Brunello Le Lucere

After a long day of gardening & mulching, there was a serious need for simple food and great wine.  With a series of "small plates" we opened the 2004 San Filippo Brunello "Le Lucere".

 

This Brunello has aged gracefully since my last review about one year ago.  Per my past recollection, the wine was decanted for about 60 minutes before dinner.  The plates consisted of escarole and beans with pancetta, grilled skirt steak with magi and chives, and a wonderful salad from the garden; recipe below. 

 

The wine's aroma is complex but yet, slightly subtle. Even with the decanting, the wine needed serious swirlitude® to coax the aromas. This blackish red Sangiovese Grosso displays aromas of crushed berries, leather, flowers and cake spices. On the palate, the fruit is full bodied and viscous, with ample leather, chalky dust, berry and pepper flavors. This tasting is more earthy than previous visitations with this wine.  At this stage, I think another 2-3 years in the cellar will be beneficial. I suspect the aromatics will be more intense after some additional aging.  Delicious, but capable of more I think.  91 points.  About $42.

 



Single Vineyard Brunello.  Look at the color on this baby!

 

 

With the garden beginning to take shape, I thought I'd share a quick recipe for an amazing salad we had last night.  This was so fresh and light, especially after being outside most of the day.

 

Insalata con Bocconcini

 

1 large European Cucumber

3 vine ripe tomatoes

1/2 sweet vidalia onion

1 package bocconcini (8 oz)

Handful fresh chive

Handful fresh basil

 

Halve the bocconcini, slice the tomato into chunks and quarter the cucumber.  Slice the onion small/think and dice the herbs.  Toss in a decorative salad bowl.  Dress with extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste.  It doesn't get much easier than this and it's so fresh and vibrant. 



Just before adding the hebs.  Basil is the smell of summer!

Allora.....