Checking In: Carbonaione

Put the corkscrew down and step away from the bottle.  I'm warning you, and we'll see if I heed my own advice, but this is tight as nails right now and I should have read this before I checked in on this a second time. 

"Producing wine is a peasant art, made up of patience and foresight of imagining the vineyard before planting the young vines and preparing for them a welcoming place, one where they will feel at home and live for many years, accompanied by the love, the care, and the patience of a special person: the grower-producer."   ....Vittorio Fiore

~ Cantina Podere Poggio Scalette ~

Poggio Scalette became an autonomous wine-producing estate in 1991 when noted wine consultant Vittorio Fiore and his wife Adriana Assjè di Marcorà acquired several plots of land and a rural building on the hill of Ruffoli, in the commune of Greve.   The vineyards lie on terraced slopes, called "Il Carbonaione" by the local peasants and were among the first vineyards planted immediately after World War I.  Today, at over 80 years of age, they are producing incredible grapes with intensity and character. 

The 2010 Carbonaione is destined for greatness;  I'm fairly well convinced of that,  but it's not there yet.  This is tight as nails.  It's funny, because had I re-read the note linked above,  I don't think I would have opened this, even though it's been about 2 years since I last tried.  I think it's even less expressive now, although I didn't decant this bottle as vigorously as the last.  Brutishly chewy Sangiovese fruit coats the palate with black fruit and there's maybe a slight whiff of blue flowers on the nose - but there's also a bit of bitterness here that needs to fade away.   Had this been my first time tasting this, I'm not sure what I would make of it.  Trust the winemaker. Trust the wine.  Stick a "Do not open until 2021" on this bottle and call it a day.  Judgement reserved. 

~ Carbonaione is 100% Sangiovese from Greve in Chianti ~

Salute!