Tenuta Oliveto Rosso di Montalcino DOCG 2001

This is an older bottle, obviously, which I opened to serve with a roast pork loin -- I was looking for a red, but not something tremendously substantial, and was curious to see how it had evolved, in part because I have always found Tenuta Oliveto's Brunello to be quite overripe, to the point that it marches to its own drum. What might Tenuta Oliveto's Rosso be like? Put simply, it surprised me:

Deep almandine with black reflections and almandine rim with hints of brown. The bouquet is intense, with mentholated brandied cherries laced with prunes and balsamic accents, savory notes, and leaf tobacco. Mature and fairly elegant. On the palate it's full, with rich brandied cherries laced with prunes, leaf tobacco, and savory balsamic accents that echo the nose (and carry into the finish) and is supported by silky tannins that flow into a clean finish with some underbrush as well as the fore-mentioned balsamic accents. It's graceful, in a rich rather opulent key, and I found it unexpectedly good. A bit too powerful for arista, but good.
90

The vintage certainly helped -- 2001 was very good -- but it showed much better than I expected it to, and it is perhaps time to contact the Tenuta for a Brunello vertical; if could vintages of the Brunello also follow this path they may prove quite interesting.

Tenuta Oliveto's site

Montalcino: They're at it Again...

It seems that the Consorzio in Montalcino has convened a meeting (for next week, as the harvest is getting under way!) to discuss the possibility of allowing the use varietals other than Sangiovese in Rosso di Montalcino, Brunello's little brother.

Reading between the lines, the goal is to allow the inclusion of Merlot (most likely) or perhaps one of the Cabernets, and in either case the move would be boneheaded because Montalcino's best, most unique (and inimitable) wines are Sangiovese in purezza. Nick Belfrage has written an eloquent appeal against the proposal, which Franco Ziliani has rebroadcast (in English and now in Italian too), and rather than restate what Nick has said so well I suggest you read his appeal, and also the very interesting commentary that follows it.

As you might guess the news of this meeting of the winemakers has resulted in a great deal of talk among wine writers. Some have said there should be no Merlot (or any other imported varietal) in Montalcino. I'm not quite so drastic; Montalcino has a secondary umbrella Appellation called Sant'Antimo for wines that include grapes other than Sangiovese. It's where Montalcino's Merlot belongs.