Tasting Notes
This is beautiful. It's got some of that scent and flavour of Cupano that I fell in love with when I first tasted their wine in 2005. This 6th edition is a blend made entirely of vintages made by Andrea Polidoro, who worked for a decade with Lionel Cousin, who died in 2020. Lionel would have loved this wine. It's entirely a blend of grapes from Cupano, from Brunello di Montalcino vintages 2020 and 2021, Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino 2022, and a touch of Ombrone 2021. Since it landed on Monday, each day last week Andrea was texting me to see if I'd tried it. I finally got my paws on a bottle on Friday, and I was able to reassure him on Friday night that I do like it very much indeed! He says that he really, really likes it. I think it was important to Andrea that it was very good, seeing as it's the first blend of this wine that he's made without wine that Lionel had a hand in. He probably added a bit more Brunello than usual. Lucky us! He's used all at his disposal: from the vines, to the many hours he spent humbly learning and listening, and making and blending with Lionel, and with the care, sensitivity and awareness of nature with which Lionel was so in tune. As you swirl the glass you get the Cupano scent, and then on the palate, with a bit more time, slowly but surely, in the centre emerges that beautiful elegant, sweet spot of Cupano flavour that is both wholesome and amazing - that Cupano je ne sais quoi. The flavours are beautiful. It's smooth with good body, yet so drinkable. It was hard to say goodbye to the last sip. Wow! With more years it will be even more beautiful. But drink it now. What a wine!
More Info
Each year, when they come to bottling the next Brunello vintage release, they taste each barrel to decide on which ones will make the final blend. Some barrels do not feel ready at the time, but might be excellent, so they get left aside. And as some point when the barrels start to taste really good they blend them into this wonderful Vino Rosso di Cupano. Andrea Polidoro is the winemaker, who was mentored by the late, Lionel Cousin, the original winemaker at Cupano, who along with his wife, Ornella, planted the vines.