2006 Chacra Pinot Noir Cincuenta y Cinco

Good full red. Musky aromas of strawberry, smoke and brown spices; lower-toned than the Treinta y Dos. Then big, rich, mouthfilling and sweet, with more volume but less lift than its stablemate. A lush, round, impressive pinot with flavors of strawberry, spices and earth. Seriously structured wine with substantial ripe tannins. This is more horizontal in style than the relatively vertical, Chambolle-like Treinta y Dos. After literally six days in the recorked bottle, this actually showed more tangy raspberry and strawberry fruit. (These notes were from my third tasting of this pair of pinots, from the new venture of Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, of Sassicaia fame. In late August, shortly after being shipped to the U.S., the wines were solid but not special; in November they showed much more intensity and definition; and in December they were outstanding. In other words, they behaved very much like Burgundies, which typically need time to settle down after being shipped and require careful handling. But my latest tasting suggests that the tiny crop levels harvested here, and the no-expenses-spared grape-growing and winemaking, are yielding pinot noirs with the potential for greatness.)