Winemaker Notes
Color ruby red garnet, flavors of ripe berry, spicy scents of vanilla, cinnamon and tobacco. Hot entry in mouth, soft and full, very persistent on final.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, strawberry, black pepper and a huge mineral vein mark this sleek, intense red. Shows tension, energy and harmony on a linear frame, and the finish extends with elements of Mediterranean scrub. Best from 2027 through 2043.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is exuberant in the glass. It pours a deep ruby/red color and is lush with aromas of preserved cherries, lavender oils, strawberry compote, and fresh sage. Full-bodied and rounded on the palate, it's open-knit and approachable, with ripe, velvety tannins, even acidity, and a very nice finish. It's a very appealing wine that's going to offer a wide drinking window over the coming 8-10 years.
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Vinous
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is mineral-rich, with a dark floral profile containing notes of graphite and crushed stone that come together with grilled herbs and savory spice. It's surprisingly juicy and fresh, with a cascade of ripe red plums and rosy inner florals energized by vibrant acidity. It leaves a tart cranberry concentration, finishing gently tannic yet full of youthful tension. Further time in bottle should help to lift its brooding aromatics—nicely done.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Mocali 2020 Brunello di Montalcino shows a classic bouquet for aged Sangiovese. There are some dried cherry aromas with grilled herb, pressed flower, licorice and sweet earth. You get a little bit of everything. The effect is well-balanced and fresh, and there is enough power to stand up to a slow-simmered meat sauce for pasta.
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James Suckling
Evolved notes of tobacco and forest floor dominate here. Meaty aromas, together with dried cherries and darker fruit, too. Medium-bodied, showing lifted acidity and firm tannins with thick extraction, giving a drying finish.
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.