Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color with garnet notes. Intense, concentrated nose of black cherries, wild berries and vanilla. On the palate it is rich, full bodied, quite tannic in youth, soft and persistent.
Perfect with roasted white or red meat, poultry, game and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Plenty of dark cherries, cedar, sandalwood and licorice on the nose. Full-bodied with firm and polished tannins that nicely melt into the wine. Pure and beautiful fruit. Give this time to open. Better after 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is characterized by some of those same earthy notes of crushed limestone and baked clay that we saw so clearly in the other two entry-level red wines released by this estate. Wild cherry and dried raspberry cede to oregano, basil or balsam herb. However, overall the fruit intensity is faded. The tannins are on the dry side, and perhaps the heat of the vintage reveals itself there with greater clarity. This wine is best served in the near 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.