Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is one of my favorite wines of the year. It gets as close to Brunello perfection as vinously possible. Fruit is sourced exclusively from the estate's oldest vines in the Vigna Vecchia Mercatale vineyard, the oldest Canalicchio cru. The vines were planted in 1987-1988. They are in their prime production years right now. This is first time the Riserva is made exclusively from that site. The depth of this wine is extraordinary. The wine starts with a playful offering of red fruit and cherry. Like many of the wines from this vintage, the bouquet takes a while to arrive at full intensity. That margin should shorten as the wine continues its cellar aging and evolution. Yet, the slow start to the bouquet is ultimately what drives your interest in this wine. The mouthfeel is exceptional with tannins that are both silky and firm at the same time.
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James Suckling
A wine that shows so much on the nose with dried-meat, wet-earth and fruit aromas and flavors. Changes all the time. Full body, velvety tannins and a flavorful finish. Superb depth and length. Drink now or hold for as long as you'd like.
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Wine Enthusiast
Underbrush, truffle, pressed violet, tilled soil, eucalyptus and mature berry aromas unfold on this structured, elegant red. It is still young and primary, offering red cherry, black raspberry, menthol, licorice and dried herb alongside youthfully austere tannins that need to unwind. This will benefit from another decade of cellaring. Cellar Selection.
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Wine Spectator
A dense, plummy style, offering supporting notes of tobacco, underbrush, earth and mineral. Ripe and balanced, with lively acidity and assertive tannins shoring up the finish. Needs some time, but the equilibrium is there. Best from 2019 through 2033.
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.