Wine Explorer's Club - Library Poggio di Sotto Pack - Sangiovese Greatness 2pk
Wine Explorer's Club - Library Poggio di Sotto Pack - Sangiovese Greatness 2pk
Includes one bottle each of 2011 Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino and 2017 Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino
I am an evangelist for Sangiovese. It’s always considered a second tier grape but fuck that because it’s just not true.
Poggio di Sotto’s Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino are some of the greatest Sangioveses produced. Even better, they’re more delicious and interesting and easy to appreciate than more expensive Brunello brethren. Even better than that, they are a truly traditional example of Tuscan winemaking, utilizing large Slavonian oak which lets Sangiovese’s wide range of delicious accents show off without too much international oakage.
It tastes like an AUTHENTIC product of place. People try to duplicate this taste elsewhere and fail every time. That counts for a lot. That's one of the best things about wine actually.
The flavors are so warm and beautifully melded. Foggy, wispy mediterranean herbs with campsmoke and rose-tinged strawberries. There’s a soft, leathery character, with cured pork fat and light roast coffee. The flavors all course together in this gorgeous autumnal sensory whirlpool. Goddamn is it delicious. It makes me wanna stuff my face with porchetta.
Poggio di Sotto is located in the southern part of Montalcino, in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, and typically the Sangioveses here tend to be a bit riper than the northerly sited Montevertine and Monteraponi, but the wines have a similar feel of elegance, with maybe a bit of Cotes-du-Nuits richer mouthfeel in addition. Their vineyards cover a range of altitudes so they can select grapes based on altitude when challenged with outlier vintages, like the warm 2017. They work with 100% Sangiovese, with no other varieties planted.
Save over 50% on our Gilded Splinters Syrah - a special bottling...
Whenever I think about Syrah, I think of the Joan Jett song, “I Hate Myself For Loving You.” I’m a complete pushover for Syrah. A Stan. A Simp. A Puppet. I won’t pretend Syrah is easy to sell, but will I ever stop making it? No fuckin’ way! Syrah is the goddamn greatest and I will keep looking for sick variations on this incredible grape.
2020 brings a much darker personality than our 2018 release from John Sebastiano. Where that was cool-climate delicacy, silken and Burgundian, this is wooly, burly, chewy and sultry. This Syrah is sitting out on the porch all night long, listening to the sounds of the French Quarter, and goes to sleep when the sun rises.
Smoked meats and briar patch aromas frame game and red plum. On the palate, the spiciness of the clusters imparts notes of tobacco, black pepper, rosemary and tea. The palate is mid-weight, viscous morello-cherry Syrah of the type I treasure from Cornas with tongue-staining extract and plenty of tannin and acidity. It almost feels like a robust, gravelly young Nebbiolo. The finish is aerial blackberry and fine tannins on the palate. There is a lot of promise in this young wine.
It’s farmed by Ruben Solorzano of Stolpman/Coastal Vineyard Care. The rows come from Block 4B, Alban Powerblock clone. It’s 50% whole cluster and is aged in used barriques.