Winemaker Notes
Francesco Leanza, proprietor of Salicutti, was the first producer in Montalcino to attain organic certification. Iron fist in the velvet glove, packed with complexity, cherry, tobacco, roses, and mineral, yet smooth tannins undermine the age worthy potential of this Brunello. A rising star in the region.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Focused and linear with blueberry, crushed stone and purple fruit. It’s medium-bodied with firm, dusty tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Vivid as usual. One for the cellar.
-
Wine Spectator
Bright cherry and juniper flavors are the main flavor themes, augmented by strawberry, wild thyme, stone and loam notes. Taut, elegant and well-structured, balanced and long. The finish reveals this wine's potential.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Salicutti 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione is a mid-weight red wine with a deep and lasting aromatic impact. The wine offers very vertical or lifted aromas of dried fruit, cedar wood, tilled earth, cigar, cola and medicinal herb. It also shows a lot of balsamic character, and this is something I often recognize in warm-vintage Brunello, while it offers less primary fruit. The character here is ethereal and fragrant, shedding any monolithic tones you might expect of a wine of this depth and persistence. I would recommend a medium-term drinking window so that you catch the fruit before it fades.
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.