A few days ago I spoke on the phone with my friend Dr. Renzo Cotarella, CEO of Marchesi Antinori s.p.a. who, eager to let me taste some wines soon to be released on the market, invited me to lunch at the Cantinetta Antinori in Florence. To this invitation my “yes” was with the echo both for the pleasure of seeing him and for tasting some wines, certainly, of high quality. We met at the Cantinetta Antinori in Florence at the end of January. The Cantinetta was completely made with the very refined taste of Allegra Antinori. It does not seem to be in a restaurant, but in a stately home. The restaurant manager is Matia Barciulli, while the management of the restaurant is the excellent Daniele Benci.
Arriving at the restaurant, I am accompanied by Daniele on a mezzanine upstairs, where I see four bottles of wine ready to be uncorked. Wines in vintages that I have never tasted. After a few minutes Dr. Cotarella arrives and asks me to taste the wines because he would have liked me to tell him my sincere judgment, as is my habit. Renzo arranged the following order of service for the wines.
Brunello di Montalcino Pian delle Vigne 2016, Guado al Tasso 2018, Le Mortelle, Poggio alle Nane, 2018 e Le Mortelle, Ampio, 2018.
Before proceeding with the choice of lunch dishes, our friend Luciano Ghinassi, owner of the “Buca Lapi” restaurant, served us two dishes of ribollita. Great was my surprise in seeing, after months, my friend Luciano, as great was my surprise in being able to eat what for me is the best ribollita in Florence. Luciano who has the restaurant a few meters from Cantinetta Antinori, knowing where I would be for lunch, had the grace, kindness and affection to give me this double surprise.
For the rest we have chosen a beef tartare without strong flavors so as not to create problems when tasting the wines. Great was my emotion in being able to taste these wines in new vintages. A wine that surprised me, not a little, positively was the Pian delle Vigne 2016. It is the first Brunello of Marchesi Antinori that I liked. For me it is the first vintage produced with the nose and flavor of cherry not overripe-jam but with crunchy cherry.
Guado al Tasso 2018 impressed me a lot, even if the wood note was more evident than in 2017. This last vintage was pleasant and more ready than 2018. The vintage tasted is more austere and, for me, it will be more long-lived. Matarocchio 2018 wine will not be released because it does not come out every year, but in super vintages. The grapes destined for Matarocchio were used for Guado al Tasso. The Le Mortelle winery produces beautiful wines, “il Poggio alle Nane” is, so to speak, a second wine, while “l’Ampio” is the company’s first wine, produced starting from the 2015 vintage. in the “Poggio alla Nane” you can feel a bit of wood but you can also smell many other scents.
“L’Ampio” is complex both on the nose and on the palate and is a great wine for me.
While we were tasting the wines, Marquis Piero Antinori came to visit us, with whom I exchanged some opinions on the wines tasted. I congratulated him for all the wines and for the radical change of his Brunello which has always had an overripe cherry jam on the nose and taste. For the first time I felt their wine with not tired but fresh fruity sensations and an incredibly pleasant drink.
Two days later I went to lunch at the “Buca Lapi” restaurant and I wanted to check the Montalcino wine produced by the Pian delle Vigne company, taking their 2018 red. It is a wine that I really liked for its fruity cherry note. fresh and not over-ripe as it happened in the past, to which I gave a well-deserved score of 90/100
PIAN DELLE VIGNE
Brunello di Montalcino, vintage 2016
Garnet red color.
Olfactory mix made of aromas of hard railway cherry with the right ripeness, which suggests crunchy cherry, mint, eucalyptus, light dried plums, starch of the cotton patch, light rhubarb root, ember of wood, helichrysum (licorice), intense star anise, with final puffs of starch reminiscent of starch for ironing.
The palate is caressed by a fine and elegant body. The freshness is rich, while the tannins are sweet, fairly broad (5/6 +), initially silky and then dry the upper gum a little. Savory wine and well balanced between freshness and alcohol, the latter is imperceptible. In the finish there is a very slight bitter note. In my notes I wrote: “nice drink, nice wine, the more you drink it the more you would drink it”.
(93/100)
TENUTA GUADO AL TASSO
GUADO AL TASSO, vintage 2018
(Grapes: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Merlot)
Intense ruby red-black color.
The nose immediately emerges, in a marked way, the woody note of mint and chocolate reminiscent of “after eight” chocolate. My fear was that this note had an olfactory monopoly as it happens in certain wines.
Slowly aromas of eucalyptus, ripe green pepper, lightly cold coffee, rosemary, lightly black pepper, blackberry, cassis, black truffle, amber, talcum powder, sweets from the outside of the sugared almond and sweet floral puffs of violet emerged.
On the palate it has a perfect medium body, it is not opulent. Well balanced wine with jovial freshness and sweet, silky and completely broad tannins (6/6) that do not make the alcoholic mass feel in the least.
Its gustative persistence is long. Young wine, which will have to lose some woody nose, after long aging. I believe that in some respects, for me, it is the best Guado al Tasso ever done.
(99/100)
FATTORIA LE MORTELLE
POGGIO ALLE NANE, vintage 2018
(Grapes: 80% Cabernet Franc, 10% Carmenere and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Intense ruby red-black color.
From the glass rise aromas of plum, black pepper, nutmeg, mint, eucalyptus, bay leaf, sage, rosemary, sweets from the outside of the sugared almond, juniper berry, violet, hints of black truffle, varnish glaze, and in the finish a slight woody sensation of “after eight” chocolate (mint and chocolate). The body is medium, fine, delicate. Taste of “after eight” chocolate felt on the nose.
The freshness is beautiful and pleasant while the tannins are sweet, wide (6/6), initially silky and then in the final dry, slightly, the upper gum. Its gustative persistence is long with a woody “after eight” finish.
Nice wine, for me, the best of those made to date, will have to lose a little bit of the woody note.
(96/100)
FATTORIA LE MORTELLE
“AMPIO”, vintage 2018
(Grapes: 50% Cabernet Franc, 25% Carmenere and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Intense ruby red – black coat.
The nose is an explosion of black fruit, plum, blackberry, blueberry and cassis. Followed by notes of pea peel, amber, talcum powder, mint, eucalyptus, slight herbaceous to finish with references of ripe green pepper.
Well structured wine with a medium plus body, flavors of blackberry, blueberry, cassis, mint, bay leaf, sage and rosemary.
Well balanced wine with beautiful freshness and tannins that masterfully dominate the alcoholic mass. The tannins are sweet, thick, wide (6/6) and velvety.
Its gustative persistence is long with fruity, mentholated and chocolate flavors.
Beautiful wine, very young, complex that will reach perfection once the wine absorbs the wood. Long aging wine.
(99/100)
It is the best among those produced since 2015 (first vintage).
