Orders are available for pick-up at Restaurant Nicholas at 160 Route 35 South Red Bank, NJ 07701 during the following times:
Monday: 9:30-3:30; Tuesday – Friday: 9:15am – 9:00pm; Saturday: 11:00am – 9:00pm; Sunday: Closed
$120.00 $99.00
Aldo Moro – following his first term as Italian prime minister – purchased farmland in 1969 in northern Montalcino for the production and distribution of fodder. At that time, Montalcino was the poorest hilltop town in Southern Tuscany and, believe it or not, the wines were still only known to a select few.
They first planted “Vigna del Lago” – where the sun reflects off the nearby lake. The wines helped to put Montalcino on the map but in 1988 – Val Di Suga acquired a secret weapon – the historic and much sought after Spuntali Vineyard. They started sprinkling just a touch of Spuntali magic fairy dust into their Brunello and Brunello Riservas and seemingly overnight, the wines achieved international acclaim.
The 2015 Brunellos really are something else – and a welcome reprieve from the 2014s. The season was long and dry and as Andrea Mantengoli, of La Serena, summed it up it was “A vintage made by God.” I think what he meant was the weather perfect and the winemaker’s job was just to not $%^^ it up. Ian D’agata went a step further in his recent coverage for Vinous. “Simply put, 2015 is a great Brunello vintage, easily one of the top eight or ten Brunello vintages of all time.”
But when Val di Suga reached back out and gave me the pick of the litter for 2021, I wasn’t shy. I dug right in asked exactly for what I wanted – Val di Suga’s 2015 Single Vineyard Spuntali Vineyard Brunello. To my surprise – the answer was ‘no problem’.
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95 Points, Parker’s Wine Advocate
One of three single-vineyard expressions, the Val di Suga 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Spuntali is the most representative of the estate philosophy and the Sangiovese grape. This classic Brunello shows the thick lines and ripe fruit that this vintage is known for, but it also offers mineral notes or crushed stone and iron ore that add contours and framing to the fruit. There is an almost saline or salty note on the close that you don’t get with the other wines in this series.
95 Points, Vinous
Good medium red. Fresh, almost tight aromas of red cherry, sweet spices and peppermint oil, complicated by blood orange and marzipan nuances. Rich and round, with minty acidity leaving a penetrating quality and an impression of greater verticality than some other recent vintages of this wine. Clearly refined, nicely sweet and pure on the long, multifaceted finish. One reason behind this wine’s success in 2015 is that while the Spuntali area is usually fairly dry, it actually rained in 2015 (somewhat paradoxically, given the 2015 growing season weather characteristics – warm and dry – I thought Spuntali would have been the last spot it would rained, but so it did). A superb wine.
94 Points, Decanter
Situated in the southwest, the sun-bathed Vigna Spuntali looks towards the sea which provides cooling breezes in the hot summer months. Vines grow on sandy soil surrounded by low-lying Mediterranean shrub. The resulting wine is plump yet not heavy, with glossy, sweet fruit lightly coated in fine, dusty tannins. Forthcoming scents of dried thyme and orange peel are countered by a saline tang.
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Winemaker Pascal Sirat consistently puts out some of the best value Bordeaux in the region but he may have outdone himself in what was a stellar 2019 vintage throughout the region. Just south of Pomerol, the vines at Panchille borrow deep in the soil. The resulting wines are ripe but fresh, with an aromatic complexity and stony finish usually reserved for wine twice the price. Daniel Boulud tells me it’s been the hottest bottle of wine at Bar Boulud for over a month, so I figured I’d better hurry up and secure my allocation! Don’t miss it.
90 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Xavier Vignon’s brand spanking new CDR 100% is a thing of beauty. It’s already got a blessing from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate who described this wine as, “Full-bodied, concentrated and supple”. This is a gorgeous and intricate blend that features all of the Southern Rhone appellations. This year, the blend was 40% Grenache, 25% Mourvedre, 15% Syrah, 7% Cinsault, 7% Marselan, 6% Terret Noir. Nobody can do it like the mad scientist, Xavier Vignon.
93 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate – 93 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
“Vignon’s 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape delivers even more than I hoped for based on a previous sample. Hints of garrigue, roses, cherries and raspberries appear on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied, silky and long, with an intense, almost briny finish. The assemblage is 50% Grenache, 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah, plus smaller proportions of seven other permitted varieties, while the élevage includes foudres, demi-muids, concrete and wooden tanks, plus terracotta amphorae.”
In the 2020 vintage in Gevrey-Chambertin, yields were super low and temperatures were hotter than most Burgundian winemakers are accustomed. Many picked too late when the sugars were high and the fruit really ripe, but that was not the play. Still, Ann remained as cool in those hot temps as she did so many years ago in Napa, concentrating more on acid levels than sugars and picking at just the right time. This wine is absolutely singing – it’s an age-worthy beauty that should be even better in 4-7 years.
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