Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color with a nose rich in spices with hints of vanilla and nuances of ripe berries. Elegant and harmonious on the palate with good tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose has a floral, sweet, saline feel, with aromas of Mandarin blossoms, crushed rocks, and cherry candy. On the palate, cherries and oranges bring a warmth that is both sweet and tart, before a finish of earth, salt and pepper.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino pours a rich magenta hue and is layered with ripe aromas of blackberries, saddle leather, sweet pipe tobacco, and lavender. It's inviting on the palate, with supple, ripe tannins, a velvety texture, and even acidity, and it retains good freshness in an approachable style. It offers a good deal of complexity and richness in this vintage and should have a lot to offer over the coming 8-10 years.
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James Suckling
A juicy and lightly chewy young Brunello with cherry, orange-peel and peach character. It’s medium-bodied with firm tannins and a crisp finish. Tightens down at the end. Needs two or three years to open and soften. Drink after 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Donatella Cinelli Colombini 2020 Brunello di Montalcino (a certified organic wine with 43,400 bottles released) offers dark fruit aromas that are accented by tarry smoke, underbrush and hints of campfire ash. It draws its fruit from over 10 hectares of estate vines. The wine delivers broad-brush intensity with a rich texture that wraps smoothly over the palate, giving this wine a generous yet also accessible personality. It ends with sweet oak tones.
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Wine Spectator
Round and open, featuring cherry, raspberry, floral and earth aromas and flavors, with a hint of orange peel. This is sleek and balanced, with a lasting impression of ripe, crunchy fruit on the finish. Best from 2027 through 2042. 3,616 cases made, 1,100 cases imported.
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Vinous
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is dark and rich with an enticing blend of plum sauce, lavender sage and hints of brown spice. Velvety in texture yet lifted in feel, saline mineral hints underscore its citrus-laced red berry fruits. Brisk acidity maintains a juicy persona through the finish. The 2020 tapers off structured and long, leaving a pleasantly bitter tinge and well-rounded tannins.
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.