Montalcino Report

New lower maximum yields for 2009 Brunello di Montalcino DOCG and Rosso di Montalcino DOC

There has been a lot of writings about Brunello di Montalcino in the recent weeks. The Italian "Fiamme Gialle" or "Yellow Flames" (because they have yellow flames on their uniforms), the Guardia di Finanza, which is the treasury department of Italy, organized a press conference on July 18 wherein they announced the findings of the investigation of Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico producers who were not following the rules. My father Fabrizio Bindocci and I are glad that the investigation has been concluded and that we can move forward. We have always believed that Brunello di Montalcino should be made with 100% Sangiovese grapes and even if it is true that some may have broken the rules, we love our appellation and we know that the greater majority of Brunello producers make real Brunello, from Sangiovese in purity. 

So much has been said in the newspapers and the blogs and so has been overshadowed some very important news about Brunello di Montalcino.

Earlier this month, the Regione Toscana (the Tuscany Region government) has announced that for the 2009 vintage the maximum yields for Brunello di Montalcino DOCG and Rosso di Montalcino DOC will be lowered.

The decision was made in June and the news became official in the Bollettino della Regione Toscana on July 8. 

Beginning with 2009 vintage, the maximum yield for Brunello di Montalcino DOCG will be 7 tons per hectare or 47.6 hectoliters per hectare and the maximum yield for Rosso di Montalcino DOC will be 8 tons per hectare or 56 hectoliters per hectare. This is a reduction of 1 ton for Brunello: until this year the maximum yield for Brunello was 8 tons per hectare (see the "disciplinare" here).

My father Fabrizio and I believe this is a positive evolution for Brunello di Montalcino because it will make it so that the overall quality of Brunello will be better and it will also help to stabilise the prices of Brunello for everyone. 

We hope you are all enjoying your summer and we will be going to Castiglioncello soon for our vacations at the seaside! 

More great scores for Il Poggione Brunello 2004 from Wine Enthusiast

Again, we are so happy to see that our 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is getting such good scores, despite the fact of the difficult vintage. Thanks to our older vines (sometimes over 40 years old) and our high elevations of our vineyards, we were able to make a true and excellent wine made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso.

2004 IL POGGIONE BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO – 92 POINTS

High quality and easy availability (more than 17,000 cases are made) make this Brunello a sure bet for consumers who love the rich tastes of Tuscany. The wine boasts an immediate and intense delivery of blackberry, cedar and pressed blue flowers. It has natural denseness and firmness that fuel a long and satisfying finish. 

Tanzer scores Il Poggione 93 points

We are very happy to see that other critics are also giving to our wines good scores for the 2004 vintage. As we have always maintained, we feel that the higher altitudes, southwestern location, and the age of our vines at more than 40 years in some vineyards, allows us to make very good wines, wines that mirror the terroir of Sant'Angelo in Colle, even when there was hot temperatures in the spring like there was in May 2004. Thank you, Mr. Tanzer. We are glad that you enjoy our Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino! 

Il Poggione 2004 Brunello di Montalcino

Good deep red.  Sexy nose offers raspberry, spices, coconute, dried flowers, tobacco and potpourri: almost Lafite-like.  Then suave, complex and energetic in the mouth, offering lovely vinosity to the sappy red fruit and floral flavors.  Finishes long and vibrant, combining enticing sweetness and firm, saline grip.  Really spreads out horizontally on the back. 93 Points

—Steven Tanzer

Considerations on 2004 vintage

That is a photo of our village, Sant'Angelo in Colle, made from our vineyards below. It is called "Sant'Angelo in Colle" or "Saint Angel on the Hill" because it is one of the highest elevations points in our appellation of Montalcino. You can see from this photo how it is rising upward.

There have been a lot of discussions recently in the wine magazines and guides about the 2004 vintage. We received very good scores and notes from Antonio Galloni in the Wine Advocate but even he has noted that 2004 vintage was not a great vintage for everyone.

The most recent we have read was this one by the important wine writer Steve Tanzer who wrote:

“Thus far, the coverage of Brunello di Montalcino I’ve seen elsewhere has generally fallen into two categories: 2004 is an outstanding vintage, worth the 5 stars awarded to it by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, or 2004 is an overrated vintage from a growing season that was too warm to make classic sangiovese wines. As usual, the truth lies somewhere between these two overgeneralizations… The potential Achilles’ heel of the 2004 vintage was the warmth of the summer and, in some instances, above-average yields. But there were enough short cooler spells in July and August to invigorate the vines and keep the ripening process going, and the harvest took place during the second half of September and well into October.”

There was warm temperature during the summer but if the vineyards were at high elevation enough like the Il Poggione vineyards, the cooler temperatures of nighttime allowed the ripening to continue. Also, in the southern and west part of the appellation, where is Il Poggione, the cooler temperatures of the sea ventilation also help to keep the fruits cool even during the summer high temperature.

This is one of the reasons why my father and I believe that we have made a great wine in 2004. We also agree with that which Mr. Galloni says:

"Overall 2004 is a much stronger vintage in the southern part of the zone – specifically Sant’Angelo in Colle and Castelnuovo dell’Abate – than it is in Montalcino itself. Simply put – despite a number of truly monumental Brunellos – 2004 is unfortunately not a profound vintage across the board, as it probably could have been and should have been."

Thank you for reading our blog. We hope you are enjoying 2004 Brunello di Montalcino by Il Poggione!

"Price is irrelevant if the provenance is unsound"

My father and I and everyone here at Il Poggione have been very happy about the response to Antonio Galloni's reviews and scores of our current vintage. But we have also been dismayed to see so many offerings of our wines where the provenance is uncertain. We recently read this email from the Garagiste, one of the best resources in the U.S. today for hard-to-find rare wines. We agree with him that "Price is irrelevant if the provenance is unsound". Here is that which the garagiste Jon Rimmerman had to say about the interest in our wines last week in an email:

"I noted last week that the 2004 Il Poggione Brunello may be the most offered/reacted to wine I’ve ever witnessed post-Wine Advocate review (outside of the annual Bordeaux rampage). The offers started a few weeks ago when Antonio Galloni hinted that this was one of the top examples of the vintage and they haven’t stopped since. I’ve received so many retailer offers for this wine that I’m sure most consumers have received even more (I’m not even on all of these email lists but somehow they’ve all found me). As of today...

The 2004 Il Poggione Brunello offer count as of July 10th: 47 offers with a price disparity of over $40/bottle… MAKE SURE you inquire about provenance. Price is irrelevant if the provenance is unsound (I know you will ask so...we will not have an offer for this wine). - Jon Rimmerman"

Tuscan cooking and Il Poggione in Cincinnati Ohio

My father and I were really happy to hear from our friends Nicola Pietoso our fellow Tuscan and one of his wine buyers Pete Sedgwick (in the picture above) at Via Vite and Nicola's in Cincinnati where Nicola and his son the chef Cristian make some classic favorite dishes from Firenze, like veal and ricotta meatballs "alla Cibreo" like the ones they make at the famous Trattoria Cibrèo in Firenze by Fabio Picchi. Nicola's was called the number 2 top 10 restaurant in Cincinnati this year.

Pete who is the general manager and also one of the wine buyers wrote us:

“Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino goes really well with our signature dishes, like the penne alla bolognese and braised lamb shank, any type of hearty, braised meat, and rich pastas… Since its price point is really good, it’s more accessible to people who don’t know Italian wine yet.”

We are very happy that people are eating good Tuscan cooking in Cincinnati and drinking traditional Rosso di Montalcino made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso grown in our vineyards in Sant'Angelo in Colle!

Robert Parker: 95 points for Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino, "first-class Sangiovese from Montalcino"

My father and I were very happy to receive news of the scores and reviews from the Robert Parker's Wine Advocate today. In case you don't have a subscription to the online or print edition, here are the scores and the notes. 

Thanks you, Messers Antonio Galloni and Robert Parker, for taking the time to review our wines. We are glad that you like them as do we! 

I was completely blown away by the wines I tasted from Il Poggione this year. Readers who want to experience first-class Sangiovese from Montalcino won’t want to miss these exceptional wines. Winemaker Fabrizio Bindocci and his team have done an exceptional job for which they deserve all the praise in the world.

— Antonio Galloni, The Wine Advocate, July, 2009

2004 Brunello - 95 points

The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is awesome. This finessed, regal Brunello flows onto the palate with seamless layers of perfumed fruit framed by silky, finessed tannins. The wine remains extremely primary at this stage, and its full range of aromas and flavors have yet to emerge, but the sheer pedigree of this Brunello is unmistakable. The elegant, refined finish lasts an eternity, and subtle notes of menthol, spices, licorice and leather add final notes of complexity. The estate’s 2004 Brunello is a wine to buy and bury in the deepest corner of the cellar. Brunello is never inexpensive, but this is the real deal, and in relative terms, it is one of the world’s great values in fine, cellar worthy wine. Incredibly, there are 18,000+ cases of the 2004 Brunello, so it should be fairly easy to source in various markets. The Brunello is made from four vineyards ranging from 250 to 400 meters in altitude, all in Sant’Angelo in Colle. The wines from the various vineyards were aged separately in French oak casks prior to being assembled and bottled. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2034.

2003 Brunello Riserva Vigna Paganelli - 93+ points

The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Vigna Paganelli is made from old vines in the estate’s Paganelli vineyard in Sant’Angelo in Colle. It is surprisingly fresh in its expression of red cherries, tobacco, leather, earthiness and spices. Deceptively medium in body, the wine reveals gorgeous length and a refined, silky finish, both qualities that are exceptionally rare in this vintage. This is high-class Sangiovese. In the torrid 2003, winemaker Fabrizio Bindocci gave the Riserva 12 days of fermentation/maceration on the skins, and aged the wine in large French oak casks. For the Riserva the estate vinfies with 100% stems, and also uses a higher percentage of newer oak. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 2003 Riserva merit a higher score in a few years. The 1975 Riserva – from another super-hot vintage- was breathtaking when last tasted about two years ago?.and the Paganelli vineyard was only 10 years old at the time! Anticipated maturity: 2010-2028.

2007 Rosso di Montalcino - 90 points

The 2007 Rosso di Montalcino is a soft, floral wine with pretty red fruits that meld into tobacco, spices and minerals. The wine possesses lovely inner perfume to match its accessible personality. The 2007 is a relatively open vintage for the Rosso, and while I don’t see this vintage making old bones, it should offer highly pleasurable drinking over the next few years at a minimum. In 2007 Bindocci decided to de-stem 70% of the fruit, which yielded an especially soft, approachable wine. Because Rosso is a wine generally made for near-term consumption, its hard to argue with that approach, especially in this economy. Still I miss the firmer style of Rosso the house is capable of. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2017.

Congratulations to our friend Jayne Gastropub in San Diego

 

Jayne sent us this photo of 2003 Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino in San Diego at her restaurant.

Our friend Jayne Gastropub was named "top 3" Gastropub in the U.S., also because they serve Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino! Congratulations Jayne Gastropub!