1999 Villa Puccini, IGT Toscana

[jackl]

I have to admit the little shelf 'hanger' tag got me to try this one but with not totally negative results. It is an IGT wine from Tuscany with 90 percent sangiovese, 10 merlot. The tag said something to the effect of being 'very lush and smooth,' to which I would say it was everything but these descriptions. I got petrol (from oak?) and dried rose petals on the nose. On the palatte there was again rose petals, pine resin, and sour dark cherries as the backdrop to all of these. It probably could have benefitted from less oak aging (12 months) to bring up the fruit a bit. At 10.99 I think it was a decent QPR, not great. I'll just really have to be more judicious in regards to those ever present 'hangers.' Sometimes it seems as though you have to go out of your way not to pick a wine with a tag!

[Thomas]

I usually do just that!

[Drew]

I'll betcha the shelf talker was for the '97 version which was a really nice qpr and fit that description. It's a very common practice to keep those hangers in place for vintages not rated or not up to snuff.

DRew

[jackl]

Yeah, Drew, that could be exactly what happened. You could probably get away with it for some wines that are very consistent from vintage to vintage, but maybe just a little too much variation in Tuscany. I read somewhere that 1999 was a good year in Tuscany but I guess just not like the '97's. As always--buyer beware...