The last time we were in Italy was in 2002, a year after we were married.  We drank a lot of wine on that trip, because the 1997 Brunellos had just been released that January, and I brought a few bottles home with me as well.  Christina had found this clever hard-sided, metal case box for me with wheels and a handle – it was a great idea, but at the end of the day, every airline treated it differently, and so every time we landed we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out which carousel the wine box wound up on.  We don’t use the box that much anymore, but we still like to schlep home good finds every now and then.

One of the bottles we brought home from Sienna was called Dievole.  We spent a nice afternoon tasting in their well-designed little wine shop – the wine isn’t anything over-the-top, but we enjoyed it then, and more than a decade later, we enjoyed it again.

1998 Dievole – Novecento Chianti Classico Riserva – Spicy dark red and black fruit on the nose.  In the mouth, dark red berries, baking spices and some dry leaves, with a lot of wood spice (but without the wood).  Nice long spicy dark fruit finish, with the tannins kicking in on the end.  This wine is drinking well now, still young with some tannin, but I don’t think the fruit will out last the tannin.  If you have this in the cellar, I would think about drinking them within the next 5 years, as it will start to decline after that.  I don’t think it will get any better than where it is right now.  (92 pts.)

Not sure if any wine will make it home with us from our next trip, but there’s always room for the possibility…

Cellar Gems are reviews of bottles that are aged in our cellar.