Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Perfumed and elegant, this opens with enticing scents of rose, violet, fragrant berry, baking spice, tilled earth and a hint of new leather. The delicious, silky palate is loaded with finesse, offering juicy wild cherry, cinnamon, chopped mint, black tea and a note of pipe tobacco. It's already drop-dead gorgeous but will develop more complexity over the next several years. Enjoy through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Beautifully etched, focused and sharp, the 2011 Brunello di Montalcino is one of the best wines released this vintage in Montalcino. This is a spectacular effort that underlines the high quality of fruit that was obtained in this challenging vintage. Wild berry, cola and balsam herb aromas are followed by drying mineral tones that are elegant and graceful. The effect lingers long on the palate. Given its genuine and streamlined texture, the wine promises to flesh out further as it completes its long evolution. If you are in the market for 2011 Brunello, I highly recommend Le Potazzine Gorelli.
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James Suckling
Pretty aromas of dried fruit, leather and dried orange peel. Full body with very firm, silky tannins and a racy, long finish. Wonderful length. A wine with delicious flavor and texture.
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Wine Spectator
Enticing cherry, strawberry and floral notes are accented by tobacco, briar and camphor details in this complex red. Tightly wound and compact on the finish, showing intensity, freshness and length. Best from 2018 through 2027.
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.