Fontodi Colli della Toscana Centrale Flaccianello delle Pieve 2006 750ml

This is an incredible wine. It shows aromas of violets, berries, and licorice that show fresh porcini mushrooms as well. It’s full and very balanced with fresh acidity and wonderful length. Fabulous. Give it time still, if you can hold yourself back from drinking it.

2006 was a hot year but one with significant thermal amplitude. It fluctuated between 30°C in the day and 10°C at night from late August through to September. While 2006's potential has been evident from the start, it is only now starting to reveal the breadth of its charms. Still very youthful, it opens up leisurely to become positively fragrant with evocative Mediterranean herbs such as sweet anise and mint. The palate offers remarkably pure fruit, with liquorice and dusty baked earth along with polished yet assertive tannins and mouthwatering acidity. An exceptional demonstration of finesse and power.

The 2006 Flaccianello della Pieve is monumental, as it has been since the very beginning. Smoke, black cherries, plums, incense, licorice and tar are some of the many notes that burst from the glass in this powerful wine. The 2006 has fruit and structure to burn. It is going to be an absolutely fabulous wine to follow over the coming years, but patience is key. A huge, explosive finish rounds things out in style.

#8 of Top 100: 2009. Complex nose of flowers, red fruits, woodsy elements and spice. This is beginning to hit it's stride, very classy, harmonious and supple, with firm tannins now becoming integrated. Very intense and very long.—Non-blind Flaccianello vertical (July 2014). Best from 2016 through 2028. 5,000 cases made, 1,500 cases imported. (Highly Recommended)

The two bottles of the 2006 Flaccianello della Pieve opened during this retrospective were both below my admittedly high expectations. I had bad luck with a vintage that has every reason to impress, seriously impress, and for that reason, I am putting a question mark next to my score. There is a vegetal note that is out of place, and although it appears only in brief and contained pluses, I kept finding it each time I returned my nose to the glass. It reminded me of green olive or dried garden herb. The bouquet delivers dark plum, prune, earthy notes, menthol freshness, camphor ash and pronounced minerality. The wine shows beautiful elegance, freshness and silkiness in terms of mouthfeel. This vintage was characterized by extreme diurnal shifts that reached as high as 30 degrees Celsius during the days toward the end of August, and dropped down to ten degrees Celsius at night. On the positive side, that green note recalls balsam herb, and on the negative side, it feels a tad stringy and astringent. The wine may just be in an awkward phase, requiring extra time to iron out those rough spots.