An Instant Cellar Collection: Caparzo Vertical Vigne La Casa Brunello di Montalcino

As I may have mentioned, one of the best perks of being in the wine business are the wine dinners. It’s a “holistic” experience, as you usually get to go to a great restaurant but more importantly you get to get very granular with a winemaker or high level representative of a winery. It’s a great way to really start to understand the ethos of a winery and can often change one’s perception of a winery, in ways both good or bad.

Such was my luck a few weeks ago when I was invited to a small wine dinner at Sartiano’s, the instant classic Italian restaurant in the Mercer Hotel. What was supposed to be a small dinner for 8 suddenly turned into a small dinner for 3 as there were some cancellations. I ended up having an essentially private dinner with Mirco Billorsi, the longtime export manager for Caparzo wines in Montalcino.

I have long been familiar with Caparzo Brunello di Montalcinos. I always liked their high quality to value and the fact that they are not only true to the unique terroir on Montalcino, but also approachable and lovely to drink.

The 2000, from a great vintage showed development with distinct cherry and clove notes with subtle earthy notes starting to emerge. The thing that appealed to me was how well integrated it was, showing maturity and drinkability that you can only get from a wine with 25 years on it.

The 2004, from a nice vintage definitely was the overachiever for me. Great fruit coupled with beautifully balanced acidity made it a truly classic Brunello for me. Traditional cherry notes blended with subtle spices like cinnamon and cardamom

2011 - This was the surprise. A tricky vintage has yielded a lovely, balanced fruit forward wine that is ready to drink and will reward you with gracious fruit, lots of primary bright red flavors with some dark fruit undertones and a little spice note on the palate. I don’t know if I’d call this one a “sleeper” but it was certainly more than I expected.

The winery decided to put all three vintages together in a lovely wooden box containing 2 bottles of each vintage. It’s very limited and priced very well, again, no one has better bang for the buck than Caparzo. Subject to availability and first come first serve. A great chance to have an instant Brunello retrospective. This is a perfect set to use to create an amazing wine tasting evening or a very special gift.