Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2013 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is developing beautifully and has a complex bouquet that continues to shift in the glass. It pours a rich ruby with a garnet tinge and has aromas of spice box, leather, red cherry, wild berries, incense, and dried rose petals. It offers medium to full body along with ripe tannins that begin to feel seamless with its fresh acidity and gorgeous length and purity. It is highly expressive and taps into both sheer pleasure and intellectual senses alike. Best After 2023
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Wine Enthusiast
Plum, wild berry, tobacco, crushed herb and balsamic aromas all come together on this elegant red. The palate shows its Sangiovese and Montalcino pedigree, delivering juicy Morello cherry, raspberry compote, star anise and tobacco alongside taut, polished tannins. It’s bright and well balanced, with firm acidity that will keep it going for years. Drink 2021–2033. de Grazia Imports LLC.
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Decanter
Gianni Brunelli's Riserva always contains a high percentage of the estate's Vigna Olmo plot. A warm, south-facing site, it gives the wine its richness, however the schistose-galestro soil is rich in limestone and also imparts plenty of structure, while the lofty altitude of up to 500 metres confers beautifully precise aromas. The 2013 Riserva offers a restrained yet seductive nose of lavender, blood orange and moist earth. Silky tannins and luscious acidity back up the generously red-berried palate, giving a deceptive impression of lightness. This is all finesse and grace.
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James Suckling
Some fresh red-berry and cherry aromas here make an initial impression of youthful Brunello. The palate delivers a succulent and fleshy edge with bright and juicy red-plum flavors, presented in upbeat, assertive mode. Drink or hold.
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.