Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Shows superb complexity in terms of aromas with cedar, berry, ginger, flower and plum character. Full body and firm and very silky tannins that have been polished to near perfection. This wine just gets better and better with each sip. Better in 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Poggio di Sotto has released one of the wines of the vintage. The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva fulfills the promise of its category. Brunello Riservas are aged for six long years before their release, thus insuring extra intensity and complexity. This wine delivers both in abundance. The bouquet is more sophisticated and deeper than the Annata and in addition to dark fruit and blackberry, this wine shows an extra dose of clove and spice. In the mouth, the wine is smooth and silky, but it also shows impressive power and length. This Riserva will deliver its best performance for those who are willing to wait ten years or more.
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Wine Enthusiast
Crushed berry, leather, tilled soil, blue flower and a whiff of fennel lead the nose. The ripe palate offers juicy black cherry, black raspberry, white pepper and anise alongside firm, close-grained tannins. Give this time to fully develop and reach its full potential. Drink 2022–2032.
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Wine & Spirits
From the excellent 2010 vintage, this combines succulence and savor in a powerful yet lithe frame. The fruit comes from the estate’s organically farmed vineyards in Montalcino’s southern sector, near Castelnuovo dell’Abate, where the slopes rise from 650 to 1,300 feet in altitude—cool heights that help the fruit preserve acidity. Aged for five years in large Slavonian casks, the wine needs a little air to get past its initial notes of volatility, then reveals a dense core of black-cherry fruit infused with fresh herbs and spices. The flavors turn savory as the wine evolves in the glass, picking up notes of smoked meat and fire-roasted tomatoes even as saline acidity freshens the finish. Built for the long haul, it should rest at least five more years in the cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Initially shows acetone aromas, then opens up to reveal complex flavors of sour cherry, spice and leather matched to a racy, elegant profile. Silky in texture and almost ethereal, with a long, minerally aftertaste. Best from 2018 through 2033.
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.