WTN: 1999 Castelgiocondo Brunello

1999 Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 14.0%
Our last bottle from a consistently disappointing case drunk over the last three years and, if I can help it, our final Frescobaldi. From now on, no more mass producers (e.g., Banfi, etc.), only artisanal Brunellos. Not that this was horrible by any means. It was a reasonably good wine capitalizing on the Brunello name to sell for twice its worth. Aromas were muted, showing mostly cherry and iodine. Still quite tannic, with good acidity, high alcohol well integrated, all marred by an excessively bitter finish. With food, the acidity and the bitterness recede, the latter to a civilized level. But there's still something a bit mean and hard about it, as if it had never recovered from the trauma of being spoofed as a child.

I expect a Brunello to have a certain... how can I put it?... sumptuousness. A generosity of flavor, a richness and breadth that this didn't come close to having. For the sake of those of us who still have this, I hope the last three years have been a surly phase and it will straighten out, though I was hard pressed to detect a pot at the end of the rainbow.

[David M. Bueker]

Sorry you had a bad experience wit this wine. Again please forgive the generalization, but at this point I would consider Brunello the most overrated wine in the world. Time after time from taster aftwer taster I see disappointing notes or excuses for why wines don't show well.

There's a reason I have only 3 bottles of Brunello in my cellar.

Sorry you had a bad experience with this wine. Again please forgive the generalization, but at this point I would consider Brunello the most overrated wine in the world. Time after time from taster after taster I see disappointing notes or excuses for why wines don't show well.

There's a reason I have only 3 bottles of Brunello in my cellar.

Last week I also had three, now I have zip. Aside from a handful of Tignanellos, every red is from Piemonte now.

I'm not quite as down on Brunello as David, but it certainly is up there in the category of lots of disappointing bottles for the price. That said, it can be stunning (Soldera, though SO expensive). Even at less that top, it can have some solid values, but less so as prices have doubled in last 7-8 years. I have about 8 bottles total.

While I wouldn't necessarily say BdM is overated, I will say the majority of it is overpriced. And, the more overpriced a wine is, the easier to disappoint. But it is like the little girl, who, when she was bad, was very very bad, and when she was good, was very very good.

An aside, isn't there an "l" nestled between the e & g?

My greatest disappointment with many older Brunello's is that they don't develop with age, as other wines with their stature and pricetag do. I never get a sense of complexity that develops with bottle age, only a smoothing of elements that you could probably get as well from a $15 bottle of Cote du Rhone.

An aside, isn't there an "l" nestled between the e & g?

As I said, I found it lacking... At least I was consistent, making the same typo in both title and text

This is an interesting thread. It is a bit like the Fable of the Emperor's New Clothes. I have also cellared a few cases of Castelgiocondo over the years and have yet to have a reaction in line with the current cost of the wine. Whilst I did enjoy the last bottle I had with the succulent beef fillet, if I was asked to pay the current retail price down here, I would sadly decline. Thankfully I was able to pick up my earlier stock at wholesale prices off the importer. Even then, I doubt I would add more now days.