1997 Podere Poggio Scalette Il Carbonaione

The estate’s 1997 Carbonaione is sweet, ripe and full-bodied, but with plenty of supporting structure underneath. Complex notes of tobacco, leather, sweet herbs and spices have developed in bottle, rounding out this soft-textured, caressing Carbonaione. As is often the case with wines from warm vintages, provenance is especially critical. Impeccably stored bottles have as much as another decade of prime drinking ahead of them. 93/Anticipated maturity.

One of my favorite new wines from Tuscany, this 30-acre estate, owned by Vittorio Fiore and Adriana Assje, produces wines from a clone of Sangiovese called Lamole. The wine is aged in small 350 liter foudres for 18 months prior to bottling. Yields are extremely low, averaging approximately 1.2 tons of fruit per acre (about 20 hectoliters per hectare). Every vintage to date has been impressive. The 1997 Il Carboniaone may improve further in the bottle. It is incredibly opulent, expansive, with copious quantities of fruit and glycerin as well as long, concentrated, blackberry and jammy cherry flavors. The tannin is beautifully integrated, the acidity is adequate but low, and the wine is fleshy and hedonistic. It should drink well for a decade. A Leonardo Locascio Selection, Winebow, Hohokus, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620

Fresh ruby. Spicy, urgent aromas of crushed blackberry, blackcurrant, licorice and violet. Primary, bright and sharply focused, with ripe, nicely integrated acidity; sexy smoky oak complicates the impressively intense flavors. This big boy seems to carry its sweetness even deeper into its finish than past vintages of this wine. A real whiplash of flavor on the aftertaste.