Vinitaly 2009, part 5

I should be finishing off the Vinitaly recap finally with this post but Saturday afternoon we really hit another gear as we tried to get as many tastings in as possible before heading home. Following lunch at our usual spot in the Toscana pavilion, I gave Dad one more hour to spend in his favorite region before expanding our horizons.

Our first stop featured three Brunellos that have now received very high scores from the Wine Advocate. We started with the wines from Salicutti, and first had the 2006 Rosso di Montalcino, followed by their 2004 Brunello. Up next was the 2004 Pian dell'Ornio Brunello, and finally the 2004 Stella di Camp'Alto Brunello. Truthfully, I didn't find anything that stood out about these wines - nothing wrong, but they were not among my stars of our Brunello tastings.

Our next stop was one of my favorites - Ciacci Piccolomini. We began with the 2007 Rosso di Montalcino, followed by the 2004 Brunello and the 2004 Brunello Pianrosso, which was among my top Brunellos of the week. From Ciacci we made a quick stop for the 2004 Fuligni Brunello before trying some other Tuscan wines.

We continued on to Brancaia, where we had a great tasting in 2008. This year was very good as well, beginning with the 2007 Tre IGT, another good vintage for one of my favorite value-priced wines. We then had the 2006 Chianti Classico, the 2006 Il Blu IGT and the 2007 Il Blu IGT before finishing with the 2006 Ilatraia.

Next, I convinced Dad to stop at Fontodi, a winery I have always heard so much about. There we tasted three wines from the outstanding 2006 vintage, beginning with the Chianti Classico. Next up was the IGT Flaccianello, a 100% Sangiovese selection that was one of my overall stars of the day. This is an outstanding wine that really shows off what Sangiovese can do. We finished this trio of 2006's with the Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorbo.

From Fontodi, we then stopped at another favorite from last year, Tenuta San Guido. Known best for their top wine Sassicaia, last year we discovered the Guidalberto for the first time and were excited to taste it again. Howevetr, up first was another new wine, the 2007 Le Difese IGT, a similar blend to Guidalberto, but priced much lower. It was very good, but as we have come to find, it is no secret and difficult to find in the US right now. We then had the 2007 Guidalberto, which was quite nice again. At that point, we finally had a bit of good luck - thanks to the generosity of the folks at Tenuta San Guido (and likely also based on our appreciation of the first two wines we had tasted), we were offered a tasting of "another wine they made in 2006." This was of course the Sassicaia, and it was certainly a treat. It will likely be another star of the 2006 vintage, and a wine I doubt I will be able to actually afford when released. I am glad I got to taste it, though I think the other wines from Tenuta San Guido are also great products as well, and much more in my price range.

At this point, we moved on past the wines of Toscana, though a few more would make it in later in the day. With so much left to cover though, I will wrap this post and complete our final portion of Vinitaly tastings later.