Avignonesi, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (Tuscany, Italy) 2002 ($23, Dalla Terra Imports):  My deadline was looming, and inspiration was lacking.  I just didn't seem to like any wine I opened.  The affordable Mercurey was too tart, the $75 Napa Valley Cab was boring, and the fancy new Riesling was clumsy and too sweet.  Rescue came in the highly improbable form of a 2002 red wine from Tuscany --"improbable" because that vintage was roundly criticized at the time as one of Italy's worst recent years.  In Tuscany, some producers call it "disastrous."

Vintage ratings, like point scores, are convenient ways of managing the extraordinary amount of information that exists about wine.  But we sometimes forget that exceptions abound.  Not only was 2002 somewhat better in parts of Tuscany than in parts of Piedmont (like Bordeaux in France, Piedmont often sets the tone for all of Italy) but also individual producers often achieve results far above the average for the year.  This Vino Nobile is so good that it single-handedly defies the vintage charts.

Avignonesi is an ancient winery in the Montepulciano area and one of Tuscany's most respected wineries.  In the dichotomy between traditional and modern approaches to winemaking that still pervades so many of Italy's classic red wine zones, Avignonesi falls into the somewhat more modern camp.  Even in a difficult year such as 2002, for example, the Vino Nobile does not lack characteristics of ripe fruit.

When I tried this wine, what first made me sit up and take notice was its aroma, which is extremely typical of good Sangiovese, ripe and concentrated, with dusty notes and red-fruit aromas that evolved from tart cherry to strawberry and then raspberry.  In the mouth the wine is substantial, with a good concentration of ripe fruitiness and a level of acidity worthy of an Italian red, giving the wine depth.  Fine tannins run through the wine's supple texture and enliven it, as metallic threads might run through a piece of silk.  Compared to that boring Napa Cab, this wine is alive.  It jumps out of the glass.

How did Avignonesi achieve such good results in cool, rainy 2002?  For one thing, Avignonesi did not produce any of their "top" wines that year--neither a Vino Nobile "Grandi Annate" nor Desiderio, a mainly Merlot-based wine.  For the first--and, I am told, the only--time, small quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from top vineyards normally dedicated to the upper echelon wines went into this Vino Nobile.  (As much as 20% of Vino Nobile can derive from grapes other than Sangiovese and Canaiolo.)  The Cabernet and Merlot in the wine certainly contribute to its relative richness.

Just for fun, I popped the cork of a 1997 Avignonesi Vino Nobile, a wine from a great vintage.  It is in fact a great wine, leaner, tauter and deeper than the 2002, more classic in style despite the precociousness of the vintage.  (That wine is approaching its plateau now.)  The 2002 is readier to drink and will probably be more enjoyable to wine drinkers accustomed to soft New World reds.  But this 2002 should hold nicely for five-plus years.  You can still find it in wine shops and in some markets distributors still have it, but the 2003 and 2004 vintages are moving in to replace it.

92 Points