Winemaker Notes
A super-classic profile of sweet red cherries, smoke, tobacco, cedar and wild herbs lift from the glass in a perfumed, silky Brunello that captures the essence of Sangiovese in this cool, late-ripening vintage. The 2010 is delicious today, but it can also be cellared for another 15-20 years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Crazy nose with chocolate, smoke, grilled meat, ripe fruits and walnuts. The palate is super and goes on for minutes with plum, berry, spice, chocolate, and nuts. Full body, velvety tannins and a long, long finish. Amazing quality. Goes on for minutes. Made from biodynamically grown grapes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino shows easy lines with delicate nuances of red berry, bramble, rose petal, dusty earth, crushed mineral, licorice and grilled herb. No one element outweighs the others. The wine presents a delicate patchwork of Sangiovese nuances but does so in the most elegant and understated matter. Feminine in personality, the wine glides smoothly over the palate with gentle, polished tannins. This wine should show well in a few more years.
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Wine Spectator
Aromas of wild olive, juniper, rosemary and eucalyptus meet plum and licorice flavors. This is tannic, but shows sweet fruit for balance in the end. Slightly more rustic than its peers for now. Best from 2018 through 2031. 2,000 cases made.
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.