Winemaker Notes
Light and ethereal yet structured and complex with tart red cherries, blackberries and strawberries intertwined with crushed flowers, peppery herbs and earthy mineral notes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
On the nose, aromas of soy sauce, stone, pepper, mixed herbs and black plum swirl together to create a savory, salty, cool sensation, like a late fall sea breeze. The palate leans into the tart fruit, with black cherries, blackberries and plum, before a bitter, herbaceous finish. Round, smooth tannins create a silken mouthfeel.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino is fragrant with incense, rose petals, red raspberry, and blood orange. Elegant, with fine tannins, it is approachable already in its youthful stage. Its refreshing acidity and wonderful dusty earth minerality make it a very pleasing wine to drinking now or over the next 10 years. Best After 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is delicate and fine with aromas of wild cherry, licorice, grilled herb and pressed violet. It brings on more power to the palate with medium-rich concentration, pretty freshness and silky tannins. The fine tannic management stands out here, as does its contained alcohol. In a vintage that sees very high alcohol levels across the board, Le Ragnaie should be congratulated on maintaining a more moderate 13.5% alcohol content. Winemaking sees cement and large oak casks.
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Wine Spectator
Bright and juicy, this red features cherry, strawberry, floral and mineral flavors. This is firmly structured and crisp in texture as it plays out on the tangy finish. Just needs time to integrate.
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.