WTN: 1999 Falseco Vitiano Umbria

[hotle]

folks,

my first post of tasting notes, so i'm hoping i get this 'right', and you don't all laugh at me (at least, not too much)!

last bottle of a case bought nearly 2 years ago, with (egad!) take-out pizza. i'll admit to knowing NOTHING about italian wines, but have been attempting to acquaint myself off-and-on. bought this one based on the words in a review i saw near the wine (advocate), not the rating, which i believe was low-90s. i'm not a big 'numbers' fan, but i do look for specific words from reviewers that would guide me to a wine.

on opening, almost a rhone-like nose, very floral with notes of tar and (i think) some raisins. full, dark, almost black - definitely a blue-tooth wine. had an almost syrupy texture, and definitely needed time open. after 1/2 hour, it started to open, and got better in the glass for about the next hour after. deep, rich, black cherry in both the nose and the palate, combined with leather. tannins still there, but not to distraction. very long finish, and hit all portions of the taste buds.

$110 by the case, i believe, and i just saw the 2000 or 2001 get a 'best buy' in the speculator a few weeks ago. pretty available, too. i actually think my wine merchant has a few bottle of the '99 left, and i think i'll relieve him of them!

matt

[Craig Camp]

My only complaint against this wine is an unusual amount of bottle variation. When it is good it is a great buy - when not...

[redwinegulper]

I liked this wine about a year ago, I am guessing the 2000 vintage. Then the vintage changed (2001?) and I was less impressed.

[tjaehnigen]

Bottle variation on this is pretty rampant, IMO. I have only had one OK bottle of this and the other three were very rough around the edges sorts of wine. Bleah.

[hotle]

interesting on the bottle var. guess i got 'lucky', 'cause i didn't get a bad bottle out of the case - and i DO remember bad bottles, since i don't have unliimited funds to spend on wine. tj, i don't think this wine will ever be classified as anything other than 'rustic', but for a pasta/pizza wine, i'm not looking for claret. however, given these comments, now i'm re-thinking my comment about taking the remaining bottles off the shelf.......luck only goes so far!

so much for my first foray into wtn's.

matt

[Craig Camp]

What you refer to as 'rustic' I call personality and character. It is what I like about this wine when the bottles are good. These 'rustic' or unpolished flavors are what is interesting about well made local wines in Italy. Wines like this are not only pizza wines but are great with grilled meats and sausages.

By the way good first effort. Look at the good thread you started!

[tjaehnigen]

hotle-- I agree, it's a decent pizza wine. For me, though, I won't be buying more of this due to the bottle variation. It's worse, IMO, than the Marquis-Phillips bottle variation.

By the way, keep posting WTNs. We like em all. Good for discussion. Besides, seeing who you agree with and disagree with tends to let you figure out what other person's palate you align with. This is especially helpful when you are making your shopping list for the wine shop!!