Winemaker Notes
Pair with red meats, preferably wild game; to serve, store sideways at room temperature at least 24 hours beforehand, cork two hours in advance, decant and serve in decanter.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Brunello di Montalcino is elegant, balanced and bright. The pretty luminosity of the wine's appearance helps to underline this positive impression. The bouquet is nuanced and layered with dried fruit aromas that segue to spice, tar and balsam herb. You get sassy aromas of licorice, tar and cola on the close.
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Wine Enthusiast
This opens with intriguing aromas of smoke, grilled herb, pressed violet and a whiff of strawberry compote. The luminous, savory palate doles out crushed raspberry, juicy Marasca cherry, clove and licorice alongside bright acidity and taut, ultrarefined tannins. A saline note lingers on the close. It's ethereally elegant and will age well for years.
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Wine & Spirits
Fruit for this wine comes from La Gerla’s original property in Canalicchio, north of the Montalcino town walls, and from the estate’s 13 vineyard acres in the southern zone of Castelnuovo dell’Abate. Aged for three years in large Slavonian casks, it combines the elegant aromas of the north with the powerful tannins and intense ripeness of the south. Lithe and lively, the wine’s flavors expand in layers of fresh cherry, roasted fennel and tobacco, woven together by taut tannins. Firmly structured, with ample freshness, this has the potential to improve for at least a decade.
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Wine Spectator
Camphor and eucalyptus aromas and flavors mingle with cherry, vanilla, earth and milk chocolate notes in this dense, beefy red. Muscular tannins line the finish. Stays fresh and long. Best from 2021 through 2033.
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe berries and hints of chocolate. Medium to full body, round tannins and a fresh finish. Fruity and fun.
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.