Winemaker Notes
Deep ruby red color and cherries and violets aromas act as overture to a broad mouthfeel, voluptuous and smooth characterized by minerality and a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a really delicious wine with sweet berries, cherries and some plums. Citrus, too. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins and a fresh finish. Drink now.
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Decanter
Picking grapes from both Tavernelle (where the winery is located) and Sant'Angelo in Colle, this Rosso di Montalcino is always an appealing mix between sweetness of fruit and depth. The 2018 vintage was 'a more rainy and certainly a more typical vintage than the previous, where it was necessary to have continuous attention in the vineyard during the growing season. Excellent weather conditions during the harvest and our characteristic thermal excursion have made possible an ideal maturation of the grapes, which gave us a juicy and cellarable Rosso di Montalcino,' said producer Gigliola Giannetti. Meaty on the nose with sweet raspberry fruit and smoky woodland notes, it's even darker on the palate: full and structured with firm, chalky tannins and slightly austere on the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Rosso di Montalcino is forward with ripe plum, fresh violets and licorice spice. The palate is ripe with fresh black raspberry, black tea, and dark mineral earth, with considerable structure and building tannin's. Its forward fruit balanced with gripping structure make for a fairly serious Rosso that may show best by holding off a year or more in cellar. It was aged for over a year in Slavonian casks. Drink 2022-2026.
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.