Sanct Valentin Lagrein 2019: a tannic and powerful red wine
What a bomb is Saint Valentin Lagrein 2019! A powerful and structured red wine that bewitches you with its incredible softness, peppery tones screaming against the wind, and then slaps you with a whip of tannins.
It is a cheeky and very profound wine, with a dark and mature heart but a soul of dolomitic rock. It doesn’t hold back; it challenges you with a megalithic fullness and abstraction that demands respect, even if the quality of the filigree is impressive.
The fruit is ripe but not cooked. The tannins are portentous, but never green or graceless. The acidity is abundant and flows away on notes of blueberries in alcohol. And then let’s face it, it’s not a wine to drink today, but in at least 12 years.
Indeed, you can safely let it refine in the bottle for another 20 years, and when you open it, it will still be fresh and tonic. With this load of thickness, warmth, tannins, and anthocyanins, it will hold up without batting an eye.
How it is produced
The grapes come from selected high-altitude vineyards at the Wangger farm, near Bolzano. Maximum altitude of 500 meters above sea level. Fermentation in wood and 1 year of aging in barrique, followed by a further rest in large barrels for 6 months.
Organoleptic characteristics
The color is dark ruby like ink. Splendid and woody nose, austere and scratchy due to the clash between smoky tones, pulpy fruit, incense, chocolate, and coffee. The rhythm is crazy.
Petals and dried meat, pepper, and chillies that sink into cocoa. Sharp and grumpy herbaceous finish as befits a wine of race and great intensity.
On the palate, the first impact is massive; the thickness of the wine and the tannins are biteable. The soft fruit is smooth, but it is the green grit that emerges strongly.
The structure is remarkable; the tannins roll like an avalanche in full flood. Rock, salt, and again the freshly mashed ripe blueberries on the tongue. Finish of pink pepper and bitter cocoa of infinite length.
In summary, it is a very courageous and daring wine, and if you drink it now, it will overwhelm you, leaving you with a mouth folded by the vehemence of the tannins. For these reasons, we advise you to leave it in the cellar for at least 12 years.
If you want to drink it now, combine it with still-roaring proteins and you’ll be fine. It is clearly a wine for the future; it doesn’t really care about the present, but we don’t judge it for wanting this. Indeed, thanks for the courage.
Price
20–22 euros: an adequate price for a wine that is not yet ready but of undoubted depth.
Pairings
Chicken curry, spare ribs with barbecue sauce, pulled pork, burgers, fillet Wellington, roast beef.