Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with rich, structured dishes, such as red meat, game, seasoned cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Deep, savory and intense with notes of dried blueberries, five spice, mushroom, gravy, grilled herbs and dried oysters. Deliciously spicy on the palate, too, with a full body and firm, sleek and well-integrated tannins. Framed and concentrated, yet there’s beautiful freshness at the end.
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Decanter
The finest 2007 Brunellos from high ground, like this one, balance ripe and savoury hawthorn berries with intense and very clearly defined, slim tannins. Brilliant.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fuligni 2007 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva reveals beautiful tertiary intensity with wild berry and plum followed by balsam herb, licorice, grilled herb and spice. I am impressed by the sheer exuberance and richness of this wine that remains mid-weight all the while but produces plenty of elegance and lasting power nonetheless. This wine is experiencing the perfect moment in its drinking window right now.
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Vinous
The 2007 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is intense, with a dark and rich bouquet that blends blackberries, grilled herbs, a dusting of cocoa and cherry cordial with hints of camphor. It's racy and energetic, with silken textures and ripe red fruits that swirl across the palate. The 2007 maintains poise while tapering off juicy and keeping the senses salivating for more, leaving the slightest tinge of sous-bois and leather over a bed of sweet tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
Black cherry and berry flavors fill the balanced mouth of this riserva. There’s a lot of life in this wine and it will age slowly over the years. The freshness is bright and cleansing, and the tannins tends toward a fine and dusty quality.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and dense, with cherry, black currant and cedar flavors covering the solid grip of tannins. Still closed down, yet there's freshness on the finish, with fruit and spice accents. Best from 2016 through 2032.
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.