Fair warning: liberal use of superlatives forthcoming - all justified.
Thanks to being in the right company at the right time, I was recently introduced to what could very well be the best Tuscan wine I've had in the last decade - including wines had on visits to Chianti Classico, Montalcino, Bolgheri, and just about every other corner of Tuscany.
What wine could be that good?
A run down of this blend's qualities follows, but what makes it so extraordinary has as much to do with the way it makes you feel as its taste. If it hits you the way it hit me, this wine will make you feel like a younger, more fashionable, fit version of yourself. The wealthy international traveler you. The you that takes risks, the you that makes attractive Italians of the opposite sex swoon...the successful-without-trying, devil may care you. That you.
Been a while since you've seen that you? Maybe its time to splurge a bit and pick up a bottle of the 2001 Azienda Agricola Lanciola Terricci. Sure, immediate quadruppling of your self esteem comes at a price. $41 to be exact. But what else - who else - is going to make you feel this way?
It's got everything a fine red wine should have: finesse, body, structure, balance, umph, polish, balls, poise, restraint. Wow. Deep, deep regal violet in the glass, it moves like a cat. The aromatics are themselves intoxicating and tempting, and conjure scenes from far away places where that you from before is smiling, laughing, drinking deeply from the cup of life. Silken texture. Universally and unavoidably extraordinary. Starts medium bodied and grows with air. Layers of generous, modern, and youthful fruit depite being a 10 year old vintage. Broad shouldered acids are kept in line like a bodygaurd's mass in a Hugo Boss suit - discrete, but noticably present. The tear-jerking finish goes and goes and goes. Finally - a wine that's deserving of the term Super.
Or, maybe it's just me.
What wine could be that good?
A run down of this blend's qualities follows, but what makes it so extraordinary has as much to do with the way it makes you feel as its taste. If it hits you the way it hit me, this wine will make you feel like a younger, more fashionable, fit version of yourself. The wealthy international traveler you. The you that takes risks, the you that makes attractive Italians of the opposite sex swoon...the successful-without-trying, devil may care you. That you.
Been a while since you've seen that you? Maybe its time to splurge a bit and pick up a bottle of the 2001 Azienda Agricola Lanciola Terricci. Sure, immediate quadruppling of your self esteem comes at a price. $41 to be exact. But what else - who else - is going to make you feel this way?
It's got everything a fine red wine should have: finesse, body, structure, balance, umph, polish, balls, poise, restraint. Wow. Deep, deep regal violet in the glass, it moves like a cat. The aromatics are themselves intoxicating and tempting, and conjure scenes from far away places where that you from before is smiling, laughing, drinking deeply from the cup of life. Silken texture. Universally and unavoidably extraordinary. Starts medium bodied and grows with air. Layers of generous, modern, and youthful fruit depite being a 10 year old vintage. Broad shouldered acids are kept in line like a bodygaurd's mass in a Hugo Boss suit - discrete, but noticably present. The tear-jerking finish goes and goes and goes. Finally - a wine that's deserving of the term Super.
Or, maybe it's just me.