Monday 31 March 2014

A modern Italian wine made from Montepulciano

I blogged about Kurni last week but only just got to taste the wine this last weekend. Kurni is a varietal Montepulciano, from vines around 35 years old. The fruit undergoes a long maceration and fermentation in stainless steel vats (typically 40 days) at the relatively high temperature of 28 to 30 degrees Centigrade. Eighteen to twenty months of aging in French barriques is then followed by a further few months of bottle aging.prior to release.

I tried the 2008 Kurni over the weekend, accompanied by beef steak. With a thin purple ruby rim surrounding a dark core, the wine had a sweet sour fruity berry/plummy nose, albeit initially with a touch of alcoholic heat (the wine was 15%). The sweet acid fruity plumminess extended onto the palate accompanied by tannins that somehow encouraged the mouth to water. This was all supported by an acid backbone with a touch of tannins, ending up with an acidic finish.  The only problem was that it tends to show characteristics associated with the wine falling apart around one hour after pulling the cork, although truth be said, the wine was not really falling apart within the two hours that we took to finish the bottle.

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