WTN: 2001 Valdicava Brunello - an "Aussie Shiraz incognito"!

2001 Valdicava, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy
This is a Brunello?! The colour, bouquet and flavor profile is totally atypical for a Brunello di Montalcino. Almost black colour, perfume of overripe fruits and extremely full-bodied on the palate. A real “Frankenstein” wine to please some american wine-critics. Bombastic jammy fruit, black chocolate, velvety tannins and after one glass you have enough. Modern Brunello of the worst kind! Of course this wine received 98pts. from James Suckling/WS. In a blind-tasting you would guess all sorts of things, but not a Brunello........

Here is a statement from A. Galloni/WA about this Brunello a few minutes ago:

"I tasted something like 20 different wines last week at Valdicava, going back to the 1988 Riserva Madonna del Piano. The 2001 Brunello is truly an anomaly in this series of wines. I don't consider it representative of this producer's style. There is simply no wine before it or after it (including 04-07) that comes close in terms of style. According to proprietor Vincenzo Abbruzzese the spring hailstorm lowered yields dramatically, and these vineyards are already accustomed to drastically low production. I am not completely sure if its what happened in the vineyard or later in the cellar that explains the wine's very unusal style, but I wouldn't extrapolate and draw conclusions on Valdicava based on one freakish wine."

[Jenise]

Martin, I thought of your post when I read an article in the NY Times today about non-regulation brunellos. I just posted it separately, but here's a link of your own:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/dining/23brunello.html?ex=1209614400&en=bae6bb20733e04b8&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Martin, I thought of your post when I read an article in the NY Times today about non-regulation brunellos. I just posted it separately, but here's a link of your own:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/dining/23brunello.html?ex=1209614400&en=bae6bb20733e04b8&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Me, too, Jenise. Reading between the lines of Signore Galliano's comments, I'd be willing to bet that that's what he was thinking, too, but had the good sense not to give voice to.

Mark Lipton

Hi Jenise,

vielen Dank, very,very interesting article!

Take care,
Martin