Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino 2015
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Winemaker Notes
Aged by regulations for four years, of which approximately two and a half are in wood, Fuligni’s regular Brunello di Montalcino also has optimal lasting characteristics but is destined for more immediate drinking. With its elegant combination of fruit and spicy aromas, the Fuligni Brunello is, in any case, the result of carefully selected grapes coming from low yields per hectare and is not produced in years when the quality of the harvested grapes is not suitable to maintain the high standards of the estate.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The purity of fruit on the nose is perfection with cherries, crushed raspberries, mineral, pumice and citrus fruit. Dust, too. Full body. Powerful, chewy tannins. So long and muscular, yet polished and formed. Most structured Brunello I have ever had from here. A wine for decades.
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Wine Enthusiast
Rose, violet, camphor, wild berry and aromatic herb aromas are front and center in this gorgeous red. It’s juicy, enveloping and delicious, doling out succulent black cherry, raspberry compote, licorice and baking spice alongside velvety tannins. Thanks to the estate’s vineyards north of Montalcino, it has freshness and mid-term staying power. Drink 2022–2030.
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Decanter
The Fuligni estate is located between the town of Montalcino and Torrenieri in the northeast. Its 10ha of vineyards reach up to 450 metres on rocky marls and are mostly east facing. This rather gentle, cooler exposition worked in the wine's favor in 2015. While full-bodied, it is adeptly proportioned and even demonstrates great precision, boasting sweet, dried herbs, coriander and leather atop plush red cherries. There is a stoniness underneath, with layers of clingy tannins and a sappy, appetising finish. Drinking Window 2022 - 2037
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Fuligni is on a short list of the best wine estates in Montalcino. The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is fragrant and delicate, showing a level of precision and elegance that pushes the limits of this terrific vintage. The wine is fresh and buoyant with ample primary fruit and acidity to carry it over multiple decades of cellar aging. The bouquet reveals a slow succession of wild berry, rose, crushed flowers and graphite-like aromas with spice and licorice. The mouthfeel is structured, firm and built to last. Rating: 95+
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and polished, delivering plum, black cherry, licorice, tar and leather flavors, backed by a solid structure and revealing fine balance overall. Lacks the complexity of the best 2015s, but impressive and long nonetheless. Best from 2022 through 2039.
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All labels bear the lion of St. Marco in honor of the Fulignis' Venetian origins. The family, however, has long been thoroughly Tuscan, founding the winery in 1923 round a Medici villa and a tiny country convent of the Renaissance. Maria Flora Fuligni and nephew Roberto Guerrini Fuligni have just restored the latter to its sixteenth-century purity. Its cool, cloistered tranquillity supplies ideal aging conditions for these elegantly structured reds, jointly orchestrated by Maria Flora, oenologist Paolo Vagaggini, and agronomist Federico Ricci. Besides this restoration work, the past year has seen further expansion of the vineyards (now 25 productive acres out of the total 247). Altitude varies between 1250-1480 feet above sea level. Exposure is mainly eastern and southeastern, and terrain consists of stony/clayey, hillside "galestro" marls. The soil is low in organic components — therefore conducive to minuscule yields. Crops are further cut back by the vines’ age (12-30 years), their density, severe pruning and green harvest. The newly added vineyards are even more densely planted, 10 to 12 years old and at a slightly lower altitude of 984 feet, on predominantly clayey terrain better suited to Merlot. The grapes are vinified separately according to cru, in a classically inspired international style.
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.