Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with roasts, grilled and braised meats, game and ripe cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of blood oranges, blackberries, plums and mushrooms. Full body, round tannins and spices, lightly toasted oak and a cedar/berry finish. Solid Brunello. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This opens with aromas suggesting espresso, toast, oak, wild berry and exotic spice. The firm palate offers dried cherry, licorice, coffee bean and a touch of vanilla alongside assertive, close-grained tannins that grip the finish. Drink 2020–2030.
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Wine Spectator
Soft, floral aromas of rose and peony segue to cherry, strawberry, spice and tobacco flavors. Rich and lacy in texture, with a solid grip of tannins on the back end. Best from 2018 through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Caparzo's 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva presents a very different taste profile compared to the estate's newly released wines from the warmer 2011 vintage. This was a more balanced growing season and you get a greater sense of power and determination in this wine as a result. The bouquet is compact and expressive but it also holds back. In fact, I'm not sure that this wine is showing its full potential at the moment. It seems to need more time to flesh out. I suggest drinking it after 2018.
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.