Winemaker Notes
Intense ruby red in color with garnet reflections. Aromas of violets and vanilla, with hints of licorice. Velvety palate, with tart-cherry flavors and traces of spice. Well structured with supple tannins, superb concentration, and good acidity. Persistent finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of sandalwood, with blueberry and blackberry aromas and hints of dried flowers. Cola too. Full body, with fine tannins and a long caressing finish. It’s so integrated and refined. The tannins are finely knit. Benchmark for the style and excellence of the vintage. Best after 2013.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Brunello di Montalcino is a beautiful wine laced with red berries, flowers and subtle hints of earthiness. Soft and supple throughout, the Brunello shows lovely juiciness in its fruit and a delicate, understated personality. The 2006 represents yet another step in the more elegant, refined direction the estate has taken in recent years. The 2006 Brunello was aged in equal parts cask and French oak barrels. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2020.
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Wine Enthusiast
Castello Banfi’s 2006 Brunello opens with smooth and soft cherry flavors and is packed tight with background aromatics that include tobacco, cola, leather and more dark fruit. The wine’s texture is silky, crisp and long-lasting.
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Wine & Spirits
A substantial and forceful sangiovese grosso, this has dark scents of fruit skin and floral, tomato leaf character. It's lean, firm and peppery in the finish, needing several years for the tannins to mature and integrate with the warmth of the wine.
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Wine Spectator
Smooth and round, this red offers cherry, bitter almond, spice and woodsy notes. The tannins are dense, but this is balanced overall and lingers on the finish. Best from 2013 through 2022. 45,830 cases made
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.