'96 Angelo Sassetti Brunello di Montalcino

[Innkeeper]

1996 Angelo Sassetti, Pertimali, Brunello di Montalcino ($28 Wine Expo). Alcohol level: 13%. When we bought this from Roberto back in ’02, he told us it was “ready.” Not believing that was true for a six year old Brunello (even a $28 one) we routinely scheduled it for 2011. Then we started to see it offered in restaurants by the bottle and by the glass, and wine stewards were saying it was drinking nicely. So we dropped the schedule by five years to 2006. Well we opened it on 1/1/07!

Fantastic! We decanted it carefully, and all the junk stayed in the bottle. It gave restrained black fruit to the nose, but it was more pronounced on the tongue tip along with some chocolate, tobacco, herbs. A memorable elixir including of all the above and some toasty oak crossed our palates, the finish rang four bells. I think it was fully aged out, and caught it just in time.

Matched it with grillpanned rib steak seasoned with EVOO and Morton Rub, roasted potatoes, and salad. Mucho, mucho grande’!

[hotwine]

Sounds fantabulous, IK!

I've got a single bottle of '96 Brunello hiding in the cellar.... can't recall the producer without looking at the label, since the database is wiped out. Had assumed it needed to sleep longer, but will now exhume for inspection...

[wondersofwine]

Some brunellos are being made for earlier drinking than others. I had one from Frescobaldi at a wine event that was only five years old and quite drinkable.