Winemaker Notes
Intense ruby verging on garnet. Soft, warm and velvety, harmonic, rich in fruits and persistent in the mouth. Intense, ethereal melting into scents of sweet violet and iris, with hints of spices such as tobacco, cinnamon and leather.
Great food pairings include 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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Wine Enthusiast
The nose begins with a shooting star of sweet candied cherry and vanilla before it burns up and leaves behind a dark, savory sky of coffee, old leather and burnt caramel. The sun rises on the palate, with strawberry and blood orange notes joining the resurgent cherry. Compressed tannins and vigorous acidity provide structure.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino is attractively layered with spiced red plum, balsamic, and sweet cedar. Seamless and approachable, it is medium bodied, with a soft mineral texture and super-fine tannins. Fresh red cherry, orange rind, and delicate salty earth intertwine and find fantastic balance throughout. It is a beautiful wine to enjoy over the next 10-15 years.
Rating: 93+ -
James Suckling
Aromas of fresh raspberries, sour cherries, lemons, walnuts and vanilla beans. It’s succulent and flavorful with a medium body and creamy tannins. Tangy fruit turns to creamy chocolate. Lovely drinkability. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Revealing dark fruit and oak spice, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino leans toward the bolder and bulkier side of the Brunello spectrum. The wine is open-knit and accessible and perhaps further along its evolution than one would like to see in a wine hitting the market now. However, this is a trend I see across the 2018 vintage. The finish reverts to a more gentle side with polished tannins.
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Wine Spectator
A juicy style for the vintage, boasting cherry, raspberry, floral, graphite and spice flavors. Balanced and lively, with bright acidity and refined tannins for support. Shows fine length. Best from 2025 through 2042.
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Vinous
The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is rich and hauntingly dark, with masses of cherry and raspberry sauce giving way to sweet violet florals. This coasts across the palate, with velvety textures giving way to balsamic spice, and red and black fruits lifted by cooling acidity. It leaves a staining of primary concentration offset by hints of sour citrus while finishing gently tannic and potent. There's a lot going on here, and with the capacity to mature over the medium term.
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.