Saturday, August 18, 2012

Sassoalloro



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
Importer website:       www.slocumandsons.com
Suggested U.S. retail:     $30-35

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