Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A firm, elegant and well-defined style, boasting cherry, currant, licorice, leather and spice flavors. Concentrated and long, with a robust, dense finish. Best from 2020 through 2033.
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James Suckling
A ripe red with plum and lemon-peel undertones. Very perfumed. Medium to full body, silky tannins and a polished finish. Very fine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino is an interesting wine that seems to break ties with the darker and riper style we've seen in past vintages from Camigliano. The fact that this nuanced and elegant style has been achieved in a warm vintage is as impressive as it is unlikely. You got to hand it to the hard working vineyard team that evidently found the right elements (like harvest times and yields) to reach a more profound sense of harmony. The mouthfeel is streamlined and tight. Like many of its peers, this wine is best for near and medium-term consumption. Yet, the wine remains softly balanced and soothing on the senses nonetheless.
Rating: 91+
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Wine Enthusiast
Leafy underbrush, truffle, new leather and dark berry aromas slowly take shape in the glass. The taut palate offers dried black cherry, clove, star anise and espresso notes, with tightly-wound, fine grained tannins that leave a firm finish.
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.