Winemaker Notes
Very nicely balanced Brunello. A little smoke on the front palate, and then it’s all textbook. Licorice, brambly black fruit, tart cherry. Nice acidity at the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
An exotic bouquet of violets, crushed stone, sweet curry, cherries and hints of spiced tangerine emanates from the 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Mercatale. This is silky and pliant with a savory mix of wild berries, minerals and inner herbal tones. It finishes structured yet persistent and balanced, leaving hints of salted licorice and purple-tinged inner florals to linger on. I admit to being happy to see yet another single-vineyard Mercatale finding its way to my tasting table. Ridolfi did a fine job with their 2016 Riserva.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of dark spice, blue flowers, camphor and coconut lead the nose. The aromas follow over to the medium-bodied palate along with roasted coffee bean, mocha and dried cherry alongside dusty 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.