Winemaker Notes
Podere Salicutti, Montalcino's first certified organic estate, was founded by Francesco Leanza and carefully transitioned to legendary Munich restauranteurs Felix and Sabine Eichbauer, who have guided its evolution toward biodynamic practices while honoring the land's natural rhythms. The estate's 11 hectares of Sangiovese, spread across three adjoining vineyards—Teatro, Sorgente, and Piaggione—sit at 420–500 meters with ideal sun exposure, airflow, and marne-rich soils that enhance ripening and concentration. Salicutti's Brunello di Montalcino reflects the individuality of each plot, combining purity, structure, and a deep expression of terroir.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from a steep, south-facing single vineyard, the 2021 Brunello Di Montalcino Piaggione benefits from air and opens with wild raspberries, blackberries, flowers, orange peel, and sweet herbs. The palate is medium to full-bodied, linear, and tension-packed, with bright acidity, well-defined tannins, and a focused, driving finish that keeps building. It’s a more energetic, structured expression compared to the Sorgente and should age beautifully over the coming two decades. Drink 2027-2047.
-
James Suckling
A super-complex and spicy wine with aromas of licorice, smoky wood, dried roses and wild strawberries. Fruit sweetness on the palate, with a full body, crisp freshness, velvety tannins and a sleek, graceful and powerful finish. Drinkable now, but best from 2027.
-
Wine Spectator
This red bursts with cherry, raspberry, pomegranate and rose aromas and flavors. These are offset by earth, iron and underbrush notes, all backed by dense, dusty tannins. Hangs together nicely, with freshness and a lasting impression of ripe fruit. Best from 2029 through 2048.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Salicutti 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione shows a bright, medium- to full-bodied profile with aromas of wild cherry, forest berry and blue flower carried by a distinctly vertical aromatic line that reinforces Sangiovese purity. Compared to Sorgente, Piaggione offers more floral definition, with notes of violet and rose supported by a firm structure and incisive freshness that capture the character of this outstanding vintage. Sourced from a site with compact, mineral-rich limestone soils strewn with rocks, this focused expression is produced in 5,100 bottles.
-
Vinous
The 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione is darkly alluring and haunting in the glass. It mixes nuances of blackberry with mentholated herbs, pine shavings and hints of cardamom. More lifted than expected, it has a stern mineral core and cooling acidity that enlivens its ripe wild berry fruits. Edgy and intense, the 2021 forces the mouth to water despite its structure, as a tart cherry resonance puckers the cheeks, framed by grippy tannins.
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.