Winemaker Notes
Only a truly extraordinary harvest can produce the Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva D.O.C.G.: Since its establishment in 1984 Romitorio has released only a handful of vintages of this wine.
A rigorous selection of grapes is made from the estate’s eldest vineyards located in the Northern zone of Montalcino. Each vineyard block is monitored throughout the vegetative process, blocks are chosen and each cluster is carefully tended in order to ensure that the fruit reaches a consistent and optimal ripeness.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
One of only nine Riservas ever produced at the estate, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is a compelling benchmark for the house. The nose is pure and detailed, with red cherries, wild berries, floral perfume, saline earth, and savory spice. Full-bodied, it has a silky, weightless feel on the palate, with ripe tannins, mouthwatering acidity, and a long, finessed finish that stays bright and composed.
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Decanter
A selection of bunches from the estate’s oldest vineyards planted in 1987, the 2020 Riserva impresses with its stunning bouquet and graceful architecture. It is easy to get lost in its heady perfumes of pressed violet and lilac potpourri, sweet earth and sandalwood. Smooth and finely textured, though not without backbone, it flows effortlessly, meting out flavours of wild strawberry, dark cherry and nutmeg. Pristine and lithe, it seduces with elegance rather than ensnaring with brawn.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In the bottle with the white artist label, the Castello Romitorio 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva offers more intensity and barbecue smoke, especially, but the fruit integration is just as seamless as the other wines in this flight. Along with dark fruit, you get spice, toasted almond, grilled herb and blue flower. It boasts sweet tannins and a soft, texturally rich finish.
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Vinous
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is to die for. Seamless and silken in feel, it has a classic profile of dried strawberry, dusty rose, cedar shavings, clove and hints of Tuscan dust. The 2019 has a core of juicy acidity that enhances its ripe wild berry scents as nuances of sour citrus add complexity under an air of violet inner florals. This tapers off licorice-tinged and perfumed, with remarkable length, fine-grained tannins and a pleasantly bitter sensation that calls the taster back to the glass for more.
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Wine Spectator
Though perhaps not as intense or showy as some 2019 riservas, this red is harmonious and elegant. Cherry, strawberry, earth, wild herb and flinty, mineral flavors hold court as this evolves across the palate, leaving earth, iron and savory accents on the lingering 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.