Winemaker Notes
Taking its name from an aromatic wild herb, the Brunello di Montalcino Helichrysum comes from the highest vineyards on the San Polino site. It is always elegant, opulent and structured.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Helichrysum is crafted from vineyards around San Polino’s winery in Montalcino’s southeast. Harvested just after the estate Brunello, the grapes saw the same pre-fermentation maceration to fix colour, as well as gentle daily pumpovers to keep fragile skins intact. Opening slowly, it's as equally distinct in fragrance as its sister bottling - though more Mediterranean in temperament. Lavender and scented broom mingle with pepper, expanding with sumptuous tannins that hem in plentiful fruit, perky acidity that keeps it lively, and a long and violet-tinged finish. It definitely carries the stuffing and structure for ageing.
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James Suckling
This has an intense and attractive nose of peach stones, wild strawberries, cherries, cocoa beans, licorice, matcha and pressed flowers. Generous and aromatically open, with tightly-knit tannins interwoven with layers that keep on giving. Evolves to roasted tea leaves and minerals. Medium and fresh. From organically grown grapes.
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.