Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2011
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Intense, vivid ruby–red color with aromas of red and black berries, maraschino cherry and eucalyptus. The aromas repeat on the palate with added hints of liquorice and tobacco. Tannins are firm and tightly woven and the juicy fruit is refreshed by a lively acidity that leads to a long, persistent finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Fattoria dei Barbi's 2011 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva shows thick lines and excellent composure. The warm 2011 vintage tends to offer more jammy fruit aromas and you get a fleeting sense of that here. There is extra suppleness and softness that comes from a hot summer growing season. The wine's basic building blocks may indeed be bigger and more robust, but they still fit together like precision patchwork. Dark fruit and prune segues to tobacco and barbecue smoke. The finish shows succulent sweetness and greater textural richness. Only 10,000 bottles are produced.
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Wine Spectator
Though lean and tightly wound, there are cherry, leather, underbrush and tea flavors buried in this red. On the muscular side and dense, with a long, resonant finish driven by acidity and tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
Red berry, iris, chopped herb and culinary spice aromas come together in the glass. The round approachable palate offers mature cherry, raspberry, pipe tobacco and star anise framed in lithe tannins. Drink through 2023.
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Fattoria dei Barbi is among a prestigious group of estates that has played an integral part in writing the history of Italian wine. In fact, the estate is one of only five in Montalcino that have continuously operated for over 100 years. The Colombini family, one of region’s most influential families, founded the estate in 1790. The family has owned land in Montalcino since 1352, first building the “Poggio alle Mura” estate (now Castello Banfi), then “Argiano”, and finally they began assembling “Fattoria dei Barbi” in 1790, where they have produced wine ever since. The estate is currently owned and managed by the 20th generation heir, Stefano Cinelli Colombini, who carries on constantly seeking innovation through research and the application of new techniques.
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
Famous for its bold, layered and long-lived red, Brunello di Montalcino, the town of Montalcino is about 70 miles south of Florence, and has a warmer and drier climate than that of its neighbor, Chianti. The Sangiovese grape is king here, as it is in Chianti, but Montalcino has its own clone called Brunello.
The Brunello vineyards of Montalcino blanket the rolling hills surrounding the village and fan out at various elevations, creating the potential for Brunello wines expressing different styles. From the valleys, where deeper deposits of clay are found, come wines typically bolder, more concentrated and rich in opulent black fruit. The hillside vineyards produce wines more concentrated in red fruits and floral aromas; these sites reach up to over 1,600 feet and have shallow soils of rocks and shale.
Brunello di Montalcino by law must be aged a minimum of four years, including two years in barrel before realease and once released, typically needs more time in bottle for its drinking potential to be fully reached. The good news is that Montalcino makes a “baby brother” version. The wines called Rosso di Montalcino are often made from younger vines, aged for about a year before release, offer extraordinary values and are ready to drink young.