Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Brunello has lifted aromas of pine, menthol, dried red plum, and cedar. The palate is pure and energetic with crisp red cherry, dried violets, amaro, and youthful, grippy tannin's. I love its classic, angular, pure style. Fossacolle is located in Tavernelle where they farm their small, four-hectare estate. The 2016 was aged for two years in French and Slavonian oak. Drink 2022-2034.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fossacolle 2016 Brunello di Montalcino opens to a charming level of intensity and purity. This wine really jumped out at me thanks to the chiseled and sharp quality of fruit and the lingering acidity and power one receives on the finish. It undergoes both its primary and secondary fermentation in cement and is racked into French and Slavonian oak (of various sizes) for two years. Everything just works here, and the wine delivers great harmony between its fruit, spice, acidity and structure.
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James Suckling
A full-bodied, firmly structured red with dried cranberries, dried earth, leather and smoke on the nose. Fresh and sour cherries on the palate, alongside firm, chewy and tobacco-like tannins. Better after 2024.
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.