Brunello di Montalcino Bassolino di Sopra DOCG 2015 1500ml Magnum

Tasting note

The harvest of the healthy and perfectly ripened grapes from the Bassolino di Sopra vineyard began on 27 September and was the culmination of an exceptional vintage. Bassolino di Sopra comes from a single vineyard, Pian di Bassolino, of the Santa Fiora geological formation on Montalcino's south-eastern slope. Grown at 330-390m above sea level, the average age of the vines is 17 years.

After multiple, rigorous sorting of the grapes during manual harvesting in the vineyard, grape reception and at the sorting table, spontaneous fermentation began immediately, reached a maximum temperature of 32° degrees and was completed after 15 days. The entire maceration period from maceration to racking lasted eight weeks. It then matured for 46 months in 20-hectolitre oak barrels until it was bottled in September 2019 and released in October 2021.

Color:

Ruby red with a dark core.

Nose:

The 2015 Bassolino die Sopra from Pian dell'Orino exudes its monumental perfume from the chalice with the self-confidence of a regent. With fruit-filled opulence and immense density and concentration, its multi-layered, complex character reveals itself to the blessed drinker nuance by nuance: dark black cherries are surrounded by a touch of dark chocolate, the dark red berry fruit appears in alliance with mild spices such as cloves, juniper and black pepper, ethereally overlaid with notes of sandalwood and the distinctive core of fully ripe sloes. The nose is always shimmering like the hot sun over the tarmac on the summer horizon, making the lips curl towards the glass in impatient anticipation.

Mouth:

Juicy, fleshy and fluffy, it completely clothes the palate in red velvet. It starts with the extract-rich fruit with its super-animating, silky mouthfeel, which is forfeited like the finest fabric with the polished tannin of the Sangiovese and gives it its animatingly tart contour, close-meshed, dense and low-pile. Despite its youthfully impetuous nature, it shows itself open-hearted, plump and expansive without questioning its complexity - everything is in the right place here. With profound pressure, it pushes itself over the palate like black velvet and tells of the vintage, the grape variety, its ageing, the future and of glasses emptied far too quickly. Whether now, in five or ten years. Promised.

Food pairing suggestions

• Involtini of aubergine stuffed with herbs and scamorza in tomato sauce (meat)
• Roasted mackerel with Moroccan flavours, aubergines, raz el hanout and lentil cream (fish)
• Beef cutlet with anchovy butter and braised oyster mushrooms in red wine (meat)

Tasting notes and food recommendations from Christoph Raffelt