Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino 2015
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Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling - Decanter
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with violet hues. Complex and elegant. With red fruity notes like cherry and sour cherry and spicy aromas. Balanced and structured with pleasantly ripe tannins. The finish is long, fruity and lasting.
Organically grown
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This combines the best characteristics of Sangiovese, with cherry and strawberry fruit, earth, leather and iron notes and balsamic elements of wild thyme, rosemary and Mediterranean scrub. Shows a bit of heat on the finish, yet remains fresh and long. Best from 2023 through 2042.
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James Suckling
A full, very layered young Brunello with cherry, floral and light toffee and cedar character. It’s very layered and fine-tannined. Lively acidity and focus. Really attractive dried citrus at the end. From organically grown grapes. Give this two or three years to soften. Try after 2022 and onwards.
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Decanter
The Col d’Orcia style of Brunello is based on clarity of fruit expression in open-knit wines of medium body, approachable fairly young and with usefully long drinking windows. The 2015 is especially engaging and mouthwatering. Organic. Drinking Window 2022 - 2035
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Col d'Orcia 2015 Brunello di Montalcino (made with organic fruit) has a very distinctive aromatic profile with subtle hints of rusty iron and moist potting soil. However, this wine also shows an impressive evolution in the glass with those earthy and sanguine notes lifting to reveal sweet oak tones of vanilla and baking spice that remain pronounced in a second underlayer. To me, Col d'Orcia's wines are almost always characterized by a medicinal or balsamic element, and the primary fruit is downplayed as a result. This vintage puts on a good show with wild berry, blackcurrant and dried blackberry. That said, this wine is more ethereal and spicy than it is fruity per se.
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As one of the original estates of Montalcino and now the largest certified organic estate in Tuscany, Col d’Orcia is a leader in Brunello di Montalcino, helping to define and promote one of Italy’s most prestigious wine regions. Tradition, integrity and sustainability are the pillars of the estate, whose classic style wines are celebrated all over the world.
Situated on the outskirts of the medieval hilltop village of Montalcino in Tuscany’s Siena province, the estate has a rich winemaking history that dates back to the 1700s. In 1973, the estate was purchased by the Cinzano family, who markedly increased the vineyard holdings. They are now the third largest owner of Brunello vineyards in Montalcino. Proudly defined as an ‘organic island,’ Col d’Orcia is committed to maintaining the natural environment in which it operates and has, for many years, employed organic farming practices. The entire estate includes vineyards, gardens, olive groves, tobacco and wheat fields, which are all farmed following exclusively organic agricultural practices. In 2010, the estate underwent the organic farming certification process and is now the largest certified organic wine producing farm in all of Tuscany.
The estate’ name translates to “the hill overlooking the Orcia River,” due to its position in the undulating hills between the Orcia River and Sant’Angelo in Colle. Here, southern orientations provide vines with abundant exposure to sunshine and vineyard soils comprised of limestone and marl facilitate natural irrigation. Located at about 1500 feet above sea level, the estate is favorably positioned against Mount Amiata (5,700 feet) which helps shield the property from floods and hail. The climate is typically Mediterranean, with limited rainfall coming in from the Tyrrhenian coast, 21 miles away.
The estate is currently owned and managed by Count Francesco Marone Cinzano. A world traveler with boundless energy, the Count is a tireless ambassador for his estate as well as the Montalcino region. Under his leadership, plantings have expanded exponentially at Col d’Orcia and the estate has been transformed into an organic farm.
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.