Winemaker Notes
The southern exposure here gives ripe fruit with rounder tannins than northern parts of Montalcino. The precocious charm of the wine can sometimes hide the underlying structure, but there is plenty of structure for aging.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Brunello Di Montalcino is ripe and fruity and pours a medium red color. It lifts with aromas of baked strawberries, crushed roses, mossy earth, and herbes de Provence. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with ripe tannins, bright saltiness, and balanced acidity.
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James Suckling
Intense, floral wine with violets, roses and ripe black cherries and plums. Medium-bodied and supple at first with lots of ripe fruit, then moderate acidity and a tight finish. Best after 2027.
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Vinous
The 2021 Brunello di Montalcino wafts up with a vivid mix of crushed black cherries, sweet roses and spice. It is juicy in feel with a solid core of perfumed red and blue fruits that flow across a silken textural wave. The finish is long and lightly structured as raspberry and cinnamon tones fade slowly.
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.