Winemaker Notes
Casanova di Neri proudly produces the White Label Brunello since 1978. The winery's passion and love for the land and their own distinctive Sangiovese joined together to make a wine that stands out for elegance, finesse, high quality and long ageing potential.
The prevailing features of 2012 Brunello di Montalcino are balance and finesse, which are supported by a long and velvety finish and an intense red fruit bouquet. This wine is already showing its pleasantness despite the long ageing potential.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Effusive aromas and flavors of raspberry, cherry, floral, mineral and tobacco are at the center of this linear, vibrant red. Well-structured, this offers terrific length on the sinewy finish. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Casanova di Neri is one of the shining stars of Montalcino. Each successive vintage released brings us renewed understanding of the focus and the dedication demonstrated by the father and son team that operates this estate. The winemaking style is impeccable and elaborate. There's a higher degree of texture and richness on display, and this is not often the case with Sangiovese. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino opens to thick layers of dark fruit, mocha, spice, leather, cigar box and pipe tobacco. A distant note of dried fruit or blackberry confit adds softness and sweetness. Give this wine a few more years to flesh out and integrate.
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James Suckling
A wine with balance and finesse as well as a solid core of fruit that leads to a long and silky finish. Just the right combination of subtle ripe fruit and balsamic-vinegar undertones. So pretty. Drink or hold.
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.