Bonny Doon Vineyard Ca' del Solo Sangiovese 2005

Blend: 90% Sangiovese, 5% Nero d'Avola, 3% Cinsault, 2% Colorino. A remarkable wine that should give our friends in Chianti cause for reflection,brilliantly combining morello cherry stone and china tea leaf notes on the nosewhile the restrained medium/light body, delicately wrapped in 20% new oak,shows a delicious red berry & savoury character, finishing dry and elegant.

Nowhere is the evolution of Bonny Doon's grape growing and winemaking efforts more apparent than with Sangiovese. They had been working for many years with a vineyard in Monterey County which produced zaftig and extravagantly fruity wines. The new incarnation of this wine is derived principally from the Gimelli Vineyard in San Benito County. It is quite dark and mysterious, perhaps even brooding at this point. Bonny Doon seems to have channeled a more complex and elemental spectrum of flavors. Peel away one layer to find cherried pipe tobacco smoke, beneath another chocolate tones. From the periphery, liquored cassis and black cherry fruit are beginning to expand to the center. The tannins are quite prominent at the moment, and they are moving in the right direction toward resolution. And beneath it all, is a mineral crunch. This wine should evolve gracefully for at least 4 or 5 years.