WTN: 1995 Angelini Spuntali Brunello di Montalcino

Last night, with butternut squash lasagne, we drank a 1995 Angelini Spuntali Brunello. Still youthful looking with slight bricking around the edges. A floral nose and a leathery palate with a core of raspberries and a lovely finish. It was decanted for about an hour when we started drinking this with lentil soup and continued with the lasagne. We finished up the lasagne with a 2004 Gaja Ca'Marcanda that was all black cherry and chocolate, that cut through the richness of the dish and was the antithesis of the previous wine.

The Gaja was a gift from our visit to the winery in November. The friends who joined us for dinner last night were supposed to have gone to Piedmont with us, but family circumstances prevented them from taking this trip. Since their preference is for fruit forward and modern styled wines, I promised I would open our bottle with them.

I went through a case of the 97 Spuntali in the early years of this century (!) and have to say that I have never liked a Brunello better than that. I remember reading that the soil has something particular, like lots of fossilized shellfish, that explains its distinctiveness.