Winemaker Notes
It appears in the glass with a wonderful red ruby color, luminous and bright as a great Sangiovese. The nose has precise and clean aromas with perfectly floral notes integrated. Tannins are sapid, almost salty which combined with the spiced typical acidity of the vintage, give as a result a wine that stands out for the elegant and traditional style.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino has evolved beautifully over the last year, with a darkly alluring bouquet of flowery underbrush, worn leather, and sage giving way to crushed strawberries and autumnal spice. It impresses with its silken depths offset by a wave of tart red berry fruits and brisk acidity as crunchy mineral tones add contrast toward the close. Its sneaky tannins come in late, staining and potent, as nuances of lavender linger through the youthfully structured finale. This is easily one of the wines of the vintage. Pure beauty.
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Decanter
When I tried Le Potazzine’s 2020 Rosso di Montalcino a couple of years ago, my tasting notes exclaimed, ‘buy!!!’. I was enchanted by the heady florals, munificent fruit, silky texture and vibrancy. While the Brunello is less immediately explosive, it kicks everything up a notch with graceful intensity and sneaky density. Winter mint, rose and red raspberry build slowly in the glass. Fine, powdery tannins provide a precise outline to the supple yet crunchy fruit, and pink grapefruit refreshes. Seamless and effortlessly complex. Again I say, ‘buy!’.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is a very elegant expression with tart berry aromas backed by pulverized stone, light spice and hints of pressed violet. This is a pretty style of Sangiovese realized by Gigliola Giannetti and her lovely daughters in an area of the appellation that always delivers freshness, bright fruit flavors and lower alcohol, measured here at 13.5% (even in the warmest seasons). This vintage is poised for medium-term drinking, and this gives it a friendly or accessible side.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose opens cool and earthy, with damp soil and pepper, then high-toned, tart, crunchy berries spring forth. Tart blackberries and black plums preen on the palate, which remains peppery and earthy, with a few flakes of salt highlighting those savory elements, but citrus notes creep up on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
This is elegant and tight, revealing strawberry, cherry, rose, mineral and spice flavors. Its formidable tannins sweep in, clamping down and dominating the finish. The fruit comes back, so be patient. Best from 2028 through 2045.
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.