I happened on a new (to me) azienda in Montalcino that appears to be producing wines of seriously top quality: Campi di Fonterenza in Sant'Antimo in Colle. The only problem is that quantities are seriously limited: about 4,000 bottles of Rosso and less than 2,000 bottles of Brunello a year, plus some other stuff that I have not tried. From their website, they planted 4 hectares of wines in 1999. The first Brunello released was the 2004. Cultivation is biodynamic and the wine is aged in large Slavonian oak. I tried the following two wines at a very nice wine bar/small restaurant called La Fromagerie in Arezzo:
2007 Rosso di Montalcino - One of the best Rossos I have had in the last several years. Dark, rich fruits, extremely nice balance, exceptional length. Tasted very complete and full with no rough edges. Significantly better than Siro Pacenti's 2007 Rosso which seems a bit acid and short in comparison. Compares favorably with Casanova di Neri and might be a tad more approachable. Excellent+
2005 Brunello di Montalcino - As good as the Rosso is (and 2007 is a better year generally than 2005), this Brunello is even better. Still needs some time but does have greater depth and complexity of flavor. More tar/tobacco/leather. Just a seriously lovely wine. Excellent+, bordering on Outstanding. I am generally not a fan of 2005 in Tuscany. 2005 was a very hot year and a lot of wines are either jammy as a result of being picked too late with too ripe fruit or short and tannic where the grapes were picked early and had not reached full phenolic maturity. But this is an exception.
An interesting observation about these wines is that they do not come across as oaky but clearly have seen oak and I wonder if the very newness of the winery means that they are getting some benefit from the newness of the botte. They taste very "modern" which is generally an indication of barrique aging. Since they do not use barriques, that suggests that the Slavonian oak is contributing something to the mix. I will make a point of visiting the winery in the next month or so and see if I cannot get some answers.
Regards,
Robert