Winemaker Notes
An intense ruby red in color, the wine offers fruity aromas with violet and vanilla notes. On the palate, the wine is ripe, supple and balanced with tannins supported by a vein of acidity that brings out flavors of blackberry and cherry. The wine is persistent and mineral on the finish and aftertaste.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Fresh and bright Vino Nobile with black-cherry, orange-peel and citrus aromas and flavors. Medium body. Fine tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano shows large intensity with elegantly etched aromas of dark fruit, plum, spice and bitter chocolate. The wine steps forward with mid- to full-weight intensity and medium length. However, you get plenty of dark fruit and spice in between.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas plum, blue flower a whiff of exotic spice shape the delicate, enticing nose. Tense and almost ethereal, the racy palate delivers Morello cherry, red currant, licorice and dried herb alongside vibrant acidity and fine-grained, dusty tannins. Drink 2021–2028.
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.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.