Vinous Event: 2010 Brunello di Montalcino

Lincoln Ristorante

Are the 2010 Brunellos really all they are cracked up to be? After months of seeing and hearing all the hype Vinous readers wanted to see (and taste) for themselves. This recent dinner at Lincoln Ristorante gave attendees an early look at a dozen of the vintage’s best known and most highly regarded wines.

Lincoln Ristorante, with its large glass windows and views onto Lincoln Center, provided a dramatic setting, especially as late afternoon melted into the evening. Executive Chef Jonathan Benno and his team prepared a delicious, Tuscan inspired menu that worked perfectly with the wines. The polenta agnolotti with boar ragu and the Fiorentina steak were among the highlights.

A team of sommeliers headed by Wine Director Aaron Von Rock looked after the wines with extraordinary care. I am a stickler for the details, especially with regards to temperature, but Lincoln’s team didn’t miss a beat. We opened the wines starting around 4:30pm. From the moment I started tasting through the bottles I knew this was going to be a great night, as all the wines were simply ‘on.' The wines were double decanted to give them a little air. Young wines don’t usually throw a lot of sediment, which was the case there, so we decanted mostly for aeration. The Poggione and Biondi Santi were both given a little time in the decanters, as they were quite stubborn at the outset, but the rest of the wines were simply poured back into the original bottles.

Wine Director Aaron Von Rock decants the wines

Organizing these wines in some sort of order that made sense was initially challenging. Where do you start? After all, any of these wines could easily be the highlight of most any evening. But in the end the flights came together nicely. Having each wine in its own glass allowed guests to go back and forth between flights with ease.

Reception