Winemaker Notes
Perfect with steak Fiorentina or quiet contemplation.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Enormous concentration, bright acidity and a stunning tannic structure make this wine stand head and shoulders above the crowd in the excellent 2012 vintage. Very dark fruits, but no hint of overripeness. Fine cocoa powder, licorice and black tea too. The complex and refined finish echoes down the valleys! Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
This is plush, boasting cherry, plum, leather, mineral and tobacco flavors. Vibrant and solidly built, with a long, expansive and spicy aftertaste. Needs some time, but this should come together nicely in three to five years. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a darkly saturated Sangiovese with a very etched and precise fruit profile. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva offers immediate aromas of black cherry liqueur and pressed blackberry. Those berry notes are followed by spice, cinnamon and toasted coffee. This Riserva hits the palate with direct force and precision. It does not show the jammy or cooked notes commonly found in Sangiovese made in this hot vintage. Only 5,000 bottles were produced.
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Wine Enthusiast
This offers aromas of plum, truffle, new leather, exotic spice and a whiff of French oak. The structured elegant palate delivers juicy Marasca cherry, raspberry compote, licorice and espresso framed in firm close-grained tannins that give the finish grip. A note of dried sage marks the close.
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.