That’s what I’m thinking. Where is the announcement?

yeah, 168?!?

ok, here’s a guess. Gary tasting wine with cheese is my clue. I’m guessing something about http://www.gourmetlibrary.com.

Waiting with baited wine breath . . .

Did he say the big announcement was today? I thought he said it was Friday.

168. 168. 168.

He said tomorrow didn’t he?

http://www.gourmetlibrary.com ? If that’s the big announcement then I’m taking my baseball and goin home!

OK. Just ordered a couple Pinino.

2001 is an amazing vintage. Favorite Brunello of the vintage so far is the Siro Pacenti whose nose I give a score of 98. Love the nose. The wine is not quite as good – 96 points in my book, but still fantastic. Of course, all these high scorers still need to stand the test of time to see what they might really turn into. Also love the Siro because of its relatively modest price point for its score – $65 to $70.

Is Gary off today????

No episode???

Best episode EVER!!! I love the Brunello’s and have been buying the 2001’s at 2-3 per month to add to the minimal number of 97’s and later I have. Have to get the Pinino. Keep it up Gary.

Is it just me or are the gravatars working again …

looovvved the episode. have not had the pinino, but will soon! it is great to see brunello getting some recognition, but also important to note that you can’t put your blinders on and go shopping. $90 for the last one would sure piss me off. also, the budding actress at the tail end was excellent. best Gary imitator I have seen yet.

My father gave me a case of the 1990 Banfi Reserva, so that’s my gold satndard.

In the late 1990s I visited Italy with my wife and parents, and we were able to book a lunch at Castello Banfi. It was THE BEST lunch I’ve ever eaten. Huge medieval room with ancient wooded tables. A different wine with each course. The pasta course, homemade spaghetti with a simple meat sauce, was literally unbelievable: How could something so unpretentious taste so spectacular? (And it was an early course, so the wine hadn’t gotten to me yet.) I’ll never forget that experience.

After lunch I bought a mixed case at the Banfi store. Just for the hell of it, I bought a few bottles of their seemingly experimental “cheap” wine, Summus (probably the 1997, not sure). I’d never heard of it, but it was under $25 American, so why not? … Oh my freaking god was that good. By the time I drank it and went looking for more in the States, it had gotten great reviews and was expensive.

Does it really do any good at all to open a bottle of wine without decanting it? The breathing of a bottle it would seem to me is insignificant without at least pouring some out. Looking at it from a physics standpoint there is just very little air to wine interface from simply opening a bottle and letting it stand.

If I had a $60 dollar 4 year old Brunello I think I would decant it. But that is just me. I do like to eat good cheese with wine too. My favorite is 3 year old aged gouda. I will try the Piedmontian 3 milk cheese. I have a bottle of ’03 Riecine Reserva – as close to Brunello as I own right now to drink with it.

Great show – Oregon Jim

QOTD: Le Chiuse is my favorite Brunello. I think the best I’ve ever had was the 1990. Superb!

That girl saved my day!

Great show. Gotta love those italian wine especially the reds.

And the follow up was grrrrrrrreeaat!

Gary,
This is absolutely within the TOP 10 best EPs I have ever seen. TREMENDOUSLY exciting to watch! Your comments on the Fattoria Pinino literally have me up out of my chair and getting on my coat to go buy a bottle now. Flipping through I saw one comment (#114, Oregon Jim) question how you could drink such wines with no decanting. Isn’t it the case that typically the wines are decanted for two or more hours and then poured back into the bottles in prep for the show? QOTD: 1990 Ciacci Piccolomini D’Aragona. When we drank it back in 1994, I did not have the wine vocabulary to do sufficient justice, but my experience was definitely in tune with RP’s 94pt review, and one of the most memorable brunellos I ever tasted because of the staggering concentration: “..a candidate for one of the finest Brunello di Montalcinos of the vintage. A thick-looking color suggests considerable intensity and extraction. The huge nose of black truffles, jammy black cherries, and toasty new oak is followed by a massively endowed, full-bodied, immensely concentrated wine that tastes almost sweet because of its exceptional ripeness and fruit density. No doubt there is significant tannin lurking beneath the layers of fat and glycerin. This is a terrific Brunello for drinking over the next 20 years. Unfortunately, as with so many great wines, quantities are miniscule”.

I know what you mean about those polished ladies. I’m 38, though, look young enough to troll college campuses, but my recent girlfriends have been 45-50+ divorcees with grace that today’s youngin’s can’t begin to grasp – that Sophia Loren thing going on, who, by the way, I would love to date and she’s over 70: “Italiano impressionante!” And, of course, I like my wine like my women (don’t we all).

HI Gery,

I LOve that Brunnello from Pennino. You have to see that wineyard at Tuscany. Really LOVLEY!!

josef

recently

1995 Canalicchio di Sopra – still got years of life

where can I pick up a bottle of the pinino? I must have it!!!

Response to Comment 83 by Jeff Verrellen:

We stayed in a villa on the Tenuta Oliveta property two years ago. Drank alot of Tuscan wines in the two weeks we were there, but the home brew brunello was as good as any of them, if not better. They also release a Rosso which is the same wine but just gets bottled 12 months earlier. I have heard it described as a “mini-brunello” and it is a great wine at a lower price than the brunello. The 99 Tenuta Oliveto Brunello is on my Top Ten list. Get it while (IF) you can.

Hey Bnot,
I instantly bought a few cases of the 2000 vintage, its still out there, I can still get it here(belgium).

Gary, great episode! My favorite Brunello was a 97 Fattoria Dei’ Barbi. Drank it about 6 months ago.