Tignanello

Had a fellow wine geek over for lunch yesterday so I opened something good. The wine I chose was a red from Italy (Tuscany) called Tignanello, made by a producer called Antinori. The vintage was a stellar one for that region (1997) and now with 15 years on the clock I thought it was about time to see how it's getting on. Opened about an hour before lunch and decanted the wine was served with roast beef and all the trimmings.

It performed really well, bright and deep ruby in colour and just starting to brown at the edges, great nose of ripe Morello cherries and vanilla with more meaty background tones (olives?), longish and memorable finish. Surprisingly it tasted pretty young, certainly drinking well now but the acidity was such that I get the impression it could wear at least another 15 years and improve all the way. I bought this wine many years ago and at the time could only afford a couple of bottles, it has a good name and has increased in price since then however there is undoubtedly much better value to be had elsewhere these days. South Africa and New Zealand may give more bang for the buck today but if you're looking for that original "Super Tuscan" experience then Tignanello is hard to beat.