Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is an understated beauty, impressing with a perfumed bouquet of red currants, cedar spice box and roses. This sweeps across the palate with ease, sleek and spry, with an elegant wave of ripe red and black fruits. Tension slowly mounts through a blend of crisp minerality and brisk acidity. It takes on a spicy persona through the finish, mixing citrus-tinged blackberry, a saline sensation and hints of spice. Crystalline tannins add youthful poise—gorgeous. The 2019 Riserva was produced entirely from Vigna Vecchia Mercatale. This is a stunning showing.
Rating: 97+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is a medium red color and is a bit shy on opening before slowly revealing a more layered profile of licorice, cherry, toasted sage, rosemary, and sappy earth. Medium-bodied, it saturates and fills the palate with ripe tannins and a rounded feel, with ripe fruit revealing a hint of spiced red plum. It seems a bit more approachable than the Casaccia and is going to drink well over the coming 15 or so years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In the bottle with the black label, the Canalicchio di Sopra 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva reveals a savory and austere bouquet with dried fruit flavors, licorice and a hint of brandied plum. The alcohol measures 15% and is the same for all the other Brunellos from the 2020 vintage. Even the 2022 Rosso di Montalcino is high in alcohol at 14.5%. Despite that power, vintner Francesco Ripaccioli manages phenolic ripeness and oak aging masterfully. You might not guess the real alcoholic content in this limited 4,133-bottle release.
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Wine Spectator
Macerated cherry, raspberry, floral and Tuscan scrub aromas and flavors are beautifully matched with the elegant structure in this red. Balanced and full of energy, leaving a salty taste on the earth-tinged finish. Beautifully presented and engaging, with complexity and length. Best from 2027 through 2045.
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James Suckling
Telltale Montalcino riserva with a fully floral nose profile of dried violets and roses enhanced by precise red cherries and raspberries. Medium-bodied, it shows bony yet ripe tannins, good tension and a fruity 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.