Winemaker Notes
Rich ruby red in color, Palazzo Brunello Riserva is a wine with fantastic intensity and structure. Intriguing dark fruits such as cherries and plums with hints of spice and minerals. Full body, savory and firmly textured tannins. A truly exceptional wine reserved for the most special of occasions, celebrations and hearty meals.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s a mellow, leathery thread to this Riserva, as well as some riper red-cherry and berry aromas and flavors. The oak adds cedary, graphite-like notes and the tannins are succulent at the finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Just like the 2014 Brunello that I tasted at the same time, the 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva tastes slightly older and more evolved than expected. The wine opens to a dark maroon color with deep amber browning at the edges. The primary fruit has faded and what you get instead recalls spice, dried plum, wild mushroom, savory tobacco and crushed terracotta. The wine drinks nicely right now straight out of the gate, and for that reason I am reluctant to suggest long cellar aging.
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.