Winemaker Notes
Deep ruby red color with garnet notes on the rim. Complex aromas of cherry, blackcurrant, plum, almond and vanilla with hints of balsamic. The aromas repeat on the palate which is smooth and balanced with added spice and a long, persistent finish. This wine is generally ready to drink soon after release and has an excellent capacity to age
Perfect for important dishes, roasted or grilled red meats, game, venison, stewed wild boar. Excellent with mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This red is beefy and closed, with the dense, powerful structure putting the brakes on cherry, kirsch, plum and white pepper flavors for now. Yet there is plenty in reserve as this plays out on the lingering finish. If anything upsets the balance, this is a tad dry on the finish today, but give this the benefit of the doubt. Best from 2026 through 2045.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fattoria dei Barbi 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Fiore reveals a fine and elegant personality that gives the wine a pop of brightness and vertical lift. The texture of the wine is very silky and smooth, giving this vintage a pleasantly lean to mid-weight approach. The wine closes with hints of iris root, dried cherry and rusty nail that we do see in the other wines from this estate, but they appear more balanced in this bottle. The wine successfully underlines its Sangiovese identity.
Rating: 94+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
More purity and freshness are found in the 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino Vigna Del Fiore, while it still has a more concentrated profile compared to the 2018 Brunello. Wild raspberry coulis, fresh sage, and violets all come to the stage with lovely clarity, and structurally, it displays a more complete and classic application, with a wonderful core of concentrated cherry liqueur, ripe though present tannins, and refreshing acidity without being austere, noted by fresh blood orange, salty earth, and sweet clove spice. Drink 2025-2040.
Rating: 93+ -
James Suckling
An full-bodied yet elegant and balanced Brunello with succulent layers of chocolate, orange zest, toffee, sour cherries and cedar. Firm and finely structured.
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Decanter
Vigna del Fiore hails from Barbi’s oldest vineyard, with vines currently between 20 to 30 years old. After 12 months in used French oak barriques, this spends an additional two years in Slavonian oak tonneaux of 500 to 700 litres. It's more savoury than the classic Brunello, with leather, coffee and cedar currently dominating. Still slightly angular in shape, it's compact through the mid-palate, though satiating acidity and spiced black and red currants poke through. Rather assertive, exaggerated tannins stretch out on the finish, demanding another year in bottle.
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.