Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Bigger style for Barbi, but it still remains fresh and flavorful with dark-berry, walnut and dried-flower character. It’s medium-bodied with lightly chewy tannins and fresh fruit at the end. Rather complex. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fattoria dei Barbi 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Fiore is always distinguished by that extra level of dark intensity and concentration that comes from this special site selection of fruit. This is always one of my favorite wines from this estate, and some of that magic is played forward in this hot-vintage expression. I also think Vigna del Fiore, thanks to its structure and the purity of its aromas, is better suited to a longer aging window. The bouquet offers lots of dark fruit, plum, earth and wild rose. This 4,000-bottle release was born in a site characterized by a mix of limestone alberese and schistous galestro soils that are typical of this part of Tuscany.
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Wine Spectator
Opulent, boasting loamy clay, plum, cherry, tobacco and mineral flavors, this red is backed by a matrix of beefy tannins. Resonates on the finish, finding equilibrium in the end. Best from 2025 through 2042.
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.