Winemaker Notes
The family at Pietroso delivers true Montalcino wines, high-altitude Sangiovese that is fresh, elegant and concentrated. Notes of autumn leaves, red berries, and spice.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
The almost impossibly fresh nose drops you right onto a cliff's jagged edge, where sprouts of mint and fennel fight their way through cracks in the stone, before friendlier aromas of cherry, spices and earth eventually emerge. That spicy fruit livens up the palate, which features notes of strawberry, plum, orange peel, cloves and licorice, while polished, lithe tannins swing from a trapeze above it all.
-
Decanter
Owner Gianni Pignattai farms 3.7 hectares of Brunello vineyards distributed among three separate plots, which he blends together. Following an admirable effort in the challenging 2017 vintage, Pietroso follows up with a beautiful 2018. It exudes pure red cherry and rose underscored by new leather and a suggestion of vanilla. Midweight and understated, this well-parsed Brunello offers just enough to sink your teeth into. The tannins are silky yet assertive, jaunty acidity elevates the red berry flavours, and the finish rings out with blood orange charm.
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.