2001 Carmignano Riserva Piaggia

Arriving at the Piaggia winery, I didn’t realize that I was in store for a real treat: a mini-vertical of the Carmignano Riserva Piaggia. I’ve previously written about this wine's ability to age, having tasted the 2000 on numerous occasions. During this visit, I tasted back to the first vintage, 1991, followed by 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and the newly released 2021. The Piaggia vineyard was planted in 1972. The only changes this wine has seen since then, other than the age of the vines, took place in 2004 when the winery switched from using 100% new Garbellotto barrels to a mix of 50% new and 50% second-pass oak. This was a fantastic tasting that showed the prestige of this location and demonstrated the remarkable value of the Piaggia Riserva. It’s a blue chip in the cellar. While the older vintages are starting to show their age, the only wine that underperformed was the 2007. Possibly due to the ripeness of the year or a poor closure, the 2007 simply didn’t show anywhere near as well as the others.

Tasting through current releases and component samples from barrel, it’s clear that Winemaker Silvia Vannucci is at the top of her game. I continue to be over the moon for the single-vineyard Il Sasso and the Poggio de Colli, a varietal Cabernet Franc that requires cellaring yet has all of the components to mature beautifully. The 2022s at Piaggia are gorgeous, showing the warmth of the vintage but also remarkable balance.