Wine, etc. 

Brunello di Montalcino Case Basse – vertical tasting (26 January 2006)

It has taken me quite awhile to realise this text.  Probably about five years, or somewhere around that.  I can remember clearly all my bottles of Brunello di Montalcino Case Basse, and all the occasions during which they were drunk.  I can even recall the participants in these degustations.  I have all reason to be sad about the bottles, drunk before I had learnt to understand and value the weight of their contents.  I know there is too much “I” here, but I have every justification.  I declare my love for Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Case Basse.

And now, when the most important has been said, it is time to proceed with routine. Firstly I will attempt to briefly describe the estate of Case Basse and its eccentric owner, Gianfranco Soldera:

A successful insurance broker from Milan, Signor Soldera acquired the Case Basse estate (pronounced Caze Basse and not Case Basse) in 1972. From the outset Gianfranco and his wife Graziella aimed at organising their estate as a unified ecological system.  The idea was to give Nature the possibility to manifest itself as wholly as possible, thus allowing the land to demonstrate its genuine potential.  Thus no force, no chemical fertilizers, no herbicides – only organic, and only natural methods of tending the soil and that which grows on it.  The culmination was in the fitting of beehives and man made birds’ nests.  All living matter (bees, butterflies, birds, mice) is included in this noble task.  Of course, the vineyards remain the prerogative of Man and are tended manually only.  In Winter the vine is pruned short, in Spring and Summer strict trimming of the green shoots and removal of surplus bunches and leaves.  In essence, nothing extraordinary, just attention, care and love.  It is well known that the class of a wine is an intrinsic result of the class of the vineyard.  Likewise, it is important not to restrain the harvest from becoming a worthy wine.  Consequently, in respect of tradition, fermentation should be done in the most straightforward way, i.e. without any addition of cultivated yeasts or temperature control (sometimes the temperature can be as high as 39 C!!!). The maceration can also take quite a long time… The resulting wine should be transferred to large casks of Slavonic oak and left there for 5-6 years.  Following this, the wine is bottled with no clarification and no filtration, and then left for a year or so to settle and calm down after the disturbance of bottling. Only then can it be released into the world…  If anyone makes Brunello in any other way – this is not Brunello, but Coca-Cola. I’m actually quoting Soldera here.

That’s it.  Enough has been said and written about Case Basse before me, and so let us proceed with the historical tasting!  It should perhaps be clarified that there is no official importer of Case Basse in Ukraine, nor, for that matter, an unofficial one.  One is left to hunt out Case Basse in wine boutiques and restaurants in foreign lands, carefully carry back these treasures to Kiev and wait patiently for the appropriate occasion.  Thus, having collected for this memorable winter’s evening a small vertical consisting of the 1983, 1994 and 1996 vintages, and with patience slowly running out, the news of the acquisition of the 1993 vintage by some good acquaintances was the final sign!  Diaries were checked, cleared, and on Thursday, 26th January, at 7pm, a limited group of connoisseurs took their seats around the ritual “tasting” table in the “old” hall of the Osteria Pantagruel.

We were given a good sign from the very beginning, in that none of the 4 bottles showed any signs of cork taint.  Three of the four bottles were decanted well in advance – 4 hours before the tasting; the last conquest, the 1993 vintage, however, was not decanted as it was brought to the tasting a mere 3 hours before the event and it was more important to let it rest, without further disturbance.

The 1996 vintage was, without doubt, very good and obviously young.  Certainly, for its 10 years it showed a wonderful potential and unambiguously let us know that it could have had a long life ahead.  Of course, the colour hinted at age, but this should have surprised no one, indeed when one takes into account the aforementioned winemaking practices, even a wine just released for sale is simply obliged to have hints of brick orange in the rim.  The core – a deep garnet colour with quite intense shades of ruby.  A beautiful clarity.  As for the aromas, a very typical nose of a classical Brunello:  spices, black cherry jam, dried dark fruits, petals of a fading rose, tobacco, leather, liquorice… the list is endless.  On the palate, Brunello Case Basse instantaneously conquers all possible.  A vigorous, even somewhat aggressive attack.  A good, perhaps not very clearly defined middle of the palate.  A long and complex finish.  And what a sturdy structure that this wine has!  Substantial acidity and tannins.  The tannins are very lively, but not overpowering (a professional critic would probably call them ripe).  On the palate, a confirmation of the aromas on the nose:  spices, black cherry a la Sangiovese, and again, jam-confiture, liquorice.  A sensation of spiciness and then a slight sweetness can be felt in the finish (this is when the tongue finally begs for mercy).  What a pleasure that the structure of the wine is so in harmony.  There are simply no contradictions or conflicts, which one would have thought unavoidable with the acidity and tannins of Case Basse.  More bitter the regret:  we are drinking too young, were it possible to lay this bottle down for another 10 years…

I am not afraid to disappoint the reader by confirming that all the tasted bottles resembled each other in colour, bouquet and taste.  As in the theatre, however, the same spectacle is played out and watched differently, even with the same actors… In order to avoid repetitions, I will take the 1996 sample as the basis and will discuss only the differences.

1994:  the nose has become more precise, the palate still very accurate and resounding.  One of the participants in the tasting suggests that this wine has more potential than the previous one.  I categorically disagree.  I feel that the foundation stones, the same ones making up the 1996, are simply more tightly bonded.  In a blind tasting I would even risk suggesting that the difference between these two wines could be all of 5 years, as opposed to two.  An essentially more developed sample.  Once again a beautiful acidity.  I begin to be thrilled by such a refined interpretation.  It is like the trunk of a Christmas tree – all the beauty of the tree hangs on it, although no one actually notices the trunk, let alone thanks it or appreciates it.  It is the acidity that is leading the wine, not allowing it to crumble even after an unspecified number of years!  A very elegant wine.  The English are lucky; in such cases they can use such a wonderful word as “finesse”. How would I state it in Russian, eh?

We carefully examine the bottle of 1993.  And what is the wine like in there?  Has it had time to calm down?  We carefully pour it into the first glass… a deep breath of disappointment... the sediment has not had time to settle.  But we already do not have the will to stop – we fill all the glasses.  I curse myself for my weakness, I should have sent everyone away and put the cork back in the bottle.  And we should have drunk the bottle the next day.  Who only knows what force won in the end – humanity with respect to the participants of the event, or the uncontrollable desire to take the first sip of the so far untested 1993? Oh well, time for the analysis of the sensations from the wine.  Aha, now this is already the true candidate (at least, was) for long life.  Perhaps, this wine’s potential is higher than that of the 1994.  But how difficult it is to bore through the devil of sediment!  What a piercing sensation of loss.  Forgive me, Case Basse 1993…

Basta.  The end.  Vintage of 1983.  The bottle, spied out in the wine list of a hotel restaurant in a ski resort.  At a ridiculously low price!  Just 3 weeks ago…  The sommelier, clearly having taken no part in the laying down of this wine in the wine cellar, is surprised by my cries of joy and, after my pleas to go and check if this bottle of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Case Basse 1983 really is in the cellar, and if so, how many of these treasured bottles are resting there.  He returns with one, saying that there is another one.  I ask him to pack both of them… he does not argue… And so… the wine is in the glasses.  It is 22 and a bit years old.  The colour is still concentrated, although almost nothing remains of the ruby tints.  A sharp, spicy nose.  Slight hint of cherry jam.  A marvel!  I lift the glass to my lips.  The silence is broken by cries from opposite me:  “Here it is!  Here it is!  Here it is, the true marvel!”  A light hearted moment of joyful curses follows!  Ha, that’s where Russian language has all kinds of advantages over English.  I make a sip.  An astounding fabric of taste.  Satiny silk.  What an amazing sensation of vibrating freshness.  Simply a kaleidoscope of impressions.  Not a hint of impending retirement or fading away.  A sharp liveliness for such a mature wine.  Indeed, the 1983 is considered to be a rather good year for Brunello, but this wine exceeds all expectations.  How wonderful it is, that now one can choose, at one’s leisure, the next worthy occasion to open the remaining, carefully hidden away second bottle…

Sergei Gusovsky

Important Note: I express my sincere gratitude to Mrs. Christina Xinias. This text was originally written in Russian and I would never dare to translate it in English neither myself nor through the translation bureau. Grazie principessa!

P.S.  3 April 2006.  Hurrah, yesterday an Austrian acquaintance presented me with a Magnum of the 1986!
P.P.S.  6 June 2006.  After a meeting with Mr. Soldera (which I’ll write on separately) on the way back to Florence in enoteca Franci inside the Montalcino’s Castle I had a chance to acquire a bottle of Case Basse Riserva 1991. Gianfranco’s daughter Monica mentioned that her father liked that vintage a lot…