Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pouring a bright red hue, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is expressive and pure, with layered notes of cherry cordial, blood orange, cranberries, and a touch of white smoke. The palate is full-bodied yet weightless, with coiled, ripe tannins, bright acidity, and mouthwatering salinity that amplifies everything without feeling heavy. It’s exceptionally young and tense today, with a long, resonant finish, and it should be a brilliant wine to cellar for decades.
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James Suckling
Like some of the finest wines, this stands out for bright fruit and drinkability but has huge structure and potential for the long haul. On the nose, it shines with youthfulness, showing telltale raspberries fresh with smoky-woodland and licorice depth. The attack is full-bodied with elegant, thick, velvety tannins, structured and refined. This has a crisp, long and superpolished finish despite the frame. Best ever from here. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Gianni Brunelli Le Chiuse di Sotto 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a beautifully intense and rich expression of Sangiovese. Only 3,600 bottles and some larger formats were created. The wine is expertly played out with hydrated tannins, bold fruit flavors and a long finish. This epic wine follows in the footsteps of the 2016 vintage, probably the best ever in my view. This estate does an excellent job of combining power and elegance in perfect unison and balance.
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Vinous
A whiff of white smoke and sweet sage gives way to mint-laced black cherries and hints of balsamic spice as the alluring 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva blossoms in the glass. It presents a sweet-and-sour sensation, washing across the palate with soft and pliant textures as ripe wild berry fruits swirl across a stream of brilliant acidity. A tinge of tart citrus embellishes the close. The 2019 finishes long yet structured and intense, leaving a saturation of blackberry and a savory herbal thrust. This is an exceptionally refined and graceful Riserva from Gianni Brunelli. Fantastic.
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Wine Spectator
Mint and menthol mingle with black cherry and blackberry fruit in this fluid red. Firmly structured, with well-endowed tannins gracing the finish. In the end, the equilibrium tips toward the tannins. Best from 2028 through 2042.
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.