Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I was very impressed with the 2009 Brunello di Montalcino. The wine hits the senses from all sides, offering a refined sense of sophistication and opulence. Ripe fruit, dark spice, mocha and sweet tobacco all emerge from the glass with graceful, almost understated intensity. The wine offers a rare continuum, straddling both restraint and boldness. The results are exceptional.
-
James Suckling
A wine with dried berries, dark chocolate and hints of basil. Full body with velvety tannins and a juicy finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Tight, with solid grip supporting the cherry, plum and tobacco flavors. Fresh and stern, this hangs together and shows persistence. A wisp of orange completes the finish. Best from 2016 through 2025.
-
Wine Enthusiast
It opens with a fragrance that recalls mature black plum, wet soil, underbrush, balsamic herbs and a whiff of leather. The ripe palate delivers juicy black cherry accented with black pepper and thyme alongside bracing tannins.
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.