Winemaker Notes
The 2020 vintage was simply as complicated as its time: late frosts, humid spring, summer with peaks of extreme heat and hail, with a rainy season finale. But stubbornness and experience, together with nature's magic, have brought Salcheto wines that are nevertheless profound and round, although turned to the subtle side of wine.
Blend: 95% Prugnolo Gentile (Sangiovese), 5% Colorino
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dried orange peel, savory spices, mushrooms, minerals and dry earth. Fluid, juicy and firm on the palate with a medium- to full-bodied palate marked by nicely chewy tannins. Long and tight. From organically grown grapes. Sustainable. Drink from 2025.
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Vinous
Dusty rose and cedar shaving scents combine with worn leather and dried black cherry aromas as the 2020 Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva evolves in the glass. This displays silken textures and medium-bodied weight as a solid core of mineral-infused red and blue fruit tones slowly saturates toward the close. Staining and long, the 2020 finishes with a coating of fine-grained tannins and lasting primary concentration. This is much more balanced and complex than I’ve come to expect from the 2020 vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Broad and savory, with a dense current of tannins underneath the plum, cherry, earth, iron and tobacco flavors. Balanced, if slightly on the chewy side, with a ripe fruit aftertaste. Prugnolo Gentile and Colorino. Drink now through 2038.
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.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.