WTN: 2006 Terrabianca Campaccio IGT

70% Sanigovese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. 60% Maremma, 40% Chianti Classico.

I think we opened this years too soon. This tasting note is from the second day open, and the level of extraction and tannins and maybe alcohol was still too high. I guess I look for "tangyness" in my Sangiovese-based wines, or, in Italy, a hinto of bitterness on the finish? Did not find this here. Instead, this wine is all about the big plum fruit flavors, with cherry notes and some alcoholic heat. Very primary in the fruit. Probably infanticide, but this wine was very California-esque. Not very interesting, to be honest...too polished and extracted.

I would have been unhappy paying full retail ($47) for this one. Luckily, it was substantially discounted!

I have one more bottle. Will it become more interesting with more bottle age? There are certainly the tannins here to support aging???

[Jenise]

Yes more interesting with more bottle age. I'm a big fan of Terrabianca wines (Campaccio, Del Piano, etc.) though it's been a long time since I've had a very young one. My first was the 90 vintage and I drank those too young too, though they drank well when I did, based on the '90 Bill Spohn brought to lunch about a year ago. Presuming the winemaking style hasn't changed, I get your California reference but would assert that it's just a stage and you'll forget all about that 20 years out.

Yes more interesting with more bottle age. I'm a big fan of Terrabianca wines (Campaccio, Del Piano, etc.) though it's been a long time since I've had a very young one. My first was the 90 vintage and I drank those too young too, though they drank well when I did, based on the '90 Bill Spohn brought to lunch about a year ago. Presuming the winemaking style hasn't changed, I get your California reference but would assert that it's just a stage and you'll forget all about that 20 years out.

20 years out? Eek. I was hoping for five years

The same store has a less expensive bottling which is almost all Sangiovese...might be the Del Piano?

Sounds like it might be worth purchasing and cellaring?

[Jenise]

20 years out? Eek. I was hoping for five years

Well, note mine didn't make the long haul either. Too darned good. I bought both the regular and reserve bottlings and found very little difference between them in the 90 vintage--the reserve wasn't, on the face of it, worth twice the price which is what it commanded at the time--they were $20 and $40 in Alaska where I lived then. There are a number of bottlings besides these and the Del Piano, so not sure what you may have seen. DP is merely the only other name that came to me. I've since picked up a few more-aged bottles at auction and loved every one of them.

Count me a fan of the regular, though I haven't bought much since the '99. The reserve (wax seal) is actually less attractive to me, just a little bulkier and a lot oakier. Though as Jenise notes with timethey get quite similar- like her I found 90s quite alike. I tend to like regular most with maybe 8-10 years of age.