Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Offering complex aromas of rose, truffle, cherry, leather, iron and licorice, this keeps coming at you, delivering ripe flavors and depth. Shows terrific balance and a long, lively aftertaste of sweet cherry, berry, mineral and savory notes.
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Wine Enthusiast
Earthy aromas of underbrush, scorched earth, leather and fragrant blue flower mingle with whiffs of exotic spice on this full-bodied red. It's chewy and delicious, doling out raspberry jam, baked plum, cocoa and licorice alongside enveloping velvety tannins. It closes on a hint of dried mint.
Cellar Selection
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James Suckling
So much black-cherry and fresh-mushroom character with chocolate undertones. Full body and round, chewy tannins. Spicy and decadent undertones. New wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here is a new wine from Le Ragnaie with fruit coming exclusively from the celebrated Montosoli hill. Le Ragnaie's 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Casanovina Montosoli veers toward graceful tones of wild cherry, pressed blueberries and those little bluebell violets that grow deep in the forest. The aromas here are more pungent and vertical in character with cola and medicinal tones that rise directly from the top. The mouthfeel is compact and lean, with long, medium-weight staying power that leaves a precise and sharply chiseled trail of fruit flavors. This Casanovina Montosoli expression is a real treat thanks to those lingering tones of crushed mineral and smoke. These are very encouraging results. Of these new releases from Le Ragnaie, my money is on this bottle for the best cellar-aging performance.
Rating: 95+
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Wine & Spirits
This is deeply concentrated, with flavors of black cherry and raspberry that are expressive despite the wine’s firm, chewy tannins. Layers of tobacco, tea and tomato leaf add dimension to the fruit while ferrous minerality lends a coolness to the flavors.
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.