Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Sangiovese
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A bright and vivid VN with cherry, violet and hibiscus aromas and hints of peach and lemon that follow through to a medium body. There are fine and integrated tannins and a vivid finish with lots of energy. From biodynamically grown grapes. Vegan. Needs a year or two to show its true excellence, but already a beautiful and linear wine.
-
Wine Spectator
Broad and rich yet offers plenty of cherry, strawberry, iron and tobacco notes, plus a flash of Tuscan scrub. Taut and balanced, with light tannins still circling the extended finish. Drink now through 2032. 7,825 cases made, 2,608 cases imported.
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.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.