I opened my new case of Rosso del Palazzone Montalcino 2005/2008 wines last night.
They are 'baby brunellos'. Produced right next to top Brunello vinyards, but sold at much lower prices, when available via a specialist merchant.
Interestingly, the vineyard is owned by Dick Parsons, former Time Warner CEO.
In an earlier post I said I hoped these would be a delicious bargain, and I may have been right.
My view it it's a superb bargain at £11 or so per bottle.
A huge bold nose, a hint of mustiness on the palate. In the glass it looks like a 15 year old left bank claret, and drinks a little bit like it too.
It's probably a little dryer, with a hint of perfumed smokiness and a finish that just keeps going.
I've only had a couple of small glasses and it will be interesting to see how the wine is today when it's been open for a day. Jancis Robinson says it keeps well.
There's no year on the bottle. I thought I was getting six 2005 wines and six 2008's. I'm now guessing it's a blend of those two years. Having re-read the website, that seems to be the case.
However it's been done, it's a triumph at the price. Go get some, I'd suggest.
Here's where you can buy it.
Hello Toby,
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I didn't see this when you wrote it. Thanks for mentioning our wine - very glad you liked it.
It is indeed a non-vintage blend and the details of each blend are on the website. We make this wine in varying quantities, out of different vintages, every now and then.... Essentially we have 3 vineyards in very different parts of Montalcino, each with very particular micro/meso climates and terroir. We vinify each separately and during the aging of our Brunello, sometimes decide to siphon some off for the production of the Rosso. This is because, in the interested of a balanced Brunello, sometimes we decide not to include all of every vineyard's fruit. This said, everything comes into our cellar as Brunello so respects the DOCG requirements - that is, until we mix it with another vintage, hence the VR Vino Rosso appellation (ex Vino da Tavola).
We are currently distributed in Great Britain by Cambridge Wine Merchants, From Vineyards Direct and Laytons (Jeroboam).
Please let me know if you ever get to Montalcino, I'd love to show you the property and our new cellar.
Best regards,
Laura
It is indeed a great place to visit (hi Laura!), and the Rosso del Palazzone Montalcino is great stuff. I brought back home to CA two cases of Il Palazzone Brunello's with a few bottles of the Rosso mixed in from my visit to Italy and the winery almost a year ago (will be a year in two weeks, how time flies). The Brunello's are laid down for future consumption, but the Rosso's are long gone. A bit sad, but with each bottle we consumed we had fond memories of our time in Italy. Charlie in CA
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