Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Boscaini 1998 Santo Stefano de la Cane - Ripasso (Italy)

There are some promises you make as an aside to people you rarely see: "let's get together for dinner sometime" or "we must get together soon".  Then there are those you make to those close to you, and no matter how minor it seems at the time or in hindsight, you stick to it.  Such was the case with this bottle of Boscaini wine. About 4 years ago I opened a bottle of this for my mother's birthday ... we enjoyed it but felt it still could use some time to mature.  So down it went into a box of wines to age for a long upside down nap; at the time I promised mom we'd try it again when it awoke from its nap - and that time has finally come.  Actually the time came a few months ago, but because mom and I live in separate cities and both her and I were traveling at different times we just couldn't get to the bottle, so it sat some more.  Tonight I found myself in Toronto overnight and so I packed the bottle in a special temperature controlled carrier and took it with me.  There are plenty of more details about how this wine finally made its way into our glass - including a very tight and temperamental cork ... but let's get to the wine already.  The wine barely showed its age in colour, with very little browning or oranging around the rim, while a fine sheen of sediment coated the glass after the initial swirl.  It started out with a pruney smell then moved to dried figs and marochino cherries before finally settling on sundried tomatoes.  The palate was full of sweet dried fruit character and as the wine opened up in the glass the acidity and spice began to shine through and continued till the end.  My mother, who likes her wines a little fresher of fruit was not as impressed as I, who thought the wine retained its elegance and finesse even at 14 years of age; sure it's crested the hill, but it had no intention of going out quietly - still a wonderful wine.


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