Winemaker Notes
Pair with roasts, grilled, spit-roast and braised meats.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This shows a lovely bouquet of truffle, cherry, plum, mineral and spice. Rich and harmonious, this still offers a sweet core of fruit, terrific balance and superb savory length.—Non-blind Altesino/Caparzo Retrospective (April 2022). Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This excellent estate has turned out two large-scaled, tannic, backward Brunellos that appear to be among the more concentrated wines of the vintage. The 1990 Brunello di Montalcino La Casa is one of the few opaque, saturated-colored Brunellos of the vintage. The nose offers up intense aromas of ripe berries, tobacco-tinged, leathery, smoky, roasted herbs, and grilled meat. There is huge flavor extraction, massive tannin, extraordinary density and richness, and a monster finish. This wine is considerably thicker and richer than the Brunello di Montalcino (green label) bottling, and in need of 5-7 years of cellaring. This is an outstanding example of this excellent vintage, but do not expect the tannin to completely melt away.
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.