Siro Pacenti Rosso di Montalcino 2010

Awsome wine. You start to enjoy this wine as soon as you open the bottle. Very open bouquet, the wine has nice flavors, it is medium bodied, and well balanced.

I had the pleasure of sitting with Giancarlo Pacenti, the 40-year-old vignaiolo of Siro Pacenti and son of Siro, at Vinitaly in Verona this year (April 2010). We tasted his 2004 Brunello PS, his 2005 Brunello, and his 2008 Rosso di Montalcino. Giancarlo Pacenti is best known in Montalcino for taking exception with the local wine making tradition of using Slovenian oak botte for aging, yet his 2004 riserva ”PS” Brunello adopts more closely the classic production methods. While still spending the required 36 months in wood for riserva status, in this case mostly new French oak, Giancarlo selected a single, old-vine plot near the Pelagrilli estate for his PS wine, his first-ever single vineyard Brunello. The bottle we tasted had been open for an hour or so, and the wine shows a fresh, fruit-driven nose that is rich in ripe plum and black cherry. In the mouth the elegance of the wine comes through, and while the 2004 PS will need a few years to evolve, already the flavors and aromas are well articulated. I was struck by the seemingly endless progression of sensations, with dense fruits of blackberry, currant, black cherry and pomegranate. Spice from the fruit and oak were subtle and pleasing, with light vanilla and a hint of nutmeg, and some floral notes of violet and fennel drift through the senses. Even with a good amount of tannin and the characteristic high acidity of Sangiovese, the silky texture of the wine is very pleasing and the finish goes on and on. As with refined, elegant Brunellos like this, you’ll want to pair the wine with rich meat dishes like T-bone steaks grilled over wood, wild boar stew, leg of lamb roasted rare, and dark meat birds like pheasant. Cin cin! Michael

On the first night only had one glass after a 1995 Arnaldo-Caprai Sagratino Anni 25; tough act to follow. But again i found this wine full-bodied and smooth with bitter chocolate, cherries, some plum, berries, fine tannins on the palate. Ready to drink right out of the bottle. An excellent value.On the second night, it was even more robust. Slightly rust-tinged violet color. A bouquet of big red fruit and pepper; on the palate bitter chocolate and cherries (less plum) finishing with silky tannins and minerality. Still very smooth and balanced. This is the kind of Rosso that makes it easy to cellar the Brunellos; also it illustrates how an off-year allows production of excellent secondary wines. Wish I had more.

Silky, berry, chocolate, and spice. I need more.

[Unpaired, drank 2 days after opening] austere minerally aroma. fruit and vanilla with chocolate and tannins on the finish