Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Incredible depth and concentration yet agile and glorious. Full body, integrated tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Gorgeous. Better in 2017.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino opens to heady, masculine tones of smoked meat, spice, dark fruit and balsam herb. This is the best Brunello I have tasted from Maddalena Cordella, a relatively unknown producer from the northern part of the appellation. The wine maintains big structure and bold intensity, yet stays true to the elegant and nuanced nature of Sangiovese. It is inoculated with indigenous yeasts and sees 26 months in oak. Pretty blue flower, herbal and licorice tones add an unexpected twist of vitality on the long, fresh finish. This Brunello needs five more years of bottle aging in order to flesh out.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of leather, coffee, chocolate, grilled rosemary and a balsamic note lead the nose. The smooth palate offers wild cherry, crushed raspberry, licorice and mocha alongside round, ripe tannins. It’s not loaded with complexity but it’s delicious and already surprisingly accessible. Drink 2016–2022.
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.