Winemaker Notes
Clear, intense ruby. Complex, elegant, intense. Notes of ripe cherry, chocolate and tobacco. Slightly spicy and flowery. Structured, sophisticated, and lingering. Smooth tannins, with a long and juicy finish and marked acidity. Harmonious, balanced, with a great possibility of developing.
Pair with red meats, seasoned cheeses and game.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino pours a bright red hue and opens with notes of dried cherries, orange peel, dried herbs, and dusty earth. Medium-bodied, it has tangy acidity, fine tannins, and a savory, lightly iron-tinged finish with good persistence. It’s a solid, well-made Brunello that captures the freshness and salinity of the estate’s style, and it also hints at the added polish and precision
-
Vinous
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino displays a vibrant ruby hue, wafting up with an earthy blend of flowery undergrowth and crushed rocks before giving way to dried strawberries. It opens with a pleasant inner sweetness and creamy textures. Fresh acidity enlivens its red fruits and rosy inner florals. Violet and lavender florals linger through the long perfumed finale as a hint of fine tannins tug at the palate. What a darling. Castello Tricerchi did a fantastic job of maintaining the radiance of the year in this beautiful and expertly balanced Brunello.
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.