Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color with intense, complex aromas at the nose, rich in ripe fruits, spices and toasted notes.
Enjoy with seasoned cheese and game meat.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
On the nose, aromas of black cherry, vanilla and coffee emerge from the glass first, followed by fresh potting soil, crushed rocks and herbs. Cherries and berries star on the palate, while notes of dark chocolate and coffee make themselves known in the background for balance. Chalky tannins and a pop of acid sit on the tip of your tongue.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pouring a dark red color, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is sappy and ripe with aromas of baked blackberries, lavender, balsamic herbs, chewing tobacco, and forest floor. A lush, full-bodied wine with velvety tannins, a coating, rich texture, a well-balanced feel, and polished oak spice through the finish, it offers good length and should continue to improve over the coming 10-12 years.
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James Suckling
Cherry, dark-mushroom, bark and orange-peel aromas follow through to a medium body with firm tannins and a chewy finish. Needs time to soften and develop palate complexity. Try after 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This Brunello boasts an open-knit style with textured tannins and lots of dark fruit at its core. With an ample 120,000 bottles made, the Tenute Silvio Nardi 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is a medium to full-bodied Sangiovese with a combination of dried blackberry flavors and sweetly toasted oak.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and polished, featuring cherry, strawberry, earth, sanguine and tobacco flavors underscored by a wave of impenetrable tannins. Nonetheless, this red is not overly astringent, and there's a lasting impression of ripe fruit. Just needs time. Best from 2028 through 2045.
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.