Winemaker Notes
Aged by regulations for four years, of which approximately two and a half are in wood, Fuligni’s regular Brunello di Montalcino also has optimal lasting characteristics but is destined for more immediate drinking. With its elegant combination of fruit and spicy aromas, the Fuligni Brunello is, in any case, the result of carefully selected grapes coming from low yields per hectare and is not produced in years when the quality of the harvested grapes is not suitable to maintain the high standards of the estate.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Fuligni is on a short list of the best wine estates in Montalcino. The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is fragrant and delicate, showing a level of precision and elegance that pushes the limits of this terrific vintage. The wine is fresh and buoyant with ample primary fruit and acidity to carry it over multiple decades of cellar aging. The bouquet reveals a slow succession of wild berry, rose, crushed flowers and graphite-like aromas with spice and licorice. The mouthfeel is structured, firm and built to last. Rating: 95+
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and polished, delivering plum, black cherry, licorice, tar and leather flavors, backed by a solid structure and revealing fine balance overall. Lacks the complexity of the best 2015s, but impressive and long nonetheless. Best from 2022 through 2039.
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.