Wine Blogging Wednesday #48: Back To…Brunello?
Brunello di Montalcino, Italian wine, Sangiovese, WBW, Wine Blogging Wednesday
This is going to be a brief post. It’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, and the theme from Lenn Thompson is a good one: to choose a wine that gets you back to your roots as a wine drinker and wine lover. Sort of ‘the wine that changed your life,’ if you will.
Personally, I hadn’t much been interested in wine until about the year 2000, when I took a trip to Italy. I went back on my honeymoon a few years later, and both times my husband and I stayed in the Montalcino area.
On one of those trips the two of us took a tour of Castello Banfi, which was impressive and grand (albeit not a typical producer, being American-owned and massive in scale). More so, overall we consumed quite a large amount of Brunello - I believe the 1995 vintage the first time around, and the 1997 vintage on our second trip. My exposure to these wines, in the region where they were made, the local history and culture — this really solidified what is now not just a hobby for me, but a way of life.
So I had my wine picked out for WBW #48. Well, two wines. The 2001 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, and their upper-end bottling, the 2001 Castello Banfi Brunello Poggio Alle Mura. I checked all sorts of online resources including Cellartracker, eBob and the Spectator, and the consensus seems to be that they won’t be ready to drink before 2009. I have only one bottle of each, and I couldn’t bring myself to open either of them before their time.
Maybe it’s rubbish, or maybe I’m being protective of the wine that captured me so (sure, they’re from a different vintage from the originals, but supposedly an even better one). I’m not ready to have the romantic notions that seduced me into a life of wine shattered, and hope that next year when I pop the cork on at least one of these, I’ll fall in love all over again.
So, am I an idiot? Should I have ignored conventional wisdom and opened one of these bottles, perhaps prematurely? It’s still Wednesday, and I could possibly be persuaded to reverse my decision to sit this one out.
2 Responses to “Wine Blogging Wednesday #48: Back To…Brunello?”
Leave a Reply
get your wine on
2008 “Bebame” Red, El Dorado County, California
Cabernet Franc (65%) and Gamay (35%) from - gasp - California! And only 13% ABV, pretty modest by California standards. If I tasted this blind I would probably have said it’s from the Loire Valley. It has pretty much nothing in common with the full bodied iterations of Cab Franc coming out of Napa. Juicy, light, delicious quaffing wine.$18 a bottle
2006 Telegramme Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge
Really balanced and smooth, this is a bargain of a Chateauneuf. Yeah, the 07s are lauded but what would I prefer to drink? This! It’s the second label of Vieux Telegraphe, from the same property but from younger vines. And it’s a deal at $33 a bottle.2006 or bust!
NV Barcino Cava: LA Times Wine of the Week!
Delicious and just in time for New Year’s Eve…this is the LA Times Wine of the Week, and we have plenty in stock. Order online, pick-up in-store!$14 a bottle!
Search
freshly pressed
3/8/10: First domaineLA Wine Tasting at Susan Feniger’s Street: 5 Wines, $15:
Just a quick note to let you know that a week from today, on Monday, March 8th, 2010, I’ll be hosting the first domaineLA wine tasting event at Susan Feniger’s Street, with the Manincor winery of Italy. The importer and winemaker will both be present to chat about the five wines being poured (including an unusual and delicious dry moscato), and the wines will be paired with light bites.
The best news is that the event will cost just $15 a person…a bargain! Swing by between 6PM and 8PM — I hope to see lots of you there!
Susan Feniger’s Street, 742 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Oh, and you can buy tickets in advance, online by clicking here:
3/8/10: First domaineLA Wine Tasting at Susan Feniger’s Street: 5 Wines, $15
Wine Retail and Social Media: Yeah, I Should Be Blogging…
Free Corkage Alert! Umami Burger and domaineLA
wine jargon
Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.
Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.
grapewise
DomaineLA Store Contact Info
If you’re looking for our brick and mortar shop, here’s where it can be found:
(323) 932-0280
Hours are 11AM to 8PM, Monday through Saturday and noon to 5PM on Sundays.
Read more…Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!
DomaineLA Store Contact Info
Fabulous & Frugal!
domaine547 In the Blogosphere! Imbibe Magazine Unfiltered
August 13th, 2008 at 8:19 am
We were talking to a wine shop owner about Brunello. He said that back in the day, they were not made to age forever but, then producers started making them that way to compete with France BUT THEN the whole Parker/Rolland thing turned the tide again so that now a lot of the Brunellos are actually drinkable at release. I can’t speak for your bottles. I can’t speak for any of it really. That’s just what a wine dude told me. I’d say open one today and save one for next year.
August 13th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I am really enjoying everyone’s posts today about their wine experiences in the early years. Yours is also fascinating!