Winemaker Notes
A luscious Brunello with bountiful aromas of dark fruit with dried cherry, blackcurrant and plum. On a second wave of aromas, you encounter softer spice with toasted almond, tilled earth and grilled herb. This is a classic expression of the vintage with an open and food-friendly personality. There is a playful touch of sweet cherry on the close.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose recalls an October day, as an autumnal earthiness mingles with the density of dark chocolate and the spice of anise, and the last of the summer's stone fruit. On the palate, the chocolate grows sweeter as Halloween approaches, but earthy, bitter notes persist through the astringent, chalky, tannic finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Generous and ripe aromas of pressed purple flowers, baked strawberries, blue fruit, sweet herbs, and fresh forest floor jump from the glass of the 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino La Mannella. Full-bodied, its ample fruit is evenly balanced through the palate, with ripe tannins and a fresh mineral texture. It offers notes of fresh leather, ripe cherry, cedar, and warming spices throughout, with its perfume lasting long after the wine is gone. It is a lovely wine to drink over the next 10-15 years.
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James Suckling
A flavorful Brunello with aromas of bramble berries, strawberries, sage, chicory root and basil. It’s full-bodied with fine, velvety tannins. Lovely creamy texture and intensity, with a fresh and balanced finish. Drink from 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Cortonesi 2018 Brunello di Montalcino La Mannella is similar to the Poggiarelli in terms of brightness and fruit wealth, yet this wine is perhaps more savory, spicy and accessible. It offers a velvety, medium to full-bodied texture with lingering tones of campfire ash and leather. The differences between the two wines are not that big, but this is marked in that one respect.
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Wine Spectator
Fragrant, this red evokes rose, cherry and spice aromas, followed by flavors of cherry, strawberry, loam, eucalyptus and cumin. Offers a lacy texture backed by light, dusty tannins. Drink now through 2038.
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.