Winemaker Notes
Serve the wine with beef and game(roast or braised), mature cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino from Coldisole offers lovely density and weight on the palate in a fat, rich expression of ripe dark fruit, chocolate, scorched earth and toasted oak. It is a backward wine that ideally needs another year or so in bottle or a few hours of aeration to allow the tannins to soften a little. It saw three years of aging in French oak, which gives the wine its roundness but also adds a touch of dryness to the tannins, particularly on the close. Still, it is a delicious, modern-styled Brunello to enjoy now and over the next decade or so. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018
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.