Winemaker Notes
Pair with red meat or slow-braised stews; aged cheese.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is tangy and rich with chocolate, dried berry, cedar and vanilla aromas and flavors. Some nuttiness as well. Full body, bright acidity and a clean finish.
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Wine Spectator
Ample cherry and plum fruit is augmented by eucalyptus, tobacco and earth accents, balanced by acidity and moderate tannins that all come together on the lingering finish. Best from 2017 through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Collosorbo's 2011 Brunello di Montalcino shows a bright and cheerful side of this warm vintage. The wine presents an easy and forthcoming aromatic profile with upfront tones of black cherry and dried blackberry. It offers good balance thanks to subtle tones of leather and spice that serve to flesh out and widen the bouquet. The quality of fruit is simple, slightly sweet and definitely on the ripe side. This is another good near-term Brunello from 2011.
Rating: 90+
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.