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2006 Corzano e Paterno Il Corzano Rosso Toscano |
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 The 92pt Tuscan Crescendo
In the 1990s, they coined the term -- Super Tuscans. In response to perceived American demand for darker, more New World style wines, a bevy of estates between Florence and Siena darkened up their Sangiovese with Cabernet and Syrah Then, they contracted for designer labels and applied Armani-like price tags. All the Super Tuscans were black with concentrated flavors more similar to hot climates than cool. So what if there was a nagging astringency on the back palate? The press jumped all over Super Tuscans, lavishing scores on the designer cuvees -- without a single mention of what was utterly obvious to the most serious growers in the region.
Aljoscha Goldschmidt -- aka Joschi (YO-SHEE) -- could see it coming. He'd spent almost 30 years at Corzano e Paterno, building a world class winegrowing estate out of a couple farms that hadn't changed hands in hundreds of years before his family bought in. He'd followed the lead of guys like the brilliant Paolo de Marchi at Isole e Olena, tightening up the spacing in his vines, grafting over to less productive Sangiovese clones. He'd even experimented with Cabernet Sauvignon, coming to understand just how luscious Tuscan Cabernet could be in the right vintages -- but how difficult it could be in the tough ones. The Super Tuscans, with their plumped up price tags, were making him nervous. Rightfully so.
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It took almost a decade for the consumers to catch up, for wine buyers to realize that the press had over-hyped these newfangled Tuscan wines, bottles that sold for $50+, but were ticketed for the salad bowl 5 years later. During that decade, many questions were raised. How was it that producers were able to make dark wines in vintages like 2002 when Nature offered nothing but rain? Where did the Cabernet come from? Was it estate-grown? Was it even Tuscan? The wheels fell off the Super Tuscan bandwagon.
In the interim, Aljoscha Goldschmidt was slowly, incrementally, fashioning an estate-grown, estate-bottled blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon that hit an astounding crescendo in 2006 -- just as the Super Tuscan train hit a wall.
We first tasted the 2006 Il Corzano -- a deep purple, lavish blend of Sangiovese flowers and Cabernet sumptuousness -- in the courtyard at Corzano e Paterno. The glassware was hand-blown Zalto -- Joschi's favorite. The dish was cannelloni, filled with Antonia's (Joschi's wife) oozing pecorino cheese, drizzled lightly with Corzano virgin olive oil. The marriage of Sangiovese and Cabernet was exquisite, but even that combo took a backseat to the 2006 Il Corzano with the hand-rolled cannelloni. The moment was perfect. The winegrower, the cheesemaker, the family farm ingredients, and the most perfect Tuscan wine in some time put the cynical memory of those Super Tuscans where they belong -- in the rear view mirror.
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Tasting Notes
2006 Corzano e Paterno Il Corzano Rosso Toscano
"A concentrated red, with plum and prune aromas and flavors. Full and velvety-textured, with lots of character on the finish. Best after 2011. 500 cases made."
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