Winemaker Notes
Aromas of spice, liquored fruit, and tea leaves. Overall deep & silky it is full with lingering tannins.
Pair with Mediterranean rack of lamb, NY Strip, and mushroom risotto.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A big and rich Rasina with chocolate, berry and hints of meat. It’s full-bodied with round and juicy tannins and a long finish. Fresh at the end. Different and richer Brunello style from here. Drinkable now, but better in 2023 and onwards.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with certified-organic fruit, the La Rasina 2017 Brunello di Montalcino reveals dark concentration and sweet aromas of blackberry and summer-ripe plum. Generally speaking, vintners in Montalcino did an excellent job in the hot 2017 vintage by producing wines that are not jammy or baked. However, this wine definitely embraces a warm-vintage personality, and it flirts with the denser and softer side of Sangiovese. Oak spice and smoked tones help to flesh out this open and accessible release of 30,000 bottles. This Brunello is ready to go straight out of the gate.
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.