Winemaker Notes
The wine opens with aromas of plums and black fruits, followed by blackberry, cherry, and dry herbal notes reminiscent of tea leaves. On the palate, it is full bodied, solid, and powerful, with velvety tannins and a harmonious balance of acidity and structure. Bright red berries with earthy undertones enhance the finish.
Ideal pairings include grilled meats such as lamb, beef, or pork, as well as game like venison or duck, and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A bright ruby hue, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is pure and ripe with aromas of licorice candies, grenadine, rose water, fennel, and fresh herbs. The palate is fantastic and elegant, with fine tannins, even acidity, excellent purity, and freshness. It's even-keeled and pleasurable now, although it will surely benefit from time in the cellar. Drink 2025-2040.
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James Suckling
An open and flavorful Brunello with red-berry and light jam character, as well as tomato and citrus. It’s full-bodied and chewy, but the tannins are integrated. It needs two or three years to soften, but the fruit is open. Best after 2026.
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Vinous
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is highly expressive, rich and sweetly spiced. A mix of violets and roses gives way to crushed plums and a slight balsamic tinge. This is velvety in texture yet lifted in feel, with cooling acidity and vividly ripe wild berry fruits that swirl throughout. The 2020 maintains fantastic energy and verve, leaving citrus-tinged black cherries and hints of licorice to resonate over a bed of super-fine tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aged with care in Slavonian oak, the Capanna 2020 Brunello di Montalcino (with 28,000 bottles created) is a plump and rich interpretation with thick layers of blackcurrant, baked plum and toasted spice. The wine has a soft side that is apparent in the silky tannins and medium-plus mouthfeel. It also feels accessible and could be best consumed within the 15-year mark.
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.