1990 Fontodi, Flaccianello della Pieve

This vintage marks the year current proprietor Giovanni Manetti took on his managerial role at Fontodi (with his brother and uncle by his side). This wine was tasted from magnum, because only magnums are left in the winery library at this point (although total production in 1990 was about 30,000 bottles across both small and large formats). The 1990 Flaccianello della Pieve represents a new chapter in this historic retrospective. Starting with this wine, we begin to comprehend the completeness of Flaccianello and the direction this wine would take in the vintages to follow this one. Remember, back in those days, grapes were sourced from a single vineyard (today, they represent a selection across many sites in the Conca d’Oro of Panzano). This beautiful edition from 1990 shows great balance and texture, completed by smoke, spice and black olive. The wine exhibits gorgeous freshness and a tonic character that should carry it through more time in the bottle. In fact, I can give this magnum a longer drinking window with a greater level of confidence. This vintage saw a rather hot summer and an early harvest (grapes came off the vines at the end of September) with clusters that were smaller, denser and darker than average.