were very glad to see wine writer Kyle Phillips review of our 2004 Brunello di Montalcino. Thank you Kyle! 

Deep almandine ruby with black reflections and some almandine in the rim. The bouquet is rich, with rich cherry fruit supported by bright berry fruit acidity and by a fair amount of alcoholic warmth, with depth coming from deft slightly greenish bitter accents. Quite young, but also articulate and has quite a bit to say. Interesting things. On the palate it's full and rich, with powerful bright tart berry fruit supported by ample tannins that still have a degree of anger to them, and flow into a clean sour cherry fruit finish with lasting warmth. It's very nice, but not really ready yet -- one could drink it if one had to with a thick steak, but it will show much better in 5 years, and even better in 15. Impressive, for the future.

But at Il Poggione we also like to pair our Brunello with stewed "cinghiale", wild boar like the one we have for lunch in our estate's "mensa":

We are also very glad to read James Suckling review of our wine in the Wine Spectator. Thank you, Mr. Suckling!

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino 2004

Has blackberry and coffee bean, with a hint of cream on the nose. Full-bodied and tight, with slightly austere and chewy tannins, but there is pretty, ripe fruit underneath it all. Best after 2010. 16,665 cases made. –JS

Score: 91

Be it bistecca alla fiorentina or be it cinghiale, we think that our 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is a good wine for drinking now and for putting down in the cellar. It will age very well. If one had to drink it now, it will also be very good.

Hydraulic bung

Our friend Jeremy Parzen commented on Montalcino Report and asked what the name of the glass device on the top of the botte in my last post. It is called a "tappo colmatore" in Italian and a "hydraulic bung" in English. It works by allowing the gas from the wine to escape while it still keeps the botte full. I found this illustration above to show how it works. As the wine is aging, it releases some gas but at the same time you do not want oxygen to enter the botte and to come into contact with the wine (because that would oxidize the wine and create unwanted aromas). By keeping the bottom chamber filled with wine racked off from other barrels as the wine is aging, the gas is released with out any oxygen entering the barrel since the gas can escape through the bung. Thank you Jeremy for your question.

Large format barrel aging for Brunello di Montalcino

The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG "disciplinare" requires that the wine be aged for at least 2 years in cask before it is bottled. Some Brunello producers age their Brunello in "barriques", smaller sized barrels. At Il Poggione we feel that the terroir of Sant'Angelo in Colle where our grapes are grown is best served by traditional large oak "botti". 

Like all of our Brunello di Montalcino, our "cru" single-vineyard Brunello di Montalcino "Paganelli" is aged in 52 hectolitres barrels. The wood of the barrels is "neutral" because it has been used over and over again. It does not give any flavor to the wine but still allows the wine to slowly come into contact with oxygen, "oxygenation", through the tiny pores in the wood.

 

The barrels are filled to the top and then this double-chambered glass device is placed in the bung hole at the top of the barrel. This allows us to see the "fill" of the barrel and the double-chamber allows us to top off the barrel with wine that has been "racked" from another barrel without letting oxygen get in.

A 2004 tasting note and a post on dinner at Tenuta Il Poggione

Our friend and esteemed American wine writer Tom Hyland recently posted this tasting note on the 2004 Tenuta il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino, which he tasted for the first time at Benvenuto Brunello in Montalcino in February.

This has been a personal favorite for many years and their 2004 is another superior wine. Aromas of red cherry, wild strawberry and cedar; excellent concentration; rich mid-palate, lengthy finish with youthful, refined tannins. Elegant through and through; 15-20 years, though considering the track record of this estate, I may be a bit conservative on this estimate!

He also wrote this post about the dinner we held at the winery before the event began. Thanks, Tom, for your kind words. Stay warm in Chicago! 

Montalcino Report Wins American Squirrel 2009 Wine Blog Award

 

I am honored by the award conferred upon me by the American Squirrels. You can see all the winners here:

http://lasfloressquirrels.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/american-squirrel-wine-blog-award-winners/