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Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of happy bottles, the official blog of Grandi
Bottiglie, I am Emanuele Spagnuolo and I am your wine
pusher. Today I am very happy because I am going to
taste one of the best merlot produced in our country. Iìm talking about Montiano, by Falesco,
company which is between Lazio and Umbria, and whose famous owner is the oenologist Riccardo
Cotarella. The story of this wine, of this Montiano,
is really the story of a global success from an oenological point of view.
First vintage was produced in 1993, when Riccardo Cotarella brings clones from France to Italy
from the area of Bordeaux particularly good for merlot and so we are talking about the
area of Pomerol, the area of Saint Emilion. In 1993 he produces the first vintage of this
wine taking here some clones directly from the Cheval Blanc , so by making this wine
he wanted to make an international wine, a wine closer to great French chateau.
Riccardo Cotarella is currently considered one of the greatest oenologists not only in
Italy but in the world, he is very famous also in France by our French cousins.
Montiano, 100% Merlot, is a really global success because in 1993, first year of production,
the number of bottles produced was 1000 and in 2003, 2004 and so on it reached 90 thousand
bottles, so we are talking about a wine which really went up on international classification
also thanks to many points given by American critics.
I’d start with the tasting, today we taste 2008, 2007, 2004, 2001, in a vertical, the
sequence is always from the youngest to the oldest, this to try and understand more the
evolution of a wine. A vertical is always very important to understand
how a wine evolves throughout the years but also to understand the difference from a grape
harvest to another, since the quality is connected to the vintage.
2008, 14 gradi, Montiano Falesco 2008. We have a ruby red, a very consistent and
alcoholic wine, a nose with ripe fruits, red fruits, sour cherry, cherry, but which is
maybe a little closed, and the nose is not fully expressed for the usual possibility
of merlot, which is one of the most complete wines, especially when we talk about a 100%
merlot. There is a balsamic note for the nose, mint.
In the mouth the tannin is very strong, there is a sensation of restriction on the tongue.
The wine has a very good acidity, it is also very round, in the mouth the fruits win, red
fruits. It has a good ending, too, a good ending of
freshness, so certainly this vintage will have the possibility to be stored for a long
time in the cellar to evolve even more. The wine is certainly not completely expressed,
the red fruits are prevailing, there is some balsamic sensation more on the nose than in
the mouth, connected to mint. Anyway, a good glass, let’s say that with this bottle that
we tasted we have committed an infanticide, as this wine can certainly express itself
more in the next years. Now 2007, always 14 % vol.
For the colour we have an identity compared to 2008, we always have ruby red, maybe a
little like sour cherry on the sides. Always consistent.
Nose is slightly evolved, ripe fruits accompanies better the balsamic aspect, it is no longer
prevailing but certainly it combines with more intensity. Also in this vintage, also
in this harvest tannin is strong, the wine is young, ripe fruits, still cherry, still
sour cherry, rose sensation in the mouth but there is also a more evolved part, connected
to mint, a part connected to mineral sensations, an ending slightly more interesting than the
previous one and the wine is a little longer. A full bodied wine,, warm and harmonic. This
glass is also very interesting. 2004
Here in the color we have some evolution and you see it in the sides when it’s in the
glass, there is a garnet red on the sides, in the center of the glass the wine is always
ruby red but tends more to a color which shows some evolution of the wine.
Nose: a much more elegant wine, there is not a blast of ripe fruits like in the other two
harvests, there are always the fruits, more or less with the same characteristics of sour
cherry, cherry and red fruits, but much less, the wine for the nose is more harmonic, more
elegant, with notes of licorice. I prefer this prefumes to the other ones,
less powerful, less strong, much more elegant. In the mouth it is very good, there is correspondence
with nose, licorice, iron, mineral sensations very interesting, a good evolution of this
wine, maybe there is the lack of power and length, it is a pity, because there is much elegance in this wine
but in the mouth it ends a little too quickly to define it great. It is very round, velvet-like,
and more delicate than the other two. A great glass, I really liked it!
2001, last vintage Here the color is still more evolved than
2004 but with a small difference, we also have here a light garnet red color, but wine
is still very concentrated for the color, and what was 2004 when smelling it , 2001
is very similar and going beyond, as the elegance of 2004 and could not be found in the other
two there is also in this 2001, but more, so there is this beautiful mixture of all
the components, fruit, mineral, and also for the smell you can feel some iron and mint,
red fruits, and rose, in this wine compared to the other three there is also a characteristic
, a rose perfume, very good, well mixed but prevailing.
In the mouth it is the best without any doubts, the tannin is much more softened, more than
in 2004. It is velvet on the tongue but differently from 2004 this wine in the mouth is much longer,
it ends later, so there is a higher smell intensity in the glass, very round, perfect to combine with meat, a very
good merlot. Personally I’m not a fan of pure merlot,
but I have to admit that this merlot is really good, it can compete with other French merlot
much more expensive and we can certainly compare it to great Italian merlot more expensive
than this. Montiano is an interesting wine, a wine with
good quality-price ratio. They are
not my favorite wines, I usually like another sensation in the glass which certainly pure merlot cannot
give, but it is still a good wine. People who love merlot must taste it.
So dear friends, try Montiano, this vertical tasting tells us that it is a wine which can last throughout the years,
a bottle which you can buy and possibly keep in the cellar if you buy the last vintages,
because it is a wine that needs some storage to express better its characteristics.
Thanks and see you at the next episode.