Weekly Tasting Report (July 6-12, 2021): A Tuscan Red Called Blu, a Brunello Surprise and a Stunner From Alto Adige

If you love Tuscan wines then there are a number of them to check out in this report from our ratings of the past week, including the 30th anniversary bottling of a super Tuscan red – Brancaia Toscana Il Blu 2018 – and a sneak preview of the 2017 vintage in Brunello di Montalcino. In addition, we rated a new white from Inama in the Veneto – Inama Soave Classico Foscarino I Palchi Grande Cuvée 2019 – and two older vintages of a rare Barolo and a white Alto Adige.

Brancaia’s Il Blu has been a longtime favorite and seems to be going from strength to strength, with more integrated tannins and finesse like in the 2018. Of course, the balance of the grape-growing season in Tuscany in 2018 really helped, but I also really appreciated how the wine showed such finesse and harmony from subtle winemaking. It also has a special label and bottle to commemorate its 30th anniversary.

“We made a few changes,” said Barbara Widmer, whose family owns the Brancaia winery, in Castellina in the Chianti Classico area of Italy. “We used a little more merlot in 2018. You have 80 percent merlot and 10 percent sangiovese and 10 percent cabernet sauvignon. The merlot from Radda [in Chianti] that we had was so good that we wanted to use more to give the elegance and power.”

She also said they were using much less new wood in aging the wine, and the wine is spending less time in barrel and casks to preserve the fruit, allowing it to be more drinkable when young.

The 2018 Il Blu is one of hundreds of 2018 Tuscan reds that we have rated, and the vintage produced extremely drinkable and refined wines, especially compared with 2017, which made concentrated and sometime over-the-top wines because of the hot and arid grape-growing season. The 2019 vintage seems to have produced slightly riper reds in Tuscany but still harmonious and fresh, like the 2018s.

“The two vintages are what you want to have as a winemaker,” admitted Widmer, who explained that they had a very rainy spring in 2018 and 2019, so the water reserves in the soils were high and able to carry the vineyards through the warm and dry summers. “In 2019 it was a little bit hotter [in the summer] but we had so much rain in May this was not an issue,” she said.

One excellent example of the more balanced trend of super Tuscan wines was the reds from Caiarossa, on the Tuscan coast. The winery has the same owners as Bordeaux's Chateau Giscours and they say they are moving away from extracted, heavy wines. Check out the Zoom interview with Caiarossa's Jerome Poisson and Alexander Van Beek.

It was interesting to taste a 2017 Brunello last week, in light of the heat and drought that year. I remember flying over the region of Brunello di Montalcino in July 2017, and the land was so brown and dry. I wondered at the time if the 2017 Brunellos would be too concentrated and jammy – but maybe not, judging by the Giodo Brunello di Montalcino 2017, which we tasted for this report. Of course, it was ripe and intense but still maintained its form and freshness (it won't be released until January 2022, like all the other 2017 Brunellos). Giodo winemaker and owner Carlo Ferrini said in a Whatsapp message that he was happy with the quality of his 2017, considering the difficulty of the growing season.

The new super cuvee Soave was another surprise in our tastings. We have been longtime fans of the single-vineyard Soave called Foscarino from Inama, owing to its fullness and richness with structure, but the Inama family took this to another level with the Inama Soave Classico Foscarino I Palchi Grande Cuvée 2019. It’s a selection made from old vines on the slopes of the ancient Foscarino volcano. Tasting editor Jo Cooke called the mineral character in the wine “incredible” from nose to finish.

TERLAN TENACITY

I had the same feeling about the magnums of Cantina Terlan Pinot Bianco Alto Adige Vorberg Riserva 2007 I found from a wine merchant in Hong Kong and tasted last week. My friends and I drank one of the magnums over the weekend and it was a stunner, highlighting incredible tenacity. The cooperative of Terlan has to make the riserva wines from pinot bianco that is aged up to 10 years in stainless steel vats at low temperature before being bottled. These are unique wines and excellent in all vintages.

I also continue to be impressed with the decade releases of Clerico’s single-vineyard Barolo Percristina. I personally tasted and rated the Domenico Clerico Barolo Percristina 2011 and it was so structured and intense yet polished, especially for the hot and rich vintage of that year. I would give it another year or two to come together or decant a couple of hours before serving. But it’s a gorgeous, aged wine.

The majority of the wines tasted last week were Italian and either from the Veneto or Tuscany. There’s a lot to offer, and you can expect to see various reports on key appellations in the coming weeks. We are also tasting in Hong Kong hundreds of wines from Oregon, and we are impressed with the high average quality of the bottles, which are mostly from the 2019 vintage. The pinot noirs and chardonnays are shining through, as always.

I also found a new producer from South Africa that impressed me with the clarity and freshness of their wines, which were made from everything from chenin blanc to cinsault. The name is A.A. Badenhorst and the wines are definitely worth seeking out. I also tasted the Corsican wines from Domaine Comte Abbatucci, which is a favorite of many natural wine lovers. My favorite wine was the rosé – Domaine Comte Abbatucci Vin de France Rosé Faustine Vieilles Vignes 2019. All the wines are made from biodynamically farmed vineyards, which are Demeter-certified.

It was a fun and diverse time tasting last week and we look forward to more.

– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the previous week by James and other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports. 

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.