Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color. On the nose it is very spicy with chiles and peppers before turning
to berries and strawberries. Full body, velvety tannins and flavors, as well as lightly salty undertones characterizes the palate.
Ideal with many complex dishes such as red meat, feathered and furry game, also
accompanied by mushrooms or truffles. Excellent with cheeses such as aged tomes, parmesan, Tuscan pecorino.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Camigliano 2016 Brunello di Montalcino offers a more robust bouquet compared to its peers, with its dark and saturated fruit. One thing Camigliano has going for it is that it always delivers the characteristics of its environment. In this case, the vines are located in a warm, sun-drenched corner of Tuscany, and the warm ripeness of the fruit is a testament of place. You also get aromas of scorched earth, grilled porcino mushroom and a touch of burnt rubber or summer asphalt.
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Wine Spectator
Black currant, raspberry and boysenberry flavors are shaded by woodsy, wild herb, menthol and graphite notes in this distinctive red. Expressive, if not the harmony of its peers, shows some fierce tannins flexing their muscles on the chewy, astringent finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Licorice, eucalyptus, moist underbrush and crushed mint aromas take center stage along with whiffs of toasted walnut. The licorice note follows through to the solid palate along with dried cherry, roasted mushroom and coffee bean before finishing on a saline note.
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.