Wine Briefs: La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino Fortunello 2013

La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino Fortunello 2013

Another steal from Last Bottle Wines. A bit on the young side perhaps but I drank the first of the two bottles so lustfully, that I couldn’t wait to open the second — and make sure I got a tasting note in before it too disappeared.  I should have bought a case.  I did also buy a bottle of their 2010 La Fortuna Brunello, which I will be more responsible with.

On this one, a deep, luscious nose of baked cherries, earth, and elegant oak — not at all overpowering of the other components rather in complete harmony. On the palate: moderate and integrated acidity and tannins with deep, soft cherry fruit and a lengthy and slightly toasty finish. Also completely in balance in taste. It’s drinking like a god right now, can only imagine it improving with age. Everything you need is there. Too bad this is the only other bottle I have. But the producer has just made my favorites list. Can’t wait for the Brunello, but I should.

Around $25 a bottle, I think I paid $12 each. I give it 90 points.

Wine Briefs: Earthquake Petite Sirah 2012

Now that I have this new briefs section of the site, I will kick it off with by mentioning this great wine.  I’ve been meaning to tell you all for a while how much I enjoyed it. Drinking it was a tasty culmination of much ado among family, friends, and customers about Michael David wines. My dad’s a tough nut to crack when it comes to wine. When I asked what he did like, he said Seven Deadly Zins first. Then I had a customer rave about many of their wines, one of which was this lovely Petite Sirah. Coincidentally my daughter’s boyfriend’s father is a huge wine enthusiast and after I gifted him some favorite wines last Christmas, he shared a bottle of one of his favorites, which just happened to be this wine. Following all this fuss I not only extensively researched this favorite winemaker for my own curiosity’s sake, but also opened the bottle post-haste. Tasty, tasty stuff.  Mostly PS with a bit of Cab in the blend. Lots of black fruit to balance the tannins and ready to drink.  2012 was a great year in California. Will have to pick up more, but this time I will have to pay for it! He has many wines including the enticingly-named “Lust”, “Freakshow”, “Rapture”, “Sloth”, “Rage”, “6th Sense Syrah,” “Petite/Petit”, and of course “7 Deadly Zins”, which is the ‘gateway red,’ to their wines, as my customer put it. Not in any derogatory way whatsoever though. Only that this is the most well known and accesable of the Michael David wines, and a fan would soon find their way to the others.

More info on the this wine here. The ratings are very kind to it as well, but taste and decide for yourself.  It’s about $24.