Winemaker Notes
Ruby, tending towards garnet with age. On the nose, penetrating, ample, and extremely complex, with wild berry fruit. Dry, warm, firm, harmonious, delicate and austere, and persistent.
Drink with roasts, grilled and spit-roasted meats, game, braised meats, and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Pretty pure fruit to this with black cherry, black berry and light chocolate aromas. The palate is full and focused with very polished tannins and a long, long finish. Best after 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Caparzo 2019 Brunello di Montalcino offers lively aromas of cherry cola, forest berry and dried cranberry that really pop on the bouquet. The dimension and latitude of the wine is impressive, especially in terms of mouthfeel, and with this bottle you're set for near and medium-term drinking. However, what works best in my opinion is the wine's balanced and much-needed freshness. You get great quality over an ambitious release of 160,000 bottles.
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Jeb Dunnuck
While the Caparzo winery is located in Montalcino’s northern stretch, the estate boasts vineyards in five diverse sectors throughout the zone. Long-time oenologist Massimo Bracalente draws on each according to the vintage’s conditions. The 2019 captures its overt fragrant disposition. Fennel, spearmint and anise reverberate on the palate. Plush and soft in texture with an overriding redcurrant flavour. Fine framing tannins synchronise with zesty acidity. Straightforward overall but attractive in its charms, this will be ready upon release.
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Decanter
While the Caparzo winery is located in Montalcino’s northern stretch, the estate boasts vineyards in five diverse sectors throughout the zone. Long-time oenologist Massimo Bracalente draws on each according to the vintage’s conditions. The 2019 captures its overt fragrant disposition. Fennel, spearmint and anise reverberate on the palate. Plush and soft in texture with an overriding redcurrant flavour. Fine framing tannins synchronise with zesty acidity. Straightforward overall but attractive in its charms, this will be ready upon release.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and supple, evoking cherry, blackberry, graphite and tobacco aromas and flavors. The dense, dusty tannins emerge as this builds to the long, lively finish, where a light astringency lingers.
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.