Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino Manachiara 1999

"Burly Brunello that needs bottle age. Intense aromas of plums and berries with hints of violets and minerals. Full-bodied, thick and chewy, with loads of extract and fruit. Tannic yet velvety, this should prove to be excellent. Best after 2007."
-Wine Spectator

The vines of the Manachiara vineyard, the oldest of the estate, are thought to be rougly 45 years of age and occupy an extraordinary, seventeen-acre microclimate named "sunny morning," exposed to the southeast and suggesting its illumination from early morning through late afternoon. Whereas the dominant soil profile of the estate is sand with Pliocene clay content, the Manachiara vineyard also shows a quartz and calcium content and particularly good drainage which, with the advanced age of its vines, set it apart from the other vineyard parcels.

The wine is aged in primarily new French Allier barriques for 24 months followed by bottle fining. Dense, concentrated wild cherry fruit leads into aromatic impressions of violet, spice, walnut and tea in this full-bodied, single-vineyard wine of firm yet sweetly ripe tannic presence and firm, slightly austere acidic underpinning. The wine's underlying structure promises potential for extended aging.