“The 1997s are falling apart now,” said a Tuscan winemaker at my house last night during dinner. “They don’t have a future.”

I have heard this a number of times this summer, and it just isn’t true. The 1997s are alive and well!

Like last night, I went into my cellar and found a 1997 Brunello that I bought about 15 years ago. I opened, decanted and served the wine, and it was perfect: firm, fresh and precise.

I have tasted about 10 different 1997s, primarily Brunello di Montalcino, Super Tuscan, Barolo, and Barbaresco, and there has not been a bad bottle.

I have to wonder if it’s some sort of accepted wisdom that the 1997s are not holding up? Are people really tasting the wines? Or maybe many of the wines have not been stored properly? Granted, every bottle I have opened has never left my cellar since I bought them more than a decade ago.

I will always remember the 1997 vintage as a benchmark. It was a year that redefined the great wines of Italy with reds that were precise and fruity with a beautiful structure and freshness. In many wineries, a new generation had taken over the management and understood the necessity to be more detailed in their vineyards as well as their cellars. Even Mother Nature helped them with their quest for quality delivering a spring frost in most key wine regions that naturally reduced grape yields and improved wine quality in the end.

It was also the vintage that convinced me to leave London and live in Italy part of the year. It has a special meaning in my heart.

The bottles of 1997 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio and 1997 Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino were spectacular. They were still so fresh and vivid yet showed the complexity and beauty of an aged wine. It was hard for all of us, even the winemaker who said 1997 was over, to decided which one we preferred the most.

Here are the tasting notes for the wines if you are a subscriber:

1997 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio

1997 Eredi Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino

Photos from top to bottom: Three bottles of 1997s; 1997 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio and 1997 Eredi Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino

– James Suckling, CEO

Great 1997 Italian Reds Still Great