Winemaker Notes
Match this wine with game, braised and roast red meat, with seasoned cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Lovely bright and pale ruby shade. Fresh blackberry fruit nose leading into a balanced, tight, tangy and fine palate, with perfectly integrated tannins and a long fruit and mineral finish. Rare elegance for the vintage.
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Wine Enthusiast
Wild berry, forest floor, chopped herb and a balsamic note are some of the aromas you'll find in this bright, elegant red. The vibrant, medium-bodied palate offers crushed raspberry, red cherry and baking spice flavors, buttressed by taut, polished tannins and fresh acidity. A blast of orange zest further lifts the finish. Drink 2019–2027.
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James Suckling
A dense and velvety red with walnut, berry and dried-chocolate character. Full body, chewy tannins and a truly complex texture. Needs time to soften. Better in 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino offers a broad and thick bouquet with plump fruit and blackberry confit. You can taste the ripeness of the fruit achieved in this hot growing season. Dark plum is followed by spice, leather, tar and cured leather. There's a savory and soft side to this wine. Its aromatic presentation is broad and bold. However, the mouthfeel is a bit thinner. Upfront, this is a delicious wine that can be consumed in the near term. You could wait to age it, but why bother? It tastes great just out of the gate. 91+
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.