Make sure to try this wine
Argirio, Podernuovo a Palazzone, 2018
5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP
Argirio, Podernuovo a Palazzone, 2018 (36 EUR/39 USD in Sweden) red dry wine, Tuscany, Italy, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) (21-03-2024 by Nenad Jelisic)
It is extremely difficult to find a good 100% Cabernet Franc-wine. Better to say, it is almost impossible. The Swedish wine importer Solid Wines succeeded in this almost impossible task. And it seems that for Podernuovo a Palazzone's owner and winemaker Giovanni Bulgar is not a big problem to create such a wine. NJ Wines has been tasting and rating wines since 1983 and can say that the last time NJ Wines tasted a good wine made from 100% Cabernet Franc was in 2019 when NJ Wines tasted Poggio Al Tesoro Dedicato A Walter 2015. Then the wine got 4,0 of 5,0 NJP. Since then, regardless of the fact that NJ Wines has/had tasted all the available 100% Cabernet Franc-wines on the wine market, unfortunately there are not that many to taste, this is the first time that NJ Wines gives to a 100% Cabernet Franc-wine more than 4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP. This time NJ Wines gives 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points). This 100% Cabernet Franc-vintage 2018 is absolutely incredible both in terms of aroma and richness of flavour. The aroma is filled to bursting point with freshly picked violets, dried tobacco of the finest quality, cardamom, dried bay leaves, white pepper, dried dark cherries, dried prunes, dried herbs and vanilla. While the flavour is filled with fresh black currants, cocoa rich dark chocolate, ripe dark cherries, tobacco, newly brewed dark roasted coffee, dried herbs, violets and black pepper. The wine's acidity, tannins and fruitiness live in a perfect symbiosis in the wine. The aftertaste, which is dry, fresh and complex, is endlessly long. Everything mentioned above contributes to that Argirio Podernuovo a Palazzone 2018 will develop for at least 10 to 13 years, that is, until at least 2034 to 2037.
The wonderful and fabulous Argirio Podernuovo a Palazzone 2018 will go really well with homemade lasagna (with fresh lasagne sheets) or, if you are lazy, with ready-made lasagne or with grilled duck breast with port wine and cherry sauce and potato stoemp (roughly mashed potatoes with vegetables and cream) or with butter-fried goose liver or duck liver on butter-fried bread (in both cases with very little butter, but the butter must be of the absolute highest quality) with apple jelly or with blackberry jelly or with plommonjärpar (minced meat steak with prune) with parsley cream sauce, diced potatoes and crispy split peas and wax beans or with pasta carbonara (with fresh tagliatelle) or with slow-roasted porchetta with grilled vegetables and buttery garlic bread or with veal kidneys in cognac sauce with raw fried potatoes or with authentic Wiener schnitzel with potato salad. The wine should be served at 18 to 19°C in Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Spiegelau or Riedel. Another option is to serve it at 16°C (when room temperature or outdoor temperature is above 23°C) and then enjoy it as it starts to grow in the glass.
Argirio Podernuovo a Palazzone 2018 consists of 100% Cabernet Franc. The grapes for the wine come from some of Podernuovo a Palazzone's vineyards in Tuscany. The soil consists of clay with limestone strips. The vines are only treated with natural products such as sulphur and copper. The yield is a 50 hectoliters per hectare. The grapes are picked and sorted by hand in both the vineyards and the winery. Then they are destemmed and gently pressed. The grape mass, which consists of crushed grapes and grape juice, is macerated and fermented in open wooden tanks for 18 to 20 days with two pumping overs (remontage) per day. Then the grape mass is gently pressed, and the wine is moved to 1,500 litres oak barrels where it undergoes malolactic fermentation. After the malolactic fermentation, the wine is aged in 225 litres oak barrels (barrique) for 12 months. Wines from the various oak barrels are mixed in concrete barrels and then aged for another 4 months. Finally, the wine is bottled and aged for another 12 months before being released on the market.
