Seth Masterson

9.1

Fontodi's biggest seller.
Super earthy, full on cow manure, barnyard, mushroom earthiness. .
A dark inky Chianti.
A Panchetta pork cutting Chianti.
Yep this bold one will cut through any and all offal or fatty meat goodness you can find. — 17 hours ago

Seth Masterson

9.0

2022 Grignano Rosato. 100% Sangiovese.
€30 tourist resto price
The perfect crowd pleasing Sangiovese for 105 degree Tuscan summer days.
A simple nose of dry grass/straw and earth and dried strawberries.
Nice citrus style acids and flavors of tangerine and Lisbon lemon.
A real thirst quencher that will leave you buzzed after quaffing several chilled glasses of this 13%'er
Many bonus points for quaff-ability
On a side note I'm concerned about the lack of wine drinking I'm seeing by European tourists in Florentine restaurants- in the 90 minutes that the 4 of us downed 2 bottles of this wine I only saw 2 GLASSES of wine served to the 30 other seats. Not a good sign. — 3 days ago

Seth Masterson

9.0

This is a delightful oddball- Bread dough, barnyard, currents, plum skin. It's leaning towards that 'natural' wine character but luckily it doesn't cross the line for me.
Good texture - nice balance in the mouth between silky lacto acid and soft tannins.
Good wine to serve to your crunchy Gen X friends while you can still enjoy it.
Edit: this opened up with more ripe fruit on the second day — 23 days ago

Seth Masterson

8.9

Sadly This is no longer Trebbiano and Malvasia. Now it's 90% Chard and 10 % Pinot Grigio.. The Frescobaldi house pulled out all of their Malvasia and Trebbiano due to climate change (and Pomino is among the highest altitude growing regions of Tuscany) - and replaced those vines with these more hardy and more boring varieties.
Interesting that they kept the same exact name and label, but I guess it's all still accurate?

This also very sadly means no more Vin Santo.
Times they are a changing. — 2 days ago

Seth Masterson

8.0

On initial approach I smell acetic acid - is this going to vinegar? It was just bottled.
I'm pretty shocked at the consistent high ratings of this wine- must be previous vintages. Not much great or even good to say about 2024 right now, I'll give it some time in the glass and see if anything develops.
Ok after looking like a twat aggressively swirling the glass hoping for magic to appear I smell some pleasant, albeit faint, underripe peach, fruit blossoms, cantaloupe rind and a little bit of cardamom/cinnamon if I really stick my nose in there.
On the pallette - phenolic bitterness, medium acids that aren't refreshing, maybe trousseau Gris is just not my vibe. I mean, it's not a bad wine, but it's not a good one either. — 12 days ago

Seth Masterson

9.0

I'm surprised at the relatively low ratings for this rosé of Grenache - in a blind tasting I would have pegged this as what it is but from Montsant or even Priorat. This firms up my belief that Wine People are scared to say they love rosé unless it's from Provence or Bandol. But I'm not shy about it.
Distinctly Grenache fruit and acid and limestone, Fresh and vibrant but also has depth in the minerality. Perfect finish, so drinkable.
For @Dave while listening to the Ramones Road to Ruin album — 17 days ago

Seth Masterson

9.1

This didn't upload properly with my notes but I'm liking these Sangiovese's with a 4-5% blend of Merlot - it rounds them out and makes them more approachable because you can't pair with a wild boar ragout pasta every night of the week.
€65 Tourist resto price — 3 days ago

Seth Masterson

9.3

Even at refrigerator temperature the nose is flowing out of the rim of the glass. It reminds me of flowers that release their essence at night like Jasmine. You could sell this as an expensive perfume. It's one of those wines that I hesitate to drink because I know that what happens in my mouth can never match what I just smelled.
But it does hold its own on the tongue. It's not complex, even kind of 2 dimensional in the flavor profile but it's got a great acid quality, clean yet grassy finish, it's a real drinker- anyone could approach a glass of this and they will always say yes to more.
If this app has the option I would give the nose 9.6 and the taste an 8.9 so I'm landing in the middle.
Paired brilliantly with grilled salmon. — 9 days ago

Seth Masterson

9.1

...3 years later...
...herbal and green notes are coming to the forefront now, backed by more dark red dried fruit. Still juicy and a little tight, a bit high on the ABV%. Come back in a year or three, should be interesting.
I just tasted a 2025 barrel tasting of this vineyard and I think it's going to surpass this '22 very quickly. — 17 days ago

Seth Masterson

8.8

I really want to love it because one day I have a dream of finding a Californian sauv blanc that is on par with NZ and the Loire valley. This has all the right grassy notes and acid of those NZ wines but it lacks finesse and that subtle creaminess that IMO makes a great Sauv Blanc — 25 days ago