2012 Boscarelli Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG 750 ml

2012 Boscarelli Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG: Outpacing Brunello, Spectator’s #4 of 2012

Born to an old Poliziana family near Siena, Egidio Corradi graduated with a degree in economics and spent most of his life working as an international broker in Genoa and Milan. But Corradi’s heart always lay in Tuscany and, in 1962, he purchased two semi-abandoned small farms in Cervognano of Montepulciano, a stunning corner of the old Etruscan Tuscany.

The farms were largely planted to grains, as wheat was then a more lucrative crop than Sangiovese. But Corradi had a different vision. In the mid-1960s, in an effort spearheaded by Egidio’s daughter, Paola, and her husband, Ippolito De Ferrari, the family began replanting the property now named Poderi Boscarelli.

As the crow flies, Montepulciano is just 30 kilometers from the fabled hillsides of Montalcino. But it’s slow going on the SP14, SR2, and SP146 as you travel east, passing through San Quirico d'Orcia (with its “top-less” tower and Romanesque church), and tiny Pienza (the birthplace of Pope Pius II). The Ferrari that passed us at 140 km/hour probably made the trip in 30 minutes. In our white Fiat 500, it took 45 minutes.

Despite Brunello’s continued strength in the American market, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano has lagged behind, with the exception of the two superstars in the appellation: Caterina Dei and the now-legendary Poderi Boscarelli.

One might argue that the only knock on Boscarelli Vino Nobile di Montepulciano when comparing it to the ELITE producers of Brunello is found in “off vintages,” where tannins don’t ripen as completely as they do in Montalcino. But in extremely warm years, Boscarelli’s tightly spaced Sangiovese (upwards of 7,000 plants per hectare) seems to shrug off the Tuscan heat more effortlessly than Brunello, ripening more evenly, making for terrifically rich and juicy Sangiovese that drinks beautifully out of the gate, but ages gracefully for decades.

2012 was just such a vintage at the De Ferrari family’s Poderi Boscarelli.

The 2012 Boscarelli Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is one of the Tuscan wines of the vintage, #4 according to Wine Spectator. Medium ruby-purple. Complex nose of dried herbs, sweet cherry, leather, and sweet spice. Firm and structured on the attack, filled with a lavish mix of black cherry, raspberry, and dried flowers. Finishing with beautifully resolved tannin backbone and a hint of sandalwood, the finish goes on forever — arguing cogently for a 7- to 10-year slumber in the coolest of cellars.

93 points from Wine Spectator. $40 on release. Just $30 this morning for one of our favorite Tuscan reds of 2012 — a wine that comfortably outpoints many of the superstar estates of Brunello di Montalcino. Shipping included on 4.