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Wine and Food

Alexander van Dülmen

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Tuscany

Brunello di Montalcino – Madonna del Piano, 1993

Brunello di Montalcino – Madonna del Piano, Valdicava da Vincenzo Abbruzzese, 1993, red wine from Italy

7 points

Drinking wine, enjoying wine is so often also an emotional experience. Particularly if it’s a good wine! There are these special moments in life when you know afterwards why life is so beautiful, sometimes so grandiose …. Berlin, one of “the” towns of the world, Friday night, finishing work late, hungry for a “platform” for the transition from a heavy working week to a weekend! Relaxation is needed, but you cannot simply decree this to yourself. Too hyper to sleep, but also too tired to sleep.

Music is another element of emotional cognition. Friendship, too. On a recent Friday night, I rang the bell of Nobelhart & Schmutzig after midnight – a nice welcome, without any attitude like “hey, we are just cleaning up, almost closed, it’s “nice” to see you, but…”. Crossed the cleaned public kitchen area, seated at the bar next to Billy, who asked what I would like. Red. I got Adrianna Occhipinti. Sicilian wine. Wine experts among readers know it, and probably also know that this is a very good wine. I need to write about it, as this is also one of my favorite Italian winemakers. More importantly, someone tries to describe your sentiment, combines it with their own, the wine is in the bottle, and it smells delicious – although you already know it, or is it because you know it?

The restaurant is almost shut down for the night, the rest of the staff leaving, saying good night. Reduced light, the blue reflection of the screen of your friend’s laptop and – excellent music! A conversation among friends is never something about only one subject but so many at the time. A mixture of private, professional, daily, but also long-term things, all at once, slowed down by every sip of wine.

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Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Doc, 2012

Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia, Bolgheri Doc, 2012, Tenuta dell‘ Ornellaia, Red-wine from Italy

6 points

Vinery Ornellaia is one of the most distinguished in Tuscany. The most famous wine of it has the simple name of the vinery Ornellaia which lays in the region Bolgheri belongs to the top wines of supertuscan.

Le Serre Nuove is the second wine or as many reviews say the little brother of the main brand. Although 2012 is too young in my mind, the vinery puts a lot efforts to make this wine drinkable as early as possible – probably to be able to sell and consume quickly. Anyhow, even this is too young, you immediately realize drinking a great, big red wine. Black and wild cherries, a bit cassis but also some plum, these are the fruity aromas. Not to lead you into any wrong impression, the wine is in general pretty dry which I really enjoy. There is pepper and some oak spice, aromatic balance which grows with each minute the bottle is open.

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Colledilà, Castello de Brolio, Chianti Classico, 2007

Colledilà, Castello de Brolio, Chianti Classico, 2007, Barone Ricasoli, Red-wine from Italy

6,5 points

Another brand of wine-producer Barone Ricasoli is Colledilà which is classic Chianti. Indeed this is one of the best Chianti I know. Introduced to me once by friend Billy Wagner I am keeping some bottles since a while in my cellar. The wine indeed grows while maturing. Just great stuff.

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Casalferro, Barone Ricasoli, 2000

Casalferro, Barone Ricasoli, 2000, Red-wine from Italy

5 points

Barone Ricasoli is one of the most prestigious vineries of Tuscany. According to Ricasoli’s webpage it is the oldest vinery in Italy as well as the biggest one in Tuscany. It doesn’t matter in my mind as their wines without any doubt belong to the best ones of Tuscany. Although I think the approach is a little bit too showily and even pretentious, it could be considered to be allowed because unbribable constant quality.

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Nibbio Morellino 2013, Poggio Nibbiale Di Buchheim

Nibbio Morellino 2013, Poggio Nibbiale Di Buchheim, red wine from Tuscany, Italy

4 points

Another wine from the previously-mentioned degustation packet from the German newspaper  Süddeutsche Zeitung (https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/marcques-del-hueco-rioja-2012/) is probably a special edition of a Morellino from the winery Poggio Nibbiale Di Buchheim. Buchheim isn’t an Italian name, although the wine comes from Tuscany. If you “google” the name of the winery you understand quickly that this Buchheim is a German dentist from Seeshaupt – on the Bavarian lake Starnberger See. If you know the Starnberger See, then the association immediately creates an image of rich guys with a collection of Porsches and other symbols of opulence. This Mr. Buchheim seams to have invested his money into something much better – although I have no idea what kind of car he drives. He invested in his own winery. Compliments!

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Grignano, Chianti Rufina, 2010

Grignano, Chianti Rufina, 2010, Tuscany, 2010, Red wine from Italy

3,5 points

Even though this wine is already four to five years old, surprisingly you don’t really taste the aging. There isn’t maturity or richness and dry fruitiness you usually experience when you open a “red” from Toscana. It is rather fresh, still very young, somehow a bit sour but pretty full of its own character. You may like it or you may not, but this wine doesn’t deliver any kind of Mediterranean flair like sun, heat, dry earth or straw. With my limits of tasting I guess – in the case I would have to taste the wine blindly – I would even tend toward some flavors I associate with nebbiolo. Nebbiolo is a grape of Piedmont. If you translate Nebbiolio into German something like “nebelig” would be a reasonable translation. “Nebelig” means foggy or misty.

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Poggia delle Faine, 2006

Poggia delle Faine, 2006, Red wine from Italy

2 point

This wine is a remarkable example of good marketing! It was ca. € 9 per bottle, although I don’t think you can still get it. The wine ranked on many wine testing charts within Top 5 and 1. Many magazines, wine testers and of course websites presented this wine as something very special. Based on this assumption I also bought some bottles.

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Il Grifone, 2000, Rosso Piceno Superiore

Il Grifone, Rosso Piceno, Superoire, Tenuta Cocci Grifoni, red wine from Italy

6 points

Until about ten years ago, wine from the Italian region Marche was still quite unknown. Many wine drinkers have heard the name of a grape – and type of wine – called Verdicchio, but they might not know that this a typical grape of Marche – an undiscovered region of Italy on the Adriatic side, east of Tuscany and south of Abruzzi.  I do really like Verdicchio, but this region is even more notable for its amazing red wine. Maybe the most impressive one so far is called Kurni (which became for whatever but strange reasons very popular in Moscow: https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/kurni-2008/), but the one I’m introducing here isn’t bad at all.

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