Patience is a virtue, but it’s not so easy to exercise when it comes to wine. Some wines effectively demand it, but I’d wager that today’s Brunello di Montalcino, from the warm, ripe 2009 vintage, offered plenty of pleasure when it was first released.
Not being very patient myself, I probably wouldn’t have sat on any, so I’m very grateful that the folks at Casanuova delle Cerbaie did. Not only is today’s 2009 exceptionally well-priced, it has reached the point in its evolution where it has truly taken on new dimensions. The aromas have grown more complex, the texture more voluptuous, the overall experience more memorable. Non-patient wine drinkers don’t get to experience this very often unless a deal like this one drops into their laps—so here we are, with a well-stored, well-aged, well-priced Tuscan benchmark you can pull the cork on sooner rather than later. Everyone should get to taste wine like this, and at this price, just about everyone can!
I’ve followed Casanuova delle Cerbaie with interest since American entrepreneur and avid Brunello enthusiast Roy Welland acquired the property in 2007. This is a well-situated estate on the ‘north slope’ of the Montalcino hill, a neighbor to the assorted Sassetti family properties and one of the owners of vines in the famed “Montosoli” vineyard. Working with about 5.5 hectares of vineyards registered as Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (including about 1.5 in Montosoli), Welland’s sure-handed enologist, Paolo Vagaggini (a Montalcino fixture who’s worked with a host of top estates, including Fuligni, Il Palazzone, and Biondi-Santi) favors a woodsy, savory style of Sangiovese aged in larger Slavonian oak barrels crafted by the Austrian cooperage Stockinger.
Today’s wine spent two years in barrel and, per Montalcino law, four years aging in total before it was initially released at the beginning of 2014. Now with five more years of bottle age, it has entered a beguiling and deeply pleasurable point in its evolution—there’s lots of ripe black cherry fruit thanks to the generosity of ’09, but it’s woven through with loads of smoky, damp-forest savor. In the glass, it’s a dense garnet moving to crimson and orange at the rim, with heady aromas of brandied cherries, plum, blood orange peel, grilled meat, leather, varnish, and dried wild mushrooms. Nearly full-bodied and its tannins nicely softened by age, it nevertheless shows nice freshness on the palate. It still has 5+ more years of positive evolution ahead of it, but as I intimated above, why wait? Decant it 15-20 minutes (watching for sediment) before serving in Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees. It’s calling out for something gamey, something of the woods, to eat with it. The attached recipe should do the job nicely, and there are lots of worthwhile occasions coming up. Enjoy!
