Winemaker Notes
Structured and elegant, with silky tannins and a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Ripe fruit with lavender and sandalwood as well as some new wood on the nose. Medium to full body, with firm and structured tannins that are polished and curated. Needs time to soften and come together. Bigger style for Pacenti due to the hot vintage. Try after 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Siro Pacenti 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne shows an extra degree of concentration and thickness thanks both to the vintage (this hot and dry growing season produced darker, more intense berries) and the older vines that also work toward greater fruit weight. The Vecchie Vigne shows lots of depth and textural weaving with dark berries and oak spice. In fact, the oak (and that big 15% alcohol) is more prominent in this 18,000-bottle release. It offers long-lasting notes of smoke, sweet cedar and woodshop.
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Vinous
The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne presents an intense bouquet of crushed raspberries and cloves giving way to dusty florals and hints of incense. The textures are wonderfully silky and refined, ushering in a rush of mineral-tinged primary fruits that are brighter and more red-toned in this vintage than usual, as well as incredibly concentrated. The tannins come forward through the close, grippy and youthfully dry, along with a salty flourish, while leaving hints of licorice to slowly taper off. Siro Pacenti cut their production down by 50% to create this successful expression of the 2017 vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Initially well marked by new oak, the resinous note of this red has toned down, with vanilla notes framing the black cherry and blackberry fruit flavors, while a solid layer of beefy tannins lends support. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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.