2011 Il Palagio Sister Moon Toscana IGT (1.5 L) Magnum

96-Point Il Palagio "Sister Moon": Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Three summers ago, we drove northeast out of Montalcino to Valdichiana, then jumped on the E35 heading due north. Two-thirds of the way to Florence, we exited at the Figline Valdarno, and would soon pull into a majestic, cypress-lined driveway of Villa Il Palagio. On the sun-dappled patio overlooking 650 acres of olive orchards, vines, and gardens, there were two wooden chairs, one on each side of an oversized stone chessboard. He began, pushing a pawn to K-4. We responded, as always, with Bobby Fischer's Sicilian Defense.

Il Palagio is the Tuscan brainchild of one of the most brilliant rock artists of his time. His mother was a hairdresser. His dad, a milkman and engineer. He grew up in the shadows of Wallsend's historic shipyards, where he often helped his father out with his morning deliveries. By age 10, young Gordon Sumner became obsessed with an old Spanish guitar that had been left behind by one of his father's friends. Five decades later, hardly anyone calls the Golden Globe, Emmy, and 16-time Grammy Award winner by his name at birth. Instead, he's known only as Sting.

Soon after our visit to Il Palagio, we offered the estate-grown and -bottled Super Tuscan from Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, the magnificent 2008 "Sister Moon." That story struck a chord with the WineAccess membership, making for one of the fastest sellouts in our history. The Il Palagio importer was ecstatic, as were Sting and Trudie, who extended an open invitation for another game of chess in the Tuscan hills.

Honestly, we appreciated the politesse, but considered it nothing more — until August 25th, when we opened our mailboxes on the Lower East Side and discovered invitations for a private dinner party on Central Park West.

We'd walked by #xx Central Park West thousands of times. But we never dared venture inside. We arrived at 6:20, and did our best to dress the part. Apparently our best wasn't quite good enough. The doorman raised his eyebrows when we pulled out our invitations. Then he called "upstairs," no doubt thinking his next call would be to security in case we made a fuss when he escorted us back outside. A couple minutes later, we were on the elevator for an evening we will never forget.

As soon as we arrived, our host and hostess left their guests and came to the door to greet us. Supposedly, Sting is in his early 60s. If so, we're doing something terribly wrong. Trim and leanly muscled, the performer whose musical, "The Last Ship," is the talk of Broadway, doesn't seem to have lost a step. We spoke for 25 minutes, of the challenges of Broadway, the Thanksgiving Day Parade, Jimmy Fallon, and American football. Then the guy who has everything did what no one who has everything ever seems to do. He smiled that $300M smile and said, "Thank you." Yowza.

If the highlight of the night of November 6th, 2014, will always be shooting the sh— for 25 minutes with Gordon Sumner in his two-floor penthouse at #xx Central Park West, the evening's most unforgettable olfactory moment came when the Bistecca alla Fiorentina was set down and the magnificent 2011 "Sister Moon"was poured into oversized crystal. 

The 2011 Il Palagio "Sister Moon" is one of the most striking and surprising Italian wines of the year. Opaque purple in color, infused with plush aromas of crushed-black-fruit preserves, violets, and lavender, laced with sweet Tuscan herbs. Rich, sleek, and voluptuous on the attack, this is an ultra-concentrated black fruit, almost Napa-like powerhouse that, while magnificent out of the gate, will benefit from a decade-long slumber in the coolest of cellars.

$150 on release in magnums. $95 this morning — from the evening we'll never forget.