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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James Suckling
Juicy and expressive nose of crushed tomatoes, potpourri, and red plums with some coffee and cedar. Full-bodied with solid tannins and balanced acidity. Orange aftertaste. Savory and complex. Fascinating now but will go even further after 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fattoria dei Barbi 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Fiore is a darker and more concentrated expression with plum, cooked cherry, balsam herb, cola, pressed blue flower and toasted spice. Compared to the village bottling, this wine takes the intensity up a notch and offers lots of textured richness. There is a clear chalkiness to the tannins. The score gap between this bottle and the classic Brunello does not meet the price point difference (which is almost double for the Vigna del Fiore). However, with only 4,000 bottles made, this wine will prove more challenging to locate.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pouring a red/garnet hue, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Vigna Dei Barbi needs some coaxing in the glass on opening, but when it does, it really gets going, offering notes of dried cherries, cedar, dried flowers, mint, and tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, it has good energy through the palate, with angular tannins, mouthwatering fresh acidity, and salty earth tones that last long on the palate, with a touch of warmth and notes of spiced orange on the finish. This is a gorgeous wine from the estate that will need a couple years to start fully coming together. Drink 2026-2045.
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Vinous
Dusty rose and cedar shavings give way to dried strawberries and clove as the delicate 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Fiore unfolds in the glass. This is a model of purity, with a silken textural wave that washes across the palate, ushering in polished red fruits and inner florals that resonate throughout. The 2019 finishes dramatically long and potent, with edgy tannins that add youthful poise as a bump of residual acidity maintains freshness. Nearly a minute goes by, and notes of inner rose and tart cranberry linger. This is a stunning interpretation of Vigna del Fiore.
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Wine Enthusiast
Warm coffee cake, macerated blackberries and cigar smoke make for a welcoming nose that explodes with a riot of berries and more sweet vanilla cream and coffee on the palate with that sophisticated bitter smoky element. Solid tannins and generous acid.
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Wine Spectator
A broad, opulent style, this red evokes plum, cherry, leather, iron and wild herb aromas and flavors, with dense, dynamic tannins that are balanced with the flavors and body. Lingers nicely on the dusty finish. Best from 2027 through 2043.
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.