Devin Brown

9.0

The Description: Dense deep red color. Complex and true to House Style and brimming with mocha/coffee ground aromatics, heightened by tar/bitumen "black" notes. Appealing char and creamy, vanillin oak detected ever-so-subtly in the background. Naturally, a flurry of fruits, spice and varietal markers abound. The palate, in a couple of words, voluminous and powerful. A sensory stratification of layers of taste – separated via time-of-detection and unravelling of flavors. At first, Christmas pudding with roasted nuts, then rare lamb and black olives, then sarsaparilla spice. Tannins awashed, oak absorbed, fruit awakened.
The opinion: agree with above, excellent — 4 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2005 vintage. Almost tastes like it could have been released last week. Super youthful with dark berry and plum blasts. Decent structure but not oppressive. Catching this one just below the top of the bell curve. Hopefully, you’ve got more than one bottle kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown. Other-worldly now but methinx it’s about to get even better. Last tasted in mid-June and same score but this bottle was slightly better. Seek this out-now. — 2 years ago

Steve Cunneen

9.2

Very nice. — 3 years ago

Cindy Chiu

9.0

Sharp but smooths out as you drink it. — 3 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.2

Capitol Region Wine Collectors Club (WCC), USA West Coast Pinot Noir; 26 October 2023 at Fort Orange Club, Albany, NY

Group scoring, No. 3 bottle of the night. — 6 months ago

Tripp Kaelin

9.5

Intensely lifted, fresh, and concentrated and showing incredible youth at nearly a decade in bottle. Perfectly ripe blackberries and black cherries are enveloped by aromas and flavors of fresh ground coffee, wet fall leaves, leather, menthol, and vanilla. The wine finishes long and with a crave-worthy mineral/graphite finish. This can cellar for years to come but is excellent now with herb-roasted lamb chops or grilled steak tips. Delicious! — 9 months ago

Brad Jensen

9.0

Bold notes of plum, ground pepper leathery notes with dusty, mouth drying tannins and a medium to heavy body, this was really a good blend for the smokehouse at the resort. — 2 years ago

with Tiva

Kapyrick Wine

9.0

v18. Very nice. Soft white pepper and smashed black cherry nose. Rich black cherry and blackberry fruit. Smooth, tight, cola, mocha , soft leather and ground pepper finish. Lot of words , but well balanced! — 3 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.0

Pungent florals, ground ginger and grapefruit form a zesty bouquet as the 2022 Bianco SP68 opens in the glass. It’s soft and round. Juicy acidity and tropical citrus tones enliven its tart orchard fruits. This finishes surprisingly long, leaving exotic inner florals and sour melon notes to fade slowly. What a treat. The SP68 Bianco is a blend of Albana and Zibibbo. (Eric Guido, Vinous, September 2023)
— 7 months ago

Vanessa

9.2

Tonight, we’re sipping a delicious Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (2012).

The vineyards of Poggio Antico are situated on some of Montalcino’s highest hills (>1,500 ft elevation), overlooking the beautiful, sun-soaked landscape of Tuscany.

In a warm climate, high altitude sites like this benefit from a comparatively lower air temperature, greater diurnal range (warm days, cool nights), and enhanced solar intensity, particularly when vines are planted on hillsides, angled towards the sun.

These conditions (among others) are important for quality winemaking, for example, the intense sunshine promotes grape ripening (sugar accumulation; development of flavors, tannins, color), while the cooling influences help retain acidity and more delicate aromas in the grapes; they also enable a longer ripening period overall, setting the stage for a well-balanced, concentrated wine.

It was interesting to learn that Poggio Antico vinifies and matures its Sangiovese according to detailed soil units, leveraging what it calls a “geological symphony,” as a significant part of the terroir expression. It later blends (or “harmonizes”) these units with the aim of creating balance and complexity.

As a Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, this wine must be 100% Sangiovese and could not be released from Poggio for at least 5 years from the harvest, during which time it aged for at least 2 years in oak. Poggio exceeded these legal minimums by aging this wine for 4 years, including 3 years in traditional Slavonian oak barrels and one year in bottle.

We paired this wine with a homemade Bolognese. The spices of the sauce lent symmetry to the spice (nutmeg, clove) notes in the wine, which didn’t compete, but, rather, complemented each other. Also, the fat in the ground sirloin (along with the salty parmesan and decade+ of maturing) helped smooth the high tannins of the Sangiovese, enhancing our palates’ experience of other delicious dimensions.

It was molto bene! Cheers! — 10 months ago

with Deked1