Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A restrained wine that’s complex and deep, with aromas of cherry stones, butter, fresh violets, orange peel and prunes. Firm tannins with a grainy texture, yet it has a sweet finish, super-energetic acidity and a full body. Flavors of blood oranges and violets. Perfect balance and incredible aging potential. A super classic. Drink or hold.
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Decanter
‘I'd never seen the green [of the vegetation] like that before’, remarks Alessandro Mori of 2020, putting the vibrancy of the colour down to less pollution as the population remained in their homes. Calling 2020 an easy vintage, much like 2016, the estate now practices accapamento – a ‘wall’ of leaves which act to shade the bunches and also take up some resources, causing the vine to struggle slightly more. There's great freshness here, with coiled potency of vibrant plum and sour and dark cherry at the ripe core. A lick of salinity and a brush of wood accompany silky tannins. One of very few 2020s I have tasted which may be an improvement on the stunning 2019s. Time will tell.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Il Marroneto 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is a wine of special depth and elegance. Alessandro Mori tells me that fermentation in 2020 proceeded nicely with what he describes as a "primordial stew" of grape must, resulting in high pressure "geysers" or "liquid bombs" that rip right through the cap because of pressure build-up. Someone is having tons of fun in the winery. High temperatures (between 36 to 38 degrees Celsius) serve to fix the wine's ruby color and the elegance of its perfumes, which are more floral than fruity. At the end of fermentation, he manages the skins with light wetting by hand with a tube. This vintage offers softness and a silky texture that feels glossy to the palate.
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.