Winemaker Notes
This wine represents the essence of the estate’s concept of terroir, expressing the elegance, depth, and freshness of their Sangiovese while harmoniously combining the balsamic qualities of the northern slopes of Montalcino with the opulence of the estate’s lands.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pouring a jeweled red/ruby color, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is attractive and layered on the nose, with pure notes of red cherries, sweet Mediterranean herbs, crushed roses, and mossy earth. Medium-bodied, it brings lovely energy to the palate and is upfront with mouthwatering salty notes, snappy ripe acidity, and a clean, balanced finish, with even ripeness and stone-fruited notes of apricot on the back palate. This highly appealing Brunello is hard to resist now but likely has the ability to go the long haul over the coming 15-20 years.
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James Suckling
Graceful style to this wine, with earthy strawberries, cinnamon and sweet violets. Almost yellow stone-fruit, too. Full in body with crisp if not zesty acidity and intense, extracted and firm tannins giving a tight mid-palate. Yet, the finish is long and polished.
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Vinous
A burst of black cherries and cloves gives way to shavings of cedar and lifting hints of mentholated herbs as the dynamic 2020 Brunello di Montalcino comes to life in the glass. This is soothingly round and pliant with an inner sweetness up front and crisp wild berry fruits that cascade across the palate. It's structured and firm, yet its tannins are sweet and round, tapering off with a pleasantly bitter tinge of blackberry and sour citrus. The 2020 aims to please and it is already incredibly approachable today. With no Riserva produced in 2020, all of the juice from Vigna Vecchia Mercatale was used to bolster this spectacular Brunello.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a standout wine that marries red and purple fruit flavors with tangy hints of green curry leaf, rhubarb and sweet earth. The Canalicchio di Sopra 2020 Brunello di Montalcino carries a distinct signature that recalls not only the Sangiovese grape but a sense of place. You can mistake this for nothing but a Brunello. The vintage manages power and aromatic intensity but is also magically leaner and definitely more elegant in terms of mouthfeel. The immediate results are perhaps more accessible and also quite pleasurable now in this 41,362-bottle release.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine Spectator
This is both salty and savory, evoking tomato leaf, eucalyptus, cherry, plum, leather and sanguine notes. A broad path of tannins locks up the finish. Open and velvety, with a firm, chewy edge. Drink now through 2038. 3,447 cases made, 1,116 cases imported.
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.