Winemaker Notes
The wine displays an intense ruby red color with a nose of dark red fruits, including small black plums, black cherries under spirit, and mulberry, layered with complex notes of spices—highlighting delicate white pepper—and extra dark chocolate. On the palate, it is rich, full-bodied, and very persistent, revealing immediate complexity and structure as the spicy notes give way to the red fruit character from the nose, while a present but balanced tannic texture supports the wine and maintains its vivacity.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a special vineyard site on cooling schistic galestro clay soils, the Fanti 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Vallocchio offers a full-bodied and robust interpretation of Sangiovese. The wine opens to a dark color and savory aromas of potting soil, blackened herb and dried fig. These two Fanti releases from 2020 definitely wear the signatures of a hot vintage, with a powerful 15.5% alcohol content in the case of this wine. Vallocchio (aged in botte and tonneaux for 30 months) closes with rich intensity and chalky Sangiovese tannins.
-
James Suckling
Focused on smoky tones, with graphite, meat and dark fruit, earth and tobacco. A little bold, with full body, firm and ripe tannins, moderate acidity and a warming finish. Drink after 2025.
-
Wine Spectator
Complex and intense, featuring raspberry, cherry, white pepper, mineral and oak spice aromas and flavors. This racy red is married to a firm yet refined tannic structure, and the finish is driven by vivid acidity. Shows excellent verve and harmony.
The Fanti Family has been producing wine and-extra virgin olive oil in Tuscany for nearly 200 years. In the 1970s, current owner Filippo first took over the Estate, marking a major turning point in its history. After redesigning and replanting across its 300 hectare property, an innovation-meets-tradition winemaking technique has resulted in extremely high-quality grape growing, all while avoiding any non-organic fertilizers. Eighty percent of the plantings in the vineyards are Sangiovese or Sangiovese Grosso, a focus that reinforces the family’s commitment to the quality wine of the region and which is reflected in Fanti’s highly rated Brunelli. Filippo’s daughter Elisa joined the team in 2007 and has since been instrumental in reinforcing their position in the international market.
When Filippo decided to reconfigure their 300 hectare property, he allocated 50 hectares to be grape vines, just half that of the olive grove. He apportioned other plots of the property to crops and woodlands in a layout that was designed to nurture the vineyards. With soil that is laden with limestone and clay, optimal daytime sun exposure and a nighttime thermal drop, the viniculture is carefully orchestrated to mirror the flavors and aromas of both the grape and the territory. The winery itself is partially built into a hill to reduce visual impact and protect the scenery.
Inside the winery, Filippo himself has carefully selected everything, from the sorting table, stainless steel vats and pumpover system to a very high standard of barrel selection. As a result, Fanti continues to produce hallmark Southern Montalcino wines with the help of their surrounding terroir and passion for making approachable wines for new wine makers and seasoned pros alike.
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.