At dinner last night at a friend's house, we opened:
1995 Casanova di Neri "Tenuta Nuova" Brunello di Montalcino color: garnet in the center, going to brick at the edges nose: powerful, dried cherries, leather and earth palate: smooth and polished, not a hint of tannin, elegant mixture of cherry, leather and coffee with a slightly spicy finish.
This was served with a main course of braised short rib, and worked splendidly (totally fortuitous pairing, as we didn't know what the menu was). I don't generally buy much Brunello for pricing reasons, but got this years ago on sale at Sam's. Now I wish I'd bought more.
Mark Lipton