Winemaker Notes
The color is ruby, tending towards garnet with age. The nose is penetrating, ample, and very complex, with echoes of wild berry fruit. This wine has a dry, warm, solid, and harmonious palate, combining delicacy and austerity, and is persistent.
Pair with roasts, grilled or braised meats along with game and ripe cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Restrained, vibrant and fruity riserva with red cherries and raspberries, potpourri and even incense. Medium- to full-bodied with leafy flavor, velvety and ripe tannins yet chewy acidity and a chalky finish. Good blood-orange aftertaste.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A deeper ruby/red color, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is ripe with aromas of Amarena cherries, crushed rosemary, sanguine richness, lavender, and pine. Medium to full-bodied, it's fruity upfront before quickly revealing its firmer structure and noble feel. It's savory and long, with a note of salty and sanguine earth on the finish. It demands time to unfurl. Drink 2026-2046.
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Decanter
Made since 1980, Caparzo’s Riserva is selected at harvest by consulting oenologist team, Paolo and Jacopo Vagaggini. It ages primarily in large Slavonian oak casks with a short passage in French oak tonneaux of 750 litres. Still youthfully restrained, the nose flirts with cedar, leather and heather, then the palate changes gear with its overtly powerful drive of substantial yet sophisticated chalky tannins and brisk acidity. By comparison, subtle flavours of wet stone and polished red cherry seem polite and tame for the time being. This will need time to develop into its full expression.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In the bottle with the black label, the Caparzo 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva makes a terrific first impression thanks to the intensity of its dark fruit aromas and its well-integrated spice. This is a full-bodied wine with deep layers of richness and velvety tannins. There is a hint of concentrated fruit sourness (and sweetness too, from the grape skins) that will subside as this 20,000-bottle release takes on more age in the cellar.
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Vinous
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva opens with a mentholated freshness, blending crushed rocks and mint with hints of tobacco, flowery underbrush and dried black cherries. Silken and serene, this displays notable weight and concentration while maintaining freshness. Waves of texturally ripe wild berry fruits. and fine-grained tannins cake the senses. The 2019 finishes with dramatic length and structure, leaving a tinge of licorice to linger on.
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Wine Spectator
This is lively, displaying fresh cherry, blackberry, plum, black pepper, earth and menthol flavors. Ripe, dense and lifted by formidable tannins. All of the components seem to be in the right place as this finds its equilibrium on the lingering finish. Best from 2027 through 2043.
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.