A Great Brunello di Montalcino

I am mixed with tons of emotion today because its the Super Bowl and I'm excited, however its the Super Bowl and that means no more football. Now I have nothing to get me through until my Mets (that's right, I'm a Mets fan and damn proud of it) start up with Spring training. So tonight my wife and are going out with a bang. We have the traditional things here (chips, wings and beers of course) to get us through the game, but we also have another treat; 2005 Frescobaldi CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino. Being a wine geek, everything we tend to do has a wine "twist" to it.

This Brunello is something I have been looking at while at my desk all week and have been dying to open it up, and we just finished it. I think though we should get some things out of the way first before I get into this amazing wine. Brunello di Montalcino is one of the biggest wines to come out of Italy, and one of the biggest wines in the world, and is made from a clone of the famous Sangiovese grape. Brunello (which literally translates to "nice dark one" in the local dialect) is the name that was given to this Sangiovese clone (Sangiovese Rosso) in the famous Montalcino region of Italy. Therefore the name Brunello di Montalcino reads as the "nice dark one from the Montalcino region."

With that said, we just finished this 2005 Brunello from the infamous Frescobaldi estate's CastelGiocondo and are thoroughly impressed. We decanted this MONSTER for over an hour and it still wasn't enough! Rich and opulent with some of the darkest berries in a wine I have had in some time. Surprisingly, though, this was a wine that was very clean and crisp. Imagine a hardened criminal helping an elderly woman cross the street...Big yet gentle.

My last glass (which I just finished as I started typing this post) was the best of this bottle as the intense tannins that were still prevalent, even after decanting, with the first glass were extremely well balanced and less aggressive. Plus there were beautiful floral notes that started to emerge on the nose and then some subtle cinnamon flavors appeared on the palate taking this gem to new dimensions and solidifying Brunellos as the king of Tuscany and the best expression of Sangiovese.

The 2005 Brunello di Montalcino is a pretty offering laced with fresh flowers, plums, dark berries and spices, all of which emerge gracefully from its mid-weight frame. Clean, minerally notes inform the long, delicate finish. This is a terrific effort from Castelgiocondo, especially considering production is a whopping 230,000 bottles. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.

-91 Points Robert Parker

Now that we have moved onto beer (a great one from New Zealand called Steinlager - think Stella Artois), I want to let everyone know that this week, this wine will be featured at the BEST PRICE ever for Brunello di Montalcino so keep an eye out. Raise your glass to the last football game of the year since my Jets (yes I am a Jets fan as well) are out, I hope your team wins. And if not, I hope your party is amazing and the drinks keeps flowing. Happy Super Bowl!