Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Camigliano 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Gualto shows a ripe quality with baked fruit, clove, cured tobacco, leather and a spicy end note. There is some tarragon or grilled herb, but it is dried not fresh. The mid-palate is lean and the tannins are already integrated. This wine is set up for near and medium-term drinking.
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Wine Spectator
Strawberry, cherry and rose aromas and flavors mark this graceful red, whose solid structure is well-integrated. Subtle yet persistent, with red fruit flavors that show flashes of mineral and underbrush on the sneakily long finish. Drink now through 2033.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A bright medium red color, the 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva Gualto needs a little air on opening to reveal aromas of tarry asphalt, candied cherries, espresso, and toasted sage. Full-bodied, it has mouthwatering acidity along the sides of the palate while having good ripe fruit throughout, rich tannins, with a saline mineral flourish. I like the palate more than the nose, and it’s going to show at its best 2025-2035.
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James Suckling
This riserva seems very youthful, with pomegranate, fresh violet and blood orange flavors. The body is full, with chalk, raw tannins, crisp acidity and a lean 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.