An especially sunny and enjoyable evening with Giampiero Bertolini CEO @biondisantigreppo and David Gleave MW director @liberty_wines showing the 2020 #rossodimontalcino, 2017 #brunellodimontalcino, 2016#brunellodimontalcinoriserva and the surprisingly alive #brunellodimontalcinoriserva 1999 “La Storica” at @liberty_wines favourite #italianrestaurant @therivercafelondon The most surprising part of the evening was the way that the 1999 vintage changed in the glass from seeming a little mature and very tertiary on the nose to breathing new life into itself after about 40 minutes. Sometimes some of these older wines really start to breath fresh air and become transformed, invigorated and younger looking as the wine opens up. I have seen it happen a few times now with a few different older wines and it is quite astonishing to witness the transformation. The 1999 was a picture of beautiful harmony and equilibrium after an 30-40 minutes in the glass. The 2016 was looking terrific too but I do think the new moves they are making in the vineyard are having a transformative effect. They did a brilliant job with the very dry and quite hot 2017 vintage and managed to harvest a wine with ripe tannins at only 13.5 % how did they do that? It was also a thrill to taste the new release @rarechampagne_official with its beautiful label and generous style. Thanks to @liberty @thurnerpr and of course @biondisantigreppo
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