2019 Rocca di Montegrossi Rosata Toscana – pale pink with a nose of cherry and (after a couple of minutes) watermelon. Balanced and crisp.
Fattoria Selvapiana Chianti Rùfina Riserva Bucerchiale:
2019 – nice medium red with nose of red berries and a bit of spice, good flavour with a spicy element. Promising showing from the current release
2018 – similar but sweeter fruit and more depth in the nose, better structure and some herbal notes. Promising but perhaps not a 20 year wine?
2015 – best so far – more spice and drinks really well, still carrying noticeable tannin and for the first time some anise notes were present
2013 – interesting – the fruit was a tad roasted and oxidative and the finish came across as a tad green. Disappointing and hopefully just an off bottle…
2011 – a slight initial funk that blew off quickly and then soft tannins, good fruit levels and length. This was perhaps at the best time in development where it has mellowed but lost none of the youthful fruit attraction. This was at the sweet spot for me, the way I like to drink them.
2010 – colour slightly bricky, meat and herbs in nose, with a little tobacco added with time, and on palate smooth and full. Good length. At peak but should last.
I had decanted all of these wines at least an hour ahead of time, but decanted the next one, the vintage that first got me interested in the wine, right before serving it.
1995 – this still shows excellent colour and the nose was cherry, tobacco and ripe berries. The finish is less tannic now than when I last opened a bottle about four years ago and while we all thought it faded a bit in the glass, I’m not sure that was what it was doing, as the remainder of the bottle that I tasted the next morning was more developed and interesting!
1971 Bertani Recioto della Valpolicella Classico Superiore Amarone – and now perhaps the wine of the day. This is perhaps the best Amarone I have tasted, though I was a little wary of it as I hadn’t opened a bottle for quite a long time. As usual I checked CT for recent notes but there was nothing there but two notes that said it was dead, so no help there. Very dark in the glass and 15% alcohol and almost zero sediment. Warm sweet fruit driven nose with interesting balsamic notes (in the sense of complexity, not acidity) and a very long finish. This wine is still alive and performing as it should! With a creamy Gorgonzola and later with toasted hazelnuts and a bit of Lindt dark chocolate with fleur de sel, it also sang