Winemaker Notes
San Giorgio Ugolforte presents a dark core of red and black berry fruit layered with earth, leather, smoke, and herbs. Complex and elegant, the wine is full on the palate and firm in tannin structure. Refreshing acidity frames a graceful finish. Classic Brunello di Montalcino.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Stitched with cherry, strawberry, iron and tobacco flavors, this round red is intense and elegant, with a dense matrix of tannins and vibrant acidity lending support as this cruises to a long,
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino Ugolforte is rich with blackberry, licorice, toasted sweet cedar, black cherry, and dark scorched earth. On the palate, it is full-bodied, with lush fruit and soft velvety tannins, notes of ripe blackberry, tea leaf, turned earth, and no bitterness. Approachable thanks to its ripe fruit, it will still benefit from time in the cellar to lose its youthful baby fat.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Showing medium-dark concentration, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Ugolforte is savory in character with black spice, saddle leather and some distant hints of cured meat. I always associate Ugolforte with a more contemporary winemaking style that showcases spice, ripe fruit and soft tannins. This vintage delivers all of those things over a plush and accessible mouthfeel.
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Wine Enthusiast
A sweet nose of vanilla, toasted coconut and candied cherry is balanced by undertones of wild herbs. On the palate, that sweetness evolves with figs and chocolate, while crushed stones and soil amplify the savory. Notable tannins are almost chewy with density and structure.
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.