The unforeseen benefits of a poor vintage.
I have ranted throughly on the 2014 vintage in Chianti, it is enough to say that Montalcino shared the same fate. There are silver linings if you can find them. A perfect example is the Il Poggione range of Sangiovese.
Their flagship wine, the Brunello Montalcino Reserva Vigna Paganelli receives fruit exclusively from its namesake vineyard, I Paganelli. Sixty year old vines on the best site, these grapes create the best expression of Brunello in the stable. Yet the Reserva is only made in the best vintages. Where does the fruit go when the Reserva is not made, as in the case of 2014?
The Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino is the sole benefactor of the I Paganelli vineyard fruit. Perhaps an argument can be made that in less than ideal vintages where the fruit is declassified and there is no Reserva, the Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino truly shines?
The DOCG for Brunello requires a minimum of four years ageing, two of those in oak, before release. Despite the ageing, these wines are built for cellaring and can be a little reluctant when opened young. This was the case with the Il Poggione.
Decanted for 90 minutes.
First impressions.
Medium garnet colour in the glass with slight coppering on the rim. On the nose, savoury, fennel, green herbs and tar. No presence of oak and the fruit, if it is there, is hard to detect and tertiary. On the palate, it is high acid, big tannins, black tea and green capsicum.
This wine is wound so tight it was not presenting itself. The high acid and tannins almost threw it out of balance.
We had dinner, pictures below, and came back to it an hour later.
It was a different wine.
The nose has strawberries, tomato vine, white pepper and sweet nutmeg with some mushroom sitting in the background. Masculine, certainly, but approachable. The palate was excellent. The acid was well in balance, the tannins, while persistent and powdery, held appeal rather than aggression. In the mouth were the strawberries, black tea and subtle, sweet spices of nutmeg. Excellent textured mouthfeel, mouth-watering acidity and gripping tannins.
This is a great wine that was opened before its time.
93 pts.
Drink 2025-2030.
