Montalcino's surprising 2011 vintage

A couple of weeks ago I received the first impressions of the 2011 vintage in Montalcino from Katia Nussbaum, who runs the tiny (2.5 ha) biodynamically tended San Polino estate with her husband Luigi Fabbro. See Tamlyn's 2009 report on San Polino here.

As mentioned previously, I am often wary about sending out smoke signals on a vintage that is about to go into the fermentation vats, so I thought Katia's remarks, one after the other, showed real insights into the assessment process which still has a long way to go. Here are her two consecutive reports.

11 September...