17 Market Place
Devizes
Wiltshire
SN10 1HT
UK
t: 01380 827291
www.boweswine.co.uk
Devizes
Wiltshire
SN10 1HT
UK
t: 01380 827291
www.boweswine.co.uk
Caspar Bowes has regularly tasted for wines for more years than he can remember! Many of his tasting notes have historically never made it beyond his library of tasting books. He is now actively tasting even more regularly and widely, and is endeavouring to write up his new notes as he goes along.
If you are looking for a note which is not in the list below, please contact Caspar Bowes as he might well have the note but not yet posted it here.
Bordeaux, Red
Bordeaux, White
Burgundy, Red
Burgundy, White
Rhône, Red
Rhône, White
Champagne
French Regions
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Spain
2020 Château Montrose, St Estèphe
Really very deep in the glass. Aromas are busy, exciting and complex, showing very dark fruit, with a nuance of dried, dark flowers. There’s a hint of something earthy here. The palate is busy, too, and really oaky through. This is very long and really needs time to come together (and absorb the wood). Very good though.
2020 Château Pontet Canet, Pauillac
A rich vinous stew of a nose, with blackcurrant to the fore. This is dark, rich and decently fresh and pure. Palate is plush, cool and initially seems just about ready. However, there are some pippy-fresh tannins that kick in later on and push long, asking for more age. There’s a slightly odd dichotomy i.e. not quite in balance. But it gains an intensity to the significant structure at the back.
2020 Château Rauzan Ségla, Margaux
The nose here is a very nice melange of dark fruit, both wild and domestic. And there’s a hint of the biscuit tin about it. Entry offers bright fruit showing good Cabernet purity. This is cool and fine and just about integrated. Very, very long. Lovely.
2020 Château Canon, St Emilion
This is a touch closed. There’s a hint of pepper to the very dark fruit. Entry is very cool indeed, giving fresh plum fruit, black and really pure. The tannin has started to integrate and I would happily drink a bottle of this now, well decanted. Long, dark, pure and delicious.
2021 Château Montrose, St Estèphe
Aromas here are really crisp and include orange pastilles allied to the fresh blackcurrant scent. This is fresh and firm from the off: a very cool wine all ‘round. Bare medium weight and with rich, credible, cool tannins. Long, elegant and seamless.
2021 Château Pontet Canet, Pauillac
Aromas here are really very vinous. It almost smells like a Pinot. Sweet berry fruit is integrated. Indeed, this is not far off ready to drink. There’s a core of fresh structure and it finishes with a swathe of rich tannin. Nice.
2021 Château Rauzan Ségla, Margaux
Crunchy red and blackcurrant aromas. This is very berry-ish, but also rather unformed, but has a lovely core of cool fruit and a swathe of very fine tannins that become increasingly mineral. A long thing, this is barely medium weight. It’s a nicely complete wine, albeit on a smaller scale.
2021 Château Canon, St Emilion
N.B. 13.5% abv. Cool aromas slightly dominated by a sweet spiciness. This is juicy-dark, medium weight. There’s a slight hole in the middle and then a wash of scrubbing tannin at the back. There’s a really firm core of freshness here and it’s nicely long, too.
2022 Château Montrose, St Estèphe
The nose gives up aromas of cool, dew-fresh fruit, but is clearly rather closed. That one can smell is a very pure and crisp blackcurrant fruit. The palate is very cool, medium weight and really very backward. But it is also subtle and elegant, the tannins a fine-grained voile just beneath the surface. Needs lots of time. The structure at the death becomes peppery. Very very long. Amazing.
2022 Château Pontet Canet, Pauillac
Beautifully fresh and defined nose of superb purity of crunchy blackcurrant fruit, plus a hint of the chocolate wood. The palate is very quickly crisp and, like the nose, offers superb definition. This is backward and has superbly incisive-fresh structure that grips complex and long and really very mineral. This is superb.
2022 Château Branaire Ducru, St Julien
Slightly weird in its high-toned oak (as it so often is). The fruit is dark and pure beneath: crisp, of blackcurrant and mulberry. It offers good density and is really quite elegant, with a fresh mineral core. Nicely long thing…but that odd oak…
2022 Château Léoville Poyferré, St Julien
N.B. One of the few ‘22s I tasted that was a more “modest” 14%.
Lovely rich, very dark fruit of the nose, broader than some. And there’s a touch of something floral. Blackcurrant and something wilder. This is quickly juicy-fresh in its blackcurrant fruit flavours. Just medium weight, the firm and fine tannins emerging from its core, wreathing the finish. Superb.
2022 Château Rauzan Ségla, Margaux
Very nice and fresh Cabernet blackcurrant aromas of good snap, allied to impressive richness. I find a touch of breadth here (hardly surprising, as most of these ‘22s are 14.5%abv) and a hint of something mentholated (the wood, perhaps?). This is cool, composed and really pretty backward to taste, with a very gravelly core of fresh structure. Very long indeed. It grips rockily and with great determination. Superb.
2022 Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac-Léognan
The nose is rich, a touch meaty, showing rather smoky-dark aromas of some blackcurrant breadth. This is quite plush on entry and quite cool enough. Then some integrated limestone-cool structure emerges; those rocky-mineral tannins push long. This grips and grips. Seems good. Perhaps a touch short on typicity?
2022 Château Gazin, Pomerol
Nose is a touch briary; crunchy with its very dark, pure fruit of sweet currant and plum. Very cool and dark. This is quite backward, but busy and long and really juicy, with incisively fresh tannins. This will be lovely.
2022 Château Canon, St Emilion
The nose offers a lovey dark medley to fruits of the forest, as well as something more earthy. And there’s a hint of something herbal like dried mint. This is fresh and has super definition; is pure and delicious. There’s the merest hint of milk chocolate. Cool and complete. Medium weight, with super freshness and long, long structural grip. Fresh, with fresh, upright tannins. Very, very long. Pure and lively. Fabulous!
2022 La Mondotte, St Emilion
Scented and a touch broad, showing dark red raspberry fruit. Aromas are rich and I could smell something like hazelnut, which I guessed was the wood. There’s an initial hit of richness in the mouth, then very quickly the acidity kicks in. Tannin is integrated, albeit woody and there’s lasting, incisive freshness.
2022 Château Canon La Gaffelière, St Emilion
A milk chocolate oak veneer coats the aromas of red and black fruit and rather dominates for the time being. This is really backward with rich and tacky-fine tannins through which a fine line of acidity emerges. Very long.
2022 Clos de l’Oratoire, St Emilion
Fruit aromas are red and black and nicely fresh, nicely pure and there’s a hint of liquorice about it. A cool wine, with cool, almondine tannin. Rather unformed today, but direct and long with nice internal energy.
2022 Château d’Aiguilhe, Côtes de Castillon
Nicely pure and there’s a touch of creaminess to the dark and rather delicious fruit aromas that carry some slightly herbal-smelling oak. A touch high-toned, this. It’s medium weight, fluid and direct; nicely fresh and with some granular structure at the back. Super finish. This is light on its feet. Elegant, with a juicy, berry-ish death.
2023 Château Pontet Canet, Pauillac
N.B. 35% of the elevage undertaken in amphora. Lovely pure and cool, lifted blackcurrant fruit aromas. This is richly, finely tannin and it pushes long. A juicy, pure, seamless wine. Lovely.
2023 Château Rauzan Ségla, Margaux
Fresh orange juice (again) and blackcurrants on the nose. Very cool and direct; pure and really lovely. Stunning finish.
2023 Château Canon, St Emilion
This is lovely, offering snappy, pure dark fruit, especially damson. And there’s a squirt of fresh orange juice running through it (something I found on a number of ‘23s). Seems cool and very good.
2020 Château Guiraud, Sauternes
Pale in colour and there are distinct Sauvignon aromas coming off. This is leafy and pine scented, with apple fruit. Nicely lively and quite lime-y. Long enough. A very different expression. Nice, though.
2022 Château Guiraud, Sauternes
This is much more reserved, showing some deep, botrytised notes; spice and toast. Entry is very rich and plush but there’s acidity right through this. Lime juice. This grips very nicely to an earthily textured, structured death. Superb.
2023 Château Guiraud, Sauternes
Lovely rich, crunchy pineapple chunk nose, plus mango Exotic, in other words. Lots of ginger on entry. Doesn’t come across as too sweet and is toasty at the death. A stunner.
2022 Monthélie 1er Cru Les Duresses, Bouchard Père et Fils
Pretty and ripe domestic fruit aromas, especially strawberry. Touches of cherry and blueberry.this is quite plush on entry, then some grippy, rocky-fresh tannins introduce themselves. A long wine of fresh grip. Needs 2 years - 17/1/24
2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières, Bouchard Père et Fils
Fruit here is darker, more sauvage, blue and black and showing a touch of liquorice rootiness. A nicely pure example with a slightly crystalline character. It’s more backward; cool, with limestone structure right through. Reserved; backward, even. Fresh, long and fully structured. Super length and a busy death. - 17/1/24
2022 Beaune du Château 1er Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Very pretty nose, really quite airy, of small cherries. A bright thing with a hint of mintiness. This has instant supple sex appeal. It goes in medium weight, then picks up some nutty-firm, limestone tannins. Superb sustain. Feminine, long and very lovely. - 17/1/24
2022 Beaune 1er Cru, Les Teurons, Bouchard Père et Fils
Pure, ripe and darker plum aromas.Entry is cool and rich. That plum thing again. Then very fine, integrated and lightly gluey-dense clay structure kicks in. Quite forward and nicely long. A touch warm right at the back. - 17/1/24
2022 Beaune 1er Cru Clos de la Mousse, Bouchard Père et Fils
This offers up a good tang of slightly exotic, scented plum fruit. Blueberry jam and damson. This is pure and plush, picking up integrated and very credible fruit tannins. Eventually a fresh, lightly bitter mineral structure emerges, along with the well cached, fresh acidity. Needs four years. - 17/1/24
2022 Beaune 1er Cru Grève Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus, Bouchard Père et Fils
Good tang here and more complexity to the dark red domestic fruit that majors on raspberry. There’s a mintiness, too and a limestone clay aroma. This offers better freshness and crunch, but fruit is still ripe. After the fleshy-cool entrycomes a core of rather come-hither, very fine earth structure. Fruit is beautiful, red and darker. Delicious! - 17/1/24
2022 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot, Bouchard Père et Fils
Nose is dark, a touch closed, just giving up some pastille-like, plum aromas that emerge rather beautifully. I noted elderberry, too. This is cool across the tongue and has an extra level of energy from the off. It is reserved and full of nutty wood and fine, clay-like, lightly tacky tannins. There’s extra dimension here. Really quite fabulous; very long, with a superb, full finish. - 17/1/24
2022 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens, Bouchard Père et Fils
Nose here is really quite restrained, but offers scents of lovely sauvages ripe red fruits allied to cool, lemon limestone aromas. With swirling, aromas become very ripe with a hint of rhubarb. There’s something meaty of the core of the nose. Palate starts rich and cool and supple, then supported by very fine, nutty tannin. It is fresh, both in terms of its acidity and the limestone tannic structure. There’s are minerals like dried stone dust at the back. Needs 7 or 8 years. - 17/1/24
2022 Le Corton Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Lifted blueberry and elderberry aromas, fresh and pure and ripe. A touch minty. Enters the mouth rich and fleshy, but quickly becomes snappier, with its fresh acidity, well cached. This is direct and consistent with proper Corton size and weight. Ripe, cool and busy, with mounting, cool, limestone grip towards the back. Should be very good indeed. - 17/1/24
2022 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles, Bouchard Père et Fils
The dark aromas are really quite medicinal/mentholated, with pure fruit of small black berries filling it out, all a touch saline-smelling. Fruit in the mouth is rich and ripe; dark, pure and delicious. There are (just about) integrated, quite burly, tannins, plus its spiced and tacky grip. A long wine and a decently fresh one. Great sustain with a final note of minty earth. Needs 6 years. - 17/1/24
2022 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Rich and rather beautiful dark and very ripe fruit. Smells really quite aristo and, after a while, slightly jammy. Mulberry-plum fruit, this is plush and seriously rich and there’s early snap and freshness here. A cool frame of upright tannin. This is quite warm and sizeable. Not sure. That jamminess is a concern. - 17/1/24
2022 Echézeaux Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Nutty, dark red aromas with excellent tang. Rose hip scented. A ripe wine, dense and rocky, with much better freshness. Very, very long and it grips long with its very fine tannins. Lasting crunch. This is really good. - 17/1/24
2022 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Lovely nose redolent of fresh and dried roses plus quite sauvage and nicely crunchy red fruits. There are limestone araomas, too, plus a touch of smoke. This is rich and supplefor an instant, then very quickly picks up a firm tannic core, piquant and lightly smoky. It grips long. This is backward, becoming minty and wreathed in limestone, grippy-cool structure. Fabulous. - 17/1/24
2022 Chambertin Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
This is rich and a touch chocolaty, with dark, nutty fruit. Plush, but ultimately quite backward. I find this a bit vacuous, although it is decently long, with fine rock-dust, mineral grip. Hmm. - 17/1/24
2022 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
This is much better. Nose is piquant and with an encouraging hint of violet to the dark plum fruit. Entry is supple-ripe. Fruit is red and darker, the whole really persistent. Delicious wine. Remarkably open for business, but so very long and there’s some good vim at the back. - 17/1/24
2022 Beaune du Château 1er Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Aromas are a touch nutty and the fruit in the mouth is quite oily, everything backed by a peppery, incisive structure. A long wine and a pretty assertive one. - 17/1/24
2022 Beaune 1er Cru Clos St Landry, Bouchard Père et Fils
This is wearing a toasty coat. A dense wine, quite buttery within, gaining in a toasted, peppery structure. It’s really pretty forward. Becomes increasingly buttery, although the light saline thing counterbalances this somewhat. It’s long enough, but doesn’t quite have the finish. - 17/1/24
2022 Meursault Les Clous, Bouchard Père et Fils
Smells strongly of sugared almonds and something high-toned. Palate is peppery-dense, with big, spicy, piquant grip. Very long. Seems very good. - 17/1/24
2022 Meursault 1er Cru Les Gouttes d’Or, Bouchard Père et Fils
Almond-nutty wood dominates the aromas, but there’s real stuffing here on the palate and good sustain. There’s also a very nice line of acidity. Very long and a touch saline. A pronounced step up. - 17/1/24
2022 Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières, Bouchard Père et Fils
Dense and ripe aromas of golden orchard fruit. There’s decent energy from the front here, then a toasted nut thing mid-palate. Better energy and very good sustain. Super death, with green apple, firm acidity. Like this. - 17/1/24
2022 Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières, Bouchard Père et Fils
Lovely nose of white flowers and cool white fruits, plus nut. This is dense and backward with firm, green orange acidity that is sustained through the back end. A very long wine of excellent dimension at the back, where one finds a sherbet-firm grip of dense structure/freshness. Like this more, if anything! - 17/1/24
2022 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Fresh-but-ripe yellow fruit aromas. This is dense and structured from the front. Dense and rich and a touch backward, with its green orange acidity. A driven wine of powerful through-put. Excellent. - 17/1/24
2022 Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
The slightly toasty wood dominates the rich nose at this stage. A dense wine of mineral freshness. Sustained and direct, with grippy intent. A dense and very long wine of powerful through-put and a big, busy finish. - 17/1/24
2022 Chevalier Montrachet La Cabotte Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Tasted at the end. White fruit and huge density. Super stuff, more Montrachet than Chevalier this year. - 17/1/24
2022 Montrachet Grand Cru, Bouchard Père et Fils
Nose here a rich melange of exotic citrus and orchard fruit and the nutty wood. Ripe…and the sugared almonds. Palate-staining talcum minerality becomes piquant and peppery. Long and even a touch closed. Orange-fresh grip at the back, as well as a tad saline. Masses of extract here. Wait 6 or 7. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis, William Fèvre
Very pure ripe pear and Golden Delicious apple aromas. Clean, yes. There’s some lemon acidity within and a dusting of chalky minerals. Lemon finish. This is really very good. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis 1er Cru Beauroy, William Fèvre
Very nice nose of green apple and crushed fresh herbs, plus some limestone spice. Faintly nutty wine. This is quickly firm in the mouth with lime-like acidity through. Sustained grip is quite gentle. Nicely long. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaillons, William Fèvre
Lovely nose. I found orange blossom and grapefruit, including its pith. Very rich fruit palate with slightly pithy lemon acidity at the back. Very nice length and super finish. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis 1er Cru Montmains, William Fèvre
Lovely, ripe grapefruit scent here. Peary, with a slightly toasty complexity. Orange. This is both plush and ripe as well as structured right through, with quick, firm, spicy acidity. Really decent energy here. Very long too. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume, William Fèvre
Rich orchard fruit aromas, quite simple-smelling. There’s quite firm green orange acidity supporting the palate and something slightly peppery, too. Great drive and vim. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre, William Fèvre
Good, cool, quite spare nose of salted orchard fruit and crushed herbs. Seaweed, even. Forward. This is weirdly lacking in mid-palate energy. Hmm. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent, William Fèvre
This is floral: redolent of white flowers and pear fruit. Quite sweet-smelling. Indeed, there’s something almost a tad confected here. A dense wine with good energy from the off, having a core of saline, green orange acidity. There’s real dimension at the back. A dense wine, very juicy. Excellent. Stunning finish. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros, William Fèvre
This offers pithy aromas of lemon, quite spare, albeit rich. I found very good energy on entry, then plush with its saline-inlfected pear and apple fruit. Very nice sustain and there are piquant, spicy dots of mineral – almost capsaicin – through. Spare, direct and very mineral finish. Seems really good. Almost 2014 in its structure. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir, William Fèvre
Smells richly of summer apples. Rather simple for the time being. Backward, though. A direct wine, hiding much light under bushels. It gains in a piquant, spiced cut of pronounced acidity. Great vim at the back. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir, William Fèvre
Principally smells of pears, but there’s something else, some complication I cannot put my finger on. It’s rich, anyway, with a Godello-like daffodil thing, plus a citrus scent. There’s good flesh to the quite simple fruit flavours backed by peppery structure. Long and it’s quite a big wine. Super, spiced, incisive cut at the finish. Quite hard to judge, ATM. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis Grand Cru Preuses, William Fèvre
Golden Delicious and pear. Rich but a touch closed. Nicely direct and takes on quite an incisive cut of steely freshness. Great sustain; citrus vibration. Wait 4 + years. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots, William Fèvre
Scented and very pretty aromas of white flowers covering ripe orchard fruit and a green, ivy leaf, herbal scent. A dense wine, but one with great, energetic acidity within. Backward, with subtle and elegant persistence. Very long indeed. This is superb. A spare death of density, full of piquant mineral structure. Vivid and fabulous. - 17/1/24
2022 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos, William Fèvre
Nose a rich and ripe melange of citrus and orchard fruit, offering a degree of complexity. Very dense palate full of herb inflected orchard and citrus fruit backed by a green orange core of well-cached acidity. Grips very long indeed. Superb…but I prefer the Côte Bouguerots at the moment. - 17/1/24
2016 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al Vento Riserva, Col d’Orcia
This is quite deeply coloured and the nose is quite odd for the time being. I could find floral notes, along with herbs and an earthy scent. The palate really shines, however. It’s consistent and really saline. Classically built with great structural sustain. Vastly long wine. Wait! 14.5% - 21/11/23
2017 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Phenomena, Sesti
This is remarkably cool and composed, giving up dark fruit. In the mouth, it is rich and dark, with sustained, integrated grip. A very direct wine, complete and very long indeed. Grip is upright, the whole thing busy and energetic. A massively successful wine for the vintage. - 7/3/23
2018 Brunello di Montalcino Nastagio, Col d’Orcia
Quite a backward wine showing fresh red cherry fruit. Palate is very fresh from near the front and the fruit is backed by rich, architectural tannin, which rather dominates at present. There’s a saline lick to the ending of this very long wine. Should be very good. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2018 Brunello di Montalcino, Máté
This is a beautiful colour in the glass: a pale tomato red. Aromas are of very red fruit, very domestic: things like red cherry and strawberry. And there are dried herbs twisted through that fruit. There’s stunning texture up front as it gores into the mouth, then the mineral freshness powers through to the very long finish, with its integrated, grippy tannins. This is quite delicious, with real juice and energy. - 7/3/23
2018 Brunello di Montalcino, Sesti
This really is stupendously good. It’s quickly apparent that this is fresh and the fruit, quite high-toned, is dark red with a hint of chestnut. A beautiful wine and quite a backward one. Direct and mineral throughout, gaining in structural dimension. This needs time, but what a wine. My tasting note cannot really do this justice. Amazing. - 7/3/23
2018 Brunello di Montalcino Phenomena Riserva, Sesti
Very clean and airy nose on slightly high-toned beautiful red fruit dotted with dry spice. Really fresh and elegant palate. There’s a lovely cool density to the fruit. Juicy tang right through this. Great sustain. A thing of enormous elegance. Lovely. 14.5%- 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Argiano
Mid ruby fading to wide garnet rim. Rich and dense aromas of dark embers and smoky fruit. Notes of wild strawberry and herb. Heady stuff! Touch of liquorice. This offers a rich mouthful of lovely fruit, dark red and darker still. Comes together in fresh, fine tannins. Quite warm, but acidity is good and keeps the whole fresh. A bit of limestone to the structure here. No need to wait too long. Very good. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Suolo, Argiano
Slightly more aged-looking than the above, but similar depth of colour. This is more closed and darker, the fruit pitch black, the herb quota more pronounced here and there are blackcurrant pastilles to be found. Lots of smoke. This is much cooler in the mouth, much more backward. It’s juicier, too; more direct. Very fresh wine. Tannins are fresh and rocky and integrated. Very, very long. Fabulous. Dies on that pastille thing. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Canalicchio di Sopra
Medium plus ruby with mauve lights. This is a touch closed but aromas have a lightness of touch, with red cherry fruit and lots of herbs. Rhubarb-fresh and raspberry. Nice tang. There’s a sweetness to the fruit on entry, then immediate freshness, with really fine tannins with and lively acids. Very long. Nice wine, incisively fresh. Stunning death. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino La Casaccia, Canalicchio di Sopra
Similar colour. Nose here is rich and really very floral. Dark red fruits and a slightly toasted sweetness about it like a hint of caramel – not unpleasant. Quite a meaty wine – smoked meat. This is nicely defined in the mouth; controlled and quite backward. The palate is rather closed, but it grips very long. Some tannin is wood derived albeit integrated. Direct wine, with its fresh acidity well cached. Sustained. Needs time. Should be very good indeed. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Montosoli, Canalicchio di Sopra
Nose is really quite closed here, but nicely dense, of good purity. A distinct and particular herb to the dark red, lightly smoky fruit. This has a slight bitterness to the oak at present, is very backward. There’s a density to the structure that should see it evolve long-term. Super-fresh acidity throughout. Very, very long. Inchoate. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Capanna
Backward. Very dark fruit showing bay leaf and smoke aromas. Feels like a northern wine. Really backward. Wonderful and highly credible structure. Tannins are rocky and rich. This is very long and nicely fresh. Needs quite a bit of time. An elegant, structured wine. A fine one, too. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Col d’Orcia
Medium deep. Lovely, domestic, red pastille plum fruit and something darker. Nicely pure and there’s a hint of dried spice. Good and rich entry of very good purity. Quite simple in its youth, then the tannin kicks in, upright and incisive and allied to grippy freshness. Long and disarming wine, a touch saline. Nicely long and with real intent at the back. Time will bring complexity, I think. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Corte Pavone
Medium-deep. Young looking and really pure and fresh on the nose. The fruit is nuanced by bits and pieces of smoke and fresh orange juice and a whiff of north African spices. This goes in the mouth cool and elegant and the structure appears soon after. Really floral note – violet perhaps – right through the middle. Very nice purity. A long wine of limestone tannic structure. Lovely. Northern style. Really very long indeed. Fabulous. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Campo Marzio, Corte Pavone
There’s a smokiness to the very domestic fruit on the nose, showing a hint of something animal (not brett). Dark fruit is plum and cherry and backed by mineral spice. The palate is very quickly fresh and offers very pure dark fruit. It’s a really quite cool and compact wine, very long with sustained, mineral-structured grip. Should be excellent. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Poggiarelli, Cortinesi
Just medium ruby in the glass. Nose of strawberry compote, a touch floral, and quite pastille-like. There’s mint here, too. A bit spicy-dark. Nicely pure palate here and very herbal. Tannins are rocky, rich, upright and they come through freshly. This is backward and offers sustained structural grip. A very, very long wine with fresh, dense throughput. Should be very good indeed. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Le Mannella, Cortinesi
Very young looking wine. Smells quite backward and there’s quite a smokiness to the domestic fruit of black raspberry and elderberry, all a fraction tarry. This comes over fresh and quite airy. Rather a floral wine. Medium weight only. Entry is fleshy and the fruit is quite forward. Then piquant tannins and incisive acidity arrives, the acidity quite orange-y. Hm. And the finish is a bit diffuse. Not sure about this…14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Fattoria dei Barbi
Nose here is smoky-dark, a touch tarry with a minty top-note. It’s quite high-toned altogether and really quite orange-y. Entry is rich and dense, but pure and controlled and structured from the off. Orange and dark red Sangiovese fruits. Very long wine with lovely tannins. Complete; lively; superb. Excellent wine with a fine finish. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Giodo
There’s a touch of maturity to the colour here. Aromas are complex, of herbs and spice and mixed red and black fruits. A dry nose, quite earth-directed; fresh and red. The fluid entry has the acidity right through it. A really herbal notes appears mid-palate and the tannin – rocky, fresh, integrated – completes a structured sustain. This is a touch airy. It’s also super-long, with a superb finish. Great wine - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Il Poggione
There are floral notes to the spicy, dark plum, lightly smoky fruit. There a lightness about the aromas. And chestnuts. This is a cool and quite understated wine. Over time it gains a fresh orange freshness. It’s fresh right through in fact. Tannin is integrated, fine and faintly glue-y. very, ve3ry long wine. Can enjoy pretty soon. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, La Casaccia di Franceschi
dark and cake-y, smoky aromas. Fresh-but-pure, dark plum and cherry fruit with a minty freshness. Bay leaf here. Enters the mouth dark and fluid, coming across as quite forward. Then it picks up its freshness and a fresh limestone tannic structure. The acidity is a citric spice throughout. Cool, airy, long and elegant wine. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, La Fiorita
Really aromatic wine here. Scented with wild strawberry, the whole thing summery and a touch floral and very pretty. Goes in the mouth fluid and fleshy and one picks up those wild strawberries again. Darker structure. This is sustained and delicious. It grips incisively and long. A direct thing and rather wonderful. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Fiore de NO, La Fiorita
Very saline-rich strawberry aromas, pure and red and summery. Ncool and fluid entry gives that very domestic fruit. Fine and integrated and fresh and upright tannins. This is long and quite backward. Fresh and elegant wine. Very, very long too. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, La Fortuna
Lovely, sophisticated and classy nose of dark red fruit and chestnuts and a freshness of red cherries. Quite domestic in the hints of black raspberry and flowers. There’s the faintest moment of slight looseness on entry, then a gathering saline structure. Tannin is rocky and highly credible. Lively with intensity. The fruit has a pastille touch. Superb wine. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Giobi, La Fortuna
This is doing a weird turmeric thing on the nose. Is that oak? It overlays red and quite airy wild fruits. This is backward and offers instant structure. In fact, it’s a wine dried by its structure. It’s cool but a weird thing, albeit a weird thing with excellent sustain. Elegant, but rather odd at present…14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, La Gerla
Restrained, with its red fruit and herbal (dried mint) aromas. Fruit is lifted; airy. Entry is rich, of red cherry/currant fruitquite simple at present, but with rich and highly credible slightly tacky tannin. Superb length and a dense, energetic finish. Fresh wine and a really rather good one. Superb death. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino La Pieve, La Gerla
A rich and richly smoky nose of barbecued meat, sweet spice and dark, tangy, plum fruit. A rich wine and a nicely fresh one. It has big grip and it grips long. It holds its fresh acidity within throughout. Lots of matter here. And it is supported by bit, architectural tannin. Very, very long indeed. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Máté
Very nice red wild fruits meet the nose, all a touch liqueur like. This is medium weight and really quite fleshy. Will give lots of pleasure and quite soon. Tannin is integrated and really very fine. A long wine, with juicy acidity within. A thoroughly delicious example. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Poggio Antico
Weird nose here. I can smell papaya, which I wasn’t expecting. Plus there are red fruits and spice. Quite a backward wine. It’s very fresh from the off. And there are some pretty strict tannins. Very long and quite burly with lemon acidity. Hm. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Salicutti
Lovely, lovely nose, fresh and scented, of pure, red, wild fruits; darker, too. There’s a hint of turmeric. This is fresh from the off. Quite a forward wine, juicy and floral, with ripe, nippy tannins. Long and really very lovely. 14% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione, Salicutti
Airy nose seems a touch stemmy. And there are aromas of fresh orange and herbs complicating the floral, dark red fruit. Something iodine here. This is an energetic wine, cool and elegant, with a mineral core of fresh structure. Long limestone tannin becomes tackier throughout. A stunner! - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Sesti
Nose here is a scented, domestic red fruit liqueur. I could find raspberries and cherries; overtones of mint and smoke. The entry is a dead heat between the richness of fruit and the freshness of the acidity. In fact, this is a fabulously fresh wine, direct and with minerals appended to that freshness. Very log, the structure fully integrated. Very lovely thing. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Talenti
Slightly smoky nuance to the classy, red cherry, pure and very beautiful fruit. I sense herbs and wild plums. This is dark and supple in the mouth woven through by very classy tannin. Long and fresh and quite forward, so not long to wait. Lovely juicy grip. Lovely thing all ‘round. 14.5% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino Piero, Talenti
Lovely pure aromas of salted wild red and black fruits. This is well defined and really classy smelling. Elderberry and blueberry and cherry. It’s fresh from the off on the palate. Fleshy fruit then fresh, grainy tannin. An elegant wine and a highly credible one, of dark, wild fruit and juicy acidity. Superb. 15% - 21/11/23
2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Uccelliera
Not an overtly fruity nose. I can find smoke and dried herbs, all a touch lifted. Tea leaves. Palate is very dry, fresh and very mineral. Really backward wine. Grips long and mineral with its rocky tannins. Very, very long and fresh example. Should turn out very well. 15% - 21/11/23
2021 Grangiovese, Sesti
Beautiful, dark, very floral aromas like a pot pourri of fresh purple rose petals, dark plum and a hint of smoky toast. (N.B. I realise “pourri” really precludes petals from being fresh, but I am hoping you get the picture.) The palate is wonderfully cool, medium weight with mild, nutty, integrated and clean tannins throughout. This has delightful intensity and is very long indeed. Fabulous wine.
2021 Rosso di Montalcino, Sesti
Aromas here clearly show their class. They are reserved and fresh and of pure, dark red cherry fruit, all very beautiful. There are herbal complications. This is no more than medium weight and its tannic support is wonderfully rich and lightly tacky. Grip is sustained and juicy in this coolly determined wine. Very, very long and very lovely - 7/3/23