Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with garnet hues. Intense, stylish bouquet with hints of berries and fruit. Smooth and elegant with polished tannins and an enduring finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Il Poggione selects its Brunello from vines that are at least 20 years old, when they’ve rooted deeply through the subsoil and can weather the intense heat of a vintage like 2003. This brooding wine is all muscle when first poured, with powerful tannins supporting rich plum flavor. It reveals more definition with air, the fruit aspect turning redder (strawberries, cherries) even as the sinewy tannins maintain their firm grip. Classically styled, with immense structure supporting its many layers, this wine will continue to develop over the next decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I found the 2003 Brunello di Montalcino a difficult wine to understand. I imagine the warmth of the vintage is a significant factor, but the 2003 is a decidedly modern, lush Brunello from Il Poggione. As this full-bodied Brunello opens in the glass, notes of dark fruit, leather, spices, chocolate and tobacco emerge, supported by the firm tannins that are the hallmark of this vintage. There is notable clarity here, but fans of the estate should expect an atypically ripe style in this vintage.
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.