Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The ripeness of fruit is a hallmark for this top vineyard of Montosoli. It shows aromas of raspberries, dark cherries, lavender and roses. Medium- to full-bodied with a chewy and tight tannin structure and a long, intense and muscular finish. One of the wines of the vintage. The tannin backbone necessitates aging. Give it three or four years of bottle age. Try after 2029.
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Vinous
The 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli has a gorgeous bouquet, with sweet smoke and stone dust giving way to crushed woodland berries, rubbed sage, exotic spice and a lifting hint of fresh pine. It’s youthfully dense but seamless and smooth, with polished red fruits and a contrasting tinge of sour citrus. Florals define the finish, alongside fine tannins and echoes of sour cherry. A minute later, slate-inflected mineral tones resonate. This is one of the most complete 2021s I’ve tasted—Valdicava has achieved a striking new level of purity.
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Wine Spectator
Mint, mineral, kirsch, black currant, blackberry, violet and underbrush flavors are the highlights of this complex, intense red. Fresh and even racy, with bracing acidity focusing the tightly wound flavors. All of the components are there; this just needs time. Best from 2030 through 2050.
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.