Miani Chardonnay Baracca

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The 2010 Chardonnay Baracca flows across the palate with layers of tropical fruit, French oak and minerals. This really needs at least a few years in bottle to lose its baby fat, but it is immensely appealing, even today. Layers of textured, varietal fruit flow through to the seamless finish. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. There are few properties anywhere in the world I look forward to visting more than Miani. Proprietor Enzo Pontoni continues to turn out riveting wines. I have been steadily working through my stash of 2009s and can report that the wines are every bit as fabulous as my reviews suggested. Production remains around 8,000 bottles a year, but Pontoni is developing a number of new vineyards sites, so hopefully that number will increase over the coming years. The 2010 whites are terrific, but they are tightly wound and need to be opened well in advance. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 603-1461

The 2009 Chardonnay Baracca is the first Chardonnay here to carry a vineyard name, as Pontoni is finally happy with the results he is achieving from this old-vine site in Buttrio. No wonder. The Baracca is simply gorgeous. In fact, it is quite possibly the finest Chardonnay I have ever tasted from Italy. Floral, minty notes meld into rich, expansive layers of ripe varietal fruit as the Baracca opens up in the glass. This dramatic, sweeping Chardonnay is a stunner. Another few years in bottle should allow the oak to harmonize, but it is impossible to miss the beauty of what is in the glass, even at this early stage. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019. Enzo Pontoni is simply on another planet. In the best years his wines frankly have no peers in Italy. The textural richness and depth Pontoni coaxes from his old-vine parcels is a marvel. The 2009 whites show an extra dimension of ripeness from a heat wave in August of that year that gave the wines more body than is often the case but without the excess of truly torrid vintages. Quite simply, I was blown away by what I tasted. For what it’s worth, I bought as much of these wines as I could afford. As usual, the wines are aged in French oak (roughly 40% new) and the malolactic fermentations are typically blocked.Importer: Small Vineyards, Seattle, WA; tel. (206) 933-6767