Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very floral, with dark fruits and sandalwood aromas. Full body, with silky tannins and a fruity, tangy finish. The balance and finesse for a wine with wonderful depth is impressive. Try in 2015.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Brunello di Montalcino is lush, sweet and inviting. Today the 2007 doesn't quite have the sheer visceral thrill and excitement of the 2006, but it more than makes up for that with its early approachability. Dark red berries, spices and crushed flowers are layered into the finish. There is plenty of volume but not a lot of structure. The 2007 Brunello was made from three separate parcels with different altitudes and exposures. Malolactic fermentation was done in steel and the wine was aged in a combination of casks and neutral small French oak barrels.
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Wine Enthusiast
Austere, tight and sophisticated, this well-extracted Brunello shows dry aromas of crushed granite stone along with ethereal tones of dried ginger, black licorice and root beer. Inky appearance with chewy richness. The mouthfeel is round, chewy and packed with sweet fruit and spice. Pulpy and rich. Drink after 2015.
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.