MOCALI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RESERVA 2001

I've come to realize that wine appreciation is just like playing the piano..you might have the skill & talent for it, but without practice, you'll lose the finese and the subtle touches that makes it an art form. For weeks, I have been drinking quite a bit of great wines, but slowly realized that I'm getting less excitement & insights because in some way, I've forgotten the many subtle characters taste or smell like! Thats sad...so tonight, i'm going to hone this lost skill of mine by tasting a sangiovese I've not tasted for years!

For those unfamiliar with the Brunello di Montalcino, it's a Tuscan wine from the town of Montalcino, using 100% sangiovese grapes. The Brunello (meaning nice dark one) is actually the name for a certain type of Sangiovese grape that was first recognized in the late 1880s. This long lived and rare wine has gained the reputation & prestige which of course drives up the price of this wine. Thats understandable given its historical quality & the fact that the region produces so little of this wine to serve the world's palate (Montacino only produces about 33,000 cases in a year).

The wine making style also kinda justifies the high prices. The wine makers typically age the wines in their cellars for 50 months while the reserva range gets released 1 year after that.

Ok, here's the tasting notes

APPEARANCE

This wine really lives up to its name..the first impression is a rich dark ruby red with fine clarity. Inky black core with a vibrant apple red rim. Honestly, I'm impressed with the color.

NOSE

A really subtle & elegant nose. There's really complexed aromas seeping out of the wine, but there's so much nose structure, its amazing. The base has ripe raspberries & fresh blackberries with a potpourri of garden herbs in the fore nose of dried spearmint, oregano and eucalyptus. There's an underlayer of dark chocolate powder and sweet incense wood but with a HUGE punch of alcohol, which betrays this wine's youth.

PALATE

Medium bodied wine with a very nice soft feel in the mouth. There's some well behaved blackberry tannins in the background and its showing a lot of structure as well. I can actually taste a hint of French oak flavors in this wine, with a hint of smoked wood. The finish is smooth but has a medium length finish leading to a bitter tannin mouth feel.

CONCLUSION/EVOLUTION

A top class wine to be enjoyed with fellow wine connoisseurs. There's sincerely too much going on in the background for this to be an everyday drinking or food wine. I strongly recommend this wine as a stand alone. There's so much to appreciate in this wine, and yet, it is only starting its aging journey.