Twenty-four mind-blowing wines of 2024

‘Tis an exercise performed year after year, a word processor’s per annum distillation to say thank you and recognize game. To consistently act as messenger, be conscious of hard work filed and to celebrate that excellence. The first list was conceived more than 10 years ago, now peaking at its current number with twenty-four mind-blowing wines chosen for 2024. Travels to fluctuating destinations mean from year to year wine regions will carry different weight and the list abides by the variance. In 2023 Bordeaux played a significant role, as did South Africa and Washington in 2022, Bourgogne in 2019, and so on. The rules of engagement never change but evolution plays its part, priorities pivot and you never can say or tell what sorts of matters will strike deep into the heart.

Related – Twenty-three mind-blowing wines of 2023

Last one standing (sitting and tasting) at the Chianti Classico Collection 2024

Godello needs to make a confession, shed some honesty, clear the air. He admits to a love for writing tasting notes and needing to do it, especially when a potentially mind-blowing wine is in the glass and what follows flows forth as a stream of consciousness, ending only when the creative tap closes naturally. When these notes are edited weeks or even months later there is the incredulous feeling of “how did this get written – where did these words come from?” They just did, from right out of the wellspring of creativity, but Godello does not know how he came to write those notes – as if they were magically written. Paragraphs woven from dots and thoughts for unsuspecting connections between writings and wine, such as “Ribelle è colui che si distingue.” Translated as, or better yet in reference to “the rebel is the one who recognizes the unjust law and breaks free from it,” from Ernst Jünger’s 1951 “The Rebel’s Treatise.” The German philosopher, essayist and WWII captain was once called die Burgunderszene because he watched a bombing raid in Paris while sipping Burgundy. The stylish supervillain of twentieth-century German literature’s disquisition shared dire and prophetic words on what a future world would be, in what he called the “Age of the Titans.”

Related – Twenty-two mind-blowing wines of 2022

Godello beneath a massive Tuscan Mazza di Tamburo/Parasol Mushroom

Or this. “The label represents the position of the vines in coordinates, echoed in the machicolations of a sangiovese that drops all the stones on unsuspecting palates through fruit openings between supporting acid corbels of a projecting tannic parapet.” Where did that come from? Or simply, “who needs fruit when you have rocks?”

Related – Twenty-one mind-blowing wines of 2021

ColleMassari

More than rugs tie rooms together – lyrics, song titles, movie quotes, literary passages, exchanges between a journalist and a poet, thinker, writer, actor or composer – they are all a part of the masala. Reminds of a 2021 interview with a reluctant prophet. “Try to sit down and write something like that – there’s a magic to that and it’s not Siegfried & Roy kinda magic you know, it’s a different kind of penetrating magic.” All kidding comparisons aside with Bob Dylan’s answers to Ed Bradley in that famous 60 minutes exchange, but they may just be artistic words to live by. And why Godello? “You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free.” As for the relevance of wine tasting notes, sure it feels like being “a wordsmith from bygone days,” but it still feels right. And necessary. And unavoidable. A bottomless pit of cultural oblivion? No, not that. Tasting notes tell stories that need to be told. Relayed by messengers fulfilling a destiny to visit and break bread with good people making great wines and in turn agreeing to relay their tales. Tasting notes are the chronicles, expressed as narrative, of anecdotes woven through prose. If there is a better way to say what needs to be said it has not yet been found.

Related – Twenty mind-blowing wines of 2020

Chianti Classico’s Cento Anni

As of today’s date and the publishing of this year-end list Godello has reviewed 4,225 wines. If the origins of said wines were to be separated into categories than the breakdown would be as follows. Thirty percent would be from the LCBO’s VINTAGES release program, 24 percent for WineAlign Exchange curation and wine reviewing service, (12) Chianti Classico, (8) Piemonte, (6) Montalcino, (6) Sicilia and the remaining (14) from travels to other parts of Italy and around the world. A smaller part of one percent would be from wines enjoyed with friends, tasting groups, wine agent reps, visiting winemakers and at home. It all adds up to one great pool from which to create this list of 24, a number to represent just slightly more than half of one percent of the wines tasted by Godello in 2024. Here are his twenty-four mind-blowing wines of 2024.

Angelina Franzen – Weingut Franzen

Weingut Franzen Riesling Sterneberg Großes Gewächs 2020, Große Lagen, Mosel

Killian and Angelina Franzen’s best plot in the Neefer Frauenberg is called Sterneberg. Vines were planted in 1938 on grey slate for a different, next level mineral quality and quotient for Mosel riesling. These are own-rooted vines, old, experienced and wise, their resulting dry wine coming away like the desert because sugar and acids near-equal come together seamlessly. The most viscosity and texture of the Franzen rieslings, from a hot vintage and so concentration, unctuousness, flesh, pulp and glissade are all at peak performance. Glorious and confident, outspoken but only to make sure we understand its origins and Franzen abides by its voice. Drink 2024-2033.   Tasted March 2024

Caroline Diel – Schlossgut Diel

Schlossgut Diel Dry Riesling Pittermännchen GG 2022, Vdp. Grosses Gewächs

The tiny one hectare cru Pittermännchen is a name that dates to the middle ages with a connection to the people of Köln and Düsseldorf. Grand cru site of weathered grey (Devonian) slate atop Rotliegend conglomerate that dates back several million years. The geo-agricultural texture is small decomposed particles as opposed to the larger stones of the Mosel. Expressive flint stone aromatics undeniably soil related and not much fruit to discuss, save for some variegate currants but you really have to conjure imagination. There is a mille-feuille density to this riesling that peels away and delivers waves in layers without boundaries. Complexities are revealed without pause and dryness results because purity and grip replace the necessity for sugar-acid balance. So stony, long and our palates are held captive. Top shelf riesling within the idiom. Drink 2026-2033.  Tasted March 2024

Adega Do Vulcáo (c) entrevinhas.com

Adega Do Vulcáo Ameixâmbar 2022, Açores IG

A seriously volcanic blend of native grapes from two areas, first the ash of the Capelinhos and second the basalt of the Criaçào Velha. Add in the cold Atlantic influence and the result is something extraordinary to potentially mind-blowing. That depends on how much flint struck rock, mineral mouthfuls and deepening trajectories you may or not desire in your endemically-formulated white wines. Ameixambar is just such an animal and the profile, especially noted with verve and lashes upon the palate, is well, remarkable. Nothing else feels or tastes like this wine. Truly salty and there are notes that imagine powder created by crushing many different shells, inclusive of oyster, calm and mussel. You may ask yourself what is this, but you can answer with a simple word, or place. Açores. Drink 2024-2029.  Tasted July 2024

(c) inama.wine

Inama I Palchi Grande Cuvée Foscarino Soave Classico DOC 2021

I Palchi, as in the “stages,” a geographical term for a series of wide terraces aboard Monte Foscarino lined with pergolas of old garganega vines. In this case Inama’s highest level of Soave Classico meant to celebrate the ancients. As a surname it belonged to a cleric but also Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – 22 April 1622), member of the Venetian nobility, ambassador to Paris, London and later sentenced to death for high treason by the Council of Ten and executed. Yikes! This Foscarino ode is intended towards grapes and volcanic terroir for a bloody incredible garganega of substance and style. The ’21’s ability to attract and engage the taster’s attention is at the top of the Soave game. Fresh, flinty and wholly engaging. Mind-blowing actually. Drink 2024-2029.  Tasted December 2024

Marqués De Murrieta Capellanía Reserva Blanco 2018, Rioja DOCa

Only viura grapes are chosen from a six hectare calcareous clay plot off of 70 year-old vines located at the highest elevation of the Marqués De Murrieta Ygay Estate. The winemaking might well be working with sauvignon blanc and sémillon but with viura the ageing in French barrels takes a turn for the unexpected ethereal. The flinty smoulder is an intoxicant of the most hypnotizing order. The effect upon the palate and all the senes is extraordinary – mesmerizing. So what is Capellanía? In Spain it was a chantry or ecclesiastical endowment, one of several pious works commonly founded during the colonial period. A foundation in which certain assets are subject to the fulfillment of masses and other pious charges. Imaginatively speaking Capellanía is a rarity, monoceros, symbol of grace purity, power and transcendence. Not to mention healing powers and freedom. A unicorn. Drink 2024-2033.  Tasted June 2024

Vanessa Cherruau
(c) media.ouest-france.fr

Château De Plaisance Sur La Butte 2021, Anjou AOP

A wildly aromatic two cabernet blend from the Butte de Chaume where some of the finest wines made anywhere come from Chaume, Quarts de Chaume and Savennières. The curiosity and modernist approach is made two-fold by the presence of cabernet sauvignon to stride effortlessly alongside the usual franc. Yes this smells like the Loire but the aromas deliver so much more, in curiosity and intriguing sensations. Anjou in place and temperament but in design this may as well be a contemporary, abstract or Pop Art piece by François Morellet. The two related varieties form an almost intricate geometric pattern in the way they line the palate, so cleanly drawn with mathematical clarity. Yes this is serious Loire red wine but it’s also traceable, pre-minimalist and post conceptual by design. Drink 2024-2028.  Tasted April 2024

Godello and Giuseppe Russo

Girolamo Russo Etna Bianco DOC San Lorenzo 2023

San Lorenzo as Bianco from Giuseppe Russo is not like other Etna Bianco because well, San Lorenzo. Wow is the operative because no other EB gives like this. Beyond flesh and stone but something that defines what the two can effect, layered so invisibly and magically together. It seems impossible to believe that extract and conversions could come together this way, urged and supported buy some of the mountain’s finest quality of acidity and white grape tannins. This must be the place, eh? Carricante with 10 percent catarratto and grecanico makes it happen. Drink 2025-2033.  Tasted May 2024

With Alphonse Potel – Domaine de Bellene

Domaine De Bellene Vosne Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots Bourgogne AOC 2022

In the woods as they say, “souches” or here “Suchots,” a 0.2159 hectare block in Vosne-Romanée that hangs a little longer, likely because the forest asks it to. Fresher, high spirited and savoury Bourgogne comes from the vineyard, picked on September 5th, coming away with more phenolic grip and aromatic volume because of the place. Less defined in 2022 perhaps because of a vintage’s great munificence but as far as plots in this area are concerned there are few that will speak as clearly as Les Suchots. Seamless and focused, unique as they come in an era of technical proficiency and expertise. Drink 2026-2038.  Tasted August 2024

Marc de Grazia – Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Calderara Sottana 2022

What Marc de Grazia considers to be the finest contrada on the north slope and yet there are micro plots within the eight parcels that can only be made into Rosato in humid vintages. This comes from the oldest vines, more than 80 years old and just one look sees a brightness and transparency inciting the senses as they take in a bouquet not having yet nosed in the other Rossi. Calderara Sottana is the most demure, the finest of sound and vision, the one you take in slowest, without haste, to allow unfurling and length to travel as far as it wishes, evocatively so. “It asks delicate questions,” says de Grazia. “Rose petal perfume and tannins that don’t cut off your palate.” Even more is this elastic meander, not aimless but with purpose and our palates follow every step. Like Giuseppe Russo’s (though de Grazia sees little comparison) this provides the exception to so many Etna Rosso rules. Drink 2027-2038.  Tasted September 2024

Collina Serragrilli Barbaresco DOCG Sorì Serragrilli 2021, Neive

Lovely aromatic presence, richly defined fruit of purity and expressiveness, fine and open. Exotic spicing and truly floral of a perfume that keeps one from needing to rush into a sip. The palate does not disappoint in fact it carries off and forward with equal ability to hold attention for as long as a participant is willing to hang around. These are tannins as fine as the sweet and supportive acids that precede them. A really impressive Barbaresco, forthright and a test of qualities held in reserve that can be counted upon for a decade and a half more time. Drink 2026-2037.  Tasted blind at Nebbiolo Prima January 2024

With Michela Morris, Nadia and Walter Fissore – Elvio Cogno

Elvio Cogno Barolo DOCG Ravera Bricco Pernice 2019, Novello

The hill within the hill, Bricco Pernice upon Ravera, isolated, insulated and encapsulated for nebbiolo of an insular and implosive intensity that’s likely unparalleled anywhere else in Novello. Closed and not because of vintage but due to time and really that’s about it A broad shouldered and muscular nebbiolo that must be given as much bottle time as it spent in cask, or double that for even better results. That means check back in 2026 or later to see if any part of the tannins have unfolded, unfurled or stretched out for some exercise. Likely not but then some parts will finally have as the decade unwinds. Also it’s normal in January for Pernice to be tight and a bit closed. Oh, by the way this was made with 100 PERCENT WHOLE BUNCH NEBBIOLO. For Barolo. Single vineyard Barolo from a storied MGA. Walter’s mid-life crisis begins right here and it’s glorious. Drink 2029-2045.  Tasted January 2024

Nebbiolo Prima 2024

Cavallotto Tenuta Bricco Boschis Barolo DOCG Bricco Boschis 2010, Castiglione Falletto

A top echelon cru, a producer that gets it as well as if not better than the rest and an eponymous label out of a relationship that develops longevity without equal. That would be the thrilling isosceles trilogy of Cavallotto Tenuta Bricco Boschis, Bricco Boschis and Barolo. Their 2010 is as youthful as any nebbiolo of this age, striking, rising, invigorating and still working through its operations. A performance piece of varietal for landscape as the most terroir driven Barolo as any of the best in the land can be. A triangle of Castiglione Falletto that speaks in unequivocal terms, fruit, acid and tannin intertwined, five years of this life still laid out ahead, 10 further for curiosity and interest beyond. Truth. Drink 2024-2029.  Tasted January 2024

Poggio Lombrone, Tenuta di Montecucco

Collemassari Montecucco Sangiovese Riserva DOCG Poggio Lombrone 2018

I walked this vineyard only recently upon arriving to the Castello di Montecucco at the advent of a blue-lit twilight on the second Sunday in November. The impression was a captivating one, from the site, its undulating slopes casting a strong and forceful presence. Poggio Lombrone was first made in 2007 and ColleMassari’s voice was instrumental in securing the DOCG for Montecucco sangiovese. A special vineyard with older plant material than just about anywhere in Montecucco, upwards of 60 years now and THE place to promote the authenticity, but also to preserve the local savoir-faire that distinguishes Montecucco sangiovese. Longest ager in Riserva togs because of potential, a wine of località Cinigiano fermented for at least 30 days (and 45 in 2016) in open Gamba casks with daily (hand) punchdowns to realize a production of 9,000-10,000 bottles. Ages in only two or three year-old grandi botti but not in really old casks. French of a few years are ideal to seek and attain the desired elegance. The 2018 is a strong version of varietal independence off of the Lombrone hillside, upright and linear yet never found to be awkward, though it is a wine of tannic charge. Fine tannins in fact with good energetic pulse, still needing more integration, its ceiling set ultra high. Drink 2026-2033.  Tasted November 2024

Michael Schmelzer – Monte Bernardi, Panzano

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG MB1933 2021, Panzano

From the 90 year-old vigorous vineyard and insists Michael Schmelzer, “it would be insane to make it not the way it was planted.” Ten grapes which add up to a 100 percent field blend that may include sangiovese, colorino rosso, colorino bianco, malvasia nera, canaiolo and ciliegiolo. Once again the respect to agricultural heritage and long maceration conspire for complexities and flavours that most people don’t associate with Chianti Classico. If this is what the old farmers were producing then quality was actually a thing, at least in 1933. MB is Marcello Bartolini, teacher and mentor who just retired in December 2023. Crunchy, tart, red citrus intensity and a char of herbs. Perhaps not quite a unicorn but surely one of the most singular wines made in the entirety of the Chianti Classico territory. If classic is also a thing than this would be it but what it is not is Riserva, or Gran Selezione. Drink 2025-2033.  Tasted February 2024

Monsanto, San Donato in Poggio

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1982

One of the great vintages for Chianti Classico, in all of Tuscany, most of Italy and as everyone knows, also Bordeaux. At this point the 100 percent large Slavonian cask aging is in full swing for wood with which Fabrizio Bianchi began replacing his old chestnut barrels back in the early 1970s. This would have been a bomb when it first went to bottle, so massively structured and immovable in its first 15-20 years. Possibly up until 10 years ago but is now so crunchy and giving so that all is forgiven. About as ideal as a sangiovese can be, resolved, cool and impossibly fresh. Laura feels a connection looking forward to 2015. This remains to be seen. Come back after 10 minutes and the clove can’t be missed. Drink 2024-2029.  Tasted February 2024

Luca Martini di Cigala and nephew Federico

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Percarlo 2019, Toscana IGT

The 100 percent sangiovese that lives for itself and yet Luca Martini always feels that the wine shows the truest character of the place. Percarlo holds a higher percentage of grapes grown on Tufo soil (non volcanic sediment left behind by the water that was here three to four million years ago), a soil of sandy quality and pebbles. Results in a salty quality, a mineral quotient, a stream of airy brightness within a very structured and powerful sangiovese. Great saltiness and also fruit, a minty or mirto sensation that creates a cool, salt licked feeling. There is no other wine like this. Amazing freshness incarnate. Drink 2024-2034.  Tasted February 2024

Montevertine Le Pergole Torte 2021, Toscana IGT

As expected Le Pergole Torte expresses more volume and aromatic concentration than Montervertine mainly because its source are the oldest vines, namely the 1968 and 1972 original blocks. Twenty to 25 days of maceration with pump-overs, followed by a racking off and then a return to the concrete vats for another few months for malolactic fermentation. A year in barriques (on average 15-20 percent new) and another year in Garbellotto Slavonian cask, maximum 18 hL size. Martino Manetti is reminded of 2007, a vintage that acted closed early with the requiem of a minimum four to five years to be released from its tannic chains. And yet these days Manetti’s wines open sooner – it’s just a fact of change, maturity, growing and mapping out better sangiovese. The floral meets Macigno mineral expressiveness is present from the start yet without the intensity of 2017, nor is 2021 showy with the power of 2018. This 2021 resides right there in the balanced middle wheelhouse and should rightfully begin to give generously of itself starting in 2026. Some sangiovese are just in another league. Drink 2026-2040.  Tasted May 2024

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2020

Montosoli the northerly Montalcino mound, the hill of freshness, the knoll where sangiovese gains grip, savour and elegance, where Canalicchio di Sopra’s Vigna designate Brunello from six hectares delivers approximately five into this wine. The precision and fluidity of this ’20 is just about as fine and graceful as the Ripaccioli have ever produced. Literally the juice or blood of Montosoli’s Galestro, a clay-schist flaking at the surface bleeding back down into the earth, acquired by the roots, vacuumed back up into the vines and gifted to the bunches. Sapidity is similar to 2018 and that year was cold(er) which explains how soil is such the driver, especially for Montosoli. This tastes as you might expect, concentrated, texturally full and without pause. Incredible Brunello. Poised, seemingly ready but not, looking ahead two decades, maybe more. With thanks to perfectly restrained cellar work, timing and decision making. In this moment, at least in terms of clarity, 2020 is a Montosoli vintage. Drink 2026-2036.  Tasted November 2024

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2019

There are normal, standard Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, there are proper and representative examples, also exceptional versions and then there are the ones of ephemeral beauty. Fleeting in part because of their natural perfumes, scents that come from the fruiting bodies alone, mostly from the skins and yet like people there are some whose scents you never forget. Such is the case with Phenomena, a silent and measured creature of sangiovese but one that comes back to your thoughts and senses long after you are no longer in contact with the wine. Phenomena is also a Brunello of feeling, which means something ethereal, tactile and conclusive. Not seductive mind you, but suggestive and this 2019 will carry on, for some impossibly calculated infinite amount of time, as close to forever as could justifiably be imagined. Drink 2026-2038.  Tasted November 2024

With Giacomo Neri

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Cerretalto 2019

The Cerretalto canyon is this singular Brunello’s origin, the place defined by Giacomo Neri as a “plintite,” of quartz, iron and magnesium elements residing next to and bleeding into the four hectare vineyard, which is incidentally a cooler località for Montalcino and very special place. Rare in the world, of an elemental-geological symbiosis found in parts of Australia, Brazil, China and here, in Montalcino. “It’s another planet” insists Giacomo Neri. You will smell blood and flint (a.k.a. gunpowder) because of the mineral personality. This is Brunello di Montalcino from sangiovese something altogether incomparable. A sangiovese wearing the terroir of a Tuscan trough on its sleeve, having spent two and a half years in tonneaux (more or less 20 percent new) and the same amount of time in bottle ahead of its much anticipated release. Yes the aromatics are concerned with trace metals and ingredients of the “canalone” of Torrenieri, but do not sleep on the purity and modernity of red to black fruit, or at least the perception brought forth because of the minerals involved. Sweetness of acidity is classic Casanova di Neri for 2020 but in Cerretalto they are near perfect and the tannins move from those noted out of Tenuta Nuova multiplied by the Giovanni Nero fineness to now enter into the arena of higher love. For the first time this estate’s Brunello di Montalcino should be given an absurd amount of time. Observing it change in the glass over 30 minutes explains much of what is needed to be known. Drink 2028-2043.  Tasted November 2024

Contrada Chiesa, Emidio Pepe

Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG 2021, Colline Teramane, Torano Nuova

Nothing else noses like this montepulciano and what is also perceived is the extreme youth of such an example. Gifts with shadowy hints and generous ideas but the sensations yet to come are manyfold, if quite possibly infinite. Fruit source just feels tops and selection so much more stringent than just about any in the appellation. Tannins are about as tight as any in all of Abruzzo and the interplay between fruit and structure is both playful but also gripped by an intensity of tension. A few sips gathers the swarthiness of the vintage but time will elasticize and disperse the parts. The potential here is great and if this is not looked upon as a top vintage today there will be times over the next 25 years where that opinion is challenged. Drink 2027-2039.  Tasted March 2024

Feudo Montoni Sandwich – Between Fabio Sireci and Melissa Muller

Feudo Montoni Nero d’Avola Vrucara 2020, Sicilia DOC

Increasingly the use of sun-dried stems are added back in after some time, like sweet wood notes that alter Vrucara’s physiology for the best. The number is 20-25 percent in 2020. If there are weak vintages of Feudo Montoni’s Vrucara they are yet to be revealed and this 2020 resides near the top of the island’s nero d’Avola chain. Just walk the vineyard, in fact just hear the history and explanations from Fabio Sireci’s mouth and you will understand. Richness meets structure for balance at the vanishing point as if we sit at the bottom of the hill looking upwards from the vineyard, up to the Baglio and then the sky. The fruit is special from 2020, already showing the first subtle hints of maturity and the tannins are perhaps the sweetest ever designed. When Vrucara hits the five year mark it will entrench itself as one of Sicily’s finest drinking red wines for five more. It’s abilities transcend grape and island to last for five more after that before starting its slow five to ten year declension. Is there better value in top grade nero d’Avola from Sicilia? Drink 2025-2035.  Tasted May 2024

Vineyards in Ulmo

Planeta Cabernet Franc Didacus 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

Should there be a finer and more appropriate place to plant and raise cabernet franc on the entirety of Sicily that information should immediately be made public. Planeta’s Ulmo vineyard brings the grape to singular light, here 25 years after its introduction and it has become abundantly clear how it resides at the pinnacle and signature for reds out of Menfi. The 2020 is just now settling in and acting perfectly comfortable in its skin, fruit still swelling and always with the potential to burst free at any time. These are near perfect acids, sweet and sumptuous, allowing for movement and at this ideal stage, also development. There are hints at secondary character in the chiaroscuro shadows slow to reveal themselves. Sumac and pomegranate, a lightly browning and caramelizing eggplant before finishing with a wood encouraged dusting, as if by cocoa and clove. Drink 2024-2032.  Tasted September 2024

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Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, Coonawarra, South Australia

From vines planted in 1994 and 1996 right there where it matters within Coonawarra’s terra rossa strip. The Menzies, as in the name of the estate where the Hill-Smith family saw the future back in 1992, there on a flat plain, approximately 70 km from the coast. The cooling Bonney upwelling is an influence and the red soil is, well everything. That said 2017 was a wet and cool season by Coonawarra standards and harvest required many passes over a 10-day period in April. Climate being what climate has become translates as a special cabernet sauvignon because the cool factor, for gelid fruit and sweet savour, not to mention more complex notions of herbs, spices and seasoning than you could seemingly fit into one bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Complexity be glory, as they say and the rest will be history. Drink 2024-2034.  Tasted October 2024

Good to go!

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Stamina and staying power: Brunello di Montalcino

Decades old Brunello di Montalcino

Examining the longevity, structure and age-ability of Brunello di Montalcino

When I think of Brunello di Montalcino there are two things that come to mind: Sangiovese and time. Longevità e tempo. Contrasts and comparisons are unnecessary, neither to other grape varieties nor to wine regions that also fashion structured red wines. The sangiovese of Montalcino are like the eponymous medieval hilltop village, an island in a sea of vast varietal openness. They share the impossibility of undergoing the slightest shift in meaning or change, that is, without the assistance of time. They are incomparable, generous and durable but also part of a great community. With the Conzorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino at the heart of their matter they find permanence and always seek to endure. As do their makers and protectors. 

Related – Ready for a long-term relationship? Brunello di Montalcino Vigna and Riserva

We’ll be searching for answers to Brunello’s aging capacity on Monday, November 30, 2020 when I play host and moderator for the fifth of six online seminars covering all aspects of Montalcino, with the help and support from 25 producers and their sangiovese wines. “Stamina and staying power: Brunello di Montalcino” will explore vintages from 2015 back to 2010 to unlock some secrets behind Brunello’s immutabilità. The webinar will welcome Conte Francesco Marone Cinzano and his Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino 2015; Elisa Sesti with her Brunello di Montalcino 2015; Lucrezia Messina and Franco Pacenti’s Brunello di Montalcino 2015; Riccardo Bogi with Argiano’s Brunello di Montalcino 2014; PierAngelo Tommasi and his Casisano Brunello di Montalcino 2010.

Fortezza di Montalcino

Related – What the winemakers drink: Rosso di Montalcino

 

Anteprime di Toscana’s culminating 2020 presentation of 2018 Rosso DOC and 2015 Brunello DOCG raised the bar for Montalcino’s venerable sangiovese

 

Related – Backstage pass to Brunello di Montalcino

Post Benvenuto Brunello street party at Alle Logge di Piazza

Montalcino. Harmony and Unesco Heritage Centre of a surface area totalling 31,200 hectares, 3,660 of which are vineyards planted predominately to sangiovese. An accord of 2,100 to Brunello di Montalcino and 510 for Rosso di Montalcino, delineated and defined in consensus by the late 1990s, set into the GalestroArenaria and Calcare soils on hills and over valleys in surround of its medieval village. The merits of change, alteration or expansion have been debated, voted upon and ultimately dismissed every three years and so there has yet to pass any thought of increase or reconfiguration. Neither for Rosso nor for Brunello. 

Related – Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials: 40 years of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

With Conte Francesco Marone Cinzano of Col d’Orcia

Col d’Orcia

History, tradition and strutura do not dig any deeper in Montalcino than at Col d’Orcia, an Orcia Valley, (Val d’Orcia) southern slope estate in the Montalcino territory. The lineage dates back to at least 1890, when records show the Franceschi family of Florence purchased the property, then known as Fattoria di Sant’Angelo in Colle. One of two brothers Stefano Franceschi inherited the property, split from Leopoldo in 1958 and then re-named it Col d’Orcia, “{hill above Orcia” after the river that runs through the property. Franceschi later married into the royal family of the future King of Spain Juan Carlos and sold the property to the Piemontese family Cinzano in 1973. At that time only a few hectares were under vine and it was Count Alberto Marone Cinzano that pushed the reach up to 70 hectares by the early 1980s. Since then it has been Count Francesco Marone Cinzano who continued plantings to the current number at 140 hectares, 108 of which are dedicated to Brunello production.

Since August 27, 2010 the whole estate including vineyards, olive groves, other fields and even the gardens are farmed exclusively following organic agricultural practices. The vineyards are located on the southern slope of the Montalcino territory, on hilly lands and extend over 540 hectares, from the Orcia River to the village of Sant’Angelo in Colle, at about 450 metres over sea level. Cold d’Orcia’s soils are loose, skeletal and permeable, poor in clay, rich in limestone and inert materials. Fog, ice and late frosts are of little to no concern and breezes blow frequently for persistent and profitable vine health conditions. Climate is typically Mediterranean, with limited rainfalls concentrated in the months of March, April, November and December. Col d’Orcia the third largest owner of Brunello vineyards in Montalcino.

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

Classic closed Col d’Orcia youth, nose of earth crusted berries and not nearly the mature notes of what the future surely holds. Though meant to be consumed much earlier than Riserva or Poggio al Vento there’s no escaping the place and the winemaking ways of the house. It is truly appreciated how youth in a Col d’Orcia sangiovese does not mean chocolate or vanilla, nor any overbearing barrel notes. It does regard spice and piqued feelings that bode well for a long future. Drink 2023-2030.  Tasted February 2020

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A gregarious and sour-edged entry marks the ’14 Col d’Orcia with plenty of spice. Cinnamon and star anise are exotic notes off the top and then things turn tough and closed. This is a tightly wound 2014, clearly one of the ambitious albeit traditional attempts at perpetuating great and storied Brunello glory. Remains to be seen if it can reach the heights of 1979. Drink 2021-2031.  Tasted February 2019

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2010

Brunello at 10 years is like the Rosso in advance and then not at all. The fruit aromas are all skin, scraped, studded and seasoned. You can feel how special the vintage phenols were and continue to be, now in their twilight of first stage freshness. It may be remembered as a vintage less than eventful but you can also make note of what must have been great bold bitters and demanding skeletal framing that kept pleasure down. Rising now, flesh in pulse and equitable tacit celebration. Heady and big Brunello from a vintage gone long on stuffing. Drink 2020-2030.  Last tasted February 2020

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2000

So hard to know how Col d’Orcia’s Brunelli are able to glide so stealthily through time without haste and with so much slow moving grace. But here is yet another bit of restrained sangiovese power, wild of fruit heart and subtle in animal behaviour. The high acidity vintage spreads the energetic love with great and intentional fervour, showing as credibly and forcefully as could possibly have hoped or expected. Cold, cloud cover vintage does the yeoman work for sangiovese lifeblood to send it 20 years forward for all to believe. 2000, baby. Drink 2020-2027.  Tasted February 2020

Col d’Orcia tasting on the ’00s

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 1989

A huge Col d’Orcia, perhaps the biggest, broadest and most ferric I’ve ever tasted. That pool may only be 25 but this bites twice and is far from shy. It’s obviously vintage but also feels like a vintage of ambitious winemaking. The oak, oak spice, alcohol, unami and dried fruit are all fully throttled and simply add up to deliver a vibrant massive attack. Red fruit is nowhere to be found, left instead in a void filled by porcini, sanguine carne and herbal potpourri. The acidity eventually brings out more charming moments but this is really an unrelenting sangiovese. Will live 15 more years easy although there wont be the type of fruit still lingering shown by the 1979. Drink 2019-2027.  Tasted February 2019

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1969

Tasted from three different bottles, the first showing TCA, the second alive and quiet, the third singing. Bottle variation is not surprising at all, especially in wines of this ilk and age. The family arrived at the estate in 1973 to find some vintages in barrel and this ’69 in concrete. Because the third sample was not just the best but the one with real personality we’ll just concentrate on it. The nose is very floral and full of toffee, toasted chestnut and burnt orange. The palate is lively, hopping really. A mild bitterness marks the finish, still pulsing with acidity though not with tannin. Great look back. Drink 2019-2020. Tasted February 2019

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento 2012

Not so surprising I suppose that Poggio al Vento 2012 is still reductive, closed and locked tight. There is a massive Poggio (al Vento) of fruit piled high inside the shell from the windy hill above the river. Fine tannins are even more impressive is the fine-styled acidity. When the shell cracks the riches will spill out, across and over. Over everything. Drink 2023-2036.  Tasted February 2019

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento Riserva 2010

Poggio al Vento Riserva 2010 is so very smoky and wood charred so you wonder about the fruit but air brings a fleeting glimpse of that red toned life before the wind swirls to send it back to the smoky embers beneath the roasting bones of the cinghiale. Charm in Poggio al Vento is hard to come by so early and this is far too early. The palate is richer than you think and again with wood so prevalent. There is no doubt that a wait of five more years is needed before beauty can be coaxed out of this formidable Brunello. The vintage, the vineyard and the traditional house style all conspire for this Etruscan structure, meant to impress, influence and last just long enough. Drink 2021-2031.  Tasted February 2017

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento Riserva 1990

Oh my word 1980 carries plenty of residual acidity in an antithetically mild, wholly and utterly unexpected way. Energy, potency, drive and this unrelenting need to express itself. Tight, taut, slinging arrows of tension that make the fruit or what’s left of it almost inconsequential. In actuality there is fruit, namely red currant, sour cherry and pomegranate. Improves with these flavours away from the clay-earthy aromatics and lingers good and plenty. Stays with you, as it has done for 40 years. Drink 2020-2023.   Tasted February 2020

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento Riserva 1979

Quiet, not just at first, but in continuum, a good thing with just a few initial hints of age. There can be immediate concern of this being 40 years-old. It’s hidden talents prevent you from knowing and of those, fineness of acidity is at the top of the heap. I’d say there was some astringency and mean streak tannin in the first ten years, or perhaps maybe more. It seems this Riserva was a beast for so long and only the last ten years have allowed it to deliver such gentility and charm. It’s amazing really and glad this bottle hung in there. It’s very special. In fact it’s still unfolding. Drink 2019-2025.  Tasted February 2019

Sesti

Sesti

Giuseppe Sesti planted his vines at Castello di Argiano in 1991, a 13th century property with Etruscan origins just west of Sant Angelo in Colle. the estate consists of 102 hectares, of which nine hectares are planted to vineyards. The rest beiing olive groves, grazing and woodland. Now in the hands of Giuseppe Maria Sesti and Elisa Sesti, Giuseppe the astronomy expert restorer of the Castello. Elisa, born in Toscana and raised at the Castello, educated in Italy and England, returned in 1999 to help with the expansion of the family business.

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

Sesti’s is lightning red fruit meets high acid sangiovese for one of the lighter, brighter and sneaky powerful Brunelli. Creeps and climbs, moves, shakes and graces the palate with sharp fruit, raspberry in tang ways and then earthy, properly volatile and respectably edgy. Will seek and find balance between that tension and the other-worldly umami before too long. Drink 2022-2028.  Tasted February 2020

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013

From Giuseppe Sesti who planted his vines at Castello di Argiano in 1991, a 13th century property with Etruscan origins just west of Sant Angelo in Colle. Now in the hands of Elisa Sesti the élevage is territorially appropriate and necessary thirty-nine months in 30 hL botti. The result is quite a gregarious one this Sesti, with really bright acids circling the sangiovese wagons and tying the fruit up in ropes and casings. You can sense the alcohol though it’s not really a heavy, pulling or dragging feeling. It persists as airy and free in spite of the early heat spikes. Should float on, through the skies for a decade or more. Classic finish of deep red cherry liqueur. Drink 2020-2031.  Tasted February 2018

Lorenzo, Lisa and Serena Pacenti (c) Franco Pacenti

Franco Pacenti

The origins of the Piacenti Family – later transformed into Pacenti – of noble Tuscan lineage, date back to the 13th century: Muccio Piacenti, maternal grandfather of the famous Santa Caterina da Siena, Patroness of Italy and Europe, was among the most popular and well-known poets of his time. As early as 1400, the Canalicchio was an important centre of reference for the agricultural market of the Val di Suga. Rosildo Pacenti, born in 1924, son of a family of peasant origins, purchased the Canalicchio farm in 1962 and is one of Montalcino’s founders and part of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino’s forming in 1967. Franco Pacenti was born in 1958 and joined his father in the fields and then took over in 1988. Franco’s three children, Lisa, Serena and Lorenzo, the third generatio, are the lifeblood of the company. The company’s 10 hectares of vineyards face northeast at an altitude of 300m at the foot and to the east of the Montalcino hill.

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG Canalicchio 2015

The Franco Pacenti Brunello 2015 is an impressive beast. A sangiovese of hearty warmth, strength and openly fragrant but edgy red fruit. This is a vintage Brunello that takes a little risk, knows the fruit has transferred over the line into a world fully phenolic, then exposed to ultra violet light. There’s no hole to fill, no barrel to overwhelm and all the best attributes to gain. So promising and exceptional. Drink 2023-2034.  Tasted February 2020

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG Canalicchio 2014

Clear, transparent, honest and finessed. This is what you hope for from the 2014 Brunello. The clarity here is apparent from the get go, with fruit locked and shut tight beneath a reductive shell. Acids are succulent and far from sour, tannins pure, sweet and of the finest grain. Not about concentration because the vintage will resist allowing it. But this is made in the best possible way and will live a few decades or more. Drink 2024-2038.  Tasted February 2019

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG Rosildo 2015

If the 2015 Annata from Franco Pacenti was the bomb then what does that make the Vigna Rosildo? Excuse my English but this Rosildo is the shit. The great shit. Grande. Rosildo fineness is that of regal sangiovese style. Acid, tannin, structure, all together seamless and hungry to integrate simpler parts, make them complex and whole. Here is what should and must be considered one of the wines of the vintage. Drink 2024-2038.  Tasted February 2020

Looking south towards Monte Amiata

Argiano

Wine cellar since 1580. With five centuries in place and 130 years of Brunello making history on side Argiano is the model of Montalcino consistency. The name is thought to derive from the first settlements in Roman times – ‘Ara Janus’, referring to the god Janus. Another potential origin could be ‘the land of the River Orcia’ – known in ancient times as ‘Orgia’ and therefore Argiano. The estate vineyards benefit from a micro-climate situated between Poggio alla Mura and Sant Angelo in Colle on a plateau at 300m.

Argiano practices an organic and sustainable method of agriculture. Since 2019 Argiano is the first company in Montalcino to become plastic-free. All single-use plastics have been eliminated. The team consists of CEO & Winemaker Bernardino Sani; Agronomist & COO Francesco Monari; Cellar master Adriano Bambagioni; Winemaking assistant Roberto Caporossi; and Sales Manager Riccardo Bogi.

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

Argiano goes all in for this sumptuous and unctuous ’15 of fruit, earth and acids long, sharp, linear and long, Big expressive and chocolaty sangiovese with wood a major factor and structure a fact of the matter. All purpose Brunello and so bloody effective. Drink 2022-2027.  Tasted February 2020

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Argiano is expressive of a lovely herbal nose with blood orange and a little bit of sanguine personality. Typical vintage character done right, proper and well. Fleshy like a very ripe peach crossed with a tart red plum and certainly offers more of the it Brunello character than many or most in the field. A bit commercial for the house but understood of a vintage clarity and appreciated out of great necessity. Drink 2021-2027.  Tasted February 2019

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013

With five centuries in place and 130 years of Brunello making history on side Argiano is the model of Montalcino consistency. The estate vineyards benefit from a micro-climate situated between Poggio alla Mura and Sant Angelo in Colle on a plateau at 300m. In 2013 a stolen vintage warmth is readily apparent on the nose, with a fine elemental streak through thick air willing and able to carry this sangiovese through its formative years. The palate and texture are next to brilliant with the great feeling of plush, silken tapestry, woven for complexity and thinking about the future. Drink 2020-2029.  Tasted February 2018

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Del Suolo 2015

The vineyard down below is appositely named in apropos significance because the sentiment is high, lightning struck and quick as a whip. Crunchy and earthy fruit is ripe and near delirious, tripping the lights and adding fantasy to an already heady if effusive substance fantastic. So much going on in complex waves, severities and notions. Will transfer and oscillate, groove and titillate for a decade to come. Drink 2022-2031.  Tasted February 2020

Casisano Estate

Tomassi – Casisano

The Casisano estate lies on a natural terrace at 480 meters above sea level, overlooking the south-eastern zone of the Montalcino region, eight kilometres south of the town in Sant’Angelo in Colle and facing the Abbey of Sant’Antimo. The soils are made up of sandstone rocks and schistous marl containing stones, clay, and tuff of volcanic origin. The estate covers an area of 53 hectares, of which 22 are vineyards and 8 are olive groves. Nine hectares are dedicated to the production of Brunello, seven hectares to Rosso, and the other six hectares to the Sant’ Antimo denomination. At a near 500m the vineyards benefit from temperature swings and the necessity of prevailing cool winds from the sea to the west. Casisano is entirely planted with Sangiovese Grosso and Colombaiolo is the Riserva Brunello, after the family purchased the estate in 2011, though a wine has been made from Colombaiolo fruit since 1996. The vineyard was planted in 1991 on a hectare and a half on the Sant’Angelo in Colle estate. 

The oenologists are Giancarlo Tommasi and Emiliano Falsini. Pierangelo Tommasi is the Executive Director of Tommasi Family Estates. He is one of nine members of the current fourth generation of this historic winemaking family, six of whom run the wine business and two of whom run hospitality. Pierangelo gets to work in Montalcino. Lucky guy.

Vineyards at Casisano

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

A lightning red fruit Brunello out of 2015 from Tommasi’s Casisano with tight acids and a lightness that allows for a breath of fresh Brunello air. A thriller this one, not a killer and blessed with ease of amenability. Tannins build with more strength then expected though ultimately speaking the heights are scaled early and no great amount of time is needed to make headway with this wine. Terrific first five years sangiovese, for food expected and wholly unexpected ways. Drink 2021-2025.  Tasted February 2020

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013

The Casisano Estate is found eight kilometres south of the town in Sant’Angelo in Colle, incidentally of population 204, as noted by a 2011 census. At 500m the vineyards benefit from temperature swings and the necessity of prevailing cool winds from the sea to the west. The Brunello developed here (like Ragnaie) turns out classic red clay and stone derived deep cherry liqueur but of a constitution and flavour unlike any other sangiovese on earth. It’s almost brambly and even a bit scorched. It’s rich, proper and righteous. Best of all, the best years still lay ahead. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted March 2018

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2012

From Casisano in Sant’Angelo in Colle, to the south of the village. Tomassi’s Montalcino situation is another one of altitude and therefore a great choice of location from which to develop a strong and structured Brunello ideal. This ’12 is not unlike the ’13 but perhaps with a bit more hyperbole, at times of warmth and at others, elegance. It’s not completely sure of its position, but that is both a matter of vintage and still getting to know the lay of this land. The follow-up 2013 will continue to cement the altitude influence and the understanding of these exceptional vineyards. This ’12 is a great building block for the future of what will be one of the more storied cru in Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted March 2018

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2011

This Brunello organizer is the Tommasi family from Verona and their Montalcino foray. Though not the easist of the Brunello vintages this 2011 from Casisano takes what is given and delivers a classic rendition from traditional motives. There is some dried plum and fig fruit, slightly baked and certainly firm to match the tannic structure of the vintage. This will shrivel into dried goods, mushroom and balsamic territory before too long. Drink now for fresh results and later for a much more old school way. Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted March 2017

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Colombaiolo 2013

From Tommasi this is only the third Riserva after the family purchased the estate in 2011, though a wine has been made from Colombaiolo fruit since 1996. The vineyard was planted in 1991 on a hectare and a half on the Sant’Angelo in Colle Casisano estate. The fruit is quite variegated, full and ripe. The acids are supportive, on the high-toned side and the tannins are really fine. A nice balance and a tri-symbiotic relationship exists between the three friends and in the end a structure of fine accord is managed. Drink 2021-2027.  Tasted February 2019

Good to go!

godello

Decades old Brunello di Montalcino

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