Valentini Wine Tasting back to the 1988 vintage - The King of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo and the Ultimate Cult Wine of Italy

Life is too short, and I'm Italian. I'd much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.
Sophia Bush

Life is too short not to have tasted the wines of Edoardo Valentini! 
Even most knowledgeable Italian wine lovers have never heard of this producer from Abruzzo but when you only make wine ½ of the time, that makes it infinitely harder to find.  I can’t think of another producer that only made wine in 50% of years in the decade of the 1980’s.  Edoardo Valentini is one of the legends of Italian Viticulture and his wines are an epiphany, especially for this region.
Valentini died in 2006 as one of the legends of the Italian wine world. Through the course of the decade of the 1980’s Valentini only produced five vintages making him one of the most selective winemakers in the world. This reclusive winemaker never traveled to the U.S. to promote his wine, nor did he do much promoting in Italy. His wines speak for themselves transcending Montepulciano and Trebbiano to new heights.
First, we had a dazzling display of the world's greatest Trebbiano.  I remember the 1984 vintage that I bought on closeout over 10 years ago now.  Half of the bottles were off but the ones that were good reminded me of the finest white burgundy, they were Le Montrachet like in richness and complexity.
The red wines are also etherial with a thickness that is unmatched with a unique bouquet of aromas and a finish that seemed to go on into eternity.  I love the review from Steve Tanzer that describes these wines saying “are they liquid or are they solid” referring to their incredible Amarone like thickness.  These wines have to be tasted to believed and although we have hosted one other tasting with the wines of Edoardo Valentini which was in 2013, it has taken me almost 10 years to come up with enough wines to host another tasting!
As I have mentioned many times over the years we are doing scientific work with wine here at Wine Watch and tonight is a prime example as we have no wines to sell... we are drinking every bottle that I have.  Dr. Robert Maliner will also be here as neither the largest wine collector in South Florida nor the Wine Watch had enough Valentini wine to do this by themselves!  Another example of just how rare the wines of Edoardo Valentini are today. 

Valentini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo Tasting at Wine Watch
Friday, October 8th
7:30 PM

2017 Valentini Cerasuolo D’Abruzzo Rose

Valentini’s Trebbiano is unique as it is believed to be made from a clone of the grape which is exclusive to Valentini.  I would have to agree as the character of his Trebbiano is the most unique that I have tasted bearing virtually no resemblance to some of the more common offerings from this region. Valentini believed that the Trebbiano varietal brought out the most profound character of the Abruzzo's terroir.

2014 Valentini Trebbiano D’Abruzzo

2015 Valentini Trebbiano D’Abruzzo

This is one of the greatest old vintages of this wine that I have tasted.  A decade ago we showed the 1975 and the bottle had about 5 cm of ullage- the wine was spectacular the wine of the night on most tasters scorecard. 

1988 Valentini Montepulciano di Abruzzo

1990 Valentini Montepulciano di Abruzzo,

1992 Valentini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

1995 Valentini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

2012 Valentini Montepulciano di Abruzzo

Menu
Cheese and Charcuterie Selection
Salmon Carpaccio with candied Lemon and Lavender Aioli
Pappardelle Pasta with short ribs and wild mushroom tarragon cream sauce
Mole glazed Crispy Pork Belly with au gratin stuffed Vidalia onion

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $475 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you don’t dig on swine and chef Toni will be happy to accommodate you.