Winemaker Notes
With its elegant combination of fruit and spicy aromas, the Fuligni Brunello is 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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James Suckling
This is all finesse, with sweet strawberry and hints of citrus fruit. Full body, refined tannins and a silky-textured finish. Very fine indeed. One of my favorite producers, as always. Better in 2015.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Brunello di Montalcino is a polished, silky wine with bright berry highlights that are enhanced by balsam herb, cola, light spice, dried tobacco, smoky notes and crushed mineral. The vintage does not have the immediate complexity of other vintages at this young stage, but I’m willing to bet that this wine will steadily increase in layering and expressiveness as it evolves in the bottle. Drink: 2017-2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
It opens with aromas of sun-ripened berries, spearmint and Mediterranean scrub. The palate offers dark cherry and raspberry accented with notes of white pepper and a hint of cinnamon-spice alongside round tannins. It’s ripe, soft and ready to enjoy soon.
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, balsamic, leather and underbrush aromas and flavors highlight this medium-bodied, intense red. Leans slightly toward the tannins, but turns silky and finishes long. Best from 2016 through 2026.
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.