Winemaker Notes
Pair with red meat or slow-braised stews; aged cheese.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of balsamic and dried-cherry character. Full-bodied, rich and silky with beautiful fruit and intensity. Long and flavorful. Gorgeous wine. One of best from here in a long time. >#21 of the Top 25 Brunellos of the 2012 Vintage
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Wine Spectator
Well-defined cherry and raspberry fruit is augmented by floral, tobacco and mineral notes in this elegant, polished Brunello. Harmonious and vibrant, with a lingering aftertaste. Should improve in bottle. Best from 2020 through 2030.
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Wine Enthusiast
Chopped mint, new leather, forest floor and spiced plum aromas take shape in the glass. The ripe, juicy palate doles out fleshy black cherry, raspberry jam, clove and licorice notes, supported by big, rounded tannins. It's already accessible and seriously delicious. Drink through 2022. Editors' Choice
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino from Collosorbo in the Castelnuovo dell'Abate sub zone is a plump and generous wine. The bouquet is redolent of dark fruit, sun-dried cherry, blue flower and spicy tobacco. Winemaking is simple with fermentation in stainless steel and further aging in traditional large casks. This approach awards the freshness and the brightness of the natural fruit at hand. The wine shows good structure with moderate length.
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.