Brunello: The Best Wine I've Ever Had

Last January, Chris and I visited family-owned VJB Vineyard & Cellars just a few miles outside of Sonoma in Kenwood, CA. In the land of cabs, VJB is known for Italian varietals from multiple regions from Piedmonte to Tuscany. At the time I favored white wines, so I viewed the tasting menu's unfamiliar grapes like Barolo and Barbaresco with skepticism. Midway through the tasting, Chris stepped out to order food; when he returned, the tasting room manager was wrapping up two $60 bottles of Brunello I had just purchased. At least he got to me before I became one of the 6.5% converted by the wine club pitch.

There's no way I should have purchased this bottle on my student budget, but it being our third winery of the day, coupled with how phenomenal this wine was - I got carried away. When I got back to Palo Alto, I sprung for a bottle of Brunello at Trader Joe's for $19 en route to a Small Group Dinner... and it was not even close to as good. 

After digging in a little, I came to a possible explanation for the stark difference in taste (in addition to the usual suspects like differences in use of oak, aging, the ripeness of the grapes, etc). Brunello originates in Tuscany, is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes, and has earned Italy's highest DOCG classification. There are two schools of Brunello aging: Traditional and Modern. Traditionally, Brunellos are aged for 5 years before bottled - at least 3 of which are in oak barrels from Slavonia (Northern Croatia!). Recently, more producers are aging their Brunello in small French barrels whose ratio of oak-to-wine surface area increases oxygen exposure and thus ages the wine faster. Traditional Brunellos are characterized by "dried fruit, leather and flower flavors and have long aging potential," while modern Brunellos taste of "black fruit, chocolate, brown sugar and vanilla" (See below for source). My hypothesis is that the VJB Vineyard subscribed to the former production method (confirmed with the winery), while the bottle that I purchased at Trader Joe's subscribed to the latter.

While the different methods of aging provide different tastes that perhaps expand the varietal's potential market, the divergent experiences created an issue for me as a buyer. After my first taste, I expected something similar across the board whenever I came across the Brunello "signal." As stated in the Hannan reading: "how a wine from a past vintage tastes can prove a useful guide for the audience to assess current quality." Now, I will be hesitant to purchase any Brunello without tasting it first. While I do not see this as an issue for mainstream varietals, in thinking about our midterm project and how many up-and-coming regions offer intriguing but unknown local varietals, I could see uniformity (or lack thereof) in tasting experiences being a huge hurdle for successful export and adoption.

Flavor Note Descriptions: http://winefolly.com/review/brunello-di-montalcino-its-worth-the-wait/