Winemaker Notes
The 2013 Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a deep ruby red, strong, lively color. The bouquet is very intense and complex, fruity and spicy, with red fruit, jam and liquorice shades; great prospects of future development. Great structure in the acid-tannin components, well supported by the soft ones; extremely persistent palate.
Pair this wine alongside roast red meats, game and very aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a beautiful creation that excels both in terms of intensity and complexity. The bouquet is profound and multilayered with thin and delicate layers of fruit that peel back with individual precision and personality. Ripe cherry fruit is carefully balanced against spice, tar and smoke. The wine also offers pretty details of crushed rock and dried garden herb. There's a lot to keep your attention and win your affections.
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Wine Spectator
Black cherry and plum flavors form the core in this powerful red, coated by a sheen of resinous oak. Dense and rich, picking up iron, leather and tobacco notes as the long finish plays out. Vibrant, yet the tannins are a bit dry. This will benefit from decanting now.
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Decanter
Capanna's Riserva is a selection of the best bunches throughout their 12ha of vines on the Montosoli hill, which usually corresponds to the oldest vines on the steepest sites. In 2013, the harvest lasted from the end of September to mid-October. The nose is very lifted and high-toned, with intense tarragon, orange and strawberry notes. It's difficult to approach at the moment as the palate needs to settle down and allow the ripe, concentrated fruit to digest its substantial tannins and integrate the alcohol.
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Wine Enthusiast
Fragrant purple-flower, exotic spice, leather and plum aromas mingle together. The firmly structured palate shows Marasca cherry, cranberry, licorice and tobacco framed in tightly knit fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Give it time to unwind and fully develop.
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James Suckling
Some very ripe aromas with cherry liqueur and prunes. The palate has rich, ripe fruit and tannins in the same vein.
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.