A few days ago I spoke on the phone with my\nfriend Dr. Renzo Cotarella, CEO of Marchesi Antinori s.p.a. who, eager to let\nme taste some wines soon to be released on the market, invited me to lunch at\nthe Cantinetta Antinori in Florence. To this invitation my “yes” was\nwith the echo both for the pleasure of seeing him and for tasting some wines,\ncertainly, of high quality. We met at the Cantinetta Antinori in Florence at\nthe end of January. The Cantinetta was completely made with the very refined\ntaste of Allegra Antinori. It does not seem to be in a restaurant, but in a\nstately home. The restaurant manager is Matia Barciulli, while the management\nof the restaurant is the excellent Daniele Benci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arriving at\nthe restaurant, I am accompanied by Daniele on a mezzanine upstairs, where I\nsee four bottles of wine ready to be uncorked. Wines in vintages that I have\nnever tasted. After a few minutes Dr. Cotarella arrives and asks me to taste\nthe wines because he would have liked me to tell him my sincere judgment, as is\nmy habit. Renzo arranged the following order of service for the wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brunello\ndi Montalcino Pian delle Vigne 2016, Guado al Tasso 2018, Le Mortelle, Poggio\nalle Nane, 2018 e Le Mortelle, Ampio, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before\nproceeding with the choice of lunch dishes, our friend Luciano Ghinassi, owner\nof the “Buca Lapi” restaurant, served us two dishes of ribollita.\nGreat was my surprise in seeing, after months, my friend Luciano, as great was\nmy surprise in being able to eat what for me is the best ribollita in Florence.\nLuciano who has the restaurant a few meters from Cantinetta Antinori, knowing\nwhere I would be for lunch, had the grace, kindness and affection to give me\nthis double surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For\nthe rest we have chosen a beef tartare without strong flavors so as not to\ncreate problems when tasting the wines. Great was my emotion in being able to\ntaste these wines in new vintages. A wine that surprised me, not a little,\npositively was the Pian delle Vigne 2016. It is the first Brunello of Marchesi\nAntinori that I liked. For me it is the first vintage produced with the nose\nand flavor of cherry not overripe-jam but with crunchy cherry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guado\nal Tasso 2018 impressed me a lot, even if the wood note was more evident than\nin 2017. This last vintage was pleasant and more ready than 2018. The vintage\ntasted is more austere and, for me, it will be more long-lived. Matarocchio\n2018 wine will not be released because it does not come out every year, but in\nsuper vintages. The grapes destined for Matarocchio were used for Guado al\nTasso. The Le Mortelle winery produces beautiful wines, “il Poggio alle\nNane” is, so to speak, a second wine, while “l’Ampio” is the\ncompany’s first wine, produced starting from the 2015 vintage. in the\n“Poggio alla Nane” you can feel a bit of wood but you can also smell\nmany other scents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“L’Ampio”\nis complex both on the nose and on the palate and is a great wine for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While\nwe were tasting the wines, Marquis Piero Antinori came to visit us, with whom I\nexchanged some opinions on the wines tasted. I congratulated him for all the\nwines and for the radical change of his Brunello which has always had an\noverripe cherry jam on the nose and taste. For the first time I felt their wine\nwith not tired but fresh fruity sensations and an incredibly pleasant drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two days later I went to lunch at the “Buca Lapi” restaurant and I wanted to check the Montalcino wine produced by the Pian delle Vigne company, taking their 2018 red. It is a wine that I really liked for its fruity cherry note. fresh and not over-ripe as it happened in the past, to which I gave a well-deserved score of 90\/100<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PIAN\nDELLE VIGNE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brunello\ndi Montalcino, vintage 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Garnet red color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Olfactory mix made of aromas of hard railway\ncherry with the right ripeness, which suggests crunchy cherry, mint,\neucalyptus, light dried plums, starch of the cotton patch, light rhubarb root,\nember of wood, helichrysum (licorice), intense star anise, with final puffs of\nstarch reminiscent of starch for ironing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The palate is caressed by a fine and elegant\nbody. The freshness is rich, while the tannins are sweet, fairly broad (5\/6 +),\ninitially silky and then dry the upper gum a little. Savory wine and well\nbalanced between freshness and alcohol, the latter is imperceptible. In the\nfinish there is a very slight bitter note. In my notes I wrote: “nice\ndrink, nice wine, the more you drink it the more you would drink it”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (93\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n TENUTA\nGUADO AL TASSO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n GUADO\nAL TASSO, vintage 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Merlot)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Intense ruby \u200b\u200bred-black color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nose immediately emerges, in a marked\nway, the woody note of mint and chocolate reminiscent of “after\neight” chocolate. My fear was that this note had an olfactory monopoly as\nit happens in certain wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slowly aromas of eucalyptus, ripe green\npepper, lightly cold coffee, rosemary, lightly black pepper, blackberry,\ncassis, black truffle, amber, talcum powder, sweets from the outside of the\nsugared almond and sweet floral puffs of violet emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the palate it has a perfect medium body,\nit is not opulent. Well balanced wine with jovial freshness and sweet, silky\nand completely broad tannins (6\/6) that do not make the alcoholic mass feel in\nthe least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its gustative persistence is long. Young\nwine, which will have to lose some woody nose, after long aging. I believe that\nin some respects, for me, it is the best Guado al Tasso ever done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (99\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n FATTORIA\nLE MORTELLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n POGGIO\nALLE NANE, vintage 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n80% Cabernet Franc, 10% Carmenere and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Intense ruby \u200b\u200bred-black color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the glass rise aromas of plum, black\npepper, nutmeg, mint, eucalyptus, bay leaf, sage, rosemary, sweets from the\noutside of the sugared almond, juniper berry, violet, hints of black truffle,\nvarnish glaze, and in the finish a slight woody sensation of “after eight”\nchocolate (mint and chocolate). The body is medium, fine, delicate. Taste of\n“after eight” chocolate felt on the nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The freshness is beautiful and pleasant while\nthe tannins are sweet, wide (6\/6), initially silky and then in the final dry, slightly,\nthe upper gum. Its gustative persistence is long with a woody “after\neight” finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nice wine, for me, the best of those made to\ndate, will have to lose a little bit of the woody note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (96\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n FATTORIA\nLE MORTELLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “AMPIO”,\nvintage 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n50% Cabernet Franc, 25% Carmenere and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Intense ruby \u200b\u200bred – black coat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nose is an explosion of black fruit,\nplum, blackberry, blueberry and cassis. Followed by notes of pea peel, amber,\ntalcum powder, mint, eucalyptus, slight herbaceous to finish with references of\nripe green pepper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well structured wine with a medium plus body,\nflavors of blackberry, blueberry, cassis, mint, bay leaf, sage and rosemary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well balanced wine with beautiful freshness\nand tannins that masterfully dominate the alcoholic mass. The tannins are\nsweet, thick, wide (6\/6) and velvety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its gustative persistence is long with fruity,\nmentholated and chocolate flavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beautiful wine, very young, complex that will\nreach perfection once the wine absorbs the wood. Long aging wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (99\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the best among those produced since\n2015 (first vintage).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few days ago I spoke on the phone with my friend Dr. Renzo Cotarella, CEO of Marchesi Antinori s.p.a. who, eager to let me taste some wines soon to be released on the market, invited me to lunch at the Cantinetta Antinori in Florence. To this invitation my “yes” was with the echo both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[451,464,137,463],"class_list":["post-11249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","tag-cantinetta-antinori","tag-florence","tag-paolo-baracchino","tag-renzo-cotarella","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IMG-20210126-WA0004.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pav13q-2Vr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11249"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11253,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11249\/revisions\/11253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}