2016 Podernuovo Palazzone “Staccato” Toscana

2016 Podernuovo Palazzone “Staccato” Toscana

2016 Podernuovo Palazzone “Staccato” Toscana This is a lovely and well balanced red blend. The bouquet is seamless and smooth. The mouthfeel is never too heavy despite the wine’s obvious structure and power. This red has the grit and determination to pair with hearty Tuscan meat dishes. It should age steadily over the next ten years or more.

Pretty cherry stone aromas; lovely weight and balance on the palate. A altogether beautifully crafted wine with a long, gently smoky, finish.

This wine has taken on a life of its own. It is our most ordered Italian red when available, with customers clamoring for case after case. Like great wine often does, it sold out and went away, the last vintage vintage we were able to get was 2014 and ever since we have had at the top of our “wish list.  After years of patiently tasting and doing our homework, we finally have, and we are telling all of our customers to get in on the ground floor because this wine will blow you away and keep you coming back for more.

The wine is Podernuovo Palazzone 2016 “Staccato” Toscana and is absolutely gorgeous. The 2016 vintage is one of the all-time great vintages for Tuscany. Parker’s WA gave the vintage 97pts the highest they have rated a vintage this century. Wine Spectator also gave the vintage 97pts and also the highest they have rated a vintage in the last 20 years.  We found this wine from offering the winery’s other bottlings, Therra and Argirio, which customers have been loving. We got a message from the owner and winemaker, Giovanni Bulgari (left), heir to the Bulgari jewelry empire who had noticed the recent success of his other wines and took a shine to what we do here at Grapes. Giovanni is a man who has immense passion for wine and a relentless entrepreneurial spirit. Instead of following in his family’s footsteps, he forged his own path, pursuing his love for wine and viticulture. He and his father purchased an abandoned 64-acre vineyard in the remote foothills of Sienna, revitalized the vineyard and built a state of the art environmentally friendly winery, which runs on geothermal heating and cooling system that brings the winery’s carbon footprint close to zero.  Architecturally, is one of the most beautiful modern wineries I have ever seen, floor to ceiling glass windows with the Tuscan landscape in a full 360 degree view (right).  It belongs on the list with properties like Rocca di Frassinello in Chianti, Opus One in Napa, and Chateau Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux.

Direct from the winery, he sent us a sample of Staccato, a specialty bottling that he had been working on for years that was being earmarked for some of the  top restaurants and bistros in Sienna.  I tasted the wine with my senior advisor and we looked at each other and smiled.  The wine is superb from the transportive aromatics, to the gorgeously supple new world/old world flavor profile, to its long, luxuriously balanced finish.  What we ended up learning is that Palazzone makes a Super Tuscan that’s $50 plus per bottle, and these are the same grapes that go into that wine and it is made the same way. You get the same wine at a savings of 54%.  It is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, and Montepulciano, three of Tuscany’s powerhouse grapes, and with Giovanni’s artistic eye and history with raw materials, this is a wine that we could not be more excited to introduce to you.  This is your house red for the fall and holiday season, and I am recommending cases.  Enjoy.