'94 Banfi Brunello

[Botafogo]

Another rule of thumb: the largest (by a factor of ten!) producer in the zone is RARELY the guy with the good juice. And, if he is also one of the top five advertizers in the wine rags, BUYER BEWARE of ratings. These guys give new definition to the word "carpetbagger": they made their money in booze (they are Americans), bought huge tracts of unplanted land in the DOCG zona (perhaps unplanted for a reason?), built a showcase Mondavi meets Sterling California style winery and immediately increased the production of the zona by several orders of magnitude. They are probably lobbying behind the scenes at consorzium meetings to lower the mandatory age limits while we speak (free up all that capital, you know) and to allow Merlot in the Brunello ....

But other than that I have no opinion, Roberto

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 08-27-2001).]