Col D'Orcia Brunello Di Montalchino and palate shock

[Claudius2]

Guys
Did a tasting yesterday of these wines from 2006 to 2020, the last being a biodynamic version, and the older wines were Reservas.

I am wondering something.
Is my palate fading or do I just not appreciate Italian wines anymore?
I have now done three Brunello tastings in the last six months, covering a variety of producers and vintages spanning 25 years.
Surprsingly, I have liked the more "modern" versions which show more richness and sometimes new oak characters.
Further, the Super Tuscan tasting done late last year didn't really impress me.

Col D'Orcia is by its winemaker's own words (on Zoom stream from Italy) a traditionalist who seeks to make wines the same way as his family did for a long time. I have no issue with that, other than the fact that I have a hard time appreciating them.

The most obvious character was the savory nose which was very similar on all but the oldest wines, where balsamic vinegar was clearly evident.
I sniffed all the wines before sipping them, and they had been decanted prior to the tasting and and were served at a good temperature (the decanted wine was cooled in a wine fridge and poured soon before tasting).

Where is the nose??
I get this light, savoury, forest floor character with a touch of cranberry. There is a bright, acidic character that stands out a bit too much for me.
That acidity is liked by some, but it is rather shrill to me, like NZ Sav Blanc. It is too dominant on both the nose and palate.

The first few (younger) wines were too vegetative. Where is the fruit??
They were not awful by any means, just dry, overtly savoury and too acidic.
It takes some effort to find the modest red fruit - cranberry, maybe red cherry.

The Reservas were from 2006 to 2016.
I thought they were more interesting as the fruit was a bit more evident, and some Balsamico was showing, but they are still light to medium bodied and lacking real depth or complexity. Yes, there is freshness but not a lot else.

In the mouth, the wines are linear without any real depth.
The wine I preferred was the 2016 Reserva, which showed more red fruit in the mid plate and a touch of plummy richness. But not much.

Can I have a wine that is somehow between a 2009 St Emilion and a 2016 Brunello?
My frustration is that my palate has hit some sort of schism.
Some wines are dry and too savoury, others too ripe, alcoholic and porty.
Though to be fair, the recent Medocs have been well balanced and very good, being vintages from 2009 to 2016.

Back in Covid times, the awful Chinese version Wendy brought back from Shanghai meant i totally lost my sense of small and taste for some time.
I'd already had a local variant which was no worse than a cold. And I am seriously wondering if I have had permanent taste impairment as I find the same issue with food as well.

C'est la vie.
Mark

[stefan]

Gosh, your descriptions do not resemble any Col D'Orcia Brunello Di Montalchino I have drunk. OTOH, I have only drunk them with dinners that called out for a Brunello.

[Jay Winton]

Agree with Father Stefan-brunellos work with food, not too well on their own.

[Claudius2]

Guys
As a follow up, I saved some of each wine for Wendy who missed the tasting due to a work commitment.

Now I did not say much other than that I wasn’t impressed but I want her to be honest.

Her main comments were that overall they were “acidic and light”. Her fav was a 2006 Reserva as she liked the aged characters on the nose followed by the 2016 Reserva.

Irrespective of individual preferences the translucent red hues of all wines (the older wines were slightly mahogany) surprised me. I think Wendy gained a bit more fruit on the nose but after the first wine (2018) she said it smelled of straw and root vegetables. I agreed.

The two recent tastings of a dozen wines each (both with Italian food) revealed a few wines only that offered much depth of fruit. Far too many were rather light and innocuous but yes, they were better with food.

Whilst Wendy was sniffing and sipping the Brunellos, I opened NV Maillart Brut 1er Cru Champagne. A case had been sitting in storage for five years and I pulled it out thinking it’s time to drink it. I could actually taste it. Lots of baked apple, honey, yeasty notes, a touch of citrus and quince. Quite dry and actually tasty.

So maybe I just find most Brunello to be boring, simple and too acidic. Yet over the years I have enjoyed some of them. Or maybe my palate has simply been beaten up by Covid whereby it’s distorted my taste buds…

[DavidG]

Brunello doesn’t do much for me, Mark.
Maybe I just haven’t had the right ones or with the right food.