Winemaker Notes
Ruby red tending to garnet. Fine, elegant, ethereal, preserved black cherries, white pepper, jam, and tobacco aromas. Warm, full-bodied, intense, sweet and velvety tannins, harmonious, persistent.
Pair with game, roasts, and seasoned Pecorino cheese.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This shows loads of black cherries, burnt-blackberry essence, tar, treacle, cedar and tobacco, as well as an undercurrent of fresher scents of citrus and raspberries. Full body, plenty of juicy and structured tannins and a long, chewy finish. Drink in 2020.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of French oak, coconut, exotic spice and mature black-skinned fruit shape the nose along with a whiff of menthol. The enveloping palate shows flair and finesse, offering dried black cherry, prune steeped in spirits, cinnamon and licorice set against firm fine-grained tannins. An espresso note lingers on the close.
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.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.