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Tasting notes
The second vintage produced is the 1998 Tenuta di Trinoro. You'd have to imagine that Andrea Franchetti was standing on unsure footing during this period given his lack of experience making wine in this unknown corner of Tuscany. This is not the case. He brought his winemaking experience and inspiration from Bordeaux, and the signs are immediately evident in 1998. Production was limited to nine barriques. Almost 20 years later, this wine shows elegant aromas of pressed flower, rose potpourri, dried fruit, licorice and tar. The growing season was very warm and the vines were still very young at this point. As a result, you get a wine with slightly less structure but more fragrant intensity. At least, that's how the wine appears today at this delicate stage in its overall evolution. Reading back to notes written closer to the wine's release date suggest that it was once much richer and thicker in density. It has evidently lost all of its baby fat over the course of the past two decades. What's left is streamlined and elegant.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Magnum. Made in a nearby farmhouse. Dark crimson. Rusty rim. Dried herbs and a hint of garlic on the nose. Exotic and rich. He castigates it because it is so like Bordeaux. Opulent and right banky. Luscious. (JR)
As hard is may seem to believe the 1998 Tenuta di Trinoro (70% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot) is even more concentrated than the 1997. Showing overt varietal Cabernet Franc notes on the nose, it is a more nuanced wine than its older sibling, with a deeply expressive core of sweet dark fruit that blossoms on the palate with exceptional length and superb persistence. Still somewhat tight and clenched, it comes across as requiring at least another few years of cellaring. It is a remarkable achievement from Andrea Franchetti.
Magnum. Good, deep colour; deeper, more complicated (and less obvious) nose than the 1997. Some whiff of cordite about it. Full, mouthfilling, sweet, broad, an altogether more ambitious wine with further to go than the 1997. Impressive. Still got the lively leafy character of Cabernet Franc with real lift and layers. Complete. (JR)