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PLEASE REMEMBER TO VISIT "HOW TO BUY" PAGE BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH YOUR ORDER. MANY THANKS.
** BRUNELLO di MONTALCINO 2003 & BANDITONE 100% SYRAH 2005
NOW AVAILABLE!! **
WINE SPECTATOR SCORES
BRUNELLO di MONTALCINO 2002 TOP TEN ; BANDITONE (Syrah) 92 pts ;
MANTUS 2004 (Merlot) 91 pts ; ALBATRO 88 pts ; Cabernet Sauvignon 91 pts.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine
Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - 91 pts
Banditone /Syrah 2005 - 90 pts
Mantus /Merlot 2004 - 88 pts
LA REPUBBLICA
BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2003 - "NOT TO BE MISSED" - 4 stars
Syrah 2004 - " NOT TO BE MISSED" - - 4 stars
LA REPUBBLICA - Friday 7th Marzo 2008
From Vancouver to Montalcino, the enchanting Máté Brunello
-> please read here
Wines of Complex Elegance from Tuscany
Ferenc Máté, author of The Hills of Tuscany and A Vineyard in Tuscany, and his wife Candace, a painter, left New York City in 1990 for the Tuscan countryside. In one of the world’s most prestigious wine zones, the seaward slopes of Montalcino, they bought an ancient, abandoned farm with two hills, a canyon with waterfalls and a13th century friary with a tower and courtyard. Their neighbors were world-renowned wine makers Angelo Gaja and Gianfranco Soldera. Being perfectionists, the Mátés performed a “museum quality” restoration of the friary, then hired Gaja’s agronomist and France’s Pierre Guillaume to select the best varietals and clones in planting their four vineyards of wonderfully varied exposition, elevation and soil composition. Their Syrah and Merlot debued in 2006 from the difficult 2002 vintage. Their success was immediate: Wine & Spirits gave the Merlot 90 points, and Dr. Michael Apstein of the Boston Globe, rated the Syrah 92 points, calling it, “remarkable: luscious...gorgeously layered and seductive.“
In the Máté vineyards and cellar, no effort is spared to yield wines of great refinement and unforgettable flavors.
The Máté family wine estate was a Roman vineyard 2,000 years ago. The four campi of marvelously varied terroir lie between 300 and 400 meters above sea level in an area—Santa Restituta—considered by most to consistently produce the best grapes in Montalcino. This zone is spared the fogs of lower altitudes, which may require anti-mold treatments which interfere with the maturation of the grapes, and the late harvests of higher altitudes which often extend into the rainy, moldy season.
The Máté vineyards face south and southwest, and benefit from the cooling, ventilating winds rising at mid-day from the Mediterranean, keeping the vines healthier and preventing stress even in the hottest days of the summer. The winds also cool the surrounding woods from which the air descends after sunset resulting in cooler nighttime temperatures. This marked heat difference between day and night is very important for creating rich but subtle flavors.
The soils vary greatly from volcanic, to ancient sea-bottom full of fossils and limestone, to sandy clay. The vineyards, designed by Fabrizio Moltard and France’s Pierre Guillaume, total 7 hectares (15 acres) among Mediterranean woods of herbs and wild fruit. Sangiovese was planted in fossil-filled soils, Merlot in sandy clay, Cabernet Sauvignon in galestro, and Syrah on mineral-rich, southern terraces. The high density of 6,200 vines per hectare, (3,000 per acre), forces the roots deep, through various mineral layers thus increasing the complexity of the grapes. Fertilizing is minimal and organic, the treatments follow organic guidelines, and the three annual green prunings keep the yields low, balancing maturation and concentrating flavors. Pruning, tying and harvesting are all done by hand.
Only grapes of ideal maturity with the most complex of aromas
are brought into the Máté’s cellar.
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