WTN: Colombini Morellino Di Scansano 1997

The next to last bottle of this wine, originally marked at $30 but red tagged for $20 and two of the four bottles picked up in a bin for around $10 as I recall.
Two prior bottles were disjointed, lacking in fruit, overly tannic - that's the way I recall them though I don't have any notes. I do recall I thought this had the right pieces but hadn't come together yet.
This one started suspiciously, with a glued down capsule. Removal of the top of the capsule revealed still damp brownish liquid, an ugly mouldy cork top. Still liquid to the neck, but the cork had leaked around three sides.
But the wine was fine. Better than fine. Nice warm (and a little bit sweet) plum and earth flavors, with a bit of leather. Medium/heavy wine with smooth initial mouthfeel. Perhaps a tad short on acid. Still an abundance of tannins when sipped while grilling dinner, but when paired with the lamb chops, the tannins seemed to be a non-factor. And the last bit, now being enjoyed an hour after dinner, perfectly integrated. This has now come together. A perfectly mature and lovely Sangiovese wine, the maturity perhaps hastened by the slightly leaky bottle. Nice long aftertaste.
I had regretted this purchase on the first two bottles. Not anymore. Nice stuff, despite the tiny shortcoming in the acid dept.

The next to last bottle of this wine, originally marked at $30 but red tagged for $20 and two of the four bottles picked up in a bin for around $10 as I recall.
Two prior bottles were disjointed, lacking in fruit, overly tannic - that's the way I recall them though I don't have any notes. I do recall I thought this had the right pieces but hadn't come together yet.
This one started suspiciously, with a glued down capsule. Removal of the top of the capsule revealed still damp brownish liquid, an ugly mouldy cork top. Still liquid to the neck, but the cork had leaked around three sides.
But the wine was fine. Better than fine. Nice warm (and a little bit sweet) plum and earth flavors, with a bit of leather. Medium/heavy wine with smooth initial mouthfeel. Perhaps a tad short on acid. Still an abundance of tannins when sipped while grilling dinner, but when paired with the lamb chops, the tannins seemed to be a non-factor. And the last bit, now being enjoyed an hour after dinner, perfectly integrated. This has now come together. A perfectly mature and lovely Sangiovese wine, the maturity perhaps hastened by the slightly leaky bottle. Nice long aftertaste.
I had regretted this purchase on the first two bottles. Not anymore. Nice stuff, despite the tiny shortcoming in the acid dept.

Great post there, my friend! I often have great experiences with morellinos such as Valle delle Rose. I have not had this producer you had, though. I just love sangiovese, including the so often slight bitterness in the finish. I'll be there two weeks from today - yeeehaaa!!!

Have a great time there, Paulo. And I hope that, notwithstanding the trip, you will find a way to join us at MoCOOL.

[Jenise]

Oliver/Paulo,

For those of us challenged in understanding Italian wine lingo, explain the "Morrelino de Scansano" part, please. I presume it's a geographical reference, but can there also be Morrelinos not of Scansano? I could swear I had one in NY a few months back, but it might also be true that the wine was not described by it's full name. Oh, and are Morrelinos ALWAYS sangiovese? The aforementioned New Yorker bore no resemblance to what I know as sangiovese. I didn't like the wine at all, matter of fact.

Morellino Di Scansano is considered a "classic" zone of Maremma for sangiovese, only. It had a reputation in the way long ago as one of the few high grounds in the otherwise swampy Marmemma zone, which has, of course, since been planted (pretty successfully, I think) with syrah, merlot, and cabernet.

Morellino is a strain of Sangiovese, and I guess there is no reason it could not be grown elsewhere. But my limited experience is with Morellino di Scansano. Scansano, as you probably know, is way south in Tuscany. Those more familiar with the area can comment more authoritatively on this than I, but my understanding is that this is a very hot part of Italy, and that the Sangiovese there can achieve full ripeness and tend to produce heavy and well structured wines - more on the order of Brunello than Chianti, but at about half the cost of Brunello. I think it was Parker who once described these as "the poor man's Brunello," but he was perhaps quoting someone of authority, like Robin.
That has tapped my knowledge of the stuff.

-O (as in Old) W.

Oliver/Paulo,

For those of us challenged in understanding Italian wine lingo, explain the "Morrelino de Scansano" part, please. I presume it's a geographical reference, but can there also be Morrelinos not of Scansano? I could swear I had one in NY a few months back, but it might also be true that the wine was not described by it's full name. Oh, and are Morrelinos ALWAYS sangiovese? The aforementioned New Yorker bore no resemblance to what I know as sangiovese. I didn't like the wine at all, matter of fact.

Jeneeez:

Morellino is a great wine to have when you don't want to spend Brunello prices - a great midweek wine. It tends to have a slightly deeper and almost inkier ripe cherry fruit character than other Sangiovese based wines. Val delle Rose is a favorite: http://www.valdellerose.it/inglese/prodotti.asp?id=3

Scansano is the town, morellino is the name of the sangiovese planted in that area. It is a DOC.

For my palate, like every wine that I taste, if it is made in a heavy international style I am therefore not amused. I recently had a dull Morris Farms (one of the top producers of this wine) morellino when I was in Umbria last January - it was too "sagey" for my palate. However, I'd be interested in your experience with Val della Rose Morellino di Scansano. One of these days I will drag you to Italy with me!

Oliver/Paulo,

For those of us challenged in understanding Italian wine lingo, explain the "Morrelino de Scansano" part, please. I presume it's a geographical reference, but can there also be Morrelinos not of Scansano? I could swear I had one in NY a few months back, but it might also be true that the wine was not described by it's full name. Oh, and are Morrelinos ALWAYS sangiovese? The aforementioned New Yorker bore no resemblance to what I know as sangiovese. I didn't like the wine at all, matter of fact.

There are other local names for Sangiovese (Brunello, for example, or Prugnolo Gentile in Montepulciano), but it's interesting that this one uses the varietal name in the DOC name but can include other traditional red varieties in the blend. I've had some excellent examples, and I like the fact that they don't allow exotic varieties like Cabernet, which greatly change the nature of Sangiovese.

The normally excellent http://www.italianmade.com has some bad links on the Morellino page, so it's harder to find the exact information. (http://www.consorziomorellino.it/ is only in Italian.)

[Jenise]

Paulo, Oliver, Dave: Thanks for your answerings. Between the three of you, I know understand this area and the probable reason I didn't care for the Morellino I had in NY.

Since then though, and in fact again last weekend, courtesy of my Canadian friends I've Moris Farms wines several times in the last few months. A Morellino de Scansano just last Saturday, matter of fact. A '99, and rather youngish. The ones we had a few months before, one of those circumstances where people by accident show up with the same wine, was one called something like Avoltare. I know it was sangiovese, but does the name imply a different AVA than Morellino?

Paulo, Oliver, Dave: Thanks for your answerings. Between the three of you, I know understand this area and the probable reason I didn't care for the Morellino I had in NY.

Since then though, and in fact again last weekend, courtesy of my Canadian friends I've Moris Farms wines several times in the last few months. A Morellino de Scansano just last Saturday, matter of fact. A '99, and rather youngish. The ones we had a few months before, one of those circumstances where people by accident show up with the same wine, was one called something like Avoltare. I know it was sangiovese, but does the name imply a different AVA than Morellino?

Indeed - sangiovese cultivated in the town and surroundings of Scansano, but still a sangiovese. Brunello di Montalcino is pretty much the same situation - a sangiovese grosso from the town area of Montalcino. The morellinos I have had have a slightly brighter red color than other sangioveses, probably from the fact that the grapes are grown in a warmer area of Tuscany - southwest. Still, I encourage you to try different producers because styles of wine making vary greatly.

The ones we had a few months before, one of those circumstances where people by accident show up with the same wine, was one called something like Avoltare. I know it was sangiovese, but does the name imply a different AVA than Morellino?

Jenise, just a wild guess here, but was the wine "Le Volte," the "second" wine (or third, depending on how you count) of Ornellaia? I know it's a Sangio-dominated blend, and if it's sourced from the same coastal area as Ornellaia and Masseto, it's possible that the label might call the grapes Morellino.