Friday, March 21, 2008

2004 Conte Brandolini d'Adda Vistorta

Marcus made a strong pitch for this wine back in November, but I only managed to find one bottle before it sold out. The 2004 Conte Brandolini d'Adda Vistorta, a Merlot from the Friuli region of Italy, was a pretty ruby red in the glass with an attractive garden-like nose of leafy vegetables and green pepper, also showing some mint, tobacco, cherry, black pepper, and gravelly notes. Gooseberries and velvety smooth tannins with a nice long finish on the palate, it opened up beautifully over the evening, revealing more and more complexity. A terrific expression of Merlot and a wine that could easily wait patiently in the cellar for a few more years.
cork. 13% alcohol
Score: 17.5/20
Price: C$27 (SAQ)

4 comments:

Barry said...

Gooseberries in red wine I can't remember..were you sucking a sweet at the time?

2004 seems to have been an all-round very good vintage in 'Italia'

Barry

Joe said...

No sweets with the wine, Barry! I have a few more 2004 Italians to taste - you are welcome to stop by and help...

Marcus said...

Amazing how those Vistorta move!

Actually not so amazing since there's a bigger promoter of this wine than me: Phaneuf doles out precedented five-star ratings for this wine.

Joe said...

Really amazing, Marcus. I saw a case of 12 at the Nun's Island shop on the web, printed it out, then checked a few days later - gone...I really need to pay more attention to M. Phaneuf!