Jean has been experimenting with gluten-free cooking after discovering last year that she's developed an inflammatory response to gluten. Tonight's experiment (quite successful) was a gluten-free chicken parmesan recipe that employs almond flour for the breading. With this, I opened:
2004 Fattoria Le Pupille Morellino di Scansano "Poggio Valente" nose: initially, mostly pencil lead, a hint of VA (ethyl acetate?) over dark red fruit; later, with airing, dusty cherry palate: high acid, medium body, moderately tannic finish
I purchased several bottles of this from Envoyer a few years ago, as it's a birthyear wine for our son. I decided to open one up tonight in the spirit of exploration and I must conclude that it's still a very young wine. Any signs of its oak treatment in its youth are now visible only as that intrusive pencil lead element that takes air to dissipate. The rest of our bottles will sit for a few more years.
Mark Lipton