Wow. It was my mom’s birthday today, and it felt like my birthday. I knew this was going to go down, but couldn’t post about it because I didn’t know how much of a surprise David intended it to be. We did a vertical tasting of Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino tonight. For those that don’t know what a vertical tasting is, it’s the same wine, different vintages. We bought mom and David a bottle of 2001 for christmas of 2006, and David, coincidentally, had bought her a 1995 for their two year aniversary. Yeah. 1995. So we had an opportunity to do a vertical tasting, and man am I glad we did. And for those that don’t know Brunello – it’s one of the poshest bottle of elite Italian red wine that exists. Few Italian wines are of this caliber. To add to that appeal, we also stay near Montalcino when in Tuscany, and have an intimate knowledge of the area. I know we paid about $80 for the 2001, and I have no idea what David paid for the 1995. All I do know, is that it was a very memorable evening.
Now how pretentious, you might ask, do you have to be to spend that much on a bottle, nevermind be SO uppity that you’d buy a different year of the SAME bottle to debate the differences. Well the purchases didn’t go down like that, but nonetheless, all I can say is that if wanting to do this kind of tasting again makes me pretentious, then there I have arrived. The differences were remarkable. My tasting notes will be posted shortly.
The short version: the 95 was white truffle and pruny, and like a supple madeira or port. The 01 was bolder in fruit, richer, and meatier, with a lot of the same flavour notes, but an entirely different style due to a) the vintage and moreso b) the age difference. Both were incredible, fantastic wines.
I could go on and on, but I’ll save it for my tasting notes. And to top the evening off, I think I’ve secured a couple more regulars for my “4 wines and a Plate” wine evening concept, with some comfort in a higher price point buy-in. This is good news.