Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne 2012
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Winemaker Notes
Structured, elegant, with very fine tannins and a great complexity. Vineyards over 35 years of age, absolute respect for the land and a great experience are essential to obtain a wine with these characteristics. It is not filtered and reaches its maximum expression after a few years of aging.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Giancarlo Pacenti’s selection of old vines uses age and experience to add a velvety wrap around firm, crunchy, beautifully focused tannins. This is a crowd-pleaser with brains.
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe fruit such as sweet strawberry and hints of orange peel and chocolate. Medium to full body, soft and velvety tannins and a flavorful finish. Riper style. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Giancarlo Pacenti knows his land well and is a skillful farmer, especially with regards to navigating a challenging vintage like this. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne boasts a beautifully saturated ruby color that appears healthy and bright. The aromas are presented with precision and balance. A wine like this offers irrefutable evidence that old vines are the best remedy in a hot and dry vintage. The wine's various elements are intact and focused. Dark cherry, candied plum, exotic spice, tar and licorice form a united front. I prefer this vintage to 2011.
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Wine Spectator
This is full of cherry and plum flavors, accented by leather, tobacco and iron notes. Solidly structured and taut, balanced and long, with a dense mix of fruit, mineral, spice and tannins on the finish. Best from 2022 through 2036.
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Wine Enthusiast
Pronounced mature plum, black-skinned berry, vanilla, dark spice and French oak aromas lift out of the glass. The firm palate delivers dried wild cherry, roasted coffee, licorice and cocoa notes, while compact tannins provide support. Drink 2020–2028.
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Giancarlo Pacenti is one of the leaders of the younger generation of innovative Montalcinesi who take inspiration and new ideas from outside of the zone and often beyond Italian borders. His two vineyards lie in two very different areas of Montalcino: one to the northeast of the town, where the wines develop full, ripe qualities; and one to the hotter southwest area near Sant’Angelo in Colle, which produces a more powerful, minerally wine. The Rosso is considered to be one of the very best, with the fruit’s inherent structure delicately enhanced by a brief passage in barriques (the 2006 vintage has just received 90 points from Parker). Since the 1995 vintage, his Brunello has repeatedly won Gambero Rosso's most prestigious Tre Bicchieri (Three Glass) award in addition to 90+ scores from all the major international publications.
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.