CellarNote: 1997 Castello dei Rampolla

Win some, lose some.  Who ever coined that phrase must have been a wine drinker. 

The 1997 Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco confounded me a little bit when I recently pulled this from the EuroCave as an homage to my oldest, this being his birth vintage.  I decanted the wine for a mere 30 minutes and I just don't think that was sufficient. 

The wine is a healthy purple, with violet reflections.  The nose is typical for this Tuscan Cabernet-Sangiovese blend:  there's graphite, cedar, spice and dark fruit aromas. In the mouth however, the wine is drying.  It's more dusty, assertive tannin at this point than fruit.  The core of fruit seemed to be there, but it's either faded away or completely obscured at the moment. I find that a bit odd given the age of the wine, despite it's pedigree. There's some turned leaves and some earth tones to the wine as well.  I have always loved Sammarco and I'm willing to give this a one time pass.  There was a glimmer of hope as the wine seemed to flesh out a bit with increased air time which leads me to believe a longer decanting time would be beneficial.  I can reserve judgement for the moment.  That said, if this is truly where the wine is at the present time; drink up.  

1997 Castello dei Rampolla, Sammarco

As a side note, we opened another bottle of the 2009 Castello di Bossi Chianti Classico recently and it showed consistently with the bottle I opened back in December. You can read that review here and feel comfortable in stocking up on this beautiful Chianti from Berardenga. 

Allora...