Winemaker Notes
Ruby red verging on garnet. The bouquet is intense, complex, fruit-forward and spicy with hints or ripe red berry fruits enriched by various spicy notes. Warm, soft and harmonic on the palate. Great balance among pronounced tannins, acidity and savoriness. This elegant wine has great potential for further cellar ageing.
Great companion of stewed and roasted meat and game (such as hare, pheasant and wild boar). Excellent with mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Enticing aromas of red cherries, dried strawberries and hints of plums, cedar, sandalwood and balsamic. Medium-bodied with a tight and rich center palate and a chewy and powerful finish. This needs time to come together and soften slightly. Best after 2029.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Brunello Di Montalcino Pianrosso pours a youthful red hue and has a deeper, more complete expression in this vintage. The nose has a cologne-like lift, with brushy sage, cigar box, baked cherries, crushed stones, and licorice. Full-bodied, it stays light on its feet and carries velvety tannins, mouthwatering salinity, and refreshing acidity, with a finish that builds with warmth and spice. It should gain depth with time in bottle.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Dark and richly textured, this expression opens with ripe fruit nuances, sweet plum and baking spice. The Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Pianrosso is unapologetic about ripeness and the more concentrated side of Sangiovese, a style reinforced by the warm growing conditions of the vintage and the naturally powerful Pianrosso site. There is so much richness and phenolic texture here that it recalls warm years such as 2017 or 2019. The tannins are soft, the alcohol is high at 15.5%, and production stands at 43,000 bottles, including larger formats.
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.