Winemaker Notes
#33 of Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2020
The northern zone of Montalcino is characterized by high elevation, steep slopes, and cool temperatures. These conditions are idea for creating Brunellos of significant ageing potential, showing complexity, increased aromatics, classic tannic structure and nervy acidity. Madonna delle Grazie displays elaborate florality interplayed with aromas of earth underfoot. Bright cherry, leathery-tones, and pulsating acidity offer the backbeat to the complex perfumes. Expect a precise and pure example of Sangiovese.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Violet, iris, warm spice, new leather, earth and wild berry are just some of the aromas you’ll find on this tantalizingly fragrant, gorgeous red. Linear and elegant, the radiant palate shows youthful tension, boasting red cherry, pomegranate, star anise, baking spice and orange zest framed in tightly wound, polished tannins and bright acidity. Drink 2025–2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Il Marroneto 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie creeps up on you slowly. Give this wine ample time to open and put on weight and volume. Or better yet, just stick the bottle in your cellar for a few more years. Fruit comes from a 1.6-hectare parcel at 420 meters above sea level. This site, located just below the Madonna delle Grazie chapel, has sandy mineral-rich soils. This wine is very different from the Alessandro Mori's classic Brunello. Here, you get that beautiful purity in the bouquet, but you also get a different mouthfeel that is characterized by more structure and a firmer set of tannins. However, the overall integration is superior here considering that this wine is richer and has more material and overall density. Cherry, grenadine and cassis are followed by jasmine and even a touch of exotic fruit. As the wine opens, you catch a hint of mesquite or hickory smoke. Some 7,040 bottles were made. This wine was bottled in June 2019, and it hit the market in January 2020. 98+
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Wine & Spirits
Alessandro Mori’s 14 vineyard acres are planted exclusively to sangiovese, some of the vines dating back to 1975, the year after his father bought the estate. An ardent traditionalist, Mori ferments the grapes with ambient yeasts and ages this wine for 41 months in large Allier and Slavonian oak casks. The 2015 shows the bright acidity and red fruit tones characteristic of the vineyard’s lofty position at 1,300 feet on Montalcino’s northern slope. Saturated and scented with licorice and violets, the wine maintains impressive delicacy and precision despite its powerful tannins. Built for the long haul, this is one to put away for at least half a decade.
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Decanter
The warm, highly-rated 2015 vintage has produced an intense, structured and vibrant Madonna delle Grazie, with an elevated, balsamic nose, juicy acidity and youthful fruits. Chestnut, tobacco and floral overtones emerge on the long finish.
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Wine Spectator
Balsamic aromas and flavors of juniper, pine and wild thyme dominate the cherry and berry fruit for now, but this red displays a lightness and freshness that offsets the rugged tannins. Ends with an iron streak. Best from 2023 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.