Winemaker Notes
The flagship bottling of the estate, fruit comes from a mix of their vineyard holdings, most of which are located on the hill of Montosoli endowing this wine with a more lifted and floral character than is typical of most of Montalcino.
Brunello di Montalcino is a visibly limpid, brilliant wine, with a bright garnet color. It has an intense perfume, persistent, ample and ethereal. One can recognize scents of undergrowth, aromatic wood, berries, light vanilla and jam. To the taste the wine has an elegant harmonious body, vigorous and racy, it is dry with a lengthy aromatic persistence.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s a toffee character here that’s almost reminiscent of a tawny Port. Dried cedar, black tea, bark, eucalyptus and tea tree oil are in play. There are no rough edges to the palate, which is medium to full in body and elegant and reserved, the fruit gliding along in the wake of resolved, polished tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Rather than the sweet oak nuances you get with the contemporary school of Brunello, this wine offers savory and spicy oak undertones. The Casanuova delle Cerbaie 2015 Brunello di Montalcino pours from the bottle with a dark garnet color and browning sepia highlights. Well suited for a finely executed risotto of porcini or morels, this wine presents traditional Brunello aromas of dried fruit, wild cherry, crushed rose, potting soil and dark spice.
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.