1997 Tua Rita Redigaffi

I was thinking about a wine I was served last week in Hong Kong during a dinner with fellow wine blogger on this site, Gil Lempert-Schwarz, at the Steakhouse at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Gil served the wine blind near the end of the meal. And I was incredibly impressed with the wine. I honestly thought it was from California with its juicy, opulent fruit and round and soft tannins. Yet there was an underlying backbone and structure to the wine. I thought, maybe an early vintage of Screaming Eagle?

The wine was 1997 Tua Rita Redigaffi – the pure Merlot from the area of Suvereto on the Tuscan Coast below the region of Bolgheri. I had not tasted that wine for years. I think the winery only has a dozen or so bottles left.

It was the last wine on earth I thought would come out of the bag at the dinner last week!

The Redigaffi had incredible concentration of fruit and seemed so youthful. I honestly thought it was from 2004 or 2005. It showed lots of coconut aromas and flavors as well as dark fruits such as raspberries and blueberries. It was still perfection. The wine only gets more polished with time. It will always be a perfect wine. 100 points.