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We had this with dinner tonight, a gift from my daughter and son in law. Not a bad tasting wine by any means, very dry. Color was not what I would have expected, seemed light. Way over priced at $70. I could make 30 bottles of wine that would be just as good. (They agreed.) To be fair to the maker, the wine should have been cellared for a few years more. It was a gift for Father's Day and we were having a great filet so I opened it. We will never know.
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We had this with dinner tonight, a gift from my daughter and son in law. Not a bad tasting wine by any means, very dry. Color was not what I would have expected, seemed light. Way over priced at $70. I could make 30 bottles of wine that would be just as good. (They agreed.) To be fair to the maker, the wine should have been cellared for a few years more. It was a gift for Father's Day and we were having a great filet so I opened it. We will never know.
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Agree too young. But as you say, Rocky, you don't even buy green bananas. :p. Sometimes you just gotta say 'pop the cork'.
 
We had this with dinner tonight, a gift from my daughter and son in law. Not a bad tasting wine by any means, very dry. Color was not what I would have expected, seemed light. Way over priced at $70. I could make 30 bottles of wine that would be just as good. (They agreed.) To be fair to the maker, the wine should have been cellared for a few years more. It was a gift for Father's Day and we were having a great filet so I opened it. We will never know.
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I will say that I have never encountered a Brunello that I would describe as "light." Sorry this happened to you!
 
Just a follow up to the Brunello we had last night. I took some shots of all that was left of the bottle. I don't think they do justice to how light the wine is. It tasted like a better than average Chianti.



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Just a follow up to the Brunello we had last night. I took some shots of all that was left of the bottle. I don't think they do justice to how light the wine is. It tasted like a better than average Chianti.View attachment 62708View attachment 62709

Yes, that seems light!

Your comment about the Chianti jingled a neuron. I have had a similar experience not so long ago with a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. I bought 4 of them from WTSO for small money, so it was a pig in a poke. I opened the first one and was disappointed (light, not a lot of body or tannins). I then decided to just think of it as a random Chianti, put the other 3 into the "normal drinking stock" bin of my cellar, and moved on! (This, of course, was far easier when it didn't cost $70!)

Curiously, Robert Parker rated the 2015 vintage as "Extraordinary" with a rating of 97: Robert Parker Wine Advocate
 
Reviews attached:


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We had this with dinner tonight, a gift from my daughter and son in law. Not a bad tasting wine by any means, very dry. Color was not what I would have expected, seemed light. Way over priced at $70. I could make 30 bottles of wine that would be just as good. (They agreed.) To be fair to the maker, the wine should have been cellared for a few years more. It was a gift for Father's Day and we were having a great filet so I opened it. We will never know.
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Yeah, Mike. I saw that too. It had very high ratings from all the "experts." That is probably why I take all those ratings with a quarter grain of salt. Personally, I don't care what it tastes like to them, I only care what it tastes like to me.

It brings to mind something I saw on TV many years ago where a panel of "art experts" were reviewing a number of paintings from a modern artist. They all found certain nuances in what the artist was feeling, had experienced, his background and upbringing and the type of life he had led which formed the person he was and the agony or ecstasy that came out in his paintings. They even argued amongst each other on the various interpretations.

Then the "artist" was revealed and it turned out to be a monkey who just threw gobs of paint at canvases.
 
Just a follow up to the Brunello we had last night. I took some shots of all that was left of the bottle. I don't think they do justice to how light the wine is. It tasted like a better than average Chianti.



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If I had to guess from just your first pic, I'd say you had a Pinot Noir there, Rocky! ;) Certainly in the 'light' category.
 
Yes, that seems light!

Your comment about the Chianti jingled a neuron. I have had a similar experience not so long ago with a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. I bought 4 of them from WTSO for small money, so it was a pig in a poke. I opened the first one and was disappointed (light, not a lot of body or tannins). I then decided to just think of it as a random Chianti, put the other 3 into the "normal drinking stock" bin of my cellar, and moved on! (This, of course, was far easier when it didn't cost $70!)

Curiously, Robert Parker rated the 2015 vintage as "Extraordinary" with a rating of 97: Robert Parker Wine Advocate

All three wines are made predominantly from Sangiovese grapes although Brunello and Vino Nobile are supposed to be purely Sangiovese.

Maybe I am just a victim of "cellar palate" and cannot appreciate really great wines. I have had some very memorable store bought bottles in the past and I did have a lot of Brunello and Vino Nobile when I visited Italy. (We stayed about midway between Montepulciano and Montalcino near the city of Pienza.) As I recall, to me they were superior to the wine I just had.

I guess what I have an issue with is that the experts treat wine as though there were a "standard" in some hypothetical "Bureau of Wine Tasting" which defined how a Brunello, a Barolo or a Vino Nobile should taste, much like a meter of kilogram in the Bureau of Weights and Measures.

To me, it is totally subjective and what tastes great to one person will gag another. "One mans food is another man's poison."
 
All three wines are made predominantly from Sangiovese grapes although Brunello and Vino Nobile are supposed to be purely Sangiovese.

Maybe I am just a victim of "cellar palate" and cannot appreciate really great wines. I have had some very memorable store bought bottles in the past and I did have a lot of Brunello and Vino Nobile when I visited Italy. (We stayed about midway between Montepulciano and Montalcino near the city of Pienza.) As I recall, to me they were superior to the wine I just had.

Yes, you may recall that I had the good fortune of spending a week walking in that area. We started in Montalcino, and walked to San Quirico, Bagno Vignoni, Pienza, and then to Montepulciano. Like you, we enjoyed a fair amount of Brunello and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano on that trip, as you can imagine! I also liked their little brothers, Rosso di Montalcino and the Rosso di Montepulciano, which, as I'm sure you noticed were available for a lot less dosh. And I don't recall encountering any as light as the one you showed.

Hmmm, I just pulled up some pix to post, and they are not as dark as I remember them! Well, here are some pictures to remind you of your trip:

DSCN1511.JPG.jpgDSCN1506.JPG.jpgDSCN1402.JPG.jpgDSCN1502.JPG.jpgDSCN1547.JPG.jpg
 
Yes, you may recall that I had the good fortune of spending a week walking in that area. We started in Montalcino, and walked to San Quirico, Bagno Vignoni, Pienza, and then to Montepulciano. Like you, we enjoyed a fair amount of Brunello and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano on that trip, as you can imagine! I also liked their little brothers, Rosso di Montalcino and the Rosso di Montepulciano, which, as I'm sure you noticed were available for a lot less dosh. And I don't recall encountering any as light as the one you showed.

Hmmm, I just pulled up some pix to post, and they are not as dark as I remember them! Well, here are some pictures to remind you of your trip:

View attachment 62726View attachment 62727View attachment 62728View attachment 62729View attachment 62730
Thanks for the pictures Paul. My wife an I spent a month there. We had an apartment in Castelmuzio which is a small town about 5 miles from Pienza. The people we rented from had an Agrituisimo just outside of Pienza and all of our activities centered on that farm. We took tours from there to Montepulciano, Siena, Firenze and to Montalcino. We also had a great dinner in the former Monastery that was in the film, "The English Patient."

I am really impressed that you walked all that distance! Bev and I used to get up in the mornings and walk from Castelmuzio to Petroia or to Montisi, two small towns in opposite direction, have breakfast and walk back. Good workout. You mentioned Bagno Vignoni. Is that the large Roman Bath (looked like a swimming pool) not far from San Quirico D'Orcia? I would love to go back but too many sands have flowed through the hour glass.
 
Thanks for the pictures Paul. My wife an I spent a month there. We had an apartment in Castelmuzio which is a small town about 5 miles from Pienza. The people we rented from had an Agrituisimo just outside of Pienza and all of our activities centered on that farm. We took tours from there to Montepulciano, Siena, Firenze and to Montalcino. We also had a great dinner in the former Monastery that was in the film, "The English Patient."

I am really impressed that you walked all that distance! Bev and I used to get up in the mornings and walk from Castelmuzio to Petroia or to Montisi, two small towns in opposite direction, have breakfast and walk back. Good workout. You mentioned Bagno Vignoni. Is that the large Roman Bath (looked like a swimming pool) not far from San Quirico D'Orcia? I would love to go back but too many sands have flowed through the hour glass.

Yes, I recall that you were "The two Americans who walk"! :) In a previous exchange here on WMT, we identified a ruined house that you coveted that we both had walked past, IIRC.

Yes, you are 100% correct about the bath at Bagno Vignoni.

The walk was fine. It was about 8 miles a day, but you had all day to do it. The thing about hiking from one Tuscan hill town to another, however, is that by definition there will be a hard climb at the end of the day! There was a "cheat" involved. We used a tour company (Walking Tours of Italy: GIROSOLE Guided Walking Holidays and Self-Guided Adventures), and they transport your bags for you from one town to the next. So all we had to carry was a daypack with lunch and wine! It was really a heavenly trip. We need to do it (or one like it in another region) again.
 
Yes, I recall that you were "The two Americans who walk"! :) In a previous exchange here on WMT, we identified a ruined house that you coveted that we both had walked past, IIRC.

Yes, you are 100% correct about the bath at Bagno Vignoni.

The walk was fine. It was about 8 miles a day, but you had all day to do it. The thing about hiking from one Tuscan hill town to another, however, is that by definition there will be a hard climb at the end of the day! There was a "cheat" involved. We used a tour company (Walking Tours of Italy: GIROSOLE Guided Walking Holidays and Self-Guided Adventures), and they transport your bags for you from one town to the next. So all we had to carry was a daypack with lunch and wine! It was really a heavenly trip. We need to do it (or one like it in another region) again.

If I am able to go to Italy one day, I gotta talk to you for sure 😊
 

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