Winemaker Notes
In the glass Tassi Brunello di Montalcino has an intense ruby red color with garnet reflections. The nose is very intense. Hints of ripe fruit stand out, in particular plum and cherry accompanied by a very fine and elegant spiciness. In the mouth it is pleasant and refined.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Fascinating aromas of red cherries, orange blossoms and lilacs, with fresh undertones of mushrooms and forest floor. Medium-bodied with silky tannins that caress your palate and give a graceful impression of the vintage. So attractive now that you’ll want to drink it right away, but it will improve beautifully with age. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Brunello Di Montalcino pours a bright red hue and is expressive on the nose, with ripe cherries, pressed flowers, fresh sage, and licorice. The palate is medium-bodied and vibrant, with ripe tannins, refreshing acidity, and a purity of fruit that carries through the finish. It has a good deal of youthful primary fruit at this early stage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The organic Tassi 2021 Brunello di Montalcino highlights freshness with purple fruit tones, blue flowers and subtle minty accents carried over silky tannins. Within the Tassi range, this village Brunello sits a step above the Rosso di Montalcino Greppino 193 and below the single-vineyard wines, offering clarity, balance and slightly more power derived from maceration times lasting 20 days. Fermented in a combination of cement and oak before two years of aging in botti, the wine blends fruit from multiple parcels to deliver an accessible, mid-weight expression.
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.