Winemaker Notes
Strong ruby red tending towards garnet. Aromas that are elegant, fruity, intense and resistant with hints of forest floor. A well-structured wine, elegant and harmonious, and extremely persistent. Made with 100% Sangiovese.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino will blow you away. This is a delightful expression that boasts its extreme quality from the minute the wine is poured from the bottle. As you should expect, it just gets better and better with each additional minute in the glass. It opens to a vibrant dark ruby color and blackish-garnet hues. The bouquet is ever changing and shows a long succession of aromatic characteristics that rage from dark fruit, plum, spice, leather, licorice, red rose, balsam and grilled herb. It's textbook Brunello from a great vintage and this side of the appellation (on the northeastern side) performs fantastically in 2010. This beauty should hold fifteen years or more.
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed aromas of plums, lavender and hints of saw dust. Lilacs too. Full-bodied, tight and structured with beautiful length and freshness. It goes on for minutes. Wonderful subtlety and power. Give it a year or two to soften.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of dark berry, mint, savory herb, blue flower and a balsamic note lead the nose. On the concentrated palate, notes of white pepper, cinnamon, clove, licorice and tobacco add depth to the black cherry core. Youthfully austere but fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity support the juicy flavors. Give this time to open and develop complexity.
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Wine Spectator
A solid red, displaying cooked plum and cherry flavors on a bed of dense tannins. Tight and compact on the finish, where youthful, exuberant tannins reign. Stays long and balanced in the end. Best from 2019 through 2034.
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.