2001 Brunello Tasting (Part II)

In January 2007, I tasted 12 additional brunello wines with the Kylix Society of New York . I was less than impressed with the line-up of wines this time around. First, some of the wines were ridiculously dark , which for some critics would be a badge of honor. Second, the wines for the most part were more international than the first time around . Granted they were delicious as wines but I was expecting a more Italianate rendering of the grape(s) .
In this tasting I reintroduced 3 wines from Part I---one was my previous top choice (Mocali-Vigna Raunate) , another was my then least favorite (Collosorbo) and the other (Poggiorellino) was middle of the pack. Unfortunately, the Poggiorellino was badly corked . Notes are in order of wines tasted blind in flights of 3 , followed by a retasting with food . Wines were decanted 3 hours prior to start of tasting.

Camigliano: Medium dark in color; has a tight, cool nose, suggestive of a higher altitude wine , with hints of earth, red cherries & plummy fruit . Barrique aging has been put to excellent use without being prominent. It is medium bodied with crisp cranberry-like crunch to the fruit, it is immediately appealing on the palate with good balance, amplitude (quite broad) and delightful acidity. Even though the nose is backward, I would wager this is not a wine for aging and would be best drunk before 2015. 89 points

Argiano: Moderately dark in color; panders to the modern style with vanilla, overt barrique and baking spice aromas; rather full and chewy with low acidity and immediate flavors. Plummy and somewhat "grenache-like". Quite alcoholic and to my palate slightly top heavy, but I can see others liking it for the very reasons I am not marking this high . 86 points

Le Chiuse: Quite dark in color; rich, plummy nose with little else of interest; Full bodied, deeply extracted fruit with slightly better acidity than the above wine but overall simplistic in context of the vintage. Even with food this wine never gained complexity. 86 points

Tricherchi: Darkish; compote of fruit on the nose, quite rich; unexpectedly not as fruity on the palate as expected and it presents itself with restraint and style. It has good structure but falls off in the finish. With food this seemed insipid. Seems like young vines here since there is not much depth. 86 points

Poggio Nardone: Very dark; minty, spicy nose with blackberry scents; broad and voluptuous on entry it expands on mid-palate with rich, chewy and chocolatey fruit,
underpinned by sound acidity; quite long and balanced . Modern in style but this manages to keep its voice low and lets the interplay of ripe fruit and tannin unfold elegantly. All in all a very good wine. 90 points

Frecobaldi Castelgiocondo: Saturated dark; nose thaPublish Postt is basically about fruit and more fruit; weighty on palate with overripe fruit flavors with barely enough acidity to keep it interesting. Rich , long, plummy finish . Would do well in a right bank Bordeaux tasting. 85 points

Colombini: Inky black; intense black cherry with a roasted component; seemingly rich with good acidity, some new oak flavor but sorely lacking depth and breadth. Quite linear with the possibility that it might gain in complexity with time. Right now it so extracted and muddled that there is no clear signal . 87+ points

Mocali Vigna della Raunate: Not crimsom dark like some others ; almost sweet and volatile at the same time--initial impression of this wine was the exact opposite of my impressions in Part I. This wine was marked by sulfur but once this resolved ( 24 hours later) it was impressively rich with crunchy fruit; sleek and broad at the same time it was clearly in the "newer" mold but stopped short of being an international bore. Warm and long finish. This is very good. 90 points

Il Castellare: Dark; roasted scents with coffee, leather and fragrant floral aromas; rich and impressive attack followed by a deep mid-palate. Very good acidity keeps the wine buoyant; mushrooms and earth complement the fruit from start to finish. Not complex but very nice. The group favorite . 88 points

Collosorbo: This was my least favorite wine in Part I (November 2006) but this time I liked it a whole lot better or did I? Fragrant with hints of strawberry (??) and raspberry fruit--spicy, crisp with rosemary like accents. Rich in a burgundian sense. With time, however, it reverts to a gulpable Zin-like concoction with unbalanced alcohol and confirmed what I had noted previously in part I. Except this time I was not as put off by the wine. Will a third time be magic? 87 points

Caparzo: Garnet colored as opposed to the rich ruby of most wines previous; backward with truffley aromas; bright cherry-fruit on palate with decent backbone and acid; reserved on palate with little in the way of depth; finishes with a diminuendo and falls well short of the finish line. Nice wine but not better than a good Rosso di Montalcino. 86 points