Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here's a new wine from Le Ragnaie. The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Petroso is produced in an extremely limited volume, with a mere 600 bottles hitting the market at the start of the new year. With such a limited production, it's a shame more people won't be able to taste this pretty Brunello. The wine shows enormous purity and finesse with forest berry and wild cherry and delicate mineral notes on the silky finish. This wine is an expression of extreme elegance and grace.
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Wine Spectator
Intense black cherry, black currant and floral aromas and flavors are shaded by earth, iron, tobacco and soy in this incisive, harmonious red, which is bursting with energy that resonates on the terrific aftertaste. So charming now, yet should age beautifully. Best from 2024 through 2048.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Petroso Brunello di Montalcino is the first ever vintage as a single vineyard bottling for Le Ragnaie, having historically been utilized in their White Label Brunello. Petroso lies at 450 meters of elevation situated just west of the fortress of Montalcino on sandstone soils. Only 700 bottles were produced. The nose is lifted with menthol, spiced dried cherry, tar and dusty earth. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp cherry fruit, dried orange peel, spices, and tobacco leaf. There are fine-grained, drying tannins and energetic acidity. Full of tension, this will be a fantastic wine to watch over time as it matures, if you can manage to get your hands on a bottle to potentially compare with other vintages down the road. Enjoy 2024-2042. This is an exciting time for the Le Ragnaie estate and I look forward to tasting the vintages to come.
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James Suckling
A very pretty, ripe red with plums, cherries, citrus and some cedar. It’s medium-bodied with round, soft tannins and a flavorful finish. Very attractive already. Drinkable now, but better in 2022.
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.