Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Breathtaking purity of fruit here with such depth and presence. Full-bodied, yet you don’t see it. Weightless, this has a solid core of fruit plus refined and intense tannins that build in the finish. It’s rather endless and seamless. Give this four or five years to come around, but if you have a chance to taste it, don’t hold back. Best after 2028 and beyond.
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Vinous
Dark and radiant, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna del Piano Riserva seduces with an array of dried black cherries, plums and mint complicated by crushed ashen stones and a dusting of cacao. This marries the power of the site with the energy of the vintage, enveloping the senses in creamy textures and masses of red and black fruits as a stimulating core of acidity and crisp mineral tones add contrast. The 2019 tapers off exceptionally long and potent, flexing its fine tannins as echoes of blackberry and licorice fade. This is a beast in need of taming.
Rating: 96+ -
Wine Spectator
Laced with black cherry, blackberry, violet and iron flavors, this red is lush and velvety. There's a strong base of fine-grained tannins and an impressive core of fruit that goes on seemingly for minutes on the finish. An enticing combination of impressive fruit and structure.
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.