Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This red boasts spice notes from new oak, along with plum, cherry, loam, mineral and sanguine aromas and flavors. Firm and concentrated, yet also impeccably balanced and with plenty to give, this reveals a juicy, cherry-infused aftertaste. Delivers terrific length. Best from 2026 through 2046.
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James Suckling
This has a pretty nose of strawberries, nutmeg, tobacco and pink peppercorns. Spicy, bright and delicious, with a full body and warm red berry fruit enveloped in firm, muscular yet ripe tannins. A touch hollow in the center palate. Deliciously open and richly fragrant, but still firm. From organically grown grapes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The organic Salicutti 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Sorgente (closed in a black wax capsule) is darker in color compared to the Piaggione. This wine also shows a heavier bouquet with some distant aldehydic aromas of dried cherry skin that could cause the bouquet to flatten with time. For that reason, I recommend a near or medium-term drinking window. Enjoy the Sorgente today and put the Piaggione aside for more aging. The tannins are still firm, so that needs some navigating or perhaps a pairing with a cheese or butter-heavy dish. Sorgente is a vigorous and humid parcel with sandy soils, stone and ancient marine fossils.
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.