Winemaker Notes
Ideal with game, roasted and grilled meats and medium strength cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Blended from three estate vineyards in Montalcino, this is a wine of subtle fragrance and delicacy. It feels complete and harmonious, its power hidden, delivered with finesse. Dark in tone, it behaves like an essence of plum skin and black minerals, while underneath there is plenty of extract to ground it, carrying the flavor through a long, supple finish that warms the soul rather than the throat.
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James Suckling
Aromas of cedar and milk chocolate with berries and cherries. Full body, with velvety tannins and a chewy finish. Better in a year or two but so delicious now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Brunello di Montalcino is a rich, deep, powerful wine. Layers of dark fruit melt into tobacco, mocha, dried flowers and mint in this muscular Brunello. The wine’s richness flows through to the generous, enveloping finish. This is a strong effort from Angelini. It will be fascinating to see where the estate’s top label ends up in 2006. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
Still young and nervous, this wine needs a few more years of cellar aging. There’s great potential here thanks to the wine’s natural aromas of cassis, dried fruit, cherry and toasted nut. In the mouth, it is tart, crisp and long-lasting.
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.