a surprisingly nice 1997 Tuscan

I remember all those years ago when the 97 Tuscan wines were being released how WS and others of that era sang their glories. I bought 2-3 mixed cases of mostly Sangio based wines across IGT, CC, a few BdM – mostly consuming them within ten years of the vintage. While enjoyable, nothing really stuck out for my tastes as anything overly amazing, and my purchases of Tuscany wines was limited/dormant until 2007 and 2010 were released, the former since there were few regions globally that were good to mark a life event year, and the latter for the outright quality, and again a life event to mark. I guess my takeaway was: 1997 was overhyped.

A while ago I picked up an Italian market 1997 La Braccesca [Vino Nobile di Montepulciano]. The label is all in Italian, and there were no import strips. Perhaps it was hand carried back from a vacation or something. I had low expectations of this 13.3% abv (as a recent bottle of the 1997 Sassolaro was quite sucky) but opened this anyways with rigatoni & fennel sausage, in a vermouth & carmelized onion deglaze. Wow! The nose was fantastic - sandalwood, cigar box, tea leaves - and just kept drawing you back in for another sniff. The palate was all sweet fruit, without excess acid nor tannins. I was impressed how well this Antinori effort had kept, and the complexity it had gained. Although mostly sangiovese (or some local clone) there is also a splash of merlot in here, which seems to be a practice that the Antinori’s (among others) have used for a while. But it does not feel international to me; this is a really different perfume. The color is now a lighter garnet, with orange at the rims, and I would not wait longer to drink. On the second day – while still delicious with ham/fig/brie on a batard - the bouquet tails off a bit.

I’m very impressed and would slot this into the A- category. I don’t hear much mention of this estate, and it seems like the vintage has likely mostly been drunk up, maybe except for some Brunellos, but it is something I’ll keep an eye out for now. I would not have expected this to have run so long, and so well. Maybe there was something to 1997 after all.

Part of the Antinori stable of properties across Italy. I don’t think heat affected Vino Nobile like it did regions like Bolgheri and Tuscany.

Cool note on a wine I don’t think I’ve ever seen a note on.

The Seattle wine group did a 1997 Tuscan tasting maybe two years ago? Perhaps three? Like you I bought a bunch based on the hype. We had mostly BdM by a few CCR and maybe one or two others. The overall impression was very positive. Out of maybe 15 one or two were not that great. The rest ranged from very good to excellent. I still have a bit left and curious to see how they hold up. Thanks for this nice note. Always fun to be surprised as you were with this one.