Sassoalloro 2006
My travels recently took me and Guiseppe to Lake
Como in Italy. While it was not my first
trip to Italy, it was my first time to the Lake. We stayed at Villa d’Este, a storied
lakeshore luxury hotel built by a Cardinal in the 16th century. It is a place where movie stars, singers (we
just missed Shakira by a couple of days) and nobility have vacationed
throughout the centuries. One night for
dinner, we dined at the Gato Nero Ristorante, Black Cat Restaurant, perched at the very top of the town of
Cernobbio. From our table was this
view.
The wine list was diverse, considering Italy’s winemaking
history, with American wines, Bordeaux, even wines from as far as Chile. I figured we were in Italy and when in Italy,
drink Italian! One particular wine
caught my eye – Sassoalloro from the Tuscan region of Montalcino. I ordered the wine and was immediately
excited about it. Guiseppe could
tell. [A note: Guiseppe always gives me the wine list and lets
me pick the wine given my wine credentials (I love wine enough that I went to
school and earned a degree in wines and spirits). He can hold his own with a wine list, but out
of respect for my knowledge, Guiseppe lets me pick what I want. He doesn’t complain about my picks, well,
yes, he does sometimes, but only if it’s something not to his liking.] The waiter brings the bottle to show us and
opens it. I let Guiseppe do the initial
tasting. He took a sip and from the
moment it touched his lips, he could tell it was great. The whole meal, Guiseppe couldn’t stop raving how
much he liked the wine. The wine had
long, persistent flavors of black cherries, violets, tobacco, cedar and
eucalyptus. The tannins were soft and
plush. It was youthful and fruit forward
though there were some secondary characteristics that indicated to me that the
wine had some age to it. The acidity was
medium to high. It was light enough for
fish and heavy enough for meat. It
tasted so beautifully with my meal of lake fish with lemon butter sauce and Guiseppe’s grilled pork medallion entrée. It
was sublime.
Sassoalloro is 100% Sangiovese, a
grape variety that is used for the wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino,
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a majority of the Supertuscans and most of
central Italy. Further, there are
various clones of Sangiovese out there. Sassoaloro
uses Sangiovese Grosso, using their family-owned clone, BBS11, Brunello Biondi
Santi 11. How many people can say they
have a family clone? I had a family pet
named Punky, but no clones.
Sangiovese is a high acid
grape. If the production yield is not
controlled then the acidity has the potential to be a runaway train and taste a
bit harsh. But if the grape is grown at
a high altitude and pruned, it can be heavenly.
In the best vintages, the resultant wine can be rich, alcoholic and
long-lived. In cool years, there can be
problems with high acidity and hard tannins.
Sassoalloro spent 14 months in
non-toasted barriques (the 225 liter size, typical of what you would think of
when someone says French barrel). Unlike
the rustic straw-covered flask chiantis, the resultant wine was more full
bodied like a Vino Nobile de Montepulciano and richer like a Brunello. The profile is a color of deep purple/garnet
color, medium to high acidity, aromas of blackberries, black plums and
herbs. The flavors of cloves, dried
cherries, spices and chocolate just continued to linger in my mouth for so
long.
Jacapo Biondi Santi is the scion of
Franco Biondi Santi, of Tuscan fame. The
Biondi Santi family has been making high quality notable wines since the
1800s. Jacapo has been making wines at
the family estate since 1991. In 1996 he
founded his own estate in Maremma at the Castello di Montepo. Jacapo commissioned a group of experts to
perform microclimatic and soil studies of the territory at the estate. This study was recognized as the most complete
and advanced study executed to-date. In addition
to Sassoaloro, Jacapo also produces single variety and blended international
wines aged in barriques.
Wine: Sassoalloro Toscana IGT (2006)
Producer: Jacapo
Biondi Santi
Producer website: www.biondisantimontepo.com
Imported by: Slocum
& Sons
Suggested U.S. retail: $30-35
