1988 Le Pergole Torte

The 1988 Le Pergole Torte was born in a Tuscan take on the Age of Aquarius. Martino Manetti calls it "Woodstock in the vineyard" because he got a gang of 18-year-old classmates to help out during the harvest. "Thankfully, nature's will was superior to the terrible harvest workers," he jokes. This wine has aged on a Barolo-like trajectory, gaining in complexity, finesse and elegance throughout the years. This expression of Sangiovese offers refined points of dark fruit, licorice, tar, grilled herb and black pepper. The wine is on the deep and dark side of the color spectrum, yet it shows carefully balanced acidic freshness and tannic firmness.

A great example of the year, the 1988 Le Pergole Torte has it all. Fresh, powerful and vertical in its structure, the 1988 is exceptionally beautiful today. The flavors are dark, bold and vivid, with plenty of dark red cherry, plum, smoke, tobacco, licorice and lavender. Dense and powerful, yet with the classic Montevertine sense of mid-weight structure, the 1988 is exceptionally beautiful today. This is an especially beautiful bottle. Martino Manetti recalls that he dragged all of his friends out of school for two days to pick the fruit. Of all the early wines in this tasting, the 1988 is the vintage I would most like to own. The wine's combination of intensity and structure is spellbinding. Tasted from magnum.