Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Bright jeweled ruby in color, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is flush with pure aromas of candied flowers, cherry lozenge, pine needles, and blood orange. Medium-framed, it's ripe and pure on the palate, with refreshing energy, a very balanced feel, wonderfully refreshing salinity, and well-defined tannins.
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Vinous
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino reveals the dark side of Sangiovese, with more black fruit than red. A mass of crushed stone minerality blows off to reveal spiced orange peels and incense. It's silken and round, with a polished core of ripe blackberries offset by a tinge of sour citrus toward the close. It leaves the cheeks puckered with tension as edge tannins resonate and hints of licorice fade slowly.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Caprili 2020 Brunello di Montalcino delivers a rather robust fruit profile with blackcurrant and blackberry preserves. That initial intensity ties into black licorice (of the candied variety), sweet spice and fragrant incense. This is an open-knit Brunello with velvety, medium-grained tannins to support a pairing with lamb or pork. You don't need to wait too long to enjoy this wine.
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, blood orange, earth and sanguine notes are matched to a lively structure that drives the flavors. Dusty tannins seep in as this plays out on the finish, leaving an echo of ripe red fruit. Overall, this is balanced and long, if not that showy. Drink now through 2040. 4,000 cases made, 2,700 cases imported.
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James Suckling
Sweet berries and cherries with violets and flowers on the nose. Medium-bodied with delicate fruit, fine tannins and crisp acidity. Medium finish.
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.