Winemaker Notes
Deep garnet color with remarkable elegance and complexity, and a beautiful bouquet of marasca cherries, tobacco and mint, with a lovely, long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very intense aromas of ripe dark fruit with plums and cherries, intermingled with aged meat, warm stones and sweet, dried-wood nuances. The concentrated palate has a suave and plush core with tannins building in impressive layers to hold a long, flavorful finish. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Rose, wild berry, camphor and a whiff of exotic spice float out of the glass along with a hint of new leather. Radiant and loaded with finesse, the taut, elegantly structured palate delivers juicy red cherry, strawberry compote, baking spice and licorice while fine-grained tannins and vibrant acidity provide balance and support. Drink 2021–2035.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Initially closed and shy, the 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva needs a little extra time in the glass before it starts to shine. The wine is made according to a very classic blueprint that prizes delicate primary fruit freshness, fully integrated tannins (nudged forward by Slavonian oak casks) and bright acidity. Fruit for this wine is sourced from 20-year-old vines that deliver the added extract and concentration worthy of a Riserva expression. This wine is impeccably balanced and radiant. It drinks beautifully straight out of the gate, however, it has the natural DNA to assure a graceful aging future.
Rating: 95+ -
Wine & Spirits
From the Fuligni estate’s oldest vines on Montalcino’s eastern slope, this is an elegant Riserva, with complex notes of roasted mushroom and tobacco leaf gained during three years in large Slavonian casks. Its saturated flavors of dark cherry and red berry maintain a lightness and elegance despite the firm, ferrous tannins, the wine built for extended aging.
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Wine Spectator
A dense, muscular version, this red boasts cherry, currant, tobacco, iron and wild herb aromas and flavors. Bright and juicy, with fine balance and a refreshing finish. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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Decanter
Pristine and fresh, with driving acidity: the Fuligni style expresses elegance above all, reflecting its cool-sited vineyards in the north of the region. This Riserva has understated but finely delineated aromas of flowers, raspberries and fresh hay, and is fragrant, light and dancing on the palate too, with fine-milled tannins. Drinking Window 2020 - 2027
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.