Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
You can almost the countryside in this expressive red. Wild herb, underbrush, cherry and smoke notes weave throughout this supple red. Firms up on the finish while remaining fresh and resonant. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fattoria dei Barbi 2012 Brunello di Montalcino offers a clear and bright quality of fruit. This wine really hits the high notes better than most others in its class. Stefano Cinelli Colombini and his team have done a fine job with this Brunello annata. Beyond the dark cherry and cassis are elegant tones of dried herb, tar and rose petal. The bouquet reaches harmony and finesse. In fact, you'd hardly know just how warm this summer growing season was because the fruit appears not to have suffered one bit. The tannins are delicate and silky.
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Wine Enthusiast
Earthy aromas suggesting leather, forest floor, tilled soil and dark spice take the lead in this Brunello, punctuated by a balsamic note. Firm and full-bodied, it delivers succulent Marasca cherry, star anise, mint and pipe tobacco, framed by tightly wound but refined tannins. Drink 2020–2032.
Editors' Choice -
James Suckling
Ripe and savory Brunello with plum, spice and grilled-meat character. Full and chewy. A little rustic now but will come into its own in three or four years.
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.