Winemaker Notes
Broad, fruity and citric nose with violet notes. Very dense but well-integrated tannins and a sappy, persistent finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A jeweled ruby color, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino Vigna Del Suolo is dark and inviting with candied aromas of mixed red and black fruit, pie spices, sweet flowers, and fresh mossy earth. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with a polished and finessed, ripe structure with a coating feel, although it's not heavy, retaining good freshness and a mineral underpinning of light meaty richness. It's very nicely done.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Vigna del Suolo is a beautiful stretch of vines, with the glorious Arigano castle set in a picture-perfect background position. The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Suolo shows what is best described as a soft chewy center like the kind you might find in a home-baked cherry pie. It's not heavy, but the fruit comes through quite directly and with determined elegance. You also get toasted spice and a sweet hint of sauna cedar over medium-plus length. Production in this case is limited to a collectors' worthy 4,279 bottles.
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Wine Spectator
Expressive, supple and harmonious, evoking cherry, raspberry, floral and mineral aromas and flavors. Lively and backed by fine-grained tannins, this builds consistently on the palate to the long, refreshing finish, which echoes the fruit and mineral elements. Everything is in the right place. Best from 2027 through 2045.
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Decanter
Identified as the best parcel among Argiano’s 58 hectares of vineyards, Vigna del Suolo is a 4ha strip on limestone-rich clay. Vines planted in the 1960s represent a diverse mix of old Sangiovese clones, making for a consistently distinct expression. An overture of raspberry, rose, orange and thyme blossom wafts seductively. Bringing in flavours of grenadine and red cherry syrup, the palate gushes with fresh, zippy acidity. There's a pixelated powderiness to the tannins, which are definitely denser than in the estate Brunello, and it builds with gravitas all the way to its energetic, chalky finale.
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James Suckling
Vivid and linear with berries and citrus fruit, as well as with some white-pepper and cherry character. Medium-bodied, bright and crisp. Linear and tight tannins with a solid, crunchy finish. This needs three or four years to come together. Try after 2027.
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.