katy & i hosted a party for my sales staff & their families last night & i decided to open this bottle because one of my salesmen had made the comment earlier in the week that he had never had a bdm. of course, he is relatively new to wine & drinks & appreciates bud light . but what the hell, i have more & it would offer an interesting contrast to the other bottles i would open for them '(00 falesco vitiano & '01 delicato merlot).

i decanted this bottle for 3 hours & we tried it after dinner. i did pour a taste to try immediately & while preparing dinner. it was quite tannic in the beginning & definitely needed the time in the decanter. when we poured it later it had a beautiful red color & a nice nose & palate of cherries & other red fruits. it was of medium body & a nice texture. all in all, it was an excellent brunello & i'd give it 95 points. i would rank it second to the '95 altesino montosoli & just ahead of (for the time being) the '97 antinori pian delle vigne in my ranking of brunellos that i have had.

Had this at the LCBO Classics tasting on Monday. Not sure how long it was decanted for, but I wanted to steal the Castello Banfi decanter they were pouring out of.

Bottles were selling for $99CAD

Dark ruby/purple colour. Very intense strawberry, cherry, dark crushed fruit, and anise on the nose. Full-bodied with loads of tannins – almost harsh. A rich wine with crushed fruit and glycerin on the palate. Has a long, lingering, dry finish. Needs serious bottle age to come around. Not my style, but still impressive. 93 points.

Futronic - you've been very busy. I'm enjoying your TNs.

futronic-so what will you be drinking tonight?

Winetex,

I was at a wine tasting at the Four Seasons last night, so I wanted to share the notes of the 30 wines I had. I was going to dump them all into one thread like on the WS forum, but figured this would be more appropriate. Thanks for the kudos on the notes.

ojeffso,

Tonight? Water! No more wine until the weekend. My tongue can't take anymore!

trying to raise that post count?

shame on you ...

Copilot - oh shush.

Futronic - sounds like a great tasting.

futronic-thanks for taking the time to post each wine individually. it will be a big help with the data base.

posting individually is great! thanks for the great notes, but pace yourself or you'll end up at betty ford.

ojeffso,

That's why I did it. I find it much easier to search for wines when each one has its own thread as opposed to trying to find something buried inside a post.

gfleener,

No worries about Betty Ford. Canadians don't have a Betty Ford Centre, eh! In reality, I only do these tastings every three months (if that), so I think my liver can cope!

I much prefer the unbundled TNs. Besides, if you want to make a framework bundled thread for another reason (like my post about Babbo), you can always refer via a URL link to the TN post within the site. Tres kewl and very handy.

thx dude

Recent excerpt from Parker regarding this wine:

"The deep ruby/purple-colored 1997 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio Alle Mura displays an international bouquet of red and black fruits, wood, licorice and earth. There is excellant depth and ripeness, but this monolithic Brunello lacks heart and soul. The long finish reveals moderate tannin. Let's see what develops. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2014."
Rating 88+?

For what that's worth.....

12-31-02 issue had 41 pages on Italian wines. Great find for me as I am just now beginning to explore these wines.

Better to be lucky than smart as they say.

has anyone had this recently? i have one bottle and hust got done reading parker's review. boy what a different review than spectator . since i only have one bottle i am one the fence on wether to keep and see who is right or put it up for sale. any thoughts?

Sorry Ant ... haven't had it recently, but based on when I tasted it last year, I wouldn't touch this before 2007/2008.

Ant - Had this about a month ago. Needs at least 2-3 more years (probably more) but starting to show glimpses of being a very good wine. One caveat: I believe the bottle I had was purchased in Italy.

A few other opinions about the same bottle I sampled can be found here:
Tasting Notes

If you do decide to sell your lone bottle, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. PM me.

anthony-hold until at least 2007, probably 2010.

jeff,

do you think it is worth it to hold that long?

absolutely. drinking any brunello during its dumb period is a waste.

We just had two bottles in Rome this week and for all of us it was pretty good. So I would have to say it is starting to open up and move beyond the dumb phase. 94 right now. The restaurant price was $ 60.

that's a great price landshark.