Saturday, August 11, 2012

2010 Banfi Rosso di Montalcino

One of my favorite meals is to grill up a couple of links of Italian sausages and then cover the grill with sliced zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant (baby eggplant from the garden) tossed with some olive oil and fresh Italian herbs. Tonight, I served this up over a couple of squares of toasted polenta and topped with a bit of fresh tomato sauce. Simple to prepare and absolutely delicious.


Tonight's wine of choice was the 2010 Castello Banfi Rosso di Montalcino, DOC Rosso di Montalcino. Expected brownish tint to the ruby red color; typical of Sangiovese. Rustic, rusty nose of leather, fennel seed, sour cherry and cedar. Very leathery and rustic on the palate as well, but there's a good core of sweet/tart fruit there to provide balance. The acidity is wonderful with the tomato sauce and the licorice and leather notes dance across the palate in perfect harmony with the charred notes of the grilled sausage and vegetables. About $20

5 comments:

  1. Bill, I love this wine (2009), but I paid $15.29, but at $20, still a good buy in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I'm not sure of the exact price on this one. It's one that we're running as a "Wine of the Month" up at work. For that program, we juke the price to make sure that two bottles (two different bottles) come out to exactly $39.99 including tax. The "regular" price was probably somewhere in the high teens.

      But $15.29 is a hell of a good deal on this bottle.

      Caparzo, Avignonesi and Salvioni ($$) were always my favorites when I used to drink a lot of RdM.

      Delete
  2. Nice note bud. 2010 is going to be a hell of a good vintage and I can't wait until the rest of the wines are released. 2009 is not a slouch either. As RdM go these days, this one is still affordable. Some of them now approach $30 and at that price, I'd rather buy Chianti Classico.

    If you can find the Mastrojannni, try that. As for Avignonei, remember, while Sangiovese (Prugnolo Gentile) that's not from Montalcino.

    Salute!
    J

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shame on me! I clearly got my Montepulciano confused with my Montalcino.

      Delete
    2. Next thing you know, you'll be making pesto with pee-cans. :)

      Delete