Brunello di Montalcino: Understanding and Appreciating One of Italy's Greatest Wines
Kerin O'Keefe
Language: English
Pages: 312
ISBN: 0520265645
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Expert wine writer Kerin O'Keefe has a deep personal knowledge of Tuscany and its extraordinary wine, and her account is both thoroughly researched and readable. Organized as a guided tour through Montalcino's geography, this essential reference also makes sense of Brunello's complicated history, from its rapid rise to the negative and positive effects of the 2008 grape-blending scandal dubbed "Brunellogate."
Brunello di Montalcino helps wine lovers maneuver their way among Montalcino's minefield of diversity by breaking the vast commune down into seven distinct subzones, ranging from the highest reaches around the town of Montalcino, which yield austere, elegant wines destined for lengthy aging in cellars; down to the lower plains in the deep south around Sant'Angelo Scalo, home to immediate, muscular Brunellos with higher alchol and lower acidity; and to all the other fascinating areas that lie between those two geographical extremes.
O'Keefe also provides in-depth profiles of 58 carefully chosen wineries, big and small, famous and unknown, who produce excellent Brunellos that best express the quintessential chracteristics of both Sangiovese and the various subzones in Montalcino.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction. Brunello: A Modern-Day Phenomenon of Made in Italy
Part One. The Place, the Grape, the History, and the Wine
1. Montalcino
2. Temperamental Sangiovese: Location, Location, Location
3. Birth of a New Wine
4. Brunello Comes of Age
5. Boom Years and the Loss of Tipicità
6. The Brunellogate Scandal
7. Brunello Today and Tomorrow: The Return to Tipicità, or Business as Usual?
Part Two. Leading Producers by Subzone
8. Montalcino
9. Bosco and Torrenieri
10. Tavernelle
11. Camigliano
12. Sant'Angelo
13. Castelnuovo dell'Abate
Part Three. Beyond Brunello: Other Wines and Local Cuisine
14. Montalcino's Other Wines: Rosso di Montalcino, Moscadello, Sant'Antimo, Chianti Colli Senesi and IGT Toscana
15. Brunello, Rosso, and Food Pairing
Appendix A. Vintage Guide to Brunello
Appendix B. Brunello at a Glance
Notes
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
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Assumptions is that Italians eat something under every category found on a typical Italian menu: antipasto, primo piatto, secondo piatto, contorno, dolce (appetizer, first course, second course, side dishes, dessert). This could not be further from the truth, although it is undoubtedly true that when visiting journalists (or visiting relatives for that matter) spend time in Italy, the red carpet of Italian cuisine is rolled out. However, Italians, as a rule, never eat all this, either at lunch or.
Who, despite their supposed expert status, evidently don’t know the first thing about Sangiovese. Like Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir, Sangiovese simply does not contain naturally high levels of anthocyanins, which are what give grapes, and then wine, their color, but this does not mean that wines made exclusively with Sangiovese are defective lightweights. On the contrary, a fine Brunello’s power, finesse, and aging potential are undeniable. Judging a wine then by universal standards that apply to many.
On the other hand, newly arrived entrepreneurs and outsiders with no attachment to tradition easily acquired land from locals who were more than eager to sell. For these reasons, if by the early 1990s Barolo was in the heated throes of what later became known as the Great Wine Wars—where a host of defenders of classically crafted wines dug in and defended their age-old customs against a new generation of younger winemakers advocating internationally styled Barolos—in most of Tuscany it was more a.
Vines, now thirty-two years old, and density ranges from 3,000 to 4,500 plants per hectare. While vineyard location and management may be the key to Canalicchio di Sopra’s polished, well-structured Brunellos, the Ripacciolis combine a healthy mix of tradition and innovation that lets the vineyards best express themselves. Temperature-controlled fermentation with skin maceration takes place in stainless steel and lasts twenty days, while the Brunello is aged between thirty-two and thirty-six.
Perhaps no other Brunello enjoys more of a cult following than bottlings hailing from Soldera’s Case Basse estate near the small church of Santa Restituta. Delicately colored, impeccably balanced and complex, these exquisite Brunellos seem to be the exact opposite of their rather blunt and at times imperious winemaker, who is fond of criticizing even the finest Barolos and Burgundies along with their winemakers, not to mention what Soldera sees as all those inferior Brunellos. Soldera is equally.