Banfi Brunello di Montalcino 1997
Written By: Brian Freedman on Fri, Aug 31st 2007
This wine needs a lot of time, patience, and TLC before it’ll give you anything approaching drinking pleasure. But with a good two or three hours of decanting, something magical happens: The nose explodes into deep aromas of crushed red fruit possessing great acid and a fabulous edge of smoky, exotic spices, cardamom chief among them. There’s also fennel there, as well as licorice, cherries, and something almost venison-like. The palate, rich with blackberries and dark cherries, is held together by tannins that, one they loosen their grip a bit, are actually rather velvety. The meaty, somewhat gamey finish verges on the profound. This is a wine that has a good bit of life left in it, but if you have a few hours and a decanter, why wait?
