Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Previews: Annata, Etichetta and Vigna 2018, Riserva 2017, plus back vintages

Benvenuto Brunello 2022

Drawing 2018 vintage connections between breezy Annata and resolute Cru, overall less “Mediterranean as a vintage,” high acid 2017 Riserva plus retrospectives with Col d’Orcia and Biondi-Santi

Montalcino sunset

In November of 2022 the latest edition of Benvenuto Brunello was held in Montalcino. As an Anteprima the main purpose and focus was to present the latest vintage of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG wines. As a journalist the goal was to taste as many iterations as time permits in just over two days time. Looking back now the 2018 vintage for the sangiovese of Montalcino are a unique set, apropos of colour which is ironic considering this anteprima fell on the heels of the region’s first Rosso di Montalcino event held last June. “Red Montalcino” showcased the 2020 Rosso vintage and hue was the operative word, for style and just how we think about these appellative DOC wines. Fast forward to November 2022 and journalists from around the world were seeing red once again, yet this time the syndicate of sangiovese concerned the similarly tailored Brunello. I have been covering Montalcino vintages for more than a decade (and buying/drinking them for two-plus) but don’t recall such a crystal-clear, joyous and immediately gratifying set of wines. There are of course several variables involved and many 2018s are structured to age but we must always be reminded that sangiovese are like snowflakes. No two are exactly alike and yet there is a thread that binds a 2018 Brunello to its peers. Never before has tasting nearly 200 Brunello provided such a pleasing experience.

Related – Simply Red: Rosso di Montalcino

Looking north from Montalcino

The list of adjectives this report alone will use to describe the 2018 coterie of Brunello di Montalcino is long, winding and synonymic. There will be tasting notes referring to these sangiovese as accessible, amenable, beautiful, breathable, bright, crushable, drinkable, effusive, fluid, halcyon, handsome, lithe, open-knit, traditional and transparent. The vernacular goes on and on to describe this vintage. Many ’18s are fit for early consumption because of producers abiding by the fruit available to design wines reflective of the climatic conditions of the season. Yet there are some pockets of Montalcino where a more serious and structured Brunello could be made and those who took advantage of this opportunity were able to make wines that will endure amongst the best of the best. The areas of Canalicchio and Tavernelle are frazioni where nature and climate conspired symbiotically but we must also look at pockets to Montalcino village’s immediate north by northeast, as well as west by northwest. Southerly vineyards showed remarkable consistency for sangiovese because of less hydraulic and overall stress. There are also other valleys and rifts here and there from which top wines were produced. For the vineyards around the northerly Montosoli hill the 2018 season may have been less of a hyped one – but these are consistently wines in the regions’s upper echelon because that promontory of a cru has been holding such a distinct advantage in recent times.

La Fortezza di Montalcino

My discussions in Montalcino with four prominent and experienced yet precocious producers points to a vintage summation that supports if also adjusts the aforementioned general theorem. First up is Caprili’s Giacomo Bartolommei. “The weather was the complete opposite of 2017. Cooler temperatures and some winter snow, even in the southern part of Montalcino,” he tells me. “Also good rainfall during the year with lower average temperatures.” Bartolommei sees the 2018 Brunelli as “lighter wines but with good potential for aging, much like 2013. Those are showing beautifully today.” Giacomo is quite convinced the ’18s will do the same. Adds Katia Nussbaum from San Polino. “I don’t yet have the 2018s under my skin and you need that. We only just bottled this past September. We’ll see.” There are always two sides to every story.

With Tommaso Cortonesi and Francesco Rippacioli

Tommaso Cortonesi contemplates the thought. “A vintage where you can recognize the link between the producer and the terroir,” he begins. “Because it wasn’t one of the warmer (recent) vintages and 2018 does not show its potential in the first two years in bottle. The wines of 2007 were like this.” So interesting to see different producers trying to make connections with the past. “But 2018 has a deep link with the terroir. I taste the real Galestro soil from the southeast of Montalcino, the soil of Poggiarelli.” Cortonesi explains that it is the northern sector that usually speaks with the greatest clarity but in 2018 others zones did this, and in balance.

As for Canalicchio di Sopra’s Francesco Ripaccioli, his first harvest pick was on September 10th – a green one. The last rain took place on September 16th and then the Tramontana wind arrived, right on time, to dry the grapes. The later or second pick was on September 20th and at a time when Ripaccioli was looking for “dimension” in the grapes. Concentration of sugars and acidity also occurred but the vintage was not one of chronologically developed phenolic maturity. So at harvest Francesco considered this ripeness factor to be a 7.5 or an 8 on a scale of 10. Three passes of selection were made, to achieve the best possible outcome. “Remember,” explains Ripaccioli, “ten doesn’t exist and I don’t want to reach it. The pH would be too high. Maybe 8.5 is a number to reach.” In any case without the winds Francesco admits the vintage would have been a disaster.

There is no one I would rather taste Italian wine alongside other than La Miha. If you know of her grace, intelligence and palate then, well you know.

My trip to Montalcino this past November was one of the shorter, quicker and fastidious ones with less time afforded to paying estate visits. My arrival was late in the evening ahead of the two-day Benvenuto Brunello sommelier tasting held in the Chiostro Museo Montalcino. Flight delays were the root cause and were it not for the hand of an angel (that being Chiara and if you know here then you know what I mean), well, I might still be waiting in Firenze. At the conclusion of each of the two tasting days there were visits paid to Biondi-Santi and Col d’Orcia. Each involved memorable retrospective seminars, discussions and tastings. The first at Biondi-Santi was with CEO Giampiero Bertolini and oenologist Federico Radi. We looked at Tenuta Greppo 2016 Annata, Riserva and the 1999. The next day was with Conte Francesco Marone Cinzano, his son Santiago Marone Cinzano and Filippo Bartolotta. Father and son gave a most poignant retrospective look at the history of Montalcino before pouring six Rosso and Brunello on the ‘8s dating back to 1968. The breakdown for Godello’s 2022 Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Previews are as follows: 96 Annata, 28 Etichetta and 22 Vigna 2018, 20 Riserva 2017, plus 14 back vintages. That adds up to 180 wines tasted and reviewed across two and a half days in November.

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Agostina Pieri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Perfumed ’18, roses and bright red fruit and that early scent of structure. Surprisingly glycerin and full in mouthfeel which makes for an impressive and impressionable transition. Doesn’t seem to finish which is a sign of positive portents to come. Should live a long life with slow developments and the prolonged of ever so gently descending decline. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Albatreti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Deep clay depth, like Santenay, in a way. Sangiovese of darkening fruit yet serious, of salumi cure, a touch skin musky and if not quite brooding then at least contemplative. No lack of extraction which also brings and extra layer of herbaceous ness and earthy-savoury elements. Meaningful. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Chic, modern, silky and suave. Full, rich, layered, tightly compact in that regard and of all the sweetest things. You too will love the generosity and ease of such a beautiful and amenable Brunello. Not to mention the scent and flavours that come along with markedly obvious oak aging. Barrique special. Early drinking example. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Perhaps considering the vintage there would be expectation for an easy, fluid and liquid Argiano 2018 but think again. The notion is immediately about tradition and structure, most definitely as noted in the serious, finely chalky and deft set of tannins. The fruit is more than there in fact there is a 10 foot swell of the stuff cresting and waiting to crash over the palate, surely on repeat. Yet Argiano is built for a long haul, like many that have come before. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Armilla Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Much ado about everything in a Brunello 2018 that swells with fruit, brings the extraction and the extract, doles resolved tannins and pushes immediacy like few others. Yet there is an underbelly or underbrush of herbs, earth and cured prosciutto to see complexity and layers still to unwind. A true now wine that will drink well for five to seven years. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2022

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Easy, immediate and wholly gratifying access to 2018 Brunello Annata in the great accumulation of fruit and persistent sweetness of unlimted structural components imaginable. A sangiovese to discover right now for those who know, wish to know and don’t really know where else to begin. For the people. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Sommeliers at BB 2022

Beatesca Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Wood off the top, vanilla swirl with white chocolate, white pepper as well. Good fruit on the mid palate keeps this sangiovese moving forward and the structure is no doubt a part of the equation. Some green tannin however so don’t keep this for too long. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022.

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

As expected or better said anything but unusual is the full compliment and intensity of fruit to define Bellaria’s 2018 Annata. That and a most generous amount of wood in how vanilla and also chocolate and graphite dole in aroma and then texture. Thick and unctuous though also blessed with important and elasticizing tannins. The bones and flesh are there so this will live long, eventually morphing into a Brunello of fungi and tartufo. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Camigliano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Camigliano surely got things right, correct and proper in 2018, all three important messages, redundant and on repeat. These are sangiovese tannins exclusive to the variety because they comes from skins and to a much, much lesser extent the casks. The wood is noted yet secondary and the wine will drink well after just another season has come and gone. So long as winter actually comes go Montalcino. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Great fruit and wood swirl from Campogiovanni’s 2018 in ways correct, expected and forecasted for how a specific wine will become and we know just how it will get to its vanishing point. In low, slow and expressive exfoliation, inhalation and exhalation until all settles into a calm and tranquil state. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

How can one not see and feel how this as an Annata from Francesco Ripaccioli and family just stands out as a most mature and experienced Brunello meeting expectation beyond the years of its collective experience? What comes from aging is purely spice and texture. The true style, body politic and beautiful mind of the wine is delineated by the purity and agricultural capture of fruit in an emotive state of phenolic fruition. This is a real deal in Brunello di Montalcino. Bank on it. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted November 2022

Capanne Ricci – Tenimenti Ricci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Resides on the firm and tart side of the vintage with some Ribena showiness in the potpourri floral tendency of the high-toned aromas. Surely less indicative of the vintage as compared to dozens upon dozens of 18s. Crunchy and just a bit too volatile. Drink 2022-2023. Tasted November 2022

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Beautifully sweet scented in red berry and flower perfume which can’t help but tell us about this hallmark and potentially halcyon style that is the 2018 vintage. No drama here and nary a moment of trying to be something its not but my how the creativity and charm of sangiovese emerges and emits in Brunello Annata form. So much to love and embrace. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Some wines carry with confidentiality all they need and you can tell from the get go how they move and show what form they’re made of. This from Caprili is a mature beyond its years example of 2018 Brunello di Montalcino. Fruit so full and confidently suave yet never of ego. Working diplomatically with father figure like tannins that encourage yet never demand, neither attention nor success. They only wish the best for their children, in health and happiness. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Carpineto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Lovely high-toned sangiovese from elevation in south Montalcino yet of fruit so light and bright. That said do not sleep on how much wood this is currently working through and the kind of underlying structure that will assist in merging the parts over a good long period of time. Here the vanilla, cherries and brush are nearly together and will likely get there in two years time. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Brunello dinner at Capanna

Casanova delle Cerbaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Bright, fresh and frazione indicative Annata here in purity plus vintage honesty from Casanova delle Cerbaie. Good attack of fruit and especially acidity from the vintage that while not a heavy one it is also not necessarily high acid either. Crunch from that fruit, pop from the acids and grippy yet suave tannins down below. Strange but true affinity with quality nebbiolo. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Casa Raia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

And now for something next level in ways that must be experienced to understand. The generosity of fruit, sweetness of floral meets savoury perfume and most supple of tannins makes for a complete 2018 Annata package. The quality and acumen involved are special, singular and preeminent. Permanence is observed in a Brunello that will live infamously in longevity. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted November 2022

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

So very Casanova di Neri and truthfully how could it not be yet something understated is spoken in such a handsome sangiovese. The fruit is classic Neri gather, from the plots and blocks that layer and compliment, get together on one single page. There is nothing out of place or wavering in this Annata and one exuding major confidence. So professional, firmly entrenched in 2022 style out of stoked 2018 desire and clearly spoken vernacular. The style is Neri’s and it is owned. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

The Annata 2018 from Casisano is a Brunello of two parts because there is the feeling of sweet fruit access now but also a next level structure to imagine ulterior drinking moments later. Very much a textural and glycerol example, gloriously liquid and soothing as it moves across the palate. Refined through and through with the ability to improve. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Castello Romitorio is so bloody on point from out of the 2018 vintage and the profundity of this assessment matters in personal ways because this was the great wine resting in casks when a first meeting with Filippo Chia opened the doors to his, his father’s and their estate’s perception. My what a matter of meaning is culled and concentrated upon from an Annata in extension of olive branch, a working team’s dedication and just plain formidable bones to see this forward 15-20 years. The 2018s can deliver greatness and yet not all are looking for decades of aging. Romitorio’s is in another league. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Castello Tricerchi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Maturity and acumen increase, improve and travel forward from vintage to vintage for a Montalcino producer that is surely on the cusp of something special. The work put in and humility expressed will only keep the train on the track for sangiovese to occupy the minds and hearts of all who know. Within the framework of a peppery reductive 2018 the fruit here expands and oscillates in swells on repeat though each and every wave stops short of crashing upon a tannic shore. For the first time after tasting 30 Annata the sweetness of acidity really stands above and without tart edginess. Grande. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Suave is the obvious operative, stylish too and yet there is a feeling of extraction and weight in the 2018 Annata. Neither taut nor tight, surely smothered by what texture and tannic sweetness the barrel has provided. A vintage wine that chooses to go for it without projecting or thinking too far into the future. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Montalcino, November 2022

Celestino Pecci Brunello Di Montalcino Docg 2018

Lovely and traditional or rather lovely in its rustic attention to experience in a Brunello 2018 that captures heart above mind. Full extraction and wood compliment, vanilla sweetness and an approach to speak of a highly specific style. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Cerbaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Cerbaia, classic and specific to a place where sangiovese comes to be this and only this. A fine swirl of fruit and beautifully volatile compounds that bring a lyrical lilt in high-toned notes in the wine. Everything points toward grace and charm in expression, even in the face of some edginess and musky behaviour. There is no matter, only parts yet to be integrated and needing time to settle in. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2022

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Classic and I mean classic Col d’Orcia, the kind of Annata that wears heart on sleeve and puts cards on table while imagination runs wild. Pedigree and experience tells the story of foreshadowing, knowing full well that dreams do come true in a future where a 2018 Annata is poured and its full glory is revealed. Could be 2028, ’38 or ’48. One never knows from Count Francesco Marone Cinzano’s wines but this structure over fruit dominant ’18 might just own that kind of stuffing. The next ten years will be the best but bet on more, more and more. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2022

Col Di Lamo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Oh my what a lovely swirl of sangiovese, cask and time for Brunello in real harmony as only the place that gave it life would wish to do. The cherry tree gave it up to fulfill wishes, dreams and imagination but not to worry not a berry was harmed in the process. The fullness of this wine, its grace and its charm is obvious and celebrated. Yes the wood has much to say and express but like so many sangiovese of this ilk there must be time granted. If not the story becomes one of haste and respect would so sorely lacking. Be kind, exercise patience and wait for a just, but most of all loving reward. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2022

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Quite amazing how one instant moment of a nose into a glass can pull perfume to cause a mind to recall the producer. What a talent that is for estate to emit with such precision and consistency. Here a sangiovese so silky smooth and studded with spice but most of all a sliding scale of necessary structure. Collematoni has this Annata thing down to an artful craft with a minor in science to make the most well-rounded Brunello that simply marches to a wholly created and owned beat. Pure, honest, wood managed and integrated. Really fine. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Collosorbo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Both rustic (at least from the tannins) and elevated in volatility (by the acids). Fruit is lithe and transparent, surely not atypical and the mid pacing of this Annata is steady and lovely. Keeps composure through the back end and a there’s driven finish. Those early issues dissipate and this can be seen aging quite well. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Corte Dei Venti Brunello Di Montalcino 2018

Always steeped in tradition and clearly knows where it comes from with a distinct connection to the past. This experience and attention to a history of successes but also failures equips Corte dei Venti with the goods to power forward with a structural Brunello of fine but also austere tannins. Longevity is the name for a wine of this style and ilk. Need to wait for grace and charm. They lay waiting around a few corners. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

More exuberance and high toned beauty in the Mannella 2018 and it would seem that Tommaso Cortonesi chose a longer maceration for his high quality vintage fruit. The levels of extract and approaching glycerin texture are elevated and yet the underlying issue involves a tannic chain that means some purposed business. Drink this in and feel the layers, imagine the possibilities and count on what great next steps are en route. Great savoury finish. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A vintage we’ve been waiting for from this northerly Montalcino estate because after a few formidable ones there will surely be forthcoming the greatest measure of grace. The reality is just this in exactitude, warmth and exceptional liquidity. Everything works and works beautifully, expressive in so many ways, perfumed, gathered, integrated and if there is wood (and there is) there is no sign of its work. All play and done with truth, gentility and honesty in mind. The clarity is astounding. The tannins so incredibly fine. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Elia Palazzesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

One of the more hard to get, stoic and structured 2018 Annata in this Palazzesi glass with no great hurry to come out and please. Fine intoxicant of perfume without that rush and were more people wearing this sort of aromatic delicacy than rooms would be scented without excess. And so the wine is one you want to get closer to, snuggle in and take in the scent, allow imagination to swim and thoughts to ruminate. The palate shows more wood and even more held back character. Quite the mysterious Brunello, intriguing and filled with quiet wonder. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

So real and proper Annata from Fanti once again, apposite to all previous vintages and yet so consistently procured to define a vintage. That being one of ripe and tart fruit, easy if spirited acidity followed by mild, sweet and cruising tannins. Terrific palate presence to be sure, of secure barrel couverture that accomplishes its work into succulence. Feels ready and yet five-plus years will open so many new doors. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Fattoi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Fattoi brings the joy and the wealth of healthy ripe fruit to the Annata vintage fore. A fine chalkiness mixes with the tart and the tang though not all parts are exactly together this early in the game. That is coming soon, around a corner and when it happens there will be great times to be had by all. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Barbi’s is a Brunello interpretation of yet another diplomatic and democratic vintage, structured much like 2016 and yet more openly getable like 2015. There seems little connection to 2017 but only because that vintage was such an outlier. In fact the lineage is in tact and as it is well known, a Barbi wine is tethered to history and tradition as almost no Montalcino other. The real, direct, honest, correct and purposed deal. Every time out. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Fossacolle Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Fossacolle is most definitely parochial in style and without hesitation it is said that the sense of place is exactly what expresses from this glass. A tar and roses kind of ideal, tart and spirited, fresh as it gets and so, so very sangiovese. Liking the portents and intent, the trenchant view of a vintage and a wine that abides by the season. Truth spoken without excess, certainly not in extraction and therefore also tannin. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

It takes but a nano second to recognize the two-part harmony in the Franco Pacenti 2018 Annata because fruit so high tethered to tannins so low are of an unbreakable and seamless symbiotic kind. This sangiovese sits in the mouth with trenchant purpose and in layers so powerful yet also in this amazing state of grace. This is the real red fruit sangiovese and an example that speaks to the east and slightly veer to the north of Montalcino as being a location to see the best out of 2018. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2022

Gianni Brunelli Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Le Chiuse di Sotto 2018

Terrific presence from the Gianni Brunelli 2018, both on the vintage stage and also in how it performs, especially on the palate. There is some wood to resolve as the doubling down of tannins keep the performance from remaining light and ethereal but time will do what in necessary. For now just enjoy aromatics that come from the land and flavours crusted by those persistently agitated tannins. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Giodo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Giodo’s is fine, a vintage snapshot captured but with fruit run through, including the mid-palate reached where 2018 sometimes fails to access. This full and substantial capture makes for a drink early Annata which in this kind of case makes sense and really works well. Lovely and retable wine. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Gorelli Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Serious aromatic concentration yet in a most elastic and expressive way there arrives the immediacy of Gorelli’s Annata. The reality continues on the palate for a quantifiably gregarious and rich sangiovese of layers upon layers of fruit and structure. Not a matter of acidity so much as a wine in which that integration is both gracious and invisible. What a beautiful 2018 Annata. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Il Palazzone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Notable for earthy-savoury elements and grip in a righteously composed Annata of purpose and structure. Grabs attention, delivers that fennel-rosemary-garriga and cereal grain that Brunello can be, especially when location is considered. The herbaceousness and evergreen feeling persists for minutes on end. Curious and singular in every respect. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

The well is full of red fruited sangiovese Il Poggione way in a get at it straight away example of pretty much exactly what defines the 2018 vintage. More aromatic waves then some and also as compared to previous estate iterations so expectation is exceeded in this Brunello of early, often and dreamy style. Big wine that impresses quickly for any and all fêtes taking place in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Innocenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

For this vintage one of the darker and pressed examples of Brunello Annata though not without its very own set of charms. A bit wood rich and chocolatey though again there is some peaceful easy drinking in that regard. A style not light and bright but instead smooth and deep. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

La Casaccia di Franceschi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A combination of high acid and pretty clear higher level phenolic ripeness put this is top categorical vintage idiom though it will be prudent to offer time in exchange for reward. Plenty of barrel notes as well though this mediates structure without adding unwanted tannin or spiciness. Lilting here, floral and gracious. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

La Colombina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Here the salumi and the nebbiolo like tar and roses gather for a heady and grippy initialization of sangiovese fruit, acidity and tannin. A chewy wine in the face of that edgy and firm style where extract and wood spices gather. A few parts feels disparate here and perhaps time will be the instigator and also the catalyst to clarify what this wants to be. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Extreme measure of perfume and transformative possibility to full scale capability comes from the aromatics of La Fiorita’s 2018. The mouthfeel is über intense with a sort of nut and spice cocktail that includes cumin, cardamom, cocoa and fennel. The finish is all cocoa turning into beautifully bitter chocolate. Extraordinary example of 2018 Brunello Annata. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

La Fornace Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

If a vintage example can be considered and refereed to as classic while tasting during an Anteprima than La Fornace’s just might be the one. So expressive of that effusive, open and transparent red fruit that 2018 is filled with all over the territory. Definitely some wood felt on the palate in the form of a gentle creaminess that plays well and smooths out the wine. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2022

Montalcino sommeliers

La Fortuna Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

If a 2018 Annata can act with a sort of glycerin feel on the nose than La Fortuna’s would be the kind to do so in this pale red fruit vintage. Not that the palate does not follow suit with that type of silky liquidity because it does and the transition from one aspect to the next is really quite seamless. A pretty Brunello, for now and a few easy years ahead. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Rich and mouth-filling Brunello here from La Lecciaia, deeper of fruit as compared to many light and transparent examples out of the 2018 vintage. The tendency here is to exult the virtues of Brunello that invites all to the table, for consumers representative to a broad range of stylistic preferences. Fine work for 2018 though not one to cellar, at least not for a long and doting time. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Vineyards at La Magia

La Màgia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A Brunello that clearly separates itself from the pack namely because of the place, at elevation 400-500m in the south-central part of Montalcino surrounded by so much forest, with few neighbours and a wind gap that draws in the right breezes. These are quality tannins, powdery and yet somewhat demanding of the fruit that must work to keep up. It does without suffering, showing more fortitude and punch than many to most. Will live as long as any, in part because of it swarthy swagger. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Lambardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Traditional, rustico, old Montalcinese world, both in earthy savour and emotion. The kind of sangiovese known, expected and gifted. Done the right way for the exact vintage as a 2018 gone as far as it can and must. Tart and lithe, so direct, abided by in every loyal respect. How can there not be great love for such an example? Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

La Rasina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Soft and conversely high-toned, barrel vanilla, tannic spice and quite peppery though no sign of reduction. Good quality red fruit, sweet acids and admirable length. Fine and representative if on the timorous side of things. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Those medium-sized, assessed and picked mid-harvest berries qualify and quantify for Lorenzo Magnelli’s Annata in the exact way he would want them to, for his Brunello to emerge with all its possibilities intact. This is the wine from Le Chiuse shrouded in the most mystery even if it appears right now with an open door policy. There are many choices yet to be made as it concerns how we feel and more to the point regarding the future of such an intriguing sangiovese. Both Rosso and Riserva calculate their place and we in turn know just where they strand. Annata is more fluid and is the chameleon that will change soon, again in a year or two, after a few more and for many years in and out of its multiple rhythms. Le Chiuse’s may act so very 2018 but the hidden or yet to be determined acts of character are more the verity of the matter. Time will enact the reveal and truth be told there are none that imitate. Le Chiuse is a wolf, solo, roaming and silently stalking prey. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted November 2022

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Ahh freshness, the first 2018 in my glass and no offence to 2017 but after tasting 150 ‘17s over four days this is surely a breath of new air. Bright and almost a marine wind blowing through while at the same time showing some substance and bones. Fleshy but elastically so and these tannins are not sharp, nor austere, but forgiving and even generous. Left the barrel after the minimum amount of regulatory time to keep the wine from being tired by the wood. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Lisini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

So very 2018 vintage as a Brunello with bright red berry fruit and perhaps one of the most up front, amenable, accessible and drinkable examples anywhere. Tannins are soft, supple, sweet and integrated. Almost as if they are not present at all, but this is sangiovese in Brunello ilk so we know they truly are. At least for the time being. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Maddalena Cordella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Lovely perfume and ulterior aromatics on this from Cordella, a wine I’ve not encountered before. Great berry and floral swirl, glycerin texture, high tonality and a real Montalcinese saltiness. That can be a rarity but certain frazione just do this and some see it as mineral but frankly salinity is what it is. Tart yet quenching and really satisfying for an Annata out of this particular vintage. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Madonna Nera Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Generously wooded Brunello to a fuller degree than much of the 2018 class, laden with smaller barrel aromas like vanilla and lavender. Tastes like 2017 in a strange way though less forceful and the tannins lag, even get a bit brittle and fall away. No real power or structure here and yet the wine will drink well for a few years. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Martoccia di Brunelli Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Can’t miss the orange zest and spray in this high-toned and fruit variegate Brunello 2018 with just the faintest moment of saffron in the air. Tart, tight, compact and stealthily structured with plenty of wood spice, creamy chestnut nuttiness and a long finish. That minor botrytis note will pronounce with time so the best window will be two to four years from now. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2022

Mastrojanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Mastrojanni’s is one of the firmest and driest tannic 2018s of any and all tried during these Benvenuto days. From a vintage such as this lighter and brighter one there would need to be substantial fruit to march along with this type of grippy austerity and this by Mastrojanni is set up to the task. The length is outstanding with nary a bitter moment and in delivery of nimble elasticity that will surely persist for serious long-term success. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2022

Maté Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Seems like a constant refrain but a good one for a transparent vintage that has produced so many wines of this bright style. Maté’s joins the ranks and falls right into place with their beautifully paced, silky if at its heights, racy Annata. There is some excitement here to go along with the lithe beauty so give some credit where due for a sangiovese that finds its own way. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Mocali Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A relay of really quite classic Mocali as Brunello, light to mid weight and yes just in line with the vintage though here as consistent with what has come before in terms of this estate’s sangiovese. Tannins are present and drying, mid-stream as well, alongside and in tandem with the flesh of the wine. Still traditional after all these years. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Patrizia Cenconi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Certainly a deeper aromatic expression of 2018 Brunello and of that viscous-glycerol kind but in this instance the condition replays on the palate in just the same way. Unctuosity like few others and for those who live an breathe Montalcino by mouthfeel this is truly the one for you. Still in the lithe vintage style but silky smooth, rich and satisfyingly so. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Montalcino, direction southeast

Pian delle Querci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Querci is the appropriate adage for a Brunello so steeped in oak tea it’s just swamped by what the wood brings. Sweet vanilla, clove, cinnamon heart and a mix of tannin that is part austerity and part masala astringency. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2022

Pian delle Vigne Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

No real surprise that Pian delle Vigne expresses some of the darkest fruit from and for the vintage. That and thick consistency, suave tannins, chalky yet liquid. There is a hint of classic rusticity for good savoury measure but most of all there is über forward modernity and great professional appeal. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Piancornello Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

What a special wine from Piancornello out of 2018, standing clear from the vintage because of concentration and seriously impressive tannins. No it may not be über typical of the open-knit, lithe and forward vintage but sometimes there arrives a wine and I’m referring to a wine that will takes steps, little by little, as is its meaning, to arrive at where it is intended to go. Stick with it and stay for the journey. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Pietroso Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Pietroso incites a smile with their 2018 Annata because it’s beautiful, composed and expressed just so right. Captures the vintage as a perfect snapshot, lit from behind, casting a glow upon fruit and giving meaning to what that can become. The wine is like a wave of sangiovese, slowly rising and cresting then gently tumbling down, all the while sliding sideways urged on by fine acidity and supple tannins that permeate yet groove with the fruit. This is so wise and quite frankly delicious now. I would not hesitate to cellar it for up to 15 years. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2022

Pinino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Right there amongst the dictionary entry for a vintage that wants to be enjoyed as soon as possible. A year from which the producer who understood did nothing to mess with the lithe beauty and ease of attack. No tension here, sweet acids, red fruit and ease of play. Good chewy texture through the finish. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Podere Bonacchi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Bonacchi’s is more traditional, chalky tannic and savoury sangiovese with real bones and an intensity of intent. Taut and a bit tart at present but you can imagine with charged forecast what will become of this structured wine. For now it must rest and allow the austerity to melt away into the background. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2022

Podere Brizio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Chewy wine here in 2018 from Brizio, leathery with a cedar earthiness, savoury of more evergreen and a distinct high toned Montalcino style. A bit antithetical to many of the ‘18s yet comfortable in its skin. Acids are pronounced and tannins effective if not overpowering, nor lingering dry and too long. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Poggio Antico Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Good quality fruit no doubt and so the rich compliment of wood is both agreeable and understood. This is the Poggio Antico style, modern and fulsome yet even they have abided by the litheness and bright luminosity of the vintage. Perfectly reasoned and seasoned mid-term Annata for the next three or four winter seasons. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Poggio dell’Aquila Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Perfumed and of a harmonious composition, if notably creamy and spiced by the full cupboard as supplied by the aging in wood. Plenty of savour and more so flavour, a rich swirl of vanilla, three-toned berries and tell-tale graphite. Surely some barriques are involved. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2022

Poggio di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

If on the lighter side of Brunello there can be no denying the cause, purpose and effect of a Poggio di Sotto sangiovese and how it’s just all Brunello di Montalcino can be cracked up to be. Break this down into parts and you will note the concentration, the effect of tannins from the beginning and the way the power and the charm build as the wine fleshes in the glass. Of course there are more “impressive” and also structured vintages but the guarantee here is in the consistency of farming and winemaking teams, both with an equally, substantiated and dedicated set of values. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Paradiso di Cacuci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Spot on Annata of values in evaluation of both aromatic and textural unctuousness that settles, persists and remains long after the scents and flavours have drifted on. More than sneaky tannins as felt on the drying at the finish yet for the most part these acts of structure work well as part of the team. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Poggio Landi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Quite the aromatic Annata and yet also one of the first to act just a touch peppery reductive. Quite tannic as well, herbal and of sweet acidity. A most unique and curious 2018 with its own special set of circumstantial style, at times bracing and at others fluid. Needs some time to come together. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Poggio Lucina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Enticing and inviting nose, classic for vintage and località, roses and dried nasturtium. The right kind of push-pull tug between the posit tenets of fresh and dried, middle weight in which wood neither interferes or tries to fill in holes. Classic Galestro earthy-savoury and true tension towards edginess. Should fall in to place sometime after two plus years. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Ridolfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Very impressive stature and a bit of attitude are hallmarks of and the consistency explained from Ridolfi’s 2018 Brunello Annata. A sangiovese of grip and backbone, fleshy fruit hanging taut, especially considering the lighter overall view of this vintage. Really crusted and earthy yet sweetly perfumed and acids as high to fine as they come. Not the most elegant but definitely chivalrous, handsome and charming. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Roberto Cipresso Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

High extract and concentration brings viscosity and unctuousness to Cipresso’s 2018 in ways not so many Annata were able to deliver. This is true textural ascension more than anything else for a wine of grip and anti-vintage circumstance. Speaks quite a bit about location for a Brunello to turn out this way. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Greppone Mazzi

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

This bottle shows some TCA but seeing past this limitation this would bee a fine vintage example of Brunello with ample wood creaminess, a blanched nut sense and a creamy cheese note. Most interesting in all regards, complex and a bit different to the 2018 norm. The redeeming qualities are in the details for a sangiovese that will drink well a year forward and for three top five after that. No rating, however. Tasted November 2022

Salvioni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A Brunello for the ages that opens its story and gambit with more intensity and thought then most with a vineyard load of fruit also like no other. What comes out of this glass is aromatic concentration in a way that is more than what the air can handle. Good thing the backbone holds onto flesh that will not fall so the years will be kind to a wine so far away from changing into new clothing. There are so many levels involved you wonder just how long a life lays ahead. Likely two plus decades. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2022

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Surprisingly heady, grippy and hearty wine here from San Polino in 2018, well perhaps not a shock but this stands up to be immediately counted. No shrinking violet and firm, upright, juicy yet really floral. Spices everywhere and quite frankly also spicy, of cinnamon and capsicum, a full onslaught of power and flavour. In a league of its own. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

San Lorenzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Firm yet fair Annata, fruit exuberance and also good quality tannins, built on sandy clay and notable Galestro for a truly variegated sangiovese that really acts as a dictionary entry for what 2018 is wont to be. Cruising and will slowly unwind over a seven to 10 year period of time. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

San Carlo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

All in Brunello Annata with a swell of red fruit that shows some black cherry intonation. Good quality tannins carry the weight primarily for some early access yet the construction will do well for mid-term Annata. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Scopetone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A bright sangiovese from Scopetone so the vintage feels immediately represented and yet one can’t help feel some underlay of seriousness. Not the most glycerin 2018 but it’s there in emotive viscosity. Nice levels of tart and intense, reasonable, very seasoned and apropos in so many ways. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Scopone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Noticeably high-toned, edging up to volatility with a minor though not egregious presence of Brettanomyces. Dry and brittle tannins sum up the fighting issues of this wine. Would be beneficial to try a second bottle. Tasted November 2022

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Quite a mouthful of fruit breadth and structural candidacy in a sangiovese of large cask nurturing and so much texture you feel like you’re running out of time and space. Clearly one of the longer steps paced, spiced and architecturally drawn wines of the vintage, not to mention the layers of design that drape over the pencilled sketch. There is a lot to assimilate here. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

One of the finer perfumes of any and all from a 2018 Annata by way of Talenti as sangiovese that draws you in with fineness from the start. That said there are aromatic and even more flavour profile notes so singular and unlike just about any other wine. Like pine and porcini, for the first time, freshly plucked needles and fungi pulled direct from the earth. Kind of wild and earthy in that regard with beauty occupying the mind. Bravo Riccardo for this snapshot of your collected vineyards in a wine so silky and of humble design. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Fine and upstanding collection of qualities are the assemblage in cuvée of Tenuta Buon Tempo’s 2018 Annata and though the fruit is of a deep tone for the vintage it also offers so much seasonal and seasoned breadth. This is indeed a mouthful of sangiovese with an almost equal amount of supple tannin yet the weight and spice really take over the room. Consistent throughout, persistent and inviting, one of those mid-term vintage wines that will do so many things right in its first 10 years post vintage. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Rich and stylish, an Annata that pulls fruit of high solar radiation at elevation and makes for a beautiful result. Full monty of parts, dancing on the palate, ripe, red and rosy. So much going on and to go on, likely for up to a decade of time. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Poggio il Castellare Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Curious example of 2018, not only glycerin on the palate but the nose leads as well, straight into how the wine feels in the mouth. Lots of wood, vanilla and coconut, peanut shell and baked potato. Drying and hard tannins. Drink 2022-2023. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta San Giorgio Ugolforte Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Each and every year these vines in kinship with Poggio di Sotto mature a little bit more so that they are just about in line with the mothership. This is found to be quite typical for Ugolforte in that toasty or roasted meat quality to go along with the calcareous-sandy lightning and bright red fruit tones. A bit more depth and structure from 2018 and well managed in that regard. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Classic Silvio Nardi, mid-weight, fruit and cask exchange, interchange and play. Sweetness of silky acids at work with glycerin red fruit and soft tannins. That’s the vintage talking and the winemaking has surely abided by what was at stake. Good work and better result. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Terre Nere Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

High extraction, full on press and maceration, gone for broke 2018 in Annata clothing. Done well in the style, no real astringency and perhaps necessary to reflect a sense of location. Some mildly hard tannin and wood liquidity more glück in feel than nut toasty. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2022

Ucceliera Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

One of the most grippy and also finest structural Annata of the vintage, fruit variegated and true, an honest snapshot of what the farm produced matched by the firmness of both acidity and tannin. Rises and rises, never falling into valleys and constantly climbing, on rocks, in octaves and for constructive means. Wow. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Val di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Purposed, fruitful, substantial, a touch reductive and also volatile. In a good way however because there is a natural, breathable feel. Chewy and crunchy alternatively, first of leathery fruit and then by acids that support but also drive. Drying tannic finish that is quite long. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Ventolaio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Super proper 2018 concentration from also reddest of the red fruit Ventolaio. In fact the contiguous content is so consistent from vintage to vintage so as to be admirable. Tart and playful, crisp, fresh and crunchy but just enough liquorice chew to balance out the lightning and intensity of red citrus. Early drinking for certain yet sneaky enough to evolve over five to seven years. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2022

Voliero Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Slightly less grippy and prettier version of the Ucceliera, two wines made by Andrea Cortonesi. Here an absolute snapshot of the vintage yet on the sharp and tannic side of the idiom. The quality of grapes is undeniable, the purpose serious and the drink-ability factor high. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Etichetta 2018

Camigliano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Paessagio Inatesso 2018

Camigliano’s Etichetta labeled 2018 is a tweener which in most cases works very well for the vintage. As it does for Paessagio Inatteso. Plenty of substantial fruit, higher acidity than some and chalky, liquified tannins are primarily interested in one another though perhaps some time would help them find further peace and accord. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Castello Di Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Alle Mura 2018

Yes there is more than ample concentration in the Banfi Etichetta Brunello but also a transparency that speaks to vintage. This is a great positive to say that Banfi has paid close attention to what is needed, to exult this freshness of the 2018s. Crisp and piqued by peppery pops, pings and jolts. Tons of energy and life here, so far from the days of ‘97s, ‘99s, ‘01s, ‘03s and the like where extraction, concentration and ambition ruled the local scene. Yes this is a very different vintage but hey, even Banfi can change, find balance and play in the sand. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campo Del Drago 2018

As expected 2018 is predicated on bright red fruit and tension though mostly a cause of acidity rather than tannin. Castiglion del Bosco has listened to the vintage wind and made an Etichetta sangiovese trying as hard as it should so that the feeling of this northwestern Montalcino place is elevated and looked at directly in the mirror. Mild to elastic tannins and just a secondary level of texture will help see this forward a few years. That said it sure feels like the Annata pulled away some important fruit from this block of a wine. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Cava d’Onice Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Colombaio 2018

Colombaio is a five times Annata concentrate of sangiovese blood, juice and chalky texture. The unresolved tannins in this Vigna ’18 are grippy and even considered formidable. Quite a powerful single-vineyard set of circumstances bring punch and pomp to a wine that must be laid down fro quite some time. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Celestino Pecci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Carro 2018

Plenty of purposed concentration defines the whole package that is Poggio al Carro, a specific 2018 Brunello under the labelling umbrella “Etichetta,” as opposed to Vigna. The beauty lies in the quality of the fruit which is decidedly rich, luxe and lush, swirling in its own macerated juices. Chalky underlay suggest quality tannins though there is a green note beneath, neither herbal nor savoury, a verdancy that shows just a fraction of less than optimum phenolic matter. A portion that would have been best sorted out because the pressing has resulted in a minor note of green tannin. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Progetto Prime Donne 2018

Ah the perfume of Casato Prime Donne, like taking a bucket of its friable soil, stirring the crushed duff into the wizard’s pot and hovering over while the sweet scents of the earth waft out. With the optimum if gracefully restrained drip of pure berry aroma, all swirled together as if the tones are so intrinsically layered there can be no separating one from another. The Progetto’s clarity increases year after year, the pure essence of the life it has been given evolving with the kind of maturity to speak deeper and deeper into this project’s sense of place. This is a wine that used to flirt with volatility and now the control is both commanding and effortless. It can be argued that 2018 is the launching point for the next epoch and the future. Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2022

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG NO 2018

La Fiorita NO is just what the wine should be from 2018 in that it takes what’s given and makes beauty happen. There are florals and fruit variegation mixed together, a wild berry and rose swirl that’s really quite the aromatic intoxicant. Though a small dip occurs in the mid-palate of the wine that is completely normal and inconsequential because all other aspects fall into line with the season. Tannins are suave and supportive, the length quite outstanding. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2022

La Fornace Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Origini 2018

Very pretty aromas from Origini, all the reds, of roses and pomegranate, poppies and berries. Oranges too, cacchi (persimmon) and the zest from navels, all encrusted into and with earth to give this bright Etichetta Brunello its true sense of origin. Apropos it should be and so with the place confirmed there is beauty and there are brave new worlds to explore. These are grippy yet fair tannins so look for the wine to sing in five years, drifting and descending for 10 more. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Manapetra 2018

Manapetra is a swirl of aromatic compounds and liquid elements that show great potential for the evolutionary process of an Etichetta-designate wine. Plenty of cask strength aging as well and to be sure so the ambition and the traditional explanations run through most aspects of this 2018. On the largesse side of the vintage spectrum, needing two years and will drink well for five after that. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2022

La Màgia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2018

Mostly Basso fruit, meaning the lower part of the old vine, most important vineyard. Quite a large part of new barrel is used, upwards of 80 per cent and the integration is nothing short of remarkable. Fabian is a different sort of winemaker for Montalcino, following his own regime, working by feel and with confidence. Fruit purity is elevated and exulted by the wood and while the barrels simply can’t be hidden there is an impressive display in this age-worthy wine. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

La Rasina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Persante 2018

Persante is an Etichetta-designate Annata that attempts to heighten sangiovese and vintage awareness. That is does in hyper real, sensitive and emotive behaviour. This Brunello is both viscous and woody, supercharged and of a flavour profile like chalky raspberries in syrup. A bit of a tannic challenge and caught between appellative levels in that each foot seems stuck in opposite stylistics. The disjointedness is noted and time can only help so much. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Vecchia 2018

Vigna Vecchia as it always does makes sure to remind how this vineyard delivers the most compact tannins in the Brunello portfolio of Le Ragnaie. Mix this omnipresent austerity with the fresh breath of 2018 vintage air and the combination could only be a most excellent and rewarding one. In fact there is less early aggression, either because of the freshness or simply because the vineyard speaks this way in this year, but also because the wine spent less time in wood than other vintages. Sweet meanderings of acidity zig, swirl, zag and twirl to lift and elevate all the parts. Not exactly integrated fully but also not that far away. So much pleasure will come from this wine when that happens. Magnifico. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2021

Lisini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ugolaia 2017

A beautiful specialized wine here from Lisini in 2017 to elevate Ugolaia above and beyond what possibility and probability might the Annata be able to express. There is a deep well of maceration felt in this ’17 and it’s so full of fruit so that time will bring about integration but also an extension of the freshness found today. Good quality parts result in age-ability and a blessed future. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Mocali Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Raunate 2018

Richer than the Annata normale for sure and yet not such a dramatic drifty away from that vintage wine. Another example of splitting quality fruit between the first label and the second etichetta label when some greater amount of promising fruit would have better served this label. No matter because the vintage is abided and the wine speaks in clear tones. Should age a year or two longer. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Patrizia Cenconi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ofelio 2018

Liquorice straight away, earth and savour, chalky tannin and intensity of both acidity and how that drift works with the brooding aspect of the wine. A powerful example with that high acidity and plenty of grainy texture. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2022

Podere Bonacchi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Molino di Suga 2018

One of the more reductive and liquid peppery piqued Brunelli to be sure and needing air to open ip. The first bottle showed some TCA but this second one opened is sound and tight. There is some charm laying behind the wall. Plenty of cask sheathing as well coming through in vanilla, lavender, toasted nuts, graphite and finally bitter chocolate. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2022

Ridolfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Donna Rebecca 2018

Donna Rebecca the Vigna Brunello for Ridolfi in 2018 picks up right where Annata leaves off or perhaps the reverse should be stated because it begins, as it must, with her. Donna Rebecca is a sangiovese of purity and beauty, chalky and youthful, of freshness but also layers of fruit, earth and in this instance, much savour. The peeling will take a decade easy. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Rodolfo Cosimi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Bramante Cosimi 2018

Rodolfo Cosimi’s Etichetta Brunello is a firm one, made rich and textural by extra time in cask and finishing with more chocolate than many from the vintage. There is ambition in this wine and it surely wants to be a long aging wine. Improves and opens with air to release more character and charm so it is conformed that a few years will bring benefits and reap reward. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2018

Prepare yourself, open your mind and heart to embrace what Piaggione will gift if your priorities and intentions are set to correct. Welcome Salicutti and their passionate team to a Benveunto Brunello and be so very pleased they are now in the consiglieri. These vineyards are a place of magic and the way this sangiovese is made exacts, translates, transmogrifies and most of all explains the place. The smoothest and seamless flight with transitions invisible extend in a Brunello that has no end. No beginning as well because by the time you have reached what you thought was the finale the wine continues, begins again and marches on. Incredible tannins. The finest for ilk, idiom and as mentioned, place. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted November 2022

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Podernovi 2018

Seriously rich expression from the seriously important vineyard in 2018 of great depth and potential. Not quite harmonious but surely an example of sangiovese requiring time in bottle to find its equilibrium and ultimately the charm. Big wine from the vintage, welling with flavours, earth and chalky tannin for what will also emerge as sweet perfume. Because it’s estimably already there. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piero 2018

Quite obviously a rich and beautiful 2018 Piero from Riccardo Talenti, so deserving of its name and ode to a grandfather. Fully resolved, here from the vintage following the heat but really it’s something other, or ulterior yet still exhibitive of intense concentration. Piero is a matter of ultimate respect to the finest and best selected berries. The ’18 is marked or indelibly stamped with Riserva quality tannins, slow developed and only ready well, when they will be ready. Hard to exercise and discover more incremental construction of structural identity than what Piero administers. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted November 2022

Tassi Di Franci Franca Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tassi Franci 2018

Tassi walks the fine line between restraint and volume to arrive at a twain where fruit succulence and chalky liquidity pool for one of the vintage’s coolest etichetta-designate wines. By cool the definition is minty savour from a type of sangiovese concentration that causes a whistle and cooling of the taste tract. It’s uncanny how this acts and leaves you feeling refreshed, awake and in good spirit. Turns on the lights, ups the volume and heightens awareness. A remarkable thing considering there is some density in this 2018, especially from the tannins. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Fiore del Vento 2018

The first of three Etichetta labeled Corte Pavone wines called Fiore del Vento is a matter of florals and airiness, flowers and wind. Describes the swept plots aboard 500m of elevation at Montalcino’s western ridge. F del V breathes that air, delivers one of the saltier expressions but also climbs the tannic ladder. Most unique dichotomy for 2018 to drink tomorrow and beyond. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Fior di Mellioto 2018

A few tannic forward steps puts a palate on notice when tasting the second of two Corte Pavone Etichetta wines, here called Fior di Mellioto. Still the air and the salinity though less showy and billowy as compared to Fiore del Vento. Serious chalkiness and density in fact, a wealth of textural layers that will take a long time to resolve along with the mounded and bonded structure. When the eventuality comes to pass the fruit may not be fully equal to the task. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campo Marzo 2018

The third Etichetta Brunello from Corte Pavone shows the most glycerin and especially spice aboard the more substantial fruit of the three separated expressions. Plenty of tart acidity and chalky tang, tannins present though not nearly as formidable as Fior di Mellioto and even Fiore del Vento. Here from Campo Marzo there is more harmony, less tension and demand. That said it too needs time to work out any issues the parts may have with one another. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Val di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Granchio 2018

Crunchy oh my this Poggio al Grancho is a wine to sink your teeth into and in fact that is how you must attack a 2018 already in such a mode. A sangiovese of grip, grit, pomp and circumstance. This is a mouthful and a half, no less impressive and trenchantly important than many of its peers, in idiom and of ilk. Factual to the nth degree, ambitious and full. Needs so much time. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2022

Ventolaio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campo dei Colti 2018

Campo dei Colti is clearly an express extension of the Annata and one wonders just how different the source plus selection is for these two wines. Just as lovely, adhering to the consistency through several different vintages, similarly tart, playful and crisp. Freshness even greater, pomegranate and red currant leading to blood orange and candied roses. The greatest difference is the wood noted on the finish, of vanilla and clay chalkiness. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Pomona 2018

In Pomona there is an obviousness or rather an expected consistency of style that permeates and then drives the Villa Poggio Salvi machine. What comes before continues so that the tang and glycerol combo of red fruit swells throughout, if perhaps just going a bit hollow sounding in the middle. The palate is so very Aperol it’s uncanny and if unusual it matters very little. Not Campari but actually Aperol, combining bitters, orange sweetness and subtle volatility. So curious! Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna 2018

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino Montosoli DOCG 2018

A Montosoli vintage for the cru and its petite hillock on the north shores down below the Montalcino hill. That is because the understatement and restraint heeded attention will do for this special set of parcels as it seems both nature and also farmer intended it to be. Could there be a finer season to consider Montalcinese “Climat?” Methinks not and from an educational point of view it is Altesino that sets the readable benchmark for such a consideration. The hopefulness and harmony are readily apparent, the grace, fluid concentration and charm appear in clear view. A sangiovese as a window, hyper real of place, altruistic and realistic, for now and to see what will be a decade plus-plus onwards. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted November 2022

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Alle Mura Vigna Marrucheto 2018

Hard not see and intuit with great immediacy the absolute glaring difference between the Banfi Annata and this single-vineyard expression. The chalky and fine-grained tannic rush right on through is what drives and defines this sangiovese and yet the fruit is strong enough to defend itself. How it will hold its own and carry on forward will be the true raison d’être of a Vigna ’18 that shows so much possibility. Not to mention purpose. Banfi got this so right. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Assunto 2018

As per the Bellaria style the hyperbole of fruit and wood swirl in this Assunto is nothing short of incredible. Not exactly a clarity or transparency as shown by so many wines from the 2018 vintage and in fact quite the opposite. Big extraction and so that fruit is thick as thieves with the barrel and as a result the doubling down of tannins is heavy and something needing to be worked out. That will take some time and rest assured there will be fungi and tartufo in the deep distance of Assunto. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2022

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casaccia 2018

Great anticipation to taste La Casaccia and Montosoli side by each from a vintage carrying no option but to act out the passion play through the glaring clarity of a sense of place. There are facts involved and there is no hiding the truth formed by these plots of sangiovese in this vintage. By now it is understood how 2018 exists on its own accord at one with nature though Francesco Ripaccioli will tell you there are similarities with 2013, if only because that vintage was greatly ignored and is drinking well at this time. La Casaccia in the località of Canalicchio is the wildcard of Montalcino and tasting several wines from the frazione reveals a collective affinity supplied by the year’s gifts. Nothing was portioned or taken away from the ’18 Annata and yet this Vigna sings with even more range and depth than that wine. The acids are simply out of this proverbial world, the linear aspects drawn with precise architectural or even, in Old English speak, a Cutter’s line. Remarkable reserve in concentration and forward slicing finesse. Forever long. Forever young. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted November 2022

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2018

No this is not La Casaccia, nor should this sangiovese be that fine Vigna from Canalicchio. No, this is glaring and hyper real factual Montosoli, a cru-designate 2018 that speaks in the clearest ways, drinks with firm and confident grip, cools and cools some more. If getting to know Montosoli is something you find yourself needing to do then sure, please come along and taste Francesco Ripaccioli’s essential ’18 but wait and pause just a moment. Montosoli’s frank and purposed charms are hidden behind a pretty serious wall of structure, in fact there are few Montalcino examples more skeletal and Doric than this right here. Three years are needed to open even the first knowable doors to perception. Drink 2025-2040. Tasted November 2022

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casa 2018

On and on it goes with these treasures of place and vintage in Montalcino. Vigna la Casa may not be labeled as such but it shares every bit of affinity in kinship with Altesino Vigna Montosoli. The geology may alter ever so slightly in Galestro hue and schist content but the clay-lime attributes gift similarly and for 2018 the hype is real. La Casa is found to be more macerated, silky, generous and glycerin. The texture acts out with more passion and controls the manifest destiny of this wine. Acids carry some weight and tannins are semi-formidable but in the end it is still mouthfeel that shows who’s boss. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2022

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Filo Di Seta 2018

How incredible is it to see the likes of Filo di Seta at a Brunello tasting in the Chiostro of Montalcino? Has been some time and the glory of Filippo Chia’s 2018 is a great place and space for the return. Fruit so fine in upbringing, aging and design. There can be little doubt as to the intention of Filo, to use highest of high elevation fruit in conjunction with thoughtfully integrated cask so that first an oxidation and then a compression set up the wine for longest of life dreams. What follows is the grand parade of life affirming qualities, salty and soulful exhalations, salutations and finally, liberations. In a few years this wine will be set free and we will all be free. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2022

Cortonesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG I Poggiarelli 2018

When we talk about Tommaso Cortonesi’s I Poggiarelli we first talk about place. No discussion otherwise. Even if the cloudy picture of 2017 (in a year of glaring sun) might have been an aberration to cause some sense of località confusion there is no questioning the effect of 2018. This is the land and the vines, of grapes seen through, of a wine unable to hide both beauty and imperfections. The character is guaranteed, the complexities in abundance and the truth unequivocally spoken. Are there finer tannins then these from this sector of Montalcino? Couldn’t say and yet the quantifiable intensity, elongation and succulence suspend thought. That’s what there is to say about that. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted November 2022

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Fiore 2018

Not sure whether to say that Vigna del Fiore exists as an icon or flies under the radar as a Vigna Brunello in Montalcino? Feels like both because it is not always spoken of and yet never wavers, delivers Barbi’s great quality and ages as well as any in the territory. As for 2018? A resounding yes in terms of sweet fruit, fine acids and quality tannins. Adds up to That’s All Right classicism, a trait for which Barbi wrote and continues to write the book. Everyday, everyday. The 1956 Elvis and 1983 Costello of Montalcino wines. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted November 2022

Il Poggiolo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Terra Rosa 2018

Il Poggiolo’s 2018 is a lovely example of Vigna Brunello for the most part because of the glycol and mixed berry swirl that permeates every facet of the wine. Quite pure, silky to satiny and easier to access than most Vigna declared wines in this most transparent vintage. Terra Rosa obviously alludes to soil, where some iron oxide content runs through the sand and clay. The story is told by a hematic wave here and there but also ever so slightly green pops of tannin. No matter because the fruit is glorious. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Le Gode Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2018

Le Gode is situated right there at the Montosoli hill on Montalcino’s northern orientation and this work in progress is on the cusp. The winemaker is Carlotta Ripaccioli who is working with her cousin (Canalaicchio di Sopra’s) Francesco Ripaccioli to gain control and set a course for re-purposing and focusing both her cellar and her wines. This 2018 sees great improvement and the feeling of finding its northern Montalcino legs. Though tis vintage and that time are still in that Bretty zone. Initiates a swarthy sensation that can’t be denied nor eliminated, at least not at this time. The bones and blood of sangiovese are clearly high level and the tension remarkable, not to mention the benefit of a Montosoli location. Really looking forward to seeing this wine improve and march towards greatness in future vintages. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2022

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Casanovina Montosoli 2018

As for Casanovina from Montosoli there is everything one could hope for in fresh, sapid, saline, mineral expressiveness giving in to amenability as it pertains to enjoying, or projecting the enjoyment of Brunello Vigna looking a few years ahead. There is more depth and reserve in 2018 from Montosoli and if the previous vintage did not tell us just how special this northern fruit can be then better attention need be paid. Here we experience the prescience and extension to continued futures of Montalcino. A fruit to acid continuum of fresh sweetness and singular expressiveness. Also a backbone but not one rigid and compact, rather linear and stretching northward. Crisp and with terrific crunch, upward movement and great potential. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2021

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Paso Del Lume Spento 2018

As with the Brunello Annata and in fact all of his ‘18s, Riccardo Campinoti decided to take this out of wood at the discipline number of months to stave off any chance of tiring and oxidation. As with the Annata there is of course great freshness but here magnified with even greater clarity, blue sky brightness and what a palate cleanser it is. Thanks to the 621m of altitude the wine maintains a level of acidity at the top of the tops but it is neither spicy nor piqued, no sign of peppery grinds nor sharpness neither. Cool, gelid, sandstone salt licked and a sangiovese that will never blind a traveller nor turn out the lights. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Mastrojanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigno Loreto 2018

After tasting the Annata there is great expectation in assessment of Mastrojanni’s Vigna which is by now one of the archetypal such wines of Montalcino. Vigno Loreto brings power and also confidence, that much is clear. Yet there is a gentle parent’s patience and touch as well, a nurturing if you will and as a result this sangiovese will slowly mature over a very long period of time. Loreto is equipped with succulence and grip, from acids through tannins and these are some of the finer set of both, to be found anywhere in the land. Fine work, unsurprising and deserving of praise. Drink 2025-20234. Tasted November 2022

Poggio Landi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Chiuso del Lupo 2018

Not the literal translation “the closed of the wolf” but like the French “clos,” meaning an enclosure or walled in place. Perhaps a wolf likes to roam this vineyard and thus the name. Poggio Landi’s Vigna is a singular one, a well full of red citrus fruit in the pomegranate, blood orange and tart plum range. The layering is full of love and affection, the liquidity of the chalky tannins right in line. Great 2018 acidity, especially for the style and the vintage. Could drink this all day! Less structure than many, nary a moment of green and just a delight. Makes me hungry like the wolf. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2022

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2018

Helichrysum will do, as only this Vigna wine or more to the greater point only this estate’s sangiovese will scent. That being something high-toned, other worldly, like coniferous trees would emit at their tips in the wind. The aromatics are wild hyperbole, savoury and from some specific place never visited, on the bucket list, far, far away. That and these crazy ranging tannins, scaling up and down, this way and that, tohu vavohu. Chalky, heavy tang, tart and intense. settle. Please wait for the settling. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2022

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vignavecchia 2018

Deep well of savoury and highly characterful flavours make this old vines San Polo Vigna Brunello well with liquid density. Or volume more like it as this is truly one of the more voluminous Vigna wines for the season, especially considering the type of vintage 2018 has come to be. That said we really don’t yet know the sum total so as a rule time is the operative and the necessity to answer all the questions. Meanwhile you will note the linearity and tension involved so exercise a greater amount of patience than the average requiem. Sangiovese awaits. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2022

Tassi Di Franci Franca Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Colombaiolo 2018

Molto profumato as it is said from a Tassi Vigna designate Brunello that exudes the clarity of 2018. From a vintage where if the entire process, from farm to bottle needed to express the greatest sense of place possible. Tassi has done exactly that for a season of no shroud. There are times when minor technical difficulties can be shrouded in wood (especially) and from this ’18 there is an ever so subtle feeling of Bretty volatility and yet it helps characterize and lend expressiveness to fruit so honest and pure. No one should find fault because there is just too much beauty to ignore. And drink this relatively early because the level of tension is well below the difficult. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG P. 56 Oliveto 2018

Oliveto is a sangiovese animal unto itself, a thing of moveable feast and yet immoveable tension. The very fact that so much vintage fruit substance wells into the pool of liquid chalk and spice masala tells us that wood is a factor but there is plenty of flesh to hang around for as long is necessary. This wine gets better and better all the time. I will admit. Not sure 2018 fits the temper and personality as well as it does for some other top Vigna wines but the maturity and what will surely come from 2019 will surely alter towards another course altogether. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Manachiara 2018

Manachiara is a deep dive into 2018, a deeper plunge into the 2018 pool than many actually and an ambitious take on the vintage by Nardi. Really voluminous and chalky, so very chalky. Tannins are impressive and yet also dense, chewy, complimentary to this mix of liquorice and fennel. There is some animale as well, a musky prosciutto or cinghiale so the gastronomical point now comes into view. Still there needs to be time got between this wine and your glass. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2022

Tiezzi Vigna Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Soccorso 2018

Vigna Soccorso hits with a fruit bomb thump then lands upon the palate with great volume and weight. Aromatically speaking the emission is liquorice, toasted nuts, braised fennel and cavolo nero. But the mouthfeel is challenging with its heaviness and drying tannin. Afraid there is some cooked fruit here that has turned vegetal while mixed into brittle tannin. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2022

Val di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2018

Nice subtle toasty note draws first aroma from the vineyard by the lake as if chestnuts are roasting over an open wood fire. There is some lovely fruit in this Vigna Brunello, much like the Annata but more barrel in the form of texture and also spice. Feels very masala seasoned, of cinnamon mostly but also a few shakes of nutmeg and pepperoncini. Characterful wine, not too hard and not too soft. Neither heavy nor light and finding that zone in between. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Ravioli at Capanna

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio alle Mura 2017

Take an about turn away from Poggio alle Mura (Etichetta) 2018 and note the very Mediterranean, markedly concentrated and notably warm Riserva from the previous season. Day turns to night as the calendar flips back to 2017 where small berries, low yields and so much glycerol fills the mid palate, especially at this appellative level. Impressive stuff here, expressive of vintage, less so place and with pretty suave tannins for the year. Drinking well already and will do so for a while yet. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2022

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

No surprise that Caparzo in Riserva form is the full deal and real monty of Montalcino sangiovese taken from finest fruit subjected to the whole spa treatment. All the aspects of Riserva are captured, aged and bottled. Luxe richness, full fruit set exulted and personified as the layered and textured filaments of fineness so worthy of the appellative credo. While preference for Vigna la Casa is not unusual it can’t be helped to see Riserva as something exceptional. That it is. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted November 2022

Carpineto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Deep well of 2017 here from Carpineto and considering the vintage challenges the levels of freshness and bright acids are really quite special. Just what one might expect from Riserva, the vintage and that combination of warmth and elevation by Carpineto. Should develop some tartufo with five more years of age. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2022

Casanuova Delle Cerbaie Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2017

More than surprisingly wow – A Brunello Riserva of dichotomies. Warm vintage versus fruit from a cooler site. Riserva aging style cast against one of Montalcino’s most sought after cru. Concentration after extraction and maceration against a backdrop of fine acidity and tannin. All of the above pursue excellence and this from oenologist Paolo Vagaggini succeeds because it embraces the two-sided approach. Montosoli and 2017 are a match made in Montalcino heaven. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Celestico Pecci Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Plenty of energy here and in terms of 2017 that’s an important way of approaching Riserva. Spicy Riserva, buzzing and piquing, unrelenting and clearly driven by acidity. Chalky tannic, full on swagger and tension, a determined Riserva for the vintage. Should live really long. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2022

Fattoi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Like many Fattoi sangiovese the wine is taut and immediately explains that quite a bit of extra time is required before any softening will occur. This is the traditional sense of Montalcino and in Riserva terms the idea is magnified to a great degree. Yet there is beauty and generosity which in Riserva means a mirrored image of itself. Rich and exemplary of time and place, so well made for an accomplished wine that will drink beautifully, if likely best at the eight to ten year mark going forward. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2022

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Well done Barbi. Well judged Riserva from 2017, more tannic than many, fruit substance so very close to being perfectly equipped to handle the task. Drying sensations occur, here and there, with bursts of freshness and piques of spice in between. A massive attack at once, then slower machinations when that kind of temperance is required. Barbi moves in and out of action and slumber, raciness and controlled movements. It knows what we need and also what is must own. Those who taste this wine must be left with an impression, of vineyards coalesced and centuries of experience distilled. Barbi’s is the kind of Riserva to tell a story, not just of a vintage wine aged longer but also where its fits with what came before and what is still to come. This 2017 will help to explain the democracy of 2016 and transparency as succinctly as any in the territory. It is a sangiovese predicated on acids, of fruit picked and connected in a most pragmatic way, the result ready and yet willing to travel deep into the future. In Bourgogne there are wines that go through dumb phases and rise up to freshen and excite again. Could this be how Barbi Riserva ’17 travels through its life? Definitive. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted November 2022

La Cassacia Di Franceschi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Deeper aromatic rise and red fruit in the well as compared to so many 2017 kin by a sangiovese that acts powerful and heady at this stage. Clearly Riserva in style, attitude and acts that way because it must and will. More crunch than chew, elevated acids, chalkiness and even swarthy behaviour. An exciting and inviting wine from 2017, clearly, allegedly and fittingly. Must try. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2022

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2017

There is no doubt that Le Chiuse’s Riserva delivers the heights and the depths, of fruit and structure, in freshness rising in and out of the tannic river below. There is everything in this and to no surprise, as its aging abides by the chosen ones, they being the gift of grapes small and selected for their great potential. All the depth and ten times the quality, not to mention this calm, tranquil, layered and nurturing expression. For Lorenzo Magnelli this is the pinnacle of his work and for those unaware, Riserva from his farm is precisely what he wants it to be. Because he just knows. Drink 2025-2041. Tasted November 2022

Mocali Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

More reductive than many Riserva, rubber and cracked pepper, wood spice, liquid chalky texture and intensity. So many things happening here in a sangiovese of great complexity if needing quite a bit of time to settle. The peppery piques and the heat need to dissipate. Hopefully the fruit will hang around. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2022

Paradiso Di Cacuci Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Sappy, wood wholly in charge, resinous and bristly tannic. Vanilla, liquid smoke and jarring. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2022

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Classic Riserva flesh, bones and drive here from Patrizia Cenconi in a wine to explain a vintage with as great a sense of reality as you are likely to find. That is because the warmth is here but so is the extra time, from barrel of course but also what came before meaning fruit hung just long enough to extend the phenols and balance the original sugars. This just got the timing so right, in all respects, including tannin and texture. Most definitely a Riserva vintage for Patrizia. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Pian Delle Querci Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Really chewy Riserva from Pian delle Querci, full of appellative emotions, spice and textures. A Riserva that captures all that is available and layers those aspects for one of the richer you will find in the vintage. Plenty of wood still working its way in this sangiovese but also tannins from really musky skins and strong willed bunches. Needs time still. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2022

Poggio Antico Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Only Poggio Antico noses in Riserva like this. A gregarious mix of ripe fruit, wood in and out of every pore, resins, saps and essential oils. A veritable stew and rich tisane that oozes from pores, spills through the aromatic profile and then repeats everything across the palate. No shortage of tannin and the future is long if filled with developing maturity by way of mushroom and truffle. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Poggio dell’Aquila Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Reductive and smoky, a mess of fruit, roasted nuts, stewed meats and balsamic. Salumi cure as well with some Brettanomyces though the biggest issue is not that. More a cause of wood and the type of seasoning it imparts. There are some wines from other parts of the world where this effect is created. South Africa and Chile come to mind. Not Montalcino. Drink 2022. Tasted November 2022

Roberto Cipresso Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Great aromatic hyperbole, a five times vintage sangiovese expression so very steeped as a tea made complex by evergreen, herbs, pepperoncini and something exotic, like rooibos. Plenty of cask here, perhaps some tonneaux involved, maybe even barriques. The vanilla and creamy nuttiness, like chestnut purée or almond in marzipan form all combine to tell the barrel story. Then the texture following suit while the wine lingers on. Lots of parts involved here. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Teatro 2017

Teatro is no Piaggione but it is so bloody Salicutti. This is purity incarnate, not just of sangiovese but the exacting kind that grows in this storied, re-planted in 1994 vineyard. This is also honesty in its most explicit form, open, glaring and hyper to über transparent. The balance in the vineyard translates to the bottle and into each and every one of our glasses. Salicutti as Teatro is extraordinary, a capture of angles, aspects, slope and soil agglomeration all distilled into the fineness of sangiovese blood. My goodness the qualitative accountability runs high to a vanishing point almost beyond comprehension. A rarity or a 2017 to be a wine for the ages but behold Teatro. Drink 2024-2039. Tasted November 2022

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2017

Plenty of sweet fruit defines and fills up the San Polino cup while compounds inject tinctures, distillates and tonics into the veins of the wine. Here sangiovese takes on a decidedly swarthy and savoury character but the volatility oscillates, sometimes standing out and more often than not melting into the background of the wine. It’s perfectly on the edge in a Riserva that drips with red fruit flavour. Feels so very natural, unhurried and unadulterated, a fermentation left to its own devices that’s not quite there but feeling its own special way. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2022

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2017

Super intense Riserva from Sesti, a phenomenon of 2017 and how Sesti is so able to make a vintage once occupied, then owned as a translation from the vineyard. The spice and herb component is astounding, emitting as a prescient permeate of cinnamon, sage, sumac and annatto, citrusy and nutty. So much intrigue and layers to unfold, so many undiscovered treats to pluck from the pool of scents and flavours. Surely one of the outstanding Riservas for 2017, edgy, tense, nervous and fresh. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted November 2022

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Colombaiolo 2017

This is 2017 in a nutshell, not only for vintage but also for Pier-Luigi Tommasi’s Colombaiolo as Casisano. Reminds of 2010 in more ways than one and if comparing anything to 2017 is a stretch or wrong to some, well so be it. I find the fruit to be bold in the face of powerful structure and the result is this ropey and elastic sensation that always return unto itself in balance. Great effort here and worthy of laying Riserva down when many thought it either impractical or impossible. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2022

Tenuta Il Greppo

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG (Older Vintages)

Capanna Di Cencioni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Nicco 2017

Nicco was Patrizio Cencioni’s great-grandfather and the patriarch for a lineage that includes one of Montalcino’s 25 founding members Giuseppe, Benito, Franco and now Amedeo, Patrizio’s son and representative of the fourth generation, who supervises the oenological and agronomic parts of the cellar. Nicco’s fruit comes from a block nearly facing Canalicchio di Sopra and their Casaccia vineyard. The wine is oak fermented for 11 months and then spends 30 months in Slavonian casks. Nicco’s Montalcino work dates back to Fattoria dei Barbi and this homage to his memory recalls his passing when Capanna was purchased. This 2017 is one of extreme punctuation, elaborating on the Annata and the hot climate/high acid ways of 2017. There is ample concentration squared, high level perfume and warmth in spite of the northerly location. Clocks in at 15 per cent alcohol, handles it well but this is a big sangiovese. It will age well. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2022

La Magia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Slowing just a bit but what’s coming won’t hasten maturity. A Brunello from a much bigger vintage and one to see living longer than many. Great fruit quality and even greater tannic structure. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Always a most interesting and ulterior aromatic profile, brushy and herbal while shifting gears to juicier and quite frankly fruitier positions. Has its moments here, there and everywhere, drinks with gratification but also reminds of vintage variation. Timing and winemaking are high end here so expect a wine of composure and length. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

La Magia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2017

Much like the Annata ’17 this Etichetta Brunello is also at the apex and just beginning to descend but evolution is a long and winding road. Bears repeating that this is the child of a magnanimous if low quantity vintage with striking acids and sneaky structure. Hyperbole of all great fruit quality, even greater tannic structure and more. “Don’t keep me waiting here. Lead me to your door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Last tasted November 2022

A Massive attack of fruit and power comes at you fast and furious in Ciliegio from La Magia. Not just a wine of concentration and substance but some of 2017’s grippiest set of surrounding parameters. Big bones, barrel impart and really impressive facial structure. Chiseled and upright, linear and near formidable. A bruiser now that will bring so much umami later. Imagine the porcini possibilities. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2021

Biondi-Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Riserva 2016 is the 42nd such vintage since 1888 from estate vineyards and the oldest parcels therein. Meanwhile olive trees and other compatible local species grow in those places and there always seems to be lower pH and higher bright acidity coming off the grapes. The Federico Radi team seeks to broaden biodiversity with unlimited scope and more vineyards would benefit by following such a plan. When Biondi-Santi gets to their next position we can expect even more refined and higher quality wines. Meanwhile the harmony and extant abilities in this ’16 Riserva are almost impossible to believe. A Riserva of fruit termed as the locus of the points drawn at an equidistant from the centre. Sangiovese of no stops and starts existing on a special kind of ellipse in which the eccentricity is zero and the two foci are coincident. Simple descriptors like crunch, chew or crust are not in the lexicon nor do service to speak about the texture of this remarkable sangiovese. Subtlety and strength, a dappling of early morning light, patterning and shimmering as if on water. The phenolics are spot on, coherent and the connection with both palate and tannins perform as an unbreakable bond. A canvas flooded with colour and while there is a level of transparency there are no white spots. Everything is filled in. Clocks in at 14 per cent abv. Drink 2025-2040. Tasted November 2022

Federico Radi and Giampiero Bertolini, Biondi-Santi

Biondi-Santi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta “Greppo” 2016

The stoic, demure and understated Brunello in Annata garb, still quiet and yet to assume what formidable character it is surely destined towards. Aromas exist by dint of DNA and yet its custodians will call it “a really nice vintage at Il Greppo. We feel the energy as being a true estate vintage. A normal season, warmth without heat, rain here and there, winds blowing through for freshness.” Indeed there is palate voltage, fruit is substantial and approaching its apex. Crisp as sangiovese yet chewable, ripe with a voice predicated on acids and a flavour profile of varietal truth, but also reason. Last tasted November 2022

As with Rosso 2018 there is magic in 2016 and for Federico Radi it was just a matter of blending, having inherited the wines already waiting in cask. Magic because a tempered in control level of alcohol and purity of satin-glycerol consistency is purely and expressly Biondi-Santi. Bottled seven months ago and will be released in March of 2022. The notion of optimum balance will likely set in two or three months from now with a lingering peppery pique and kick still in tow. Also a freshness of summer making for a minor balsamico but one that is far from concentrated in dark syrup. The alcohol is at 14 which for the vintage and current day Montalcino is relatively low, or at least modest. And yet the wine captures your immediate attention, partly because the fruit is fortified but more so by dramatic acidity and a lingering austerity. Also the reddest of citrus notes, almost pomegranate. The acidity number is actually 0.5 per cent higher than (Riserva) ’15, with notes of orange skin, violet and subtle underbrush. More Paco de Lucia than Slash. The latter will fall away in two, better still three years. The Brunello will likely remain in that next state for 10 years and then begin to evolve, slowly, incrementally towards and through a few to several decades life. Drink 2024-2041. Tasted November 2021

Col d’Orcia on the 8s

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Al Vento 2008

The windy hill or ridge in the heart of the estate guarded by a 300 year-old grand oak tree and the first vintage planted by the family in Montalcino. The first Poggio al Vento single-vineyard came out of 1982, eight years after the vines were put in by Francesco’s father (and Santiago’s grandfather). The vineyard is the sandiest, with the lowest hydrological retention but it makes for a Piedmontese approach, thinner of backbone and upwards of elegance. The acidity is one of the highest for Col d’Orcia, but also one with the most extract. Saline sangiovese, of iron and spice, balsamic and all the minerals that might be found in a Brunello from this place. Showing well, secondary timing in full effect, plenty of life left. Last tasted November 2022

Only 8,000 bottles were made of Col D’Orcia’s always formidable and classically structured Brunello. Elegance offers a glimpse of hopeful emergence even while its firmness is still fully intact. The added determination and epic struggles of the vintage translate to a singular Sangiovese type of funk from a vineyard, like so many other south facing Montalcino slopes, of what may just be the greatest physical involuntariness in the world. The fruit and texture are delicate, of a veritable Tuscan gastronomy, pure vernacular and of a leathery lightness of brogan being. The youth in this Brunello is palpable, nearly awkward but certainly not backward. It is progressing as it should, lentamente, lentamente. Three more years minimum is needed to coax it out of its coriaceous hide. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted March 2016

Biondi-Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1999

“It started as a revolution,” explains Giampiero Bertolini, CEO of Biondi-Santi. “Tancredi was called in by the Italian government to draft the Brunello production rules. He was the Dottore.” Then in 1994 Franco organized a tasting of Brunello 1888-1988 to show that the wines could stand the test of time. This 1999 Riserva takes the same approach and survives in much the same way. It was sandwiched between the hot and hyped 1997 and beautiful 2001, not to mention cool if nurturing 1998 plus the wildly unpredictable 2000. And so welcome to a vintage that in retrospect is in a league of its own but also a teammate of the forward thinking, slow releasing, yet to be fully imagined 2016. From the 1999 vintage the Riserva was produced with Biondi-Santi’s proprietary clone known as BBS11 (Brunello Biondi-Santi 11) that was identified at Tenuta Greppo in the 1970s. Vine age in here exceeds 25 years and my what a fine streak of salinity running through this Riserva’s veins. All this to say that 1999 is developing and maturing slow and steady, fruit freshness persistent, acids are a factor of vintage and time will continue to be kind. Lots of evergreen in the ’99 and an austerity in the tannin that must have been formidable once upon a time. You can feel what would have been generosity that has now split into three parts; roundness, creaminess and so much spice. Fleshy and rare meat juicy with resolved tannins, supple and consistently persistent. Really flexible Brunello, long ago come into balance and energy still to burn. The 1999 is very special, a reluctant revolutionary, end of an epoch sangiovese with the charge to help usher in the next. Lovely sweet porcini note at the finish. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted November 2022

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Al Vento 1998

If not thought upon this way at the outset there is now an understanding that 1998 is a truly age-able vintage. The original defect was the idea that it came between 1997 and 1999. Today those who know, know better. The depth is important, not at the top of how this is quantified but the linearity and forward fresh survivalist attitude is absolutely fascinating. There certainly is some darkness here in the context of a big nighttime sky too immense to imagine but the wine feels like it continues to move forward. Acids are lovely and sweet though not the crux of the situation while tannins are melted and soft at this point. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento 1988

One whiff of the eaux de parfums verity by 1988 and suddenly the idea of what to expect next from the following 8s comes clearer into view. This vintage has by now shed quite a good amount of the notions it long held onto; volatility, balsamico, herbaceous accents and spice. The epoch into equation can be now be witnessed as elegance and beauty at this 34 year point where Orcia Valley derived shiny cool savour is now in charge. A happy place, fruit in its sweetest phase (aside from infancy) here in 2022, very much alive and kicking, structural parts stepping aside. And here a wine of maturity moving through a period of transition but the fruit just seems sweet, naturally and without adjustment. Aromatically the earth and age are in charge but there is the great dichotomy to be noticed and appraised. Unsurprising considering the times they were and are again now. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Filippo Bartolotta, Conte Francesco Marone Cinzano and Santiago Marone Cinzano

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOC 1978

A most intriguing old Brunello, of salinity and orange pekoe tea, orange zest and more so the juice of an orange. Plenty of energy though there is something different here, especially aromatically speaking. Muddy to some but it’s really quite amazing as a sangiovese of clarity, with oak accents really there, of vanilla and caramel. The length is nothing short of incredible on this wine. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOC 1968

A most unusual set of aromatics, hard to define, put a finger on, gather thoughts about what is there. Acts like black fig and liquid cocoa, balsamic and sweet tart. Lots of perfume from a bottle re-corked two years ago, sulphites adjusted and same vintage used to top up. Also the first vintage bottled by Francesco’s father in 1974, from barrels found in the cellar. Brighter acidity, orange citrus, light caramel, feeling like there are other grapes in this wine, perhaps ciliegiolo and even trebbiano. Not likely canaiolo because the pH here is as low as it gets and that grape would bring it up. Drink 2022-2023. Tasted November 2022

Fabian Schwarz, La Màgia

La Magia Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2021

All the 15 hectares of vineyards are Brunello classified and so Rosso is a vintage decision, based on quality, challenges and potential. Clearly wanting just to be consumed as witnessed by an amazing fruit quality, so substantial but there is tannin involved. A whole lot of precious tannin so do not sleep on keeping a few bottles for a few years. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2022

With Federico Radi, Biondi-Santi

Biondi-Santi Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Tenuta “Greppo” 2019

From the last of the “regular” vintages, cold spring with late rains, drying early summer months, some harder climate change induced rains but no mildew or disease pressure. Good summer temperatures, no heat spikes, fluctuations from day to night and picking beginning mid-September. Most of the fruit comes from the lower southeastern parts of the estate vineyard below Tenuta Greppo, in predominately clay soils close to Lorenzo Magnelli’s Le Chiuse. Also Ribusoli just below and Pievecchia north of the village. Ripeness is a virtue in Rosso, never too ripe while right there with present yet softly persistent tannins towards what is quite the mouthful of rich and age-worthy Rosso. There just always seems to be a savoury-mineral quality to Biondi-Santi’s Rosso, especially on the finish in residual sensation remaining on the palate. Perhaps less so out of the fruit wealth and beauty by 2019, but make no mistake it is surely there. Structured for Rosso and yet at the end of the day a 2019 B-S RDM is there to drink, any day or night of the week. Even at the cost it has arrived to, “free to those that can afford it, very expensive to those that can’t.” If you find yourself thinking “we want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!” well, this would be a pretty perfect place to start. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted November 2022

Col d’Orcia Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2018

Rainfall in winter (within average), snowfall in February and 600m between April and September and then a substantial hail at the end of July. Required labour intensive work in the vineyard to remove damage, to control odium and mildew. Thinking that a Rosso di Montalcino from a leaner or “smaller” vintage would not have the fortitude to age but think again. Fruit freshness persists, no doubt. Even for Rosso the selection of healthy bunches was key to this Rosso’s success. Understated grip will see it through a few years and Col d’Orcia has proven the possibility can be ten. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Good to go!

godello

Benvenuto Brunello 2022

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WineAlign

Twenty-one mind-blowing wines of 2021

Dec26

The greatest wines are considered as the ones that talk to us, connect with that part of our being that elicits sensory and emotional responses, feelings of zeitgeist and great release. Throughout the course of a year I taste thousands in my glass, countless banal, innumerable competent, others correct and many exceptional. Then there are the rare and peerless capable of altering time and space, chosen ones that after listening we then speak directly to. The mind-blowing wines.

This is what I might say to such a splendid creature. “I look upon the flash of your sheen, you a wine of scientific strategies. Your aromatics sum up for me my educational studies in science and lifelong memories. Your flavours remind me of experiments in vinous physics, your textures of exercises in galactic mechanics. Your structure recalls infinite chemical reactions and architectural engineering. Your energy, though carefully controlled, threatens to ignite and destroy my laboratory and yet binds my existential life together. You blow my mind.

Last year’s 20 for 20 was a much different list than ever before. Only 25 days of travel and while I did finally make a return to global discovery that number was even less in 2021. Two trips to Italy and one to B.C. in October and November. Once again just 25 days in total. A yearly schedule usually adds up to 100-plus but fortune also shines on the critics of WineAlign. Through quarantine, isolation and safe-distancing we still managed to taste through thousands of wines. I recorded well and above 4,000 tasting notes in 2021 so it would appear that palate discovery is still alive and well. For the first time ever there are three dessert wines on the list because well, stickies just don’t get enough love. And never before have I included a Canadian wine because I pen a separate list for local but a Thomas Bachelder chardonnay is wholly deserving of going global. These are Godello’s 21 mind-blowing wines of 2021.

Berlucchi Riserva Familia Ziliana Franciacorta DOCG 2001, Lombardy

A blend of chardonnay and pinot nero matured on lees for 218 months and a further 31 months after disgorgement. Zero dosage, tirage in June 2002. Tasting from “the stolen bottle,” and one would swear there is some sweetness in this wine, offset by twenty year-old persistent and rising acidity. The state of grace and ability this 2001 finds itself sitting royally in is quite something to behold. Stands firm and can stride with most any 20 year-old sparkling wine. A simple fact tells us that Arturo Ziliani’s father Franco and Guido Berlucchi decided to create sparkling wines in Franciacorta. They are the pioneers. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted October 2021

Krug Vintage Brut Champagne 2002

The year 2002 dubbed as “ode to nature” marked the first Krug “vintage of the millennium” and was presented after Krug 2003, just as Krug 1988 left the cellars after Krug 1989. A clement year, relatively dry to make for a homogeneous harvest. The blend is 39 per cent pinot noir, (40) chardonnay and (21) pinot meunier. Disgorgement would have been in the autumn of 2015 after having spent at least 13 years in Krug’s cellars. All this tells us that the vintage is one treated to great respect with the acumen to age seemingly forever. This bottle shows some advancement but mostly in toasted and spiced notes while acting so expertly oxidative, in total control of its own and also our senses. Smells of orange skin, zesty and by citrus spray, then pickled ginger and wild fennel. Tasted blind it feels just exactly 20 years old but it’s not hard to be tricked into imagining even older. I admit to guessing 1995 with thanks to a presentation of at once wildly exotic and then exceptional bubbles. Just a matter of being hoked up with celebration. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted November 2021

Kabola Malvazija Amfora 2017, Istria, Croatia

Kabola’s is malvazija istarska raised in traditional clay amphorae in combination with oak barrels. Kabola is found in Buje, not far from the coast and south of Trieste. While the combination of clay and wood seem to confuse or blur the game there is something wholly credible and intriguing about this wonderful aromatic mess. You can not only smell and sense but more deeply intuit the phenolic qualities inherent in here. Skins, pips and even a bit of herbaceous stem. Peach and orange tisane, exotic spice and high, high quality lees. Great winemaking here in the context of leaving your grapes to do the work but both timing and execution are spot on. Raises the varietal bar and shows what’s possible. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted April 2021

Livio Felluga Rosazzo Terre Alte DOCG 1998, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia

A wine in which the switch has been flicked at least five times, at least three past the family’s preference but let’s be frank. This is a fascinating Friuli-Venezia-Giulia wine to taste. Oxidative in the most beautiful way, sapid and laden with 23 year-old tang. Very much a young adult of confidence and swagger borne out of phenolic fruit maturation. A long-hanging vintage, a note of botrytis, a late harvest sensation but truly salty, mineral and showing the biodiversity in clones and vineyards that one would expect a white blend of this ilk to display. Just a terrific example of friulano, sauvignon and pinot bianco in their arena of characterful array. Drink 2021. Tasted October 2021

Bachelder Grimsby Hillside “North Slope, Starry Skies” Chardonnay 2019, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore

New in the pantheon for Bachelder and Niagara wines as an entity is this from Grimsby Hillside, the new frontier, next level up and future for the industry. In fact the time is already upon these precocious vines and their fruit specially formulated for the most wound and cinched kind of chardonnay, so precipitously witnessed in Thomas Bachelder’s “North Slope, Starry Skies” 2019. The vineyard was planted to vitis labrusca and used for Kaddish wine through the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s and just less than 20 years ago re-purposed to vinifera. Just two decades later winemakers like Thomas and Ilya Senchuk have discovered the magic of possibility and greatness of probability. Tasted this first in July with Thomas though it had just gone to bottle. Now the textural level of this GH-N triple-S has hitherto arrived at the immaculate, sweetly viscous, gleefully gelid and just right there at the apex of sensory enjoyment. Tight and delicious is a good combination. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted December 2021

Stellenbosch, Western Cape

Raats Family Wines Chenin Blanc Eden 2018, Stellenbosch, South Africa

A single vineyard chenin blanc and the first vintage to the Ontario market for a unique project celebrating the family farm called Eden. From their Stellenbosch ward of Polkadraai and high density plantings on dolomitic, granitic soils. Of a richness, an intensity of parts and a presence only a handful of South African blanc ever reach. A wine that achieves a level of status by its work underground (through root competition) and a clone called Montpellier that produces small berries and even smaller yields, not to mention the plot is just 0.6 hectares in size. Eden is the mothership and matriarch of this clone and for that variety in South Africa. All parts contribute to a wine of outrageous acidity that is never sharp, vivid or dominant. Fruit, mineral, focus, elements and precision. Wet stone is pure Polkadraai, vaporous, omnipresent, all over the wine. “The most successful winemakers (and wine projects) are ones that specialize,” says Bruwer Raats. This Eden follows the credo to a “T” and with a capital “E.” Really cerebral and also age-worthy chenin, in the upper echelon of the finest in the pantheon. If ever a chenin signified “Bringing it all Back Home,” the Raats Eden is it. “Discuss what’s real and what is not. It doesn’t matter inside the Gates of Eden.” Drink 2022-2030. Tasted June 2021

With Sofia Ponzini and Vico

Tenute Bosco Etna Rosso Vigna Vico Pre-Phylloxera 2018, DOC Etna

Just another immediately memorable Piano dei Daini Etna Rosso Vico, Sofia Ponzini’s Cru-Vigna nerello mascalese (with 10 per cent nerello cappuccio) at 700m from the northern side of Mount Etna. Grown as alberello on a volcanic, sandy matrix with some stones from 100-plus-plus pre-phylloxera vines located in the town of Passopisciaro, Contrada Santo Spirito, parcels “Belvedere,” “Seimigliaia” and “Calata degli Angeli.” A tempest of steel and a feeling that runs with waves of acidity throughout, in many parallel and horizontal lines, at all levels. Spice cupboard, rich waves of red fruit, viscous wisdom, confidential and confident elegance, finishing at precision without recall. True value, scattered patterning, significant and relevant. A vintage of force, restraint and powerful lightness of being. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted October 2021

Domaine De Bellene Nuits Saint Georges Premier Cru Aux Chaignots 2019, AOC Bourgogne

The limestone soil Climat of Chaignots lies in the northern part of Nuits-Saint-Georges, up the slope and edging in location but also feeling towards that of Vosne-Romanée. The affinity is much discussed, real and therefore puts the Premier Cru at the top of what is most desired out of Nuits-Saint-Georges. A tiny (0.14 hectare) plot and simply a coup for Nicolas Potel to be able to secure this fruit. Everything about the aromatic front speaks to the Bourgogne mind and Chaignots heart. Cola but from the root, a tuber underground rubbed, that and a cocoa nut crushed between fingers. An almost diesel waft but not gaseous, instead sapid, nut-based, a liqueur toasted and intoxicating. The fineness of structure is the sort of wiry winding by winch that could cut through limbs due to tension so taut. All that you know, love, don’t know and hope to experience is in this wine. Neither I nor Nicolas Potel will be around when it blows someone’s mind in 2074. Look forward to that day young Alphonse. Drink 2025-2045. Tasted May 2021

Angela Fronti, Istine

Istine Chianti Classico DOCG Vigna Istine 2019, Radda in Chianti, Tuscany

One must have to look at, walk this and stand in awe of of this vineyard, the steepness at 30-50 per cent grade with a terrace in the middle to break it up. Heavy in Alberese inclusive of massive yellow calcareous boulders and also Galestro. In fact the medium stones removed were transferred to create terraces for olive trees on the other side of the cantina (by Angela Fronti’s father no less). The vineyard faces north so the freshness is off the charts, while the ripeness is so matter of purposeful vintage fact. The label represents the position of the vines in coordinates, echoed in the machicolations of a Fronti sangiovese that drops all the Radda stones on unsuspecting palates through fruit openings between supporting acid corbels of a projecting tannic parapet. Vigna Istine is at the forefront of Chianti Classico’s battle to win over the world. Follow this example. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted October 2021

Isole E Olena Cepparello 2011, IGT Toscana

“Molto parfumato,” binds an aromatic agreement between myself and Paolo de Marchi upon sniffing this ’11 found on Locanda Pietracupa’s wine list. “Cepparello needs time,” says Paolo, understatement of the obvious for the evening, year, decade and history with respect to sangiovese grown in the Chianti Classico territory. Also truth succinctly spoken, roses and violets exhaling and a 100 per cent varietal (or so it seems) profile of succulence and one to fully draw you in. Mint to conifers, multiplicity by complexity value, not to mention vigorous acidity sent straight to a mouth with a full compliment of wisdoms able to think about the situation. A linear Cepparello seeing its wide open window at the 10 year mark. And now a Paolo de Marchi story. “One side of the vine’s grapes were burnt and so I called up (Consorzio Direttore Giuseppe) Liberatore and asked are we changing the name of the appellation? Liberatore said what? To Chianti Amarone replied de Marchi, or sangiovese Port? Joking aside, a stringent selection and a five per cent inclusion of trebbiano did for this ’11 Cepparello what viognier might do for syrah. Not a Chianti Classico so perfectly kosher. A secret until now but all above board. Totally cool. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted October 2021

Querciabella Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1999

The 1999 was the last (original) Riserva produced until it was again resurrected in 2011 and what’s so cool about this vintage is how it was held to some early esteem, though paling in comparison to that “vintage of the century” that was 1997. Underestimated over the last 20 years, drinking so beautifully now, with frutta di bosca, tertiary tartufo and fungi. Just doesn’t strike as a fully mature adult reminiscing about the way things used to be but more like a wine with an outlook for more promise, good times and adventures still ahead. If you are still holding onto ‘99s from this part of Toscana you will be very pleased. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted May 2021

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Filo Di Seta 2016

Filo di Seta is Filippo Chia’s intuitive “transavanguardia” sangiovese of place, over the ancient beach where he and his father Sandro once painted the Montalcino sea. Mostly early picked fruit, all in tonneaux, at first thinking “croccante” but that’s too simple a way to describe what texture and sensation is combed in this reserve wine. Bottled on the 29th of June so just arriving at the ready, to look at if not to consume. Here there is a fineness of liquid chalkiness, a “fluido” or “scorrevole” to drive the way this sangiovese plays and also sings, a Riserva to move with the wind and musical sway. Somewhat unknown, finely tannic and clearly what could and should be described as “mountain” Brunello. Coming in late is the spice, almost cinnamon and such. Hate to refer to any wine as the best from an estate but too bad. That this is, beyond the avant-garde such as it is. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted November 2021

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Tenuta Greppo 1985

The longevity of this vintage is almost not to be believed. Has been in bottle for as many years as it would have matured in casks. The next year (2022) will se the re-release of this vintage (in 2021 that vintage was 1983) and the year 1985 is the one I entered university. A Biondi-Santi of resolved tannin but remarkably youthful. A wine that saw Grandi Botti more than before, seen in the gentlest of spice notes and the back to the future return of balsamic and pomegranate. Followed a winter of major snowfall, long and cold winter, a regular spring and uneventful summer. The acidity is just incredible, also youthful and so sweet, those lengthened tannins in liquid powdery-chalky form. The connection with 2016 may seem to be an uncanny one but so help me if the chain is not there. The bottle was opened one hour and forty five minutes earlier so grazie to Federico Radi and Biondi-Sandi for perfecting the timing. We can all learn so much from this wine, to be patient, calm, well-adjusted, confident and gracious. Style and temperament to live by. Should continue this way for at least 10 more years. Drink 2021-2033. Tasted November 2021

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1979, Tuscany

A cooler vintage, especially as compared to 1978 and truly a Piedmontese style because the cellar workers closed the tanks, went on strike and returned two months later. Resulted in some carbonic maceration and surely an increased amount of vim in freshness. That mixed with true porcini, fungi and fennochiona. The extended maceration makes this act 43 years forward like an older nebbiolo, rich and once demanding tannins now long since melted away, tar and roses still showing with earthly perfume. Fabulous mouthfeel, lingering and lively. Surely the mean steak astringency would have been in control during the first 10 to 15 years but the beast relents and gives way to charm. Patience breeds gentility and the story is now unfolding. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted October 2021

With Stefano Cesari, Brigaldara

Brigaldara Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico DOCG 2016, Veneto

Stefano Cesari’s farm concerns itself with all things sustainable and while that may seem like a catch phrase, In Brigaldara’s case it most surely is not. The family supports its workers financially, culturally and in health. The young winemaking team is encouraged to study and stage abroad, to learn new oenological skills and languages. The other farm workers and their families are additionally supported by being given stake in the profits of the farm. How can this not reflect in the qualities of the wines, including this very special vintage 2016 Amarone. A magnificent wine and one you can easily drink beyond one glass. Not that it’s a light example but it speaks in soft tones, clearly and with a distinct, precise and honest weight, in vernacular and feeling. All things fruit lead to roads of sweet acidity and fine tannin. A rare Amarone of this ilk and one to savour. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted October 2021

Errázuriz Don Maximiano Founder’s Reserve 2012, Aconcagua Valley, Chile

Don Maximiano 2012 is a blend of 75 per cent cabernet sauvignon, (12) carmenère, (8) petit verdot and (5) malbec. No cabernet franc back in 2012 and aside from the obvious notions ushered in by age there is a distinct lack of herbal notes as a result. This is just in a great place nearly nine years forward from vintage, now settling, acids still in charge but tannins having done most of their melting and rendering. This wine is far from done, in fact the next level notions have just begun to have their say and from a vintage as great as this there should very well be nine years nigh before true earthiness, umami and truffle set in. Pour this blind at dinners with old world counterparts and watch with awe as to the results. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted November 2021

Château Pétrus 1993, Pomerol, AC Bordeaux

Never easy to live in the shadow of siblings clearly designated as mom and dad’s favourites but sometimes overlooked vintages left for dead show greatness later on in life. The 1993 Pétrus is definitely a late bloomer and from a year when only 200 cases were produced, where normally 4,000-plus is the standard. Softened to an almost Burgundian sense of calm but the richness and concentration multiplied by a Spring verdant freshness and sweetly herbal pesto can only indicate one thing and that is Right Bank Bordeaux. I tasted this blind and immediately thought of Pomerol and its close proximity at the eastern border with Saint-Émilion because of the “fromage à pâte molle” feeling gained, along with vestiges of once formidable black fruit supported by a push-pull posit tug of merlot-cabernet franc acidity. A good hunch indeed and a more than surprising set of excellent parameters come to this for a 1993 Bordeaux. All in all a really satisfying and come together wine to hush the naysayers and win in the end. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted November 2021

Paul Jaboulet Aîné La Chapelle 1990, AC Hermitage, Rhône

Jaboulet’s 1990 La Chapelle is a kind of an echo of the year in history, an Hermitage of impeccable harmony, much like balance restored in relative peace and prosperity. In 1990 the Soviet Union fell, ending the decades-long Cold War. Hard to find more shiny opaque purple in a 30 year-old syrah plus a splendid floral nose of stone roses, pencil shavings and graphite. The combinative effect of heft and freshness elicit pleasantries from a bad boy able to play soft ballads to mellow a crowd. La Chapelle is a communicative, entertaining and business-like syrah, a link between the northern Rhône and the taster, an internet Hermitage that changes the way we think and feel. Things will never be the same after tasting Jaboulet’s 1990 and for good reason. Has 10 years left without worry of decline. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted November 2021

Reynvaan In The Hills Syrah 2017, Walla Walla Valley, Washington

Reynvaan is a family production of Rhône-style wines from two vineyard properties in the Walla Walla Valley. “In The Rocks” is their first vineyard located in Milton-Freewater, Oregon and the second vineyard is called “In the Hills.” short for “Foothills in the Sun.” It is found at the base of the Blue Mountains on the Washington/Oregon border and is planted to syrah, viognier and a gaggle of cabernet sauvignon rows. As one of the highest elevation vineyards in Washington (at 1200ft) and in this syrah co-fermented with up to 10 per cent syrah you might get a rendering of a northern Rhône-ish picture. Sure enough the perfume is floral but more than anything a smoulder of pancetta and smoked meat. Reductive as well, different as such than any syrah, anywhere else on the planet but liquid peppery and tire on asphalt nonetheless. The credibility and accountability here is profound and while the sheer concentration and beauty of In the Rocks in captivating, this In the Hills is alternatively vivid, dramatic and powerfully restrained syrah. Which one is you? Drink 2023-2033. Tasted January 2021

Sine Qua Non Syrah The Hated Hunter 2017, Santa Barbara County

The hated hunter is named after Austrian immigrant and Los Angeles restaurateur turned winemaker Manfred Krankl’s grandfather, depicted on the label in gear, with rifle and hound. The blend is led by 82.4 per cent syrah with (7.8) petite sirah, (5.2) mourvèdre, (2) grenache, (1.2) petit manseng and (1.4) viognier. Clocks in at 15.9 alcohol but in this regard hardly garners even one per cent of the discussion. All anyone can talk about is the infinite expanse of pretty, pretty floral capture and personally speaking it simply reeks of syrah. A game of meat juices and marbling, part smoked meat and part pancetta. The only question tasting blind is whether to imagine it as Hermitage or Central Coast California. Once the abv is disclosed the answer can only be the latter but a syrah of such reclusive exclusivity is hard to pin down. Derives from a group of prized vineyards; 32 per cent Eleven Confessions (Santa Rita Hills), (41) The Third Twin (Los Alamos), (25) Cumulus (Santa Barbara) and (2) Molly Aida (Tepusquet Canyon). Adds up to the most luxe, deluxe and ultra-fantastic instrumental of a syrah, no lyrics needed. Man, Manfred, take a bow. A hunting bow. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Fèlsina Vin Santo Del Chianti Classico DOCG 2018, Tuscany

An absolutely lovely vintage for Fèlsina’s Vin Santo and for Chianti Classico Vin Santo as a rule because extract, temperament and adaptability are all in collective balance. All that you want, need and expect from this traditional and loyal dessert wine are present and accounted for. Dried and glazed fruit, low and slow developed nuttiness and a freedom of territory spoken through airiness and layering. The upside cake of life turns over to reveal a generational wine of clear standards, perfect layering and endless conversation. Nonna and Nonno would be proud. Drink 2021-2035. Tasted June 2021

Agriturismo Hibiscus Zhabib Passito 2020, C.Da Tramontana, Sicily

From the island of Ustica in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 70 kilometres (36 nautical miles) of the coast of Sicily’s capital Palermo and the work of Margherita Longo and Vito Barbera. The vineyards for this zibibbo (moscato d’Alessandria) are grown very close to the water on volcanic soil and Hibiscus is the only winery game in town. There are other farmers that contribute grapes to this tiny production; also grillo, cataratto, inzolia to go along with the zibibbo that makes this Passito. A place where tomato, grapes and peached co-exist, in the gardens and in the wine. This carries that uncanny sweet to savoury feeling in the most specific and ethereal dessert wine both mind can conjure and emotion shall receive. Of orange, grapefruit, peach and tomato. Balanced, harmonious, silky, woollen and with a super-tonal capacity to love. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted October 2021

Taylor Fladgate Very Old Tawny Port – Kingsman Edition, Douro, Portugal

A bottle of wine is rarely tied to a film, let alone a Douro Port but Taylor’s Very Old Tawny has been blended and bottled to coincide and be product placed in the second Kingsman film, in this case a prequel to the first, this time set in the 1920s. Head Winemaker David Guimaraens chose reserve Tawnys from 70-100 years of age, wines crafted and set aside by generational predecessors past, no stretch for the master blender because we are talking about a house with extensive stocks from which to reach back into. Guimaraens was looking for harmonic balance between concentration and elegance and just a whiff will tell you he and his team have achieved a crossing between a magical vortex and a vanishing point of complexity. Two manifest matters have developed; concentration of sweetness and in this case by association, a focus of acids as well. Together they inspissate and cling comfortably to the skeletal structure. It feels like you are nosing 100 unique aromas, with just seven of them being marzipan, red velvet hazelnut cake, candied ginger rose, rau răm, roasting banana leaf, calimyrna fig and grilled pineapple express. Step six feet away from the glass and the aromatics persist just as sharp as if the glass were in hand. As for a sip of this maraviglioso Tawny, warmth, comfort, delicadeza and forever length make just an ounce last forever. Timeless. Approximately 1000 bottles were produced and in Canada 100 will be made available next September. That is when theatre goers should likely make a return to the cinema to take in the Secret Service spy thriller and Tawny Port fantasy up on the silver screen. Drink 2021-2050. Tasted February 2021

Good to go!

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WineAlign

Conceptual and aesthetic Brunello di Montalcino

Dec19

Montalcino, 6pm

October 2019

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 Galestro, Arenaria 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. What was learned on this particular October visit? For one thing the idea that patience, exactitude and static sobriety are assumed of a confident Montalcino. That and the new discourse concerning both a conceptual and an aesthetic Brunello di Montalcino.

Montalcino. Typically a Mediterranean climate with hot summers and cold winters, 700 millimetres of annual precipitation and a moltitude of soils; alluvial fluvio-lacustrine, clay, clayey-marine, sandy-marine, limestone, sandstone, shale, siltstone, magmatic rock. Argille, Calcare, Sabioso, Galestro, Alberese, Macigno, Arenaria. In every permutation, inculcation and combination, though the understanding in Montalcino is perhaps more readily defined because the pockets of specific soils are large and often uniform. This means that diversity and complexity can be distilled into a deeper and knowable comprensione. The confidence of Montalcino.

Brunello 2019

I’m not a clairvoyant. If nothing out of the ordinary happened or presented itself I’d still see things the way everyone else does, or sees. In that sense I am the epitome of the boring writer. But I am a most fortunate writer because I travel a considerable amount and during a most recent visit to Montalcino extraordinary things were in fact presented to me. My game can’t help but to be elevated with the knowledge that a confident Montalcino is once again passing through a portal into a time of re-invention. In due course I will explain.

Road to Montalcino

Montalcino. Village at 564 metres above sea level and many vineyards reside at a similar altitude. Plots, blocks and Italy’s most famous village overlooking great swaths of rolling valleys; Asso, Orcia, Arbia, Ombrone. The first known wine label dates back to the 1800s and the DOC was recognized in 1966. Brunello was afforded DOCG status in 1980, Italy’s first, followed by Rosso as a DOC in 1984.

The Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino was formed in 1967 as a coalition of 25 original members. There were 15 producers who signed the page on this accord kept at Bellaria Estate: Assunto Pieri, Ivo Buffi, Loffredo Gaetani Lovatelli, Giuseppe Cencioni, Bramante Martini, Pierluigi Fiovaranti, Silvano Lambardi, Annunziato Franci, Ferruccio Ferretti, Giovanni Colombini, Dr. Leopoldo Franceschi, Silvio Nardi, Gino Zannini, Lucia Perina and Elina Lisini. The other nine original members were Nello Baricci, Siro Pacenti, Milena Perina, Orazio Machetti, Dino Ciacci, Guglielmo Martini, Emilio Costanti, Sabatino Gorelli and Rev. don Leopoldo Bianchi.

Montalcino sunset

Brunello’s maximum yields are eight tonnes per hectare (approximately 52 hl/ha of wine) and the aging requirement is five years (six for Riserva), of which two must be in oak barrels, followed by four months in bottle. It may be introduced to market on January 1st of the 5th year after harvest (January 1st of the 6th year for Riserva). Rosso’s maximum yields are nine tonnes per hectare and it may be introduced to market on September 1st of the year after harvest. There are nine million bottles of Brunello and half that of Rosso produced on average each year. More than a quarter are certified organic and/or biodynamic and that is double as compared to just five years ago. Seventy per cent of the wines are exported. Current vintages on the market are 2014 for Brunello, 2017 for Rosso.

Related – Awash in Brunello di Montalcino

Most of the October visits were arranged and facilitated through the auspices and generosity of the Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino. President Fabrizio Bindocci, Vice-Presidents Giacomo Bartolommei, Stefano Cinelli Colombini and Riccardo Talenti. Director Giacomo Pondini and Consorzio facilitator Martina Iannotta. One month after returning from Italy the Consorzio paid us a visit here in Toronto for a gala event and 2015 vintage preview at Alfonso Iaccarino’s two Michelin-starred Don Alfonso 1890.

We traversed the roads and landscape in covering much of the parts that make up the whole of Montalcino. We being a group of four, two Canadians and two Americans; Christopher Sealy, graduate of French Language and Literature Degree from University of Toronto, Sommelier and Wine Director of Toronto’s Alo Restaurant Group. Cathrine Todd, a.k.a Dame Wine, New York, WSET Diploma graduate, Freelance Wine Writer, Forbes Contributor and the Wine Columnist for La VOCE di New York. Jeffrey Porter, Sommelier, Consultant, Educator, NYC-based beverage professional with over 18 years experience in retail and restaurants. Now starring in his video series creation, SipTrip Italy, an exploration of many of Italy’s best wineries and wine regions: the ultimate Italian wine adventure.

Cathrine Todd, Godello, Jeff Porter and Christopher Sealy

Conceptual versus aesthetic function

Consider this phrase. “Discontinuity attains a level of aesthetic creation.” If we look at this through the lens of conceptual versus aesthetic truth and apply it to the Rosso and Brunello of Montalcino then we are on to something. Examples of both are what define the appellations in southern Tuscany. A tradition exists in which making wines is ensconced in rational truth but these last two decades have seen a wave of aestheticism rival, take over and even surpass that of rational winemaking behaviour. The wave of richness, ripeness and over-oaking the local sangiovese is not over and there still persists many pockets and factions of IGTism. To each his own and yet the pendulum has begun to swing with more producers coming back to basics. The neo-conceptualization of Montalcino sangiovese has returned a freshness to Brunello and the gleaning is real because a greater void has opened up for all to share. It’s a mathematical game of philosophical implication.

Part of a week’s pasta induced coma thanks to Montalcino. #gnocchialtartufo

“Continuous functions are of utmost importance in mathematics, functions and applications. However, not all functions are continuous. If a function is not continuous at a point in its domain, one says that it has a discontinuity there.” Sangiovese and even more so grape varieties like merlot and cabernet sauvignon grown in the Montalcino hills form a discrete set, a dense set, or even the entire domain of the territory’s function. They are examples of appellative discontinuities “in the simplest case of functions of a single real variable taking real values.” They are wines that represent the aesthetic function.

Let me count the ways. Comfort and classicism from Mario, Anna and Michele at Il Giglio, Montalcino

Sangiovese of purity, honesty, transparency and a sense of place are those that hold court for the conceptual truth of Montalcino. They are neither better or worse than their aesthetic brethren and sistren but they are making themselves open for discovery in 2019, 2020 and beyond. If you travel to the region at this time you will collide with them and their makers because they are crying to be heard. In October of 2019 I heard from both sides and their stories were expressed in understated forms of beauty, at times in the varietal austerity of the times and at others quite spiritual. In all cases we are taught that we are nothing and that we are all deserving of life. And to taste the wines from Montalcino. Wabi, if you will.

The visits

Le Ragnaie Winery was established in 2003 by the Campinoti Family. The estate follows the guidelines for organic agriculture and the vineyards are divided into three distinct parcels throughout Montalcino which allows the production of three diverse Brunello terroir. There is no usage of fertilizer but instead cover crops are planted of legumes, clovers and grasses.  This helps to regenerate the land after a long summer season of work and aids in enriching the organic substance of the land all the while penetrating deeply the roots of the various planted species.  The diversity of plants in the vineyard prevents superficial erosion and instead favours the absorption of water and creates an important habitat for many species of animals and insects.  This process guarantees the formation of an ecosystem full of life which is essential to the health of the vines.

Le Ragnaie

Riccardo Campinoti at Le Ragnaie poured so many instructive sangiovese that work their conceptual way into his poignant, powerfully restrained and profound Rosso and Brunello. He also afforded a glimpse into two new aesthetic behavioural wines, the Vino Bianco and Fiano. Both are seven day skin-contact Montalcino whites, the first made from estate grown malvasia and trebbiano. They are fashioned like reds, with punch downs and very traditional styles in a Tuscan white vein. The Bianco is all orange skin and lemon arid as it gets but also gelid, surging, textured. The fiano is made for fun, tastes salty and acts so fine. So delicious and only 600 bottles made.

Mario Bollag

At Terralsole Mario Bollag and Athena Tergis Bollag reside on a hilltop peninsula plateau that is surely one of Montalcino’s most beautiful locations. They embrace aesthetic function like no others, in the food they cook, the music they play and the wide array of wines they make. Philanthropy, art, whimsy, generosity, warmth, sangiovese and the only cabernet franc in Montalcino.

Athena Tergis Bollag

Trio is a real “Super Tuscan” because it’s made from international varietals; cabernet franc, merlot and syrah. Takes 18 months in barrel and seven more years in bottle give or take, to be ready. Super fruit forward, super heady and super structured. Now integrated and singing smoothly, silken and fine. Coldoro, Solista and Pasticcio round out the symphony. Their first vintage for Brunello was 2000, 2001 for the Rosso.

Felix and Sabine Eichbauer

Podere Salicutti is in a south-eastern Montalcino location, on route SP 55 towards Castelnuovo dell’Abate. Now in the altruistic stewardship of owners Sabine and Felix Eichbauer who heed the tradition and ideology created by its previous owner, Francesco Leanza. The agriculture and winemaking team remain to keep the promise and the faith for all of the estate lands and and inner workings. They do so as custodians of three essential vineyards, Piaggione, Teatro and Sorgente. We should all look forward to what this power couple and team will bring to the community, wines and landscape of Montalcino.

Cortonesi and Cortonesi

Your next trip to Montalcino must include a stop at La Mannella to discover the conceptual present and future of the area. Tommaso Cortonesi is a young superstar full of spirit who knows and understands the beauty and enchantment of wine. Sangiovese that gives you the feeling of having come through a storm because of simple wines that make you happy with the present moment. Also complex wines of great functionality, pragmatism and all due to great work ethic. Watch Tommaso’s father pumping juice at dusk and you will understand. The future is here, in these hands, with great humility, ethos and promise.

Gianni Bernazzi

The Bellaria Estate first came into being in September 1963, when Assunto Pieri and Bruna Tempori purchased a farmhouse and land in one of the finest and most characteristic Montalcino winegrowing areas. Bellaria’s position just a stone’s throw from the village speaks to its founders’ connection and who else but Gianni Bernazzi could carry forth what his grandfather “Sunto” had set out to accomplish. In ode to his grandfather who passed away in 2018 at the age of 97, a man who in 2017 was one of two remaining original members from the original coalition at the 1967 signing of the Brunello community’s accord. Now Gianni is blessed with extraordinary terroir filled with Galestro schisty clay, iron, Alberese limestone and Arenaria sandstone.

Francesco Ripaccioli

Conversely at Canalicchio di Sopra with Francesco Ripaccioli a Rosso di Montalcino 2018 barrel sample instructs that sangiovese is built on dry extract. It is silky, sensual, full of acidity and fine chiseled tannins. Very giving and also serious but in a nurturing way. The Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino 50th Harvest “Canalicchio di Sopra” 2015 barrel sample is a fist full or armistice, liquid cocoa limestone gold, in a desperate state and full of mineral of potential explosive nature and ready to spew graphite and chalk all over the place. It currently sits at 15.6 alcohol and 6.5 acidity. Crazy talk.

Lorenzo Magnelli

At Le Chiuse it was Lorenzo Magnelli who introduced us to a Montalcino speciality, the sparkling Stellare Rosé from the most recently planted vineyard (Pullera) at Il Greppo. This vineyard is destined for Le Chiuse Riserva when Lorenzo’s daughters will be making these wines. For now it’s a no dosage, picked three weeks early, two to three years on lees Rosé made from 100 per cent sangiovese. Quite a lot of sangiovese fruit with high acidity taking this into tart currant territory. An eight hour maceration and healthy hue extraction. Named for Lorenzo’s wife, Stella Renzetti. A wine that says “you can’t have a full barrel and a drunk wife at the same time.” All about happiness, in marriage and making sparkling wine.

Montalcino from Le Chiuse

The sangiovese made by Lorenzo Magnelli are not merely genetic ties to Biondi-Santi. They are without argument some of the most important and expressive Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino in the territory. And they are produced for reasons so intrinsically correct the results perfectly fit the methods. Learning from Lorenzo is the best two hours you could ever hope to spend in Montalcino.

Poggiali

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona estate is located on the South East hillside of Montalcino, close to the medieval village of Castelnuovo dell’Abate and to the famous Abbey of Sant’Antimo. Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona is more than a storied estate and in fact lies in the heart of the Val d’Orcia Park, UNESCO World Heritage. In 1985, after the end of the Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona family, Giuseppe Bianchini took control of the winery that is managed today by his sons and nephews. That includes pro cyclist Paolo Bianchini who moved giros to switch paths en route to becoming one of Montalcino’s most important winemakers.

Poggio di Sotto

Luigina Villadei led us through Poggio di Sotto’s certified organic portfolio. The estate was founded in 1989 on the south-eastern side of Montalcino and in 2011 became part of the ColleMassari family. Monte Amiata looms and protects while sea breezes blow in for a property that enjoys a unique microclimate immediately southeast of Castelnuovo dell’Abate. The same winemaking team of nearly three decades continue to produce sangiovese of great traditional and authentic construct. The sangiovese are timeless, unparalleled for this special part of Castelnuovo dell’Abate and the rising of San Giorgio. Perpetual upholding for decades of generational standards.

Altesino

It would have been a great pleasure to spend another visit with Elisabetta Gnudi nevertheless at Altesino we sipped on aesthetic Palazzo Altesi, made from 100 per cent sangiovese. The barriques used to aged this Altesino IGT for 12-14 months change everything about the way the grape is expressed from Montalcino vineyards. Younger, less experienced fruit succumbs to the silky beauty and vanilla lushness for an elixir that’s just different than the local Rosso and Brunello, Call it international or what you will.

Leonardo Bellaccini

Thankful to Leonardo Bellaccini for driving down from Castelnuovo Berardenga in Chianti Classico to Campogiovanni in Montalcino to walk the San Felice vineyards and pour for us the Brunello only he can make. At San Felice’s Campogiovanni property we walked the vineyards with Leonardo Bellaccini and tasted Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Il Quercione out of the barrel. There is lift and bright character in 2017 despite the desiccation, concentration and aridity but this was well judged, especially in picking time so poly-phenolic ripeness matches the sugars. It’s big and brawny but curiously, magically and mysteriously carries ripe and ripping if round acids. It keeps everything buoyant and alive. There is 2016, a vintage with excess everything, namely fruit and tannin. This is the year where balsamico and vineyard notes speak louder, of Galestro, clay and calcari. There is more balance between all the parts even while the fruit acts deeper, broods more and talks with more barrel adjunct. Big vintage to be sure and will be long lived.

Filippo Chia

Then there is Filippo Chia. Filippo’s father is painter and sculptor Sandro, considered the leading member (along with Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi) of the Italian Neo-Expressionist movement, baptized as Transavanguardia by Achille Bonito Oliva. Sandro Chia bought Castello di Romitorio in 1984, producing his first vintage in 1987 from neighbours’ grapes, now the Loacker property. The Martinis, father and son, have been cellar masters at Romitorio for six generations. Said Sandro, “sangiovese aged for five years is the most extreme and also the most naive. It’s sweet and kind and are wines made by dreamers.” Surely one of Italy’s first expressionistic ideas after the unification of 1861, in 1868 it began with Biondi-Santi. Said Filippo. “Inexplicably and inescapably you can recognize sangiovese from Montalcino. I like a Brunello you can drink six months after release, after it’s five years of aging.”

I had been tasting Filippo Chia’s Castello Romitorio wines for a few years and so now it is this discourse, tasting and northwest Montalcino experience that brings it all together. Another sangiovese epiphany. Thanks for your time Filippo. Of dramatic note is the new vineyard Filippo has cleared for Romitorio’s future. You must stand on this rocky, deeply ferric red soil to understand the estate’s position and its future in Montalcino.

Stefano Cinelli Colombini

All visits to Montalcino should conclude at La Fattoria dei Barbi. Barbi has been owned by the Cinellí Colombini family in Montalcino since 1352. The property extends over 350 hectares (865 acres) of fields and vineyards in southern Tuscany, in Montalcino, Scansano and Chianti. Production of Brunello dates to 1892 and Barbi were the first to export it to Europe, America and Asia. Fattoria dei Barbi is now run by Stefano Cinelli Colombini, educator, historian, keeper of tales, lore, mythology and chosen one who continues a story that has seen the Colombini family connected to these lands for more than six centuries.

With Stefano Cinelli Colombini

Stefano Cinelli Colombini’s ability to relive and rejoice every iota of this territory’s history is the crux of everything Montalcino. His deeper understanding is what you need to know and is based in his family’s long time defence of the traditions and values of the culture of Montalcino, whose ultimate and most valuable fruit is the Brunello. A Montalcino education begins with Stefano Cinelli Colombini, in museums housed of edifice and in mind. What a visit.

The tasting notes

The following 56 tasting notes cover the Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino tasted at the 13 estates we visited in October 2019. Hundreds more will follow when I visit Montalcino again in February 2020 for the next edition of Benvenuto Brunello.

Altesino

Altesino Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016 ($27.95)

Generally aged right to 10 months is large Slavonian oak barrels. Takes off straight from where 2015 left us, that is to say from fruit and into more fruit, of sangiovese in wild berry form, expected and imagined. Exactitude from winemaker Alessandro Ciacci, polished, crunchy and then more tannic as a vintage. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015 (994095, $56.95)

From the vintage where agriculture, winemaking and now selling came and will come easy so you can expect the warm, fuzzy, generous and soft. Perhaps too straightforward to be what the powers that be call a five-star vintage but if Brunello is what you want or even what you think you need then begin or continue the journey right here. Very berry, ultra liquorice and über morbido. Soft, amenable and unencumbered. Positive but certainly not overbearing structure. A now and through mid-term years drinking Annata. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted October 2019

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014 (994095, $56.95)

Making the most of the vintage and a quantity 20-30 per cent down from the norm there is a stoic, classic Altesino benchmark quality about the knowing impression derived. It’s just the thing, the feeling, the absolute confidence and polish and precision, out of fields, through winemaking and into glass. Fruit arises out of savoury ashes and ultimately there’s a sense of inclusion, amenability and proper consciousness. Good acids and fine tannins come about without any overbearing qualities. Fine work to no surprise. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted October 2019

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2015 ($121.95)

Expect more from Montsoli, open your mind and palate to the possibilities and 2015 will deliver more complex notions as it must and should. Always the savour, the rocks bleeding or rather in 2015 causing the fruit to bleed through acid structure and then tannins, ever-bearing and in charge. Not quite the power and ability of other vintages in this regard but still Montosoli generated. Also a mid-term prospect but clearly destined for a minimum 10 year run. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted October 2019

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2014 ($121.95)

Montosli is so antithetical to the Annata, a Brunello cuvee that takes its fruit from a wide gamut of Montalcino sources. The northern Galestro-strewn hill brings brushy and bushy savour, a pinch of salt and plenty of site specific sapidity. The cherry aspect is replete with a charred sense of skins and a dusty, alloy bled feeling. Grippy, taut and structured. We’ll see about Montosoli from 2014 but you can bet on the house. The track record is undeniable. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted October 2019

Fattoria dei Barbi

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2012 (928028, $54.95)

Barbi accomplishes an Annata Brunello just haste in 2012, taking expressly written sangiovese red fruit and pushing it to the limits of its natural tendencies, in hue and expression. I would have to say that consistency from this house is an absolute guarantee and that its style trumps vintage as much as any other. This is simply more Barbi than 2-12. That’s all there is to it. Tannins are firm, acidity is strong and fruit is up to the 15 year task. Nothing time sensitive about it and its timeless structure cements the absolution. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted February 2017 and October 2019

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Del Fiore 2012

Barbi has also listened to the wind and vintage ear worms sung from their iconic, 16th century vineyard known as Vigna del Fiore. Red fruit of clarity and purity reigns while acidity is at its finest for the house. The rusticity of cherry, leather and roasted beets combine for full gastronomic effect and lead into a rather sumptuous and mouth coating texture for the palate. This scales the wall and retreats again to stay in the game in which you can play now (well, soon), then repeatedly, at consistent increments, later and later. VdeF from Barbi is a best of both worlds Brunello for both consumer and collector. Drink 2019-2031. Tasted February 2017 and October 2019

Bellaria

Bellaria Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

One year in Slavonian and French oak. In more than one way a deep and developed Rosso though when you look at the iron-rich Galestro vienayrds there’s little surprise. To many this would strike with Brunello immediacy and in fact many producers would make Brunello from this level of juice. There’s some VA though beneficial integration is the command and the order of its ways. Quite ferric and traditional with a salty, near volcanic-esque, certainly mineral vein. A tannic Rosso that will improve with two years time. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted October 2019

Bellaria Estate

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

Remarkably alternative vintage for Gianni, fresher and more effusive to be clear and sure. Shows with great immediacy and tells a story of vintage variation, especially at altitudes like Bellaria (550-600m) and from soils so poor in organic materials. It’s luxe but also so perfumed, pretty and expressive. Just gorgeous Brunello with fine acidity and sweet tannins. The window will open wide sometime early in 2021 and stay that way for as much time as you need. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted October 2019

View of Bellaria

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Spent 28 months in Slavonian and French oak. An extension from the Rosso in every respect; colour, depth, volatility, tannin and the edge of ripeness. The 550-600m of altitude would have been a problem in the past and was indeed in 2014 so don’t come here in search of lush, fruit bomb Brunello. This is sangiovese in requiem for years of time. It’s as grippy, firm, traditional and prim as you are ever going to taste. That said a few minutes of air brings about a swelling of liquid chalky texture. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted October 2019

Gianni Bernazzi and Assunto Peri

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Assunto 2015

Stratified depth of vineyard layers are so controlling, the sangiovese classically styled, Gianni acting as messenger, custodian and shepherd for this place. It’s all here; Galestro, iron, Alberese, Arenaria, tradition, nonno Assunto and everyone else who made Brunello happen in Montalcino. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted October 2019

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Assunto 2013

Selection of grapes from the oldest (30 year-old) vineyard, 30 months in French oak. First produced in 2006 and now an ode to Gianni’s grandfather who passed away in 2018 at the age of 97. An ode now to a man who in 2017 was one of two remaining original members from the original 16 at the 1967 signing of the Brunello community. Rich, luxurious, deeply traditional and long, with fine tannins and plenty of barrel feel. Old school, wood spiced and spread throughout the mouthfeel, though never cloying or misdirected. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted October 2019

Gianni Bernazzi

Bellaria Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Assunto 2012

A vintage with everything in place and though the barrel speaks with so much deeper resonance there’s a variegation of shadows, sweetness and intensity to watch over you, control you and let you know what’s happening in this place. It has become silky smooth, elongated, angles erased with beautiful curves and acidities everywhere. Fine, from another era and living longer than just about anyone else. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted October 2019

Canalicchio view

Canalicchio Di Sopra

Canalicchio Di Sopra Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Gets neither more ripe nor more effulgent than this Rosso from the vintage of extreme heat salvaged by late season rains. From plants that knew when to shut down and protect themselves before being saved by water re-introduced by nature just before harvest. Taut and near bursting so get at these 17s straight away. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

Zonazione investigations with Francesco Ripaccioli

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG “Canalicchio Di Sopra ” 2014

Quite fulsome and layered for 2014 with a push-pull sensation that charms while conversely creating tension between two vineyards, La Casaccia and Montosoli. More fruit than most from this vintage with thanks to six people making a prudent selection by hand, almost to the point of prejudice. Three passages in the vineyard also led to the clarity, purity and plain fruitiness of what came from these challenged grapes. Explains Francesco Ripaccioli: “What we harvested for Brunello was grapes from all blocks that only added up to a tank and a half as compared to the full 19 of potential out of 2015.” Luxurious sangiovese to be sure and so much better understood with six further months in bottle. Last tasted October 2019

There is a substantiating reality to this sangiovese, typical of the sourness that vintage will not allow to be hidden though with more concentration than many. Chewy really comes to mind when you attack and in turn allows the palate to wage battle on your buds. Things fall into place well enough in spite of what 2014 wants to do to distract from the truth. Clearly a set above the norm. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG “Canalicchio Di Sopra” 2013

Riserva is a selection in the cellar though certain blocks from certain vintages are premeditated and in fact 2013 Riserva is solely selected from the Montosoli hill. The perfume stands apart, rising, haughty and full of fresh roses. The expression of rocks drawn into vines from the new age, climate-affected northern exposure are for perhaps the first time in the Cru’s history a brand new Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello. Salinity, sapidity, power and elegance. Truly. Drink 2022-2035. Tasted October 2019

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG “Canalicchio Di Sopra” 2012

A year previous to the ’13 Riserva (which will be made exclusively from Montosoli hill fruit) there is the depth of clay and controlled power out of Canalicchio cru vines. The absolute attention paid to patience and time is noted from a Brunello such as this, spoken out within the constructs of fruit extraction and wood usage. The tannins are red meaning they are ripe and request that you give this wine as much time as it gave before going to bottle and then to market. Lush, consistent from start to finish and just hinting at notes not quite Balsamico but something other, something derived from sangiovese grown in the grey clay of La Casaccia. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted October 2019

New Romitorio vineyard soil

Castello Romitorio

Castello Romitorio Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017 ($28.99)

Re-tasting the ’17 Rosso with Filippo Chia begins like this. “It’s Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill, like making wine in Montalcino. If you do it a day late you’re going to come up a dollar short.” Don’t miss out on selling Rosso from 2017. A good if hot year but this is a cool sector in Montalcino. Some second and third passage French tonneaux to gift a sweeter perfume, a development into pretty rich liqueur, an acidity that keeps on driving, the fruit, the energy and the point. Last tasted October 2019

A bigger and richer Rosso with fully extracted and rendered red fruit, somewhat sour and ripping, grippy acids and totally present tannins. Needs a year or two to be itself and then drink respectfully of the appellation for five more. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2019

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015 (236356, $63.95)

Dad (Sandro Chia) bought the estate in 1984, the first vintage being 1987 from neighbours’ grapes, now the Loacker property. Martini father and son, as in cellar master, have been here for six generations. Sandro is known to say this. “Sangiovese aged for five years is the most extreme and also the most naive. It’s sweet and kind and wines made by dreamers.” Son (Filippo) will remind that it’s one of Italy’s first ideas in 1868, after the unification of 1861. Begins with Biondi-Santi. “Inexplicably and inescapably you can recognize sangiovese from Montalcino. I like a Brunello you can drink six months after release, after it’s five years of aging.” This 2015 was bottled, is finished and now as is for three and a half months in. Pretty like the previous declared Annata from Sandro and Filippo Chia but truth be told the level of richness and power is raised up, albeit without any compromise to construct and yes, elegance. The E word applies here, like it or not because this place demands it and you would absolutely know were this messed with, made up or polished by wood, pomp and circumstance. These are some stretched, elastic and elongated tannins. Will extend for hours, days, months and years, open forever, long before it thinks about bouncing back. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted October 2019

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013 (236356, $63.95)

Upward push, rising perfume, no bass or very little. Red fruit, clean and fresh as there needs, wants and must be on this ridge at heights above the warmer valleys, from variegated soils, lots of red earth, tons of fine mineral expediency. This is what you want to drink in 2013 Brunello. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted October 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

The Rosso that has been produced since 1987, now approximately 30,000-35,000 bottles per year. Six months each in Slavonian oak and in bottle. From the third warmest vintage of the last 100 years. A spicy and well-spiced Rosso from humidity, baked grapes and concentrated fruit at the height of Rosso while finding freshness and accepting being quite high-toned. Speaks resolutely of an accumulated expression for the southern vineyards of the place. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Rossofonte 2015

A cru selection from four blocks at Brunello yields (six tonnes per hectare) and unique for Rosso. Surely no other Rosso di Montalcino noses this way or speaks with such elevated discourse. Quite aristocratic as such, stubborn of acidity and strong in tannin. Not an everyday wine but one with identity, grip and circumstance. Try to understand that this is Rosso from micro activities; vineyards, climate, selection and production. Which means don’t rush though tasting or thinking about this one. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted October 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini D’aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015 (1065, $84.95)

You can’t help but note the southern Montalcino tone of this fruit first Brunello because there’s just something stingingly distinct about the aromatic tones. It’s a specific savour, direct, grippy and intense. Ages in Grandi Botti, 60-70 hL making for a breadth of fruit, acids and tannins that span a great horizon. Comes from the lighter grey-yellow sand, clay and Galestro soils and it shows in the language of this broad shouldered sangiovese. Lush and perfectly clean. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted October 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini D’aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014 (1065, $72.95)

The only label representing the winery in 2014 is this Annata, inclusive of all the grapes brought forth by Pian Rosso. A highly savoury, sandy Galestro spiced sangiovese that just has to stand of its own accord. Firm, linear and taut. Will age without question or equivocation. Last tasted October 2019

Ciacci e buono, from the beginning, instilled with confidence, finesse and grace. The fruit is beguiling Brunello sangiovese, sour cherry sweetening and flashing as it sits and you taste. Gathers all the necessary attributes along the forest path, through the well-attended vines and into a cellar ready to make things happen. That they do, with charm and structure. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini D’aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013 (1065)

Unheralded perhaps and should never be considered as such because 2013 is wonderfully expressive, effusive, very much alive. Showing its colours in truth and clarity today. Needed exactly this amount of time. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted October 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini D’aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Pianrosso 2015

There was no Pianrosso made in 2014 and so Pianrosso the cru returns from the warm, easy and generous 2015. A large cru with red Galestro soils, deeper in mineral content and so imagine everything magnified, magnetized and hyperbolized. The fruit carries some dried character, surely dark berry flavours and a sweetness of salty sapidity. It’s grippy and tannic but also a touch toasty, sun-dried and roasted. Magnanimous whelp of a Brunello, big-boned, structured and surely capable of developing balsamic, porcini and tartufo character. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted October 2019

Ciacci Piccolomini D’aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Pianrosso 2013

Similar to 2015, Pianrosso is baked and toasty, fruit very much in the dusty, plum, sun-dried dark berry, frutta di bosco and fragola realm. Liquorice leathery and red soil crusted for quite the structural, stylistic and textural variegation. Last tasted October 2019

Striking aromatics emanate from Ciaaci’s 2013 Pianrosso and you know immediately where it stands and where you will be taken. The level of excellence is noted without hesitation and the launch into taking it all in is done without trepidation. A beautifully lit sangiovese, flitting and twirling, “like a flame dancing in a candle, lighting up your living room.” Great presence and finesse, a tight little strummed set of chords and soulful if traditional harmonies. So beautiful and refined. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted February 2019

Cortonesi

Cortonesi La Mannella Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016

Not simply freshness but unction, fruit culpability and basic perfection. The young vines of five years are just now coming into their speciality, that being quality fruit meeting and melting into more than a modicum of grip and structure. You could pour this Rosso for young Brunello seekers and old Rosso knowers. It will solicit and win over their collective hearts. Last tasted October 2019

Lovely effulgent fruit in this Cortonesi family Rosso radiates to extrapolate for a 2016 Brunello future, in many ways. First it is this Rosso that benefits from the particular handling, showing in an immediately gratifying plus available sangiovese that drinks with fast-forward Rosso promise and does so on its own terms, for the right Montalcino reasons. Second, even though the producer’s approach to Brunello is another matter in which generally speaking it deals only with older vines, it is this youthful exuberance and wealth of amenability meeting attack that bodes well for the impending grandi vini. It is here that we see the present and the future of Rosso di Montalcino and the respect it is both given and deserved. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Cortonesi La Mannella Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2014

Mostly from the youngest vineyard above the winery on the way up and on the northeast side of the Montalcino hill. No more than six months in big barrel in terms of elévage. Still quite fresh for Rosso and from the challenge of the vintage. Carries a texture too, almost like a dry candy melting, with liquorice and herbal undertone by summer savoury. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015 (279083, $66.00)

I’d like to say the tannins on 2015 Annata are sneaky but they are so much more than that. These are grippy, layered and nearly formidable tannins. Good thing the easy, generous and lush fruit is somehow capable of defending itself. Boom this is one of Tommaso Cortonesi’s most accomplished Annata and more capable of aging than even he would probably have guessed he was making. Power and beauty. This is that and more. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted October 2019

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Like the same vintage Rosso the Brunello is showing with perked up freshness and almost no development. Slavonian oak and just the right amount of time has elevated the game and brought all the parts into line. There’s fresh porcini in this moment so no matter that Tommaso found none on a quick forage today. Good earth and crunch from in depth older vines construction and very impressive length. Fine quality for 2014 from a producer to look for when adversity tests your mettle. Last tasted October 2019

Cortonesi works through the challenge with a sangiovese in 2014 that finds critical mass and therefore celebrates la vita bella in Brunello. With no reason to choose a Vigna-designate nor a Riserva to produce, the best of the best therefore finds its way into this eponymous family Brunello. It’s equipped with notable vintage fruit, finer acids than many and a tannic structure that is not only correct but highly promising. Lengthiness is one of the best in the vintage. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted February 2019

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2005

Quite evolved, certainly a bottle specificity and now diving well into the funghi and the porcini. That said I sense and even think these to be classic 2005 acids still moving upwards while the fruit settles into an ulterior classic pool of liqueur. Just a moment’s amaro and plenty of languishing action, with or without anguish. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted October 2019

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2010 ($202.95)

Now talking post-aggressive behaviour in Riserva not yet advanced ahead of time. There are secondary aromatic hints but the tannins remain in tact, charged and controlling. There’s a circular motion happening hear as fruit and acidity whirl around, outrunning the tannins or at least attempting to. All the sweet things that grow wild and are picked to accent your braises are swirled into the aromatic potpourri of this fine sangiovese of whispers, shadows and silhouettes. It’s a chiaroscuro of a Brunello, all in and we are in turn fully engaged. Last tasted October 2019

With Tommaso Cortonesi

There are few Brunello vintages afforded more attention in the last 10-plus, certainly ’04 and ’06, increasingly better even from ’08 and looking forward towards what greatness will come in 2015. Yes but not solely magnified through the lens of patience and bottle time, from 2010 La Mannella has coupled upon and layered over itself like compressed fruit and puff pastry. Though it begs for drink now attention, another seven years will be needed before it can safely be labeled as uncoiled and to reveal all that is wrapped so tight. Rich is not the operative but unmistakeable as Cortonesi it is; that natural clay soil funk of resolution and fully hydrated chalk. This is to sangiovese as Les Preuses Grand Cru Chablis or Rangen Grand Cru Alsace are to Riesling. It carries in its pocket the absolute meaning and genetic responsibility of where it comes from, with a curative and restorative ability to get you lost. Drink 2019-2031. Tasted February 2017

Lorenzo Magnelli

Le Chiuse

Le Chiuse Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Chosen from the bigger clusters aged in the youngest barrels for one year. “Rosso must reflect sangiovese’s character more than any other wine,” insists Lorenzo Magnelli. Balance is key and perhaps more of a challenge out of ’17 so expect more flint (soil) and spice (fruit and wood) in this vintage. “For our culture this is the most important wine, it’s what we drink daily.” Morbido, with spice and frankly just plain get me delicious. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

There is a perfume about 2015, a ripe cherry that stands apart for the vintage and even more specific to Le Chiuse. There are cherry trees planted by Tancredi Biondi-Santi here that mimic or rather the aromatics do so, especially in this wine. It’s all texture and a true sense of the land, a feeling of Galestro, rich clay in mouthfeel and Le Chiuse, the place where the dam closed the water off for irrigation. So much fruit and harmony, between acidity, alcohol and tannins. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted October 2019

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Just eight thousand bottles made in this vintage with no Riserva in production. A completely different look at 2014 with this bottle, at the top of integrity, with Le Chiuse savour, throwback complexity and great brightness, surely blessed and pushed upwards for the future. Showing the way it was meant to. A reflection of the vintage and proof of time afforded the vineyard. Last tasted October 2019

Le Chiuse delivers one of the realer deals in 2014 Brunello, with admirably pleasing and concentrated fruit set against a traditional backdrop of ripe acidity, minor Brettanomyces and full-bodied tannins. As it’s not an overly perfumed sangiovese it bucks the vintage trend if only because it avoids botrytis-affected atypical aromas. It’s quite a rich 2014, certainly a bit volatile and capable of going longer than most. Finishes by leaving you a linger of its chewy mouthful. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2019

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2010

“A muscle vintage, of huge character,” tells Lorenzo Magnelli. The name of the wine is Diecianni to tell us that Lorenzo’s Riserva is not released until the 10th year. Brings about all the complexities that come from such an extended elévage. Tobacco, savour, forest floor, frutta di bosco and frutto secco but don’t be succumbing to depths and sottosuolo because the freshness persists. A wine so wise beyond its years, like its maker. Sure you can release a Riserva one year after Annata but when it has been protected and taken care of for you then it presents as it was intended to. We are thankful for the triage and the investment on our behalf. The fruit persists with great natural sweetness out of 2010. Drink 2019-2035. Tasted October 2019

Riccardo and Godello

Le Ragnaie

Le Ragnaie Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016 ($45.00)

Top quality vintage, elegant and balanced, from the non disposto star of Montalcino, Riccardo Campinoti. His is a Rosso for Rosso sake, discriminant, linear, vertical and come up for the rising. If Rosso can be spiritual it would be like this, poignant and effen-solid good. These are the acids of Montalcino and the depth of earth which holds you firm in the face of a fluent perfume. It’s all in this bottle, fluid and affluent. What you need to know and what you want to drink. It can live for a dozen years. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted October 2019

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015 ($115.00)

The come and get me vintage but don’t be misled, distracted or misunderstood. The fraganza di Ragnaie is an intoxicant of the highest order from the highest elevations. This is tonality of verified airy exceptionality. There are fruit landings and destinations, from patches and orchards, without pith and with stone seeds. From only six hectares of the 15 total planted and the balanced one, with Montosoli fruit joining Petroso, Castelnuovo dell’Abate and the four vineyards at 600-plus metres around the winery. Still firm and shadowy so wait three more years. A redux of ’13 but in a wholly antithetical way and only in the ways of Le Ragnaie. Drink 2022-2033. Tasted October 2019

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013 ($114.00)

Forty days on skins from a vintage of beneficial balance acting out of cool weather. The content and concentration are from the long maceration, not from hard pressing or mechanization. Now eighteen months since last tasted it has come into elasticity and more length. It’s the real deal. Last tasted October 2019

Le Ragnaie farms four vineyards in the central zone of Montalcino; Vigna del Lago, Vigna Fonte, Vigna Cappuccini, Vigna Vecchia but also plots in Castelnuovo dell’Abate and Petroso close to the village. It is the gathering of contrastive and complimentary fruit that deals in defining an estate stylistic for the Classica Brunello. Le Ragnaie’s emits the most exotic perfume of almost any of the oft-stingy ‘13s, in fact this brings a level of fragranza that’s almost impossible for the vintage. I will admit to having waited the entire morning to come across such a floral sangiovese from a vintage that seems reluctant to give such aromatics away. The palate follows along, with smoky smoulder and spice, then turning wonderfully savoury, sapid, salty and herbal. This is the complexity we’ve come to covet from Montalcino, along with a fineness of acidity and lightness of touch. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted February 2018

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Fornace 2015

From Castelnuovo dell’Abate at 400m of elevation, planted in the 1980s. A former lake bed, with clay and round sand stones. Strikes the Brunello accord between richness and balance with more fruit than 10 other houses combined. The transparency is the thing; smells like fruit, perfume and the land, like rocks and sandstone. The bleed of Pietraforte into the blood of sangiovese. There’s really no reason to find fault and in fact there is every reason to breath, exhale and smile. That is what happens when you taste a Brunello like this special single-vineyard wine from Le Ragnaie. Drink 2022-2037. Tasted October 2019

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Vecchia 2015 ($177.00)

Planted in 1968 and from a warm vintage all the way to the end, into October. Riccardo Campinoti is smiling wryly, knowingly and confidently after he pours and begins to speak of it. “The longer you waited the riper it became” and the healthy grapes allowed for hanging to mid-October. Deeper and of more sponge-soaked earth in the old vines with a higher tone juxtaposed against the depth drawn by long vine roots. The aromatic complexities run, jump and ride off the proverbial charts and you may find yourself drunk and mystified just from the smells. Once you gain palate entry you are hooked and then you climb in, headfirst, unencumbered, no strings attached. A tour de force beloved of sangiovese, Montalcino and old vines. Vigna Vecchia is the epitome of a true structured wine, one which does not grow old, despite the passage of time. Drink 2023-2039. Tasted October 2019

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2015

Riccardo’s first vintage from the Galestro strewn soils at 220m next to Baricci on the northerly Montosoli hill is a completely different animal altogether. The tannic structure is so opposite to the southerly wines, here taut, twined laces pulled oh so tight. Not without the Ragnaie tonality mind you and the transparency, clear, distinct and honest. Not necessarily a terroir vintage and fermentation occurred in oak vats (as opposed to the concrete for the others) and yet it’s so bloody sangiovese. Blood of Montosoli. Drink 2022-2038. Tasted October 2019

Poggio di Sotto

San Giorgio Ciampoleto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

From Poggio di Soto’s somewhat recent acquisition. Quite the rich expression of dark red fruit, early harvested, low yielding and carefully extracted. Attention to detail makes for a remarkably drinkable Rosso but one with a serious, tight and intense expression on its face. Very smooth and round. Vine age in the 15 year range, soils of tufo, with gravel and calcari. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

San Giorgio Ugolforte Brunello Di Montalcino 2014 DOCG

From Poggio di Soto’s somewhat recent acquisition. Ugolforte was a 12th century bandit who led a rebellion against Siena. Ugo the strong he was called. In a year when Poggio di Sotto is mitigated with extreme prejudice and no Riserva was made it is this San Giorgio that is allowed to sing and express the quality fruit separated from the chaff in this vintage. It’s a beautiful one, silky smooth and available for interaction right at the word go. Acids are fine not just for the vintage but for clarity and future understanding. Vine age in the 25 year range, soils of tufo, with gravel and calcari. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted October 2019

Poggio Di Sotto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016

Very fine quality of tannins wind their way around the ripest fruit picked right in time to keep the acidity (6.3 tA) not just in line but up there in full regale with the gathered parts. The red fruit is so very specific to appellation and place, two interchangeable parts that make Rosso shine. Crispy and crunchy with juicy fruit in the savoury candy way that’s just what this ideal new deal has to be. Few Rosso will age like this from Poggio di Sotto. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted October 2019

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015 (337774, $180.00)

The red fruit of this place and only this place is amplified or better still exemplified in appellative Brunello. There is a glycerin derived and in possession of balance, from soils, elements and climate that is unparalleled for this specific area of Montalcino just to the west and below Castelnuovo dell’Abate. The fine shift from earth to fruit and into tannin through mineral bleed and finally peppery savour all works on the palate. This ’15 is proof of how a team continues to uphold standards of these vineyards no matter the ownership or the hopes, dreams or wishes of those who support and also those who drink from the deep well of this project. Drink 2022-2033. Tasted October 2019

San Felice – Campogiovanni

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva Docg Il Quercione 2015 ($136.00)

The combinative adjunct of extract, barrel and soul are at the crux of the San Felice grasp and the very core of winemaker Leonardo Bellaccini’s life work. Never shy, always looking for density, in vineyard plantings, vintage and concentration of this Brunello. Leonardo is very happy with these results if questioning the balance between big fruit and even bigger tannins. What is amazing are the acids he finds, coaxes and extends to lift this from its depths. Done up in 100 per cent oak. Unparalleled for Montalcino. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted October 2019

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva Docg Il Quercione 2008 ($136.00)

The 2008 expresses a character or at least has transformed with one that smells so much of all the pretty bushes and herbs that grow so low to the vineyard’s ground. Here the true spirit of the Campogiovanni Azienda comes clean, speaking in pure vernacular tongue and expressing all that is this place. Don’t misunderstand that this Brunello is as its namesake suggests, a wine of big oak, but also bones and persisting fruit. The tannins are so fine, plush and still in control. So much texture, very precise actions and wholly deserving of a place at the table. A real style and a product of new oak blanketing the fruit of old vines. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted October 2019

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigne Vecchie 2011

A perfect sunny summer, like 2010, with some late August showers. Just before harvest there were two heat waves, spiking the sugars from 22 to 25 brix. The potential alcohol breached 16 per cent as a result. The Aussie shiraz vintage, of faux sugar and unusual for Brunello. Glycerin persists just as it showed so early in fermentation, ripe to the edge but did it cross over? To be honest, no. But there is a reduction of balsamico, a tarry feeling, a Sant Angelo in Colle character. Plenty of chocolate, warmth and zonazione personality. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted October 2019

Vineyard at Salicutti

Podere Salicutti

Podere Salicutti Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016

There’s something special about a Rosso di Montalcino that speaks to a place, in this case the moderate specificities of the Sorgente vineyard for a 6,800 bottle lot of pure and focused sangiovese. An ease back on the sugar ripening and colour content throttle makes for a transparency and clarity of delight in the way Rosso should be, at least for this lower section of the three main estate vineyards. Inox fermentation, 18 months in larger Allier barrels, further bottle refining and then no filtration makes for Rosso of true to Salicutti spirit, bright, effusive, uncompromising and willing to stick with what works. What else do you need from Rosso di Montalcino? Drink 2019-2023. Tasted October 2019

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2013

Salicutti is in a south-eastern Montalcino location, on route SP 55 towards Castelnuovo dell’Abate. Now in the altruistic stewardship of owners Sabine and Felix Eichbauer who heed the tradition and ideology created by its previous owner, Francesco Leanza. The agriculture and winemaking team remain to keep the promise and the faith for all of the estate lands and and inner workings. They do so as custodians of Piaggione, the movie star of Salicutti’s vineyards, fastest to ripen from both a sugar and phenolic standpoint but also lending the deepest colour to its grapes. That in itself creates some great oxymoronic irony because Salicutti’s are some of the most transparent and clearest expressions of sangiovese in the territory. As is this stunning 2013, a Brunello of pure, unadulterated and sexy fruit with all of its natural, vintage specific and structured parts on full display. The combined effects of three years spent in an array of French and Slavonian barrels has come to this, meaning the fruit has been coaxed but never pushed so that is speaks only of Piaggione. Blood orange acidity and lightning strike energy make for such a buzz of a Brunello. Barrel tastings of 2016 through 2018 ferments will only magnify and hyperbolize these feelings. The future will hold and be something else. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted October 2019

View from Terralsole

Terralsole

Terralsole Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013

Always a blend of the two vineyards, including Vigna Pian Bossolino, which incidentally was not made in this vintage. The tannins here are nothing short of remarkable, silken, succulent and so strong. A woody and hematic sangiovese with blood and oranges running through its veins. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted October 2019

Terralsole Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

This is the baby and yet already more in the approachable realm, offering up lush fruit, ganache of a rich consistency, spice rendered and layered. A chewy Brunello, fruit leathery, up front and generous. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted October 2019

Terralsole Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012

A concentrated vintage, with muscles and also highest quality phenolics. Truth is spoken in that last bit of content because this noses high, mighty, rich and ripe. The fruit carries a sweetness from which skins and seeds are most certainly responsible. Always Terralsole silky, fine and golden in liquid sangiovese form. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted October 2019

Terralsole Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2007

Even if ’13 and ’12 Riserva are current releases it is this ’07 that should be considered the present tense. The label depicts and angel with an attitude, by Whistler artist Lisa Geddes. Showing its 12 years of development, with plenty of rendered chocolate. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted October 2019

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Awash in Brunello di Montalcino

Apr15

Ninety-five tasting notes and reviews on primarily Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2017, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2014 and Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2013 at Benvenuto Brunello 2019

The preview or anteprima tasting of current vintage releases known as Benvenuto Brunello took place on February 15th and 16th in the Chiostro Museo Montalcino. The producers were on hand to introduce their most recent (or imminent to be released) Rosso DOC 2017, Brunello DOCG 2014 and Brunello Riserva and/or Vigna 2013. Journalists from all over the world were present, including myself and WineAlign’s John Szabo M.S. John and I also paid most opportunistic, informative and excellent visits to the properties of Conti Costanti, Casanova di Neri, Col d’Orcia and Sassetti Livio – Pertimali. I’ll have more extensive reports on those visits coming in the next few weeks. I also had the opportunity to discuss the most pressing and current matters of the territory and the landscape with Consorzio Director Giacomo Pondini.

Last year I asked the questions, “are the 2013s much better than the 2012s? Do they exhibit more character, structure and depth?” If that contrast was a difficult one then the one moving from ’13 to ’14 is surely not a fair fight, nor should we spend any real-time engaging in the comparisons. Better is almost always the wrong word, especially because we are once again discussing the nature, merits and potential of sangiovese, a grape that needs the bottle before showing its true character. As I noted about the 13s, I am confident that history will be kind to 2014, though selection will be a greater part of the reconciliation. I repeat the mantra. “Diplomacy, kindness and patience will reward us all.”

Looking east from Montalcino

Meteorological credentials are not required to understand how difficult the 2014 growing season must have been in Montalcino. Rather than focus on disconnects like dilution, astringency and bitterness it would be much more beneficial to celebrate what attributes went right. There are two examples of excellence in 2014 Brunello di Montalcino. On one hand there are sangiovese of clarity, transparency, honesty, grace and finesse. There are also a few handfuls of highly concentrated and glycerin-curved Brunello urged on by succulent acids and sweet tannins. Taste as many as you can to find the best of the best.

In Ontario market Brunello di Montalcino

These are the wines from producers with importation agency representation in Ontario available for purchase either through LCBO channels (LCBO General List, VINTAGES, Classics Catalogue, VINTAGES Shop-Online or Destination Store) or through case purchases in the LCBO-Agent Consignment program. The list does not include producers’ wines represented in Ontario that are either brought in periodically through Private Order or have not yet been imported at all.

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2014

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 francopacenticanalicchio maitredechai_ca @franco_pacenti @maitredechai @francopacenticanalicchio Le Maître de Chai

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Here comes a sangiovese with swagger and confidence born and bred out of understanding and finesse. Sweet rose and violet candied floral fruit gives way to a caressing palate of fine acids and some of the vintage’s finer tannin. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 talentiriccardo brixandmortarwineco #Talenti @brixandmortar Talenti Montalcino @brixandmortarwineco

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Substance, glycerin and concentration gather for a Brunello of Brunello standards in Poggio di Sotto’s ’14. Intensely saturated and insular the nose is closed and for good reason. What you notice about the quality here is the silk across the palate and the length., It surely indicates quality, fine and ripe tannins and an ability to age. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2019 #poggiodisotto elixirsvinsspiritueux #poggiodisotto Poggio di Sotto @ElixirsVinsSpiritueux

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Ciacci e buono, from the beginning, instilled with confidence, finesse and grace. The fruit is beguiling Brunello sangiovese, sour cherry sweetening and flashing as it sits and you taste. Gathers all the necessary attributes along the forest path, through the well-attended vines and into a cellar ready to make things happen. That they do, with charm and structure. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2019 ciaccipiccolominidaragona @cpdavini @ciaccipiccolominidaragona

Gianni Brunelli Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Le Chiuse di Sotto in Podernovone just southeast of the Montalcino village where famous neighbours lurk and the valley stretches east to Pienza and Montepulciano. Gianni Brunelli’s is a careful, four-part curation of estate cru sangiovese for an honest, exacting and hearty worn on every family members’ sleeves Brunello. This may be exaggerated more than ever because of the 2014 vintage but we see it as the truth. Red fruit as sparked and punchy as ever meets equally spirited acidity and sharp, pinpointed tannins. Take me as I am this whispers beneath the vintage screams and you hear it clear as a blue sky Montalcino day. Bang on, banging the drum slowly so that cellar-aging is also possible. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted February 2019 giannibrunelli brixandmortarwineco @brixandmortar Laura Brunelli (Le Chiuse Di Sotto) @brixandmortarwineco

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

In the vintage there was no Cerretalto or Tenuta Nuova produced so this is an amalgamation of the three. All the best selections into one Brunello at the price of the white label. The vineyards from that label are in Podernuovo and Fiesole, with the Tenuta Nuova grapes coming from Cetine and Pietradonice. What does it all mean? In a sense it’s a super house-style and exaggeration of the way the white label has been made (expect for 2002 and 1992). Very specific red fruit, strawberry very alive and concentrated, with some variegated ripenesses beginning at one and showing up in many increments. High acids vintage, seemingly more savour than many and tannins quite intense. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 giacomonericasanovadineri halpernwine #CasanovaDiNeri @HalpernWine @CasanovadiNeri Giacomo Neri @halpernwine

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 @Argianowinery @Noble_Estates cantina_argiano noble_estates @argiano @NobleEstates

Fattoi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Fattoi delivers sharpness and vitality for 2014 with verve, energy and rigour. Though the fruit is by now classically 2014, meaning it’s tangy and sour, the acids and the tannins are driven or are powerfully driving forces, of nature and for success. Would really like to see where this one goes. Could be a sleeper and one of the great values of the vintage. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted February 2019 #Fattoi @BrunelloImports #fattoi brunelloimports Lucia Fattoi Brunello Imports Inc.

Sassetti Livio – Pertimali Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

From primarily grey arglileux (clay) soils though truth be told the variegation includes yellow, black and brown. Also found is Galestro, Pietra (like Forte) and a wide array of fossil shells, all much larger than it would be imagined. Here to the south west of the Montosoli hill is a warm and humid place so airflow is much more important than anything, to prevent disease and because ripeness is rarely an issue. The fruit is dark, hematic, all in. I tasted 45 examples of 2014 this morning and none were like this. It’s also silky smooth without any oak sheathing, make-up or cake icing. Salumi notes define the curative nature, acids are fine and driving, a high-toned moment is slightly Bretty and tannins are super smooth. High quality from 2014. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted February 2019 pertimalisassetti profilewinegroup #Pertimali #SassettiLivio @ProfileWineGrp Livio Sassetti- Pertimali @ProfileWineGroup

Il Marroneto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Correctly light and transparent, accepting of vintage and what such a sangiovese needs to be. The grandi botti feel comes across on the palate, with a sweetening but even more so a true spice clarity. Fine acids and generally sweet tannins put this lightning Brunello in a class of its own, not often seen, surely atypical but well done in the context of limestone-light and sharp red Italian reds. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 alessandromori @IlMarroneto @BrunelloIlMarroneto

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

The rusticity is apparent in Brunello with mouth attacking tannin and excellent acidity. Very much appreciate the lack of sour-edging that is so prevalent in many 2014s. This is more along the dried fruit and savoury-herbal lines without the tang. Some volatility though not a sour one. Lingers well and seems built for aging as well as any. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2019 #sanpolino thelivingvine @SanPolinoVino @TheLivingVine #SanPolinoBrunello The Living Vine inc.

Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Nardi takes the vintage hand and likewise opens up their hearts, throws their cards down and makes public the plan. Ripe fruit, short to moderate structure and relatively easy early drink ability. Some more tannin than a few, some it of underdeveloped but for the most part sweet, fine, ready and willing to work with protein, preferably on the saltier side of hard rock life. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2019 tenutenardi majesticwinesinc @TenuteNardi @MajesticWineInc @tenutenardi @tenutenardi @majesticwinecellars

La Gerla Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

La Gerla finds and coaxes some pretty fruit out of 2014 in a stylish Brunello that affirms the appellation in the best possible way. Though really quite dusty and even a bit sharp it is ripe cherry fruit that leads the way. A bit chewy and on the sour-edged vintage side but mostly balanced and showing good length. Solid work up against all odds. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2019 lagerlamontalcino profilewinegroup #LaGerla @ProfileWineGrp @ProfileWineGroup

Ridolfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Very pretty nose on Ridolfi’s ’14, more floral than many and willing to bloom early in the process. Carries the grace note of tar and is chewy, of roses and then accents come by fennel and tarragon. A serious sangiovese with plenty of structure that remains to be seen if amiability can triumph over grip. With time I believe this is a prime example of one that will. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 ridolfimontalcino #ridolfimontalcino

La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Not too many Brunelli were able to rise above the simple and the superficial in 2014 so La Leccaia’s perfume and grace stand apart. The palate texture is all ’14, tangy, tart and fully equipped with demanding acidity and tannin. That said there is nary a moment of astringency, leading to believe the age ability here is at the fore. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2019 lecciaia @TheWineCoaches Fattoria La Lecciaia

Lisini Brunello Di Montalcino Docg 2014

Lisini’s rises quickly to another level with some glycerin fruit full of pectin and pure energetic drive. The extraction and concentration are at the forefront of the vintage which allows the high-toned acids and demanding tannins to stay in balance with the rest. Aromatics and texture are righteous and proper though the sour notes are just a pinch awkward early on. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2019 aziendalisini @AziendaLisini Ludovica Lisini @AziendaAgrariaLisini

Mastrojanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

One of the more reductive 2014s, the concentration is above average in Mastrojanni’s non-vigna designate Brunello. There is some solid palate richness and while acidity leans to the sour it’s quite rich in its own right. This is a pretty viscous sangiovese for the vintage and with few years time should deliver one of the more authentic Montalcino experiences. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted February 2019 @MastrojanniWine @MajesticWineInc #mastrojanni radalinke majesticwinesinc @MastrojanniWine @majesticwinecellars

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Caprili is quite tense, nervous, unable to relax. It pulses with acidity and tannin, structure is certain and intensity over the moon. Welcome to one side of the tracks, the one without compromise and where Brunello is Brunello and over on the other side sangiovese is sangiovese. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 capriliwine @Caprili @NaturalVines @officialcaprili

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Collematoni is a ripe one without breaching the grey areas of 2014 Brunello. Fruit in the pomegranate and red currant spectrum is protected beneath a hard tannic shell with circulating acids. Quite a beast this young and needing three to five years to gain its charms. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted February 2019 @collemattoni @StemWineGroup collemattoni stemwinegroup Collemattoni Brunello @stemwine

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Despite and in spite of the northern vineyard’s location of six small plots in a 10 hectare area surrounding Casato Prime Donne this from Colombini is quite ripe for the vintage. Strawberries and dusty, savoury accents drive the fruit into a pool of fine, welling and syrupy acidity. It’s an unusually simplified and somewhat flatlined wine for Donatella out of a vintage neither old-school nor flashy modern, yet major challenges are no obstacle for this estate and so her sangiovese is still very full of charm and grace. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 donatellacinellicolombini lesommelierwine @news_donatella @LeSommelierWine Donatella Cinelli Colombini @LeSommelierWine

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Fanti’s takes no bait nor tries to fit odd shapes into even holes simply because 2014 was not the time to do so. And so their Brunello strides straight down the middle of Broad Street like a champion in 2014. Which I suppose is exactly where it needs to be. This is sangiovese confident in ripe if sour and tangy fruit supported by high toned acids and middle weight tannins. Perfectly middle of the road and commercially viable Brunello. Correct, wholly acceptable and well-made. Do what you gotta do. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2019 tenuta_fanti lesommelierwine @tenutafanti @LeSommelierWine Elisa Fanti @LeSommelierWine

Antinori Pian Delle Vigne Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Pretty expressive fruit, a touch variegated, plenty of savoury and dusty accents, verdancy and dried components. Hints at astringency and stays clear enough, with fine, almost sweet tannins. Careful selection keeps this on course to do what it’s supposed to, vintage in and in this case, vintage out. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted February 2019 marchesiantinori halpernwine @AntinoriFamily @HalpernWine @MarchesiAntinori @halpernwine

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Val di Suga’s is well extracted and rendered sangiovese with a combination of fresh and dried fruit. There is a good wealth of triangular attributes running in a straight line up, across and back down. First that fruit, then ripping acidity and finally a variegate of tannin. Quite solid and composed with admirable structure. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 #valdisuga churchillcellars #ValDiSuga @imbibersreport Val di Suga Churchill Cellars Ltd.

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

The difficult vintages separate the adulte from the bambine and so expectation can’t help but run high for this storied house. I expect the 2014 may be misunderstood. Though quiet and maybe even needing to be described as in a state of demure, this from Barbi translates to grace. Forget vintage for this is Barbi, albeit in a world occupied by some not so unusual aromatics and flavours. Apples? Limes? Apricots? Perhaps. For now the state of grace is not fully accessible or appreciated. After some passage of time, in conjunction with good grip and slowly dissipating astringency, this will live on as a Barbi Brunello. It will do so in honesty, as if there could be any doubt. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted February 2019 fattoriadeibarbi noble_estates @FattoriaBarbi @Noble_Estates @FattoriadeiBarbi @NobleEstates

Capanna Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Capanna delivers the goods for the vintage with a fruit, acidity and tannin appropriation for solid commercial appeal. Ambition is set aside for a different sort of plan and one that includes asking folks to just buck up, sit down and sip. Don’t think too much on this. It won’t reinvent the wheel but it will pour a fine and decent glass of Montalcino sangiovese. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 #capanna #Capanna @capannamontalcino

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 @Coldorcia @DionysusWines coldorcia dionysuswines @coldorcia.brunello Dionysus Wines & Spirits Ltd

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Lovely sweet candied rose and herbal nose to this sangiovese and for the first time some reduction. Quite intense, locked down, massive and working for a living. Give some credit to this wine. It will settle into a lovely place in a few years time. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2019 #sanpolobrunello profilewinegroup @ProfileWineGrp @SanPoloMontalcino @ProfileWineGroup

Fornacella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Fornacella, as in “fornace,” the furnace, from a nearby and still standing 1490 built brick kiln. Fornacella is both fruit fleshy and high-toned, full of tangy if unusually designed, orchard and stone fruit. Really tart and high strung, it’s as if the fruit spent time in that kiln, so much so it could take 10 years to come down. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2019

La Màgia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

La Màgia’s is rich and extracted sangiovese with tangy acids that linger for quite some time. Some quality fruit marks the way but it’s two years away from finding any real integration. It seems there should be some more substance, even if concentration is compromised because of the season, to merit and handle the level of acidity and then tannin. Nevertheless it should find a few years of good open window drinking. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted February 2019 lamagiamontalcino @fattorialamagia @lamagiamontalcino

Terre Nere Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campigli Vallone 2014

Here is a house also in understanding of what needed to be done and accomplished in the treacherous and lecherous vintage. The fruit here is almost sweet, certainly crushable and blessed with negligible tannin. If it’s priced to sell it should populate restaurant lists for three years while waiting for the much anticipated 15s to come. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2019 terrenere @terrenere @terreneremontalcino

Piccini Villa Al Cortile Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A wild and exotic perfume pervades the ’14 Cortile and one that is the first of its ilk after 23 others showing nothing of the sort. It’s admittedly mixed with a good level of volatility but the promise is great. Returns again and agin to that perfume, where strawberry and liquorice live. A bit overripe perhaps as noted on the palate. Acids are tart, tight and supportive while tannins do the yeoman thing. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 picciniwines picciniwine wineloversca @PicciniWinesUK @WineLoversCA PICCINI WINES Piccini Wines UK Wine Lovers Canada

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A hint of zafferina marks and marls the sweet fruit entry into Salvi’s ’14, from which a combination of that sweetness and sour edging express the vintage. There is a kindness on the nose that invites while the palate tries hard to offer a similar level of amiability. Restaurant ready, perfectly fine and amenable, good to go on a commercial level. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2019 poggio_salvi halpernwine #VillaPoggioSalvi @HalpernWine Winery/Vineyard @halpernwine

Podere Bonacchi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Molino Della Suga 2014

Molino della Suga is a new cru label for me from Bonacchi and this particular sangiovese is a concentrated and grippy number. Intensely tannic and somehow not overly astringent but certainly drying and demanding. More fruit would make this a formidable Brunello. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 cantinebonacchi #cantinebonacchi @bonacchicantine

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Caparzo’s is blessed with a sweet aromatic perfume, at once exotic but also different. At first it’s almost as if it strikes like riesling with botrytis-affected fruit notes but no, it’s more about flowers and fruit on the ripe side of life. The fruit is drawn from a few Montalcino poles but the southern blocks are what try hardest to keep it balanced. In the end it’s highly consumable, commercial and drinkable. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2019 caparzo_winery @CaparzoWines @TheCaseForWine Caparzo

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Bosco’s in certainly one of the riper 2014 Brunelli, with orange, lemon and peach notes that stray very far away from the classic cherry sangiovese spectrum. It’s acids are tart but not overly demanding and the tannins relatively calm for the vintage. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2019 castigliondelbosco #castigliondelbosco @LiffordON liffordgram @castigliondelbosco @liffordwineandspirits

Quercecchio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Ripeness was achieved with extra hang time and while the fullness and power are duly noted there is a lag of tannin, even while acidity pops and powers its way around. An able-bodied sangiovese to be sure and one to talk out loud with plenty of support for a few years run. Length is pretty good in the face of sour edging. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2019 #quercecchio @MQuercecchio @quercecchio

Lazzeretti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Guarded and reductive, this is a stand alone Brunello with no hurry to allow judgment to be passed. More a case of self-preservation than hard to get there are tannins here as fierce as any. The sour notes are minor and the drying fruit makes it difficult to find any great pleasure. Will improve though not forever. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted February 2019 @ViniLazzeretti @ViniLazzeretti

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A notable amount of Brett on the quick nose and then some fleshier stone fruit. All sorts of fruit in here, variegated in ripeness and creating a wine of personality if not one of early cohesion. Lingers long so structure wants to be its friend. Give it time to of reconcile the awkwardness youth. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2019 borgosanfelice @AgricolaSFelice @ChartonHobbs Borgo San Felice

Tenuta Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

From Rainer, Hayo and Franz Loacker in Casanuova to the west of the village. The clay soils pack at upwards of 450-500m on slopes at one of the higher elevations in Montalcino. Here is a big wine from Corte Pavone and one that could only have been difficult to manage in a vintage that tested the communal mettle. Dark fruit, wood spice and finishing chocolate. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2019 loackerwineestates @LoackerWineEstates

#tommaso @cortonesi_wine @brunellodimontalcino

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta Nuova 2013

The first vintage was 1993, from two newer estates, of Cetine and Pietradonice. The idea was to extend from the White Label with more richness and a potential of five further years of aging. The picking was prudent and it shows in the consistency of both the ripeness and the tannins. The acids accumulate, circulate and then travel up the side insides to a place of near nirvana. They go where they should, leaving the liquorice fruit gaining with spice to linger while the solicitation is for another sip. Chewy and ropey sangiovese, in balance and well-structured for a decade and a half easy. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted February 2019 giacomonericasanovadineri halpernwine #CasanovaDiNeri @HalpernWine @CasanovadiNeri Giacomo Neri @halpernwine

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Macchiarelle 2013

Fanti’s comes from a very intense climate and soil structure so no surprise this ’13 is a humid, exceptionally warming and high glycerin Riserva. The source is two point five hectares of old vines (averaging 35-40 years) at 250m. Le Macchiarelle, a.k.a “the little thicket” doles wood spice, which only adds to the layering and increases the density quotient. This needs salty protein in a way so many may not, for the past and to look two decades forward into the future. Vigna Le Macchiarelle is truly the sort of high-end Brunello Riserva to put away and forget about in the cellar before emerging at dinner, at home, yours or theirs, with the best of friends. Trust me, please. It will be a grand moment. Drink 2024-2038. Tasted February 2019 tenuta_fanti lesommelierwine @tenutafanti @LeSommelierWine Elisa Fanti @LeSommelierWine

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Pian Di Conte 2013

A Sant’Angelo in Colle treasure is this Riserva made from fruit grown at 400m nearby. One year later the fruit just seems to rise, swell and flesh with great fervour. Last tasted February 2020

Pian di Conte is only made in the worthiest of years from a select curation of grapes, much like Piero that comes off of 20-plus year-old vines out of two highly specific blocks on 20 hectares in Castelnuovo dell’Abate. At 400m of altitude it is the special vineyard Paretaio, planted to a sangiovese clone selected by Pierluigi Talenti. The ’13 Riserva exhibits that combination of wise and stylish, a well-dressed and seasoned veteran Brunello with expertise born of talent and ethic. The acids are some of the most succulent for 2013 Riserva, surrounding, lifting and extolling the virtues of a well-executed harvest. The texture meets the architecture in a seamless transition though not without that notable crossroads of tension-welling acidity and tannin. Impressive wine. Drink 2023-2036. Tasted February 2019

talentiriccardo brixandmortarwineco #Talenti @brixandmortar Talenti Montalcino @brixandmortarwineco

Lisini Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Lisini’s Riserva is another sangiovese matter all together. The nose oozes of the most intense liqueur, warm and bleeding with hematic and even ferric notes. The palate is massively layered though stretched, elegantly structured, meandering around, along roads and through woods. High intensity of fruit, equalled by acidity and then these caressing tannins. Perhaps too big for some but what’s to complain about in the potential of a 25-30 year wine. Drink 2024-2037. Tasted February 2019 aziendalisini @AziendaLisini Ludovica Lisini @AziendaAgrariaLisini

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

There are Barbi Riservas and there are Barbi Riservas. Many are the toughest nuts to crack and then along comes a fruit beauty like 2013. Not sure I’ve ever tasted this sort of gregarious nature from a Barbi, normale, Riserva, or Vigna del Fiore. There is no compromise to tradition but there too is no holding back in delivery of ripe, fattened red fruit, sweet acidity and even sweeter tannins. The picking, selecting, vinifying and aging of the components that made up this wine were spot on. A gift to the consumer. Start your Brunello Riserva journey right here. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted February 2019 fattoriadeibarbi noble_estates @FattoriaBarbi @Noble_Estates @FattoriadeiBarbi @NobleEstates

La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Hard to get, place and open this Riserva from Leccaiaia. A chic and stylish robe of fruit bedevilled with charm and bedecked with jewels hangs adorned behind a veil of silk and lace. Then you taste this sangiovese and you feel the weight it’s capable of exhorting. It chortles with sanguinity and a toasty, almost charred red flesh, both vegetable and protein. Such an interesting, curious and graceful Brunello. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted February 2019 lecciaia @TheWineCoaches Fattoria La Lecciaia

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Caraprzo gives off night scents of a northern Montalcino climate with florals and cool wet Galestro. It adds up to a lovely herbal potpourri in a very stylish Riserva with expertly judged grip, primarily through the conduit of acidity. In and around the Montosoli hill there are these vineyards that slide their way into these wines with savoury pulchritude. Does Riserva get more stylish than this? Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2019 caparzo_winery @CaparzoWines @TheCaseForWine Caparzo

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Welcome to the Brunello Riserva you may just want to drink right now. From estate vineyards at Casato Prime Donne. The fruit is luscious and as full as ’13 can be, ripe to the max and this from the northern zone. Herbal in an Amaro way, some desiccation to create this red, black and blue sangiovese liqueur. Rich and chewy with a silky mouthfeel and even chewier tannins. Not particularly grippy or tannic by demand, it flows and apportions full circle, ode to the earth, all in and blood orange bright. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2019 donatellacinellicolombini lesommelierwine @news_donatella @LeSommelierWine Donatella Cinelli Colombini @LeSommelierWine

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 tommasiwine univinscanada @Tommasiwine @UNIVINS @tommasiwines Univins et Spiritueux / Univins & Spirits

Piccini Villa Al Cortile Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

The ways in which Piccini’s Riserva come flying from the glass are a sign of excitement and haste because this sangiovese really wants to gain your respect and your love. Fruit sits on the top of the ripe spectrum and is by now resolved and ready to deliver the pleasures of the flesh. If ever there was a 2013 Riserva to pop, pour and enjoy while the others and certainly the ‘12s continue to develop, this Villa al Cortile must certainly be the one. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2019 picciniwines picciniwine wineloversca @PicciniWinesUK @WineLoversCA PICCINI WINES Piccini Wines UK Wine Lovers Canada

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012

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 @Coldorcia @DionysusWines coldorcia dionysuswines @coldorcia.brunello Dionysus Wines & Spirits Ltd

Sassetti Livio – Pertimali Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012

Finally a nose of something not just recognizable but exacting and necessary for Brunello di Montalcino from this frazioni just to the northeast of the village. Dark cherries, rich and luxurious dark cherries. That and a cool minty savour plus a creamy gelato that silkens the palate. The grip and force are 2012 but the refinement is all 2012 and Sassetti. A very stylish Brunello and not even yet entered the zone. Drink 2021-2035. Tasted February 2019 pertimalisassetti profilewinegroup #Pertimali #SassettiLivio @ProfileWineGrp Livio Sassetti- Pertimali @ProfileWineGroup

Grazie e bravissimi to the hardest working sommelier cru in the wine business ~ @consbrunello #benvenutobrunello #benvenutobrunello2019 #duamiladiciannove

Not in market Brunello di Montalcino

These are the wines from producers without importation agency representation in Ontario but also wines represented in Ontario that are not currently available. They may either be brought in periodically through Private Order or have not yet been imported at all.

Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

Conti Costanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Colle Al Matrichese 2015

Andrea Costanti is convinced this is a great vintage. “One of the best.” The weather was perfect following a beneficial cold winter. The harvest was early but not compromisingly so and it saw no hurdles, obstacles or intendments. The barrel use is bigger, older and wiser. This is the sort of concentrated Costanti that speaks to the 2019 philosophy, of acidity, ripeness and balance. Time on skins was about a month (including two weeks of fermentation and oxidation introducing délestage) and no protective sulphur. There is a control in this sangiovese, a powerful restraint but more than that, more so a calm, but not before storm. Finesse, grip and beauty, like a statue of a stag, in a courtyard, lit by moonlight. Tannins are all pervasive, fully stated, yet to feel a necessity for attack. They will and we will retreat, Then we will advance, with caution, further to find full pleasure for two decades. At the very minimum. Drink 2023-2039. Tasted February 2019 #conticostanti woodmanws @WoodmanWS @WoodmanWS

Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Vermiglio 2014

From the vintage where no Brunello was produced this Rosso is essentially a Super-Rosso made from the de-classified sangiovese. Very few producers followed suit but Andrea Costanti looks for or rather has a high-level of expectation in terms of concentration. If you wish or will, this is ostensibly Brunello when you consider the maker and the fact that hundreds of others bottled under the DOCG Brunello. And yet the price here is not a Brunello one. The argument could be made that with two years of aging in barrel it’s a Brunello, but it’s not a Costanti Brunello, which ages for three. It’s also not Rosso that ages for one year. That said Andrea’s suggestion is to drink it before the Brunello and after the other Rosso. Still, we should have all stocked up. I suggest that the acidity is brilliant and the concentration is very good. It does not blow the mind but the finesse and the attention to respect in the details are there. Drink this (if you have them) now and for five more years. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted February 2019 #conticostanti woodmanws @WoodmanWS @WoodmanWS

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Baricci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Baricci’s is extenuated 2014 circumstances Brunello with intense firm grip and fine, fine acids. Those acids are equipped with succulence to support some fleshy, really clean and ripe fruit. The barrel addendum is just about spot on and the length is exceptional. Beautifully structured sangiovese in 2014. Finishes with a great little juicing of blood orange. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted February 2019 #baricci @BaricciWine @baricciwine

Cupano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Cupano’s fruit concentration is so impressive in 2014 that the minor amount of Breettanomyces is but a smudge on the glass of sangiovese life. Here is Brunello that found a way in 2014, to grow quality fruit, pick it at just the right moment and deliver it straight to glass. The barrel work et al along the way is but a messenger’s or a shepherd’s conduit. Really well done. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted February 2019 cupanomontalcino @Cupano_Brunello @CupanoMontalcino

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Lovely little stylish sangiovese of proper red fruit in a vintage that required this effort of exactitude of output. This house takes it easy, stays calm and allows the weakness to become a great positive. No overdubbing or make up here, just simplicity and pulchritude. Not the most structured one but lovely to drink. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 tenutabuontempo #TenutaBuonTempo @TenutaBuonTempo Carpe Vinum

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Oliveto P.56 2014

P. 56 is a specifically identified, consciously farmed and carefully curated Brunello. It’s aromatic intensity defines the new wave of Montalcino sangiovese and if in “easier” years it may act a bit reserved, from a vintage like ’14 it screams with intensity. The hyperbole of mineral lining will not be denied, not this time, though as before, this sangiovese is very refined. Savoury cool with more acidity elevating red fruit and it would seem more guaranteed structure for that aforementioned 15-20 year run. Drink 2022-2037. Tasted February 2019 tenutabuontempo #TenutaBuonTempo @TenutaBuonTempo Carpe Vinum

Ventolaio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Ventolaio, the gypsy king Brunello of 2014, wild and feral, ferric and alive. It’s a jumpy sangiovese, hitting all the hight notes and correct vintage buttons. Pulses with energy and delivers some quality tannins. What it lacks in grippy structure last seen in 2013 it makes up for with great fruit. Much love for this exceptional house. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2019 #ventolaio #ventolaio @Ventolaio

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Tenuta Le Potazzine Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Darkness of fruit it beautifully lit by a candle of sangiovese transparency in Pottazine’s impressive effort in 2014. It’s a bit past ripe but not in cohorts with angry tannins so treat this explicitly as a drink early Brunello, perfect for restaurant lists in the affordable category. Bravo for the estate’s understanding of the cards dealt and for laying them on the table. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 lepotazzine @LePotazzine @LePotazzine

Cerbaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Cerbaia is neighbour to Sassetti on the way up the Montalcino hill. Lorenzo is now making their wines though just for the past year or so. This is a cured and weighty ’14, of salumi aromatics, roasted meat bones and the brushy herbs of a hillside. It’s quite a warm and humid sangiovese of dark fruit but also formidable acids. Quite robust, vigorous and serious. Will have many fans and rightfully so. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 fattoriacerbaia @cerbaia.chollet

Tenuta Di Sesta Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Some lovely rich fruit notes orate the opening remarks and that speaks volumes in the vintage. It’s a fleshy Brunello with sweet acids and corporeal substance albeit a minor verdancy streak running through the tannins. Hard to avoid and not so distracting considering the other fine qualities of this generous sangiovese. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2019 tenutadisesta #TenutadiSesta @tenutadisesta

Podere Brizio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A minty-savoury sangiovese with moderate to good fruit concentration and some high notes early on. In fact these are notes that will likely continue for quite some time if not longer and longer than that. Tart and angular, working through the difficulties with admirability, focus and what we call “gutting it out.” Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2019 @PodereBrizio poderebrizio @poderebrizio

Podere Canapaccia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

From the northern part of Montalcino, between Caparzo and Torrenieri. Lovely red fruit with high aromatic and perfumed tones bring charm to this 2014 in the face of that vintage’s green tannins. The palate offers more fruit in the cranberry-pomegranate-currant spectrum and a lean and linear stride. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2019 @PodereCanapacciaMontalcino

Uccelliera Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A combination of sweet fruit and volatility gather in this tart yet reductive Brunello. The fruit is quite gregarious and almost generous. Hard to figure though because the tannins are also somewhat soft. Will drink well for a few years. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2019 uccelliera @info_uccelliera Uccelliera – Montalcino

Podere Le Ripi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A change of pace here with quite tart cran-apple and cranberry sour fruit with more glycerin and substance. Tannins are not exactly green but they are not what could be called caressing. Quick to the point with sweetness coming in the form of an herbal pesto. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2019 podereleripi @PodereLeRIpi Podere Le Ripi

Agostina Pieri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Pieri delivers some pretty solid fruit mixed with a briny, salty, almost pickled acidity and also some botrytis like points. Works in some ways and then goes too far in others. Disjointed and yet the possibilities are there. Remains to be seen where this will go. A bit hot on the finish. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2019 Agostina Pieri

Sesta Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Hard and malic, tart and angular, dark fruit but lean and light. Looks are deceiving here in a Brunello apparently light and transparent but actually rather powerful and dank. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2019

Tenuta Crocedimezzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

Quite thin, lean and sour red fruit, unfortunately part in parcel very typical of the vintage. Keep wishing for some flesh and some meat on the bone, even a dried salumi but it’s not forthcoming. A good Rosso perhaps, but not even a great one. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2019 tenutacrocedimezzo @crocedimezzo Tenuta Crocedimezzo

La Palazzetta Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

La Palazzetta’s is an awkward sangiovese with aromatic intrusions somewhat inexplicable. The augmented feeling comes across with notes of saffron and apricot, in addition to the vintage notes replete with blood orange and cranberry. This is almost cran-apple, with more than enough citrus to acidulate onions. Sour-edged and light but dark-skinned at the same time. Drink 2022-2023. Tasted February 2019

Capanne Ricci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2014

A mouth-watering and also, if not so much more so a puckering sangiovese with tart acids, slightly hard and pretty demanding tannins. Nothing out of the ordinary in a vintage that is anything but ordinary. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted February 2019

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013

Tricerchi, or “three circles” is a house with Sienese nobility in lineage going back to the 13th century. Located on the northern side of Montalcino the estate is extensive, covering 400 hectares, of which only thirteen are cultivated as vineyards. The altitude is up there for the appellation at 300m with coarse sandy-clay soils. The vintage begins the begin for the new generation of attitude and passion. This translates to a precocious and extricably excitable sangiovese to set a table for great things to come. You can’t deny the wild aromatic florailty, of violets and macerating blueberries. You inuit the desire and the dreams of greatness though you know things are running a bit hot and fast. The texture is silky smooth and the finish a bit astringent because the confidence went a bit too far. Let’s look to 2015 and 2016 for greater understanding and great potential for that Montalcino ability to coax elegance from the local sangiovese. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019 castellotricerchi @castellotricerchi

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Cerretalto 2013

The Cerretalto is kept in the cellar for six years, not as a labelled Riserva but that is really what it is. It’s colder here than in the closer to Montalcino vineyards and the harvest is two weeks later. The first vintage was 1982 for a cru that delivers more savour, redder fruit, sanguinity and firm grip. That it does from 2013, with blood orange acidity and a seamlessness that connects all the dots, dots the I’s and crosses the T’s. The layers here come from development naturally occurring in nature, packed tight, interwoven like vegetable tapestry, with slow-developing help from tonneaux and botti, mostly 50hL or bigger. Fineness of tannin will take this long into the 30s. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted February 2019 giacomonericasanovadineri halpernwine #CasanovaDiNeri @HalpernWine @CasanovadiNeri Giacomo Neri @halpernwine

Torrecampanaria, Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Pianrosso 2013

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Poggio di Sotto’s Riserva persists in a void occupied by reduction and grip, in full protection of fruit not yet needing to really be set free. A few years lay ahead before it will open, bloom and reach towards the the blue light of a Montalcino day. This Riserva is not shy but it sees no reason to open up. The fruit beneath is chewy and crunchy, fresh as the day it was born from the barrel. Very stylish, traditional, culpable in clarity and five years away from laying out the hand it was dealt. Drink 2023-2035. Tasted February 2019 #poggiodisotto elixirsvinsspiritueux #poggiodisotto Poggio di Sotto @ElixirsVinsSpiritueux

Gianni Brunelli Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Chiuse Di Sotto 2013

Gianni Brunelli’s ’13 Riserva is cool, stylish, a touch linear and lean but so very transparent, honest and clear. Few Riserva walk such a fine line and it’s a true breath of fresh air to catch such a wine at a moment like this, so comfortable, so cool and so fine. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted February 2019 giannibrunelli @GianniBrunelliWines

Mastrojanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Schiena d’Asino 2013

Here comes Riserva with a furthered concentration, one that is expected but regardless, truly lauded. Still a youthful proposition, the fruit-acid-tannin structure is tightly and intensely wound but also layered with more than notable barrel induction. Quite a mouthful this one and on the road to living a true-blue secondary umami life. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2019 @MastrojanniWine @MajesticWineInc #mastrojanni radalinke majesticwinesinc @MastrojanniWine @majesticwinecellars

Podere Brizio Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

Such a charmer this Brizio, immediately with perfume and fields of colour in a modernist’s dreams. Silky and dreamy, full-bodied and while acids are a touch sour, they melt into the berry-chocolate ooze of this highly stylish Brunello Riserva. Fine tannins will help this age for five plus more years. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 @PodereBrizio poderebrizio @poderebrizio

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

The aromatics on the ’13 Riserva are pretty, floral, high-toned, like acidulated violets. The palate is deep and brooding, full and marked by barrel notes that bring chocolate and vanilla. The wood is very prevalent and yet the structure is not one of force or grip. The best years are in the present. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted February 2019

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012

Cerbaia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012

A rich and luxurious Riserva from a single plot from Cerbaia, up the Montalcino hill from Sassetti-Pertimali. Quite a bit more advanced and developed than the sister Sassetti making it so very serviceable while we wait two more years for the warmer and grippier one to come into its window and place. Balsamic and soy are here with porcini and tartufo. Smoky and charred as well with real caramelized, burnt brisket meaty character and plioenty of riveting acidity. Might surprise and live 10 more luxurious years. The jury is out. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted February 2019 Fattoriacerbaia @cerbaia.chollet

Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2017

Baricci Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Not all Rosso di Montalcino are created equal and if you want to taste the real deal than Baricci is the place. It all goes back to patriarch and grandfather Nello Baricci, founding member of the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium in 1967. It is a privilege to taste this ’17 with Francesco Buffi, a generational winemaker and current custodian of Colombaio di Montosoli sangiovese. Tradition matters but so does purity and beauty. The precision, focus and pure notes played are ones that only the finest gifts and moments of acidity are able to provide. If I were to close my eyes and imagine Montalcino, but especially this northern part of Montalcino fruit, Baricci’s transparency is the conjuring. And it’s so very real. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted February 2019

Salvioni – La Cerbaiolo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2017

Quite reductive this intensely youthful ’17 Rosso from Salvioni, locked up, in chains. A Rosso as a war on the established style but also a drug, a sangiovese tincture that stymies and yet really flows. Doesn’t cause any pain but you need to work through the structure to come out on the other side. There are so many Brunello 2014s that don’t hold a candle to this Rosso ’17. “Ain’t no wind that I feel, flyin’ with no way to lose.” Drink 2021-2029. Tasted February 2019 Salvioni

Talenti Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Talenti’s is quite big, rich and ambitious for Rosso and why not? When you own a vintage and a vineyard embarrassment of riches you may as well go whole cinghiale. The meatiness and sumptuous unction are two aspects that make this a phenomenal food Rosso and also one that will age into great secondary character four or five years down the road. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2019 talentiriccardo brixandmortarwineco #Talenti @brixandmortar Talenti Montalcino @brixandmortarwineco

San Polino Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

San Polino’s is an exciting combination of old and young, structured and drinkable. The fruit has been coaxed to tell a short story but if you are so inclined the longer novel can and will be told. The promise of Brunelo 2017 is told inside this story, with rich red fruit, a touch of traditional sour and succulent acids. Tannins know their place here and lend spice with several years of unfolding that lay ahead. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2019 #sanpolino thelivingvine @SanPolinoVino @TheLivingVine #SanPolinoBrunello The Living Vine inc.

Tenuta La Potazzine Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Very pretty pulchritude in the Potazzine Rosso ’17 with spice, charm and a great pulse of energy. This is so very Rosso and so very what Rosso wants, needs and can be. All pulse and vitality, with striking acids and sneaky formidable tannin. Delicious Rosso di Montalcino and a great harbinger for the vintage. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted February 2019 lepotazzine @LePotazzine @LePotazzine

Collemattoni Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

A highly specialized terroir-driven Rosso with intensely structured tannins shaped over solid and strong bones. Really intense Rosso with leathery cherries and lots of dried herbs. Very good length. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2019 @collemattoni @StemWineGroup collemattoni stemwinegroup Collemattoni Brunello @stemwine

Cortonesi La Mannella Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Lovely aromatics, sexy and spicy, plenty of spice cupboard, herbs and flowers. Smell the argileux and the small rocks littering the vineyards. Tells a story of place so succinctly and what’s coming over the next few years. Sweet acids balance and foil drying tannins for classically trained and executed Rosso. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2019 @LaMannella @Nicholaspearce_ marcora85 nicholaspearcewines Tommaso Cortonesi Nicholas Pearce

Poggio Antico Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

A rich and satisfying Rosso, with plenty of sun-worshipped fruit and some spice from that guaranteed one year in barrel. Cool and full, a low tannic style meant for the early drinking years. Hard to believe sangiovese can turn out like this. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted February 2019 tenutadelpoggioantico halpernwine @poggioantico @HalpernWine @tenutadelpoggioantico @halpernwine

Argiano Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

A firm and grippy Rosso 2017 with big dark fruit and relatively soft acids. Proper Rosso on the argileux side and then marked by proper tannins. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted February 2019 @Argianowinery @Noble_Estates cantina_argiano noble_estates @argiano @NobleEstates

Castello Romitorio Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Quercecchio Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

The simple gait of a Rosso di Montalcino is found in such an example. Tart red fruit in the pomegranate-cranberry spectrum, sharp acids and negligible tannin. Easy and spirited for red sauces and a quick char on salty red meat protein. Pork chops too. Drink 2019-2020. Tasted February 2019 #quercecchio @MQuercecchio @quercecchio

Fanti Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016

Fanti’s Rosso is one of those expressly meant as is, as opposed to it intending to act as a “second wine” to Brunello. Younger vines (15-20 years of age) are the providers and a careful selection is performed to achieve that all important Rosso goal; freshness and early drinkability. The raising here is 12 months in barrel, 60 per cent in barriques of 225L and (40) in 30 hL grandi botti. And so the mix of red cherry freshness and old-school fruit leathery structure means this Rosso goes both ways. In that sense it does it all. Solid as it gets and tells you what you need to know. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted February 2019 tenuta_fanti lesommelierwine @tenutafanti @LeSommelierWine Elisa Fanti @LeSommelierWine

Podere San Giacomo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016

From Claudio Nardi, Graziella Pieri and daughter Elena in Montalcino’s northeast sector, Rosso is a smooth, darkening sangiovese that spent 12 Months in French 500L tonneaux. It’s a classic and proper upbringing, with a purpose to tide us over with fresh Montalcino juice while the Brunelli take their time. That said it’s quite rendered and developed for Rosso with some dried fruit character merging with extra structure. Quality Rosso with plenty of upside. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted February 2019 poderesangiacomo #poderesangiacomo Podere Sangiacomo Nardi

Tenuta Buon Tempo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2016

Tenuta Buon Tempo offers up just a lovely aromatic profile in delivery of what 2016 should and could, with exotic florals, red citrus starlight and a sense of airy breaths. The best of 2016 acidity is brought out, alongside and of hands intertwined and interlaced with the fruit. The slightly firm finish indicates a few years of low and slow development. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted February 2018 and 2019 tenutabuontempo #TenutaBuonTempo @TenutaBuonTempo Carpe Vinum

Good to go!

godello

Last order of business in Montalcino #illeccio

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WineAlign

Diversity in Brunello di Montalcino

Apr26

Montalcino
(c) Consorzio Vino Brunello di Montalcino

Benvenuto Brunello is the highlight of many people’s calendar, for good reason, because there are few wines that can match its depth, class, character and structure. No one of sound mind passes up the opportunity to taste a pile of Brunello from Montalcino. And those who know understand the remarkable fact that it is indeed quite special to find such a level of consistency across a spectrum of very high end wines.

For a look at our reports published over at WineAlign where John Szabo and I offer opinions on the 2013 Brunello, please click on these links.

Coming Home With Brunello di Montalcino

Feature Report: Brunello di Montalcino 2013 Vintage and Buyer’s Guide

The travelling Brunello experience is taking place in the Consorzio’s 52nd year, now in the hands of Patrizio Cencioni, Chairman and President of The Consorzio Vino Brunello di Montalcino and Vice Presidents Tommaso Cortonesi, Andrea Machetti and Riccardo Talenti. On March 5th, 2018 the 27th road show came to the Carlu in Toronto and I had the ambassadorial pleasure of presenting the wines alongside Brunello Consorzio Director Giacomo Pondini. The session was just the third international presentation of the new vintage of Brunello, the first having taken place in New York and Chicago in late January and the second just over two weeks ago in the Chiostro Museo Montalcino. That the Consorzio continues to view Canada as such an important market and partner speaks volumes about our longstanding relationship with Italia, Toscana and Montalcino.

Benvenuto Brunello

We all remember our first love. We may hide the memory away and rarely speak of it but it’s always there. For me, Brunello di Montalcino was my first. In the spring and summer of 1987 I was a naive young McGill University student living in Siena. Bad hair, bad clothes, not a care in the world. My professor from the University of Toronto knew quite a lot about the wines of Toscana so when we made a class pilgrimage to Montalcino he asked if anyone would like to join him for wine tasting at the Enoteca di Fortezza during the afternoon break. All of my classmates opted for a siesta in the July shade and this at a time when there were no cell phones, computers or tablets to distract us from actually learning something. I was the only one who chose to accompany Professor Wollesen to the fortress.

In retrospect, what happened over those next few hours changed my life. It might have done the same for my classmates were they to taste, guided by a man of sangiovese experience, though 30 samples of Brunello di Montalcino 1982. If only I knew then even a fraction of what I have learned since, what value that would be for me now. No matter, for I have Professor Wollesen to thank for introducing me to the world of Brunello. And here we are.

A #benvenutobrunello2018 discussion with @marcora85 on all things #montalcino means there is lots of thinking to do ~ #benvenutobrunello #brunellodimontalcino

Last month I came to Montalcino for the second straight year to assess the presentation of the current Annata and along with tasting more than a hundred of those architectural 13s I went out into the field to visit important vineyards. Because two ears are better than one mouth I also spent time listening in with other journalists and with producers to get a consensus on the vintage. In 2018 there isn’t one and in my view, that is a very good thing.

The mixed messaging coming from talk about the 2013 Brunello may seem confounding but as Mark Twain wrote, “it were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races.” Thinking about a year like 2013 makes for a terrifically exasperating enigma because it presents a very particular kind of challenge. To some it was a case of extreme or at least unusual and unsettling weather patterns and the many shifts made harvest and winemaking decisions crucial, but also far from universally obvious. The vintage is to me a head scratcher because of how many opinions I’ve heard expressed as to its overall quality. I like to refer to the wines as ones of structural expressionism but however you choose to qualify them, the Annata wines are perhaps the most diverse that Montalcino has produced in a very long time.

The hill that is Montalcino. The look that is Godello. The argilo of the northern vineyards #tuttoèpossibile

The 2013 vintage began with a rainy and snowy winter. The spring was cold and the rain played havoc on bud break and development. Veraison was very slow. The harvest for many took place in late September through the first week of October. A common play for journalists or anyone trying to assess a vintage like 2013 is to lay blame on and conversely congratulations to producers who choose to pick their fruit at one junction or another. In this case, either before or after the September rains. If we have learned anything from Montalcino, where your estate vineyard or vineyard holdings are located will determine when, how and why you make your decisions. Every cru, block, plot and row carries a specific picking window and in 2013 even further under the microscope. It would be fruitless to try and generalize and to say that the greatest wines were made because they were picked before or after one pinpointed day during harvest.

So, are the 2013s much better than the 2012s? Do they exhibit more character, structure and depth? I would say better is the wrong word, especially because we are discussing sangiovese, all of which, as I’ve said many times before, are snowflakes. As for character, structure and depth? Many wines speak of all three and many more will, in time, even if many of you are not yet convinced that this will happen. I am confident that history will be kind, even apologetic, to the 2013 Brunelli and in turn, the wines and their producers will look forward to reconciling with the early naysayers. Diplomacy, kindness and patience will reward us all.

#montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino is referred to as “a very modern and ingenious intuition,” a phrase that so aptly depicts how it has separated itself from other sangiovese producing neighbours, namely Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Only the Brunelli are possessive of a very certain and special sort of sangiovese aromatic liqueur, an amalgamation of deep, dark cherry, fresh leather, earth and flowers that differs from the others. Brunello also carries its own unique type of acidity and a fineness of tannin that speaks to how the grapes develop on the slopes and in the valleys below.

What about the long-employed term sangiovese grosso? The word we know as Brunello translates loosely to “little dark one”, in reference to the local vernacular name for sangiovese grosso, “fat sangiovese,” the large-berried form of sangiovese which grows in the area. While Brunello di Montalcino and the clonal sangiovese grosso have been symbiotically synonymous for decades, with clonal selection so varied, in today’s modern Brunello lexicon it is simply sangiovese that speaks to the grape of the famous wines.

As with anywhere grapes are grown, your vineyard passes must act on phenolic ripeness and when it hits, the qualities that come along for the ride in that package are the ones you must work with. The best wines are the ones that speak this truth so if your site achieves optimum ripeness with dark fruit and generous alcohol, make that wine. If its ripe centre includes transparent, lithe and verdant fruit, make and own that elegant style of sangiovese. Be true to variety and location. In Montalcino this is the greatest compliment you can pay to your vines and your fruit.

#Repost @michaelawine・・・Because I just can_t get enough of Brunello di Montalcino – and @mgodello @brunellodimontalcino #brunello #benvenutobrunello #bbcanada2018 #tuscany #tosc

To gain a keen understanding of what separates one bottle of Brunello di Montalcino from another, especially when trying to compare and contrast from a specific Annata, I would suggest you concentrate on the location of the vineyards that produce the fruit. In some cases it’s a cru or a single estate set of blocks and in others a gathering of sangiovese from several locations. The advantage of the latter is the ability of multiple fruit sources to mitigate the deficiencies of one through support by the others. It also helps to create a house or estate style.

You have to know where you are relative to the hill of Montalcino; south, north, northeast, northwest, far south and even more specifically, from which block and micro-climate you farm within that zone. You have to consider the zones; running clockwise from the centre of the region, first on the hill of Montalcino (together with La Croce and Canalicchio), next to the north we have Montosoli, then to Torrenieri in the northeast, to the east – Pianelli, the southeast – Castelnuovo dell’Abate, extreme south-southwest – Sant’Angelo in Colle, southwest – Tavernelle and Camigliano, to the west Casanuovo and finally Bosco, to the northwest. While some zones are more widely recognized than others it is important to associate each with the style of wines they are prone to produce. Our goal here is not to dwell too much on sub-zones and it often requires great generalizations to try and do so, but it is still a very useful tool to align your palate and to gain an understanding of Montalcino’s diversity through multiple places of origin.

In the 1970s the number of Brunello di Montalcino producers increased to 25 vintners producing approximately 70,000 cases. According to the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, 120 producers made 300,000 cases of wine in 1995. Today, there are well over 200 producers in the Consorzio producing more than 500,000 cases of Brunello.

Before I get to the 83 Rosso and Brunello tasted and reviewed in Montalcino, at the Toronto seminar we poured, compared and contrasted 10 Brunello di Montalcino, eight from the current Annata, including one Cru, plus a 2011 Vigna and 2012 Riserva. Here are my tasting notes, replete with background information on those 10 wines.

Tasted through all 60, you know, for your safety #brunellodimontalcino

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $129.00, WineAlign)

From the northern hillside vineyard of five hectares facing south next to Caparzo’s La Casa and one of the most historical vineyards in all of Montalcino. Montosoli is blessed of an ancient limestone soil and an exceptional 360 degree exposure. It combines 380m of elevation and great quality Galestro in clay, was first produced in 1975 and only in years deemed worthy of its abilities. It is traditionally aged for four years prior to release; at least two years in Slavonian oak barrels, three to four months in medium-toast Allier barriques, and four months in bottle. If the normale is rich and elegant this is fuller, bigger, uncanny of that omniscient blueberry fruit and unlike any other Brunello in all of Montalcino. Is it the clone, the rocks, the place? What is it? Is is a different grape? No, it’s the terroir. But how? The Montosoli clone, mixed with the land and farmed by the people. True-blue, more than just climat-esque in Montalcino? Yes. How else to explain it. Drink 2021-2035. Tasted February and March 2018 altesino_winery rogersandcompanywines #altesino @rogcowines Altesino Srl Rogers & Company

Cupano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

In Montalcino you can find Cupano on 34 hectares of land in Tavernelle on the stony hill of a rolling plain above the Ombrone River. Their seven hectares of vines (three of which are new) grow at an average altitude of 200 metres on terroir with good drainage and high mineral content at the far edges of the territory. Their organic and biodynamic estate is a cultural marriage between Ornella Tondini, an Italian, and her husband Lionello Cousin, a Frenchman. They credit great mentors; Henri Jayer from Bourgogne who is a firm believer that wine is made in the vineyard, no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, low yields, native yeasts, malolactic on the lees and aging in French barriques over Botti. Carlo Ferrini selected the land for the vines and the vine-stocks, the growth system and the height of the vines. François Bouchet introduced the idea of biodynamics and finally, approval from the great sangiovese enologist Giulio Gambelli. From “a regular Tuscan summer which led to a good ripeness and structure,” Lionello Cousin feels “pretty confident of 2013’s potential.” If the early presence of even-tempered and richly endowed fruit showing its flesh through well-aligned teeth is any indication than longevity will be a real asset to this Brunello. Everything points forward and there is zero doubt as to the passion, attention and provenance paid to the method, the gurus and the teachers. This is sangiovese worked by the hands of agriculturalists and winemakers on the ball, present at all times. It does not speak of consulting oenology popping in and out of view. Very special and singular in kind. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted March 2018 cupanomontalcino @Cupano_Brunello @CupanoMontalcino

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (113357, $64.95, WineAlign)

In 1998 when she went out on her own to create a new project and in reaction to the fact that wineries in Montalcino did not trust a female cellar master, Donatella created the first all-female run winery in Italy. It is now an estate run by a team of no fewer than eight passionate women. The restored Casato Prime Donne is on the northern side of Montalcino, with sandy clay soils and has been in Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s family since the end of the 16th century. Of the total surface of 40 hectares, 16.5 are planted to sangiovese and are cultivated organically. Aging for the first year was in (5-7 hL) tonneaux and then continued in (15-40 hL) Allier wood and Slavonian oak casks. The wine comes from six small vineyards in a 10 hectare area surrounding Casato Prime Donne. Donatella describes 2013 as “an old style vintage, a Brunello that is elegant, complex, deep and harmonious, that will last decades. The scarce vintages are nearly always the higher quality ones.” There have been exceptional wines from Donatella in the recent past but the most impressive thing she can do is make a great wine in a challenging vintage. This 2013 does what needs; it’s delicately passed fruit avoids the intensity and drying angst of others, keeping the bright faith, binding it to tannin through the coursing dialectical collection of acidities and then making a valid request for patience. All 2013 Brunello need time, some will never come into their marriages and others, like the ’13 from Casato Prime Donne are already there. It will go further than many. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted February and March 2018 donatellacinellicolombini lesommelierwine @news_donatella @LeSommelierWine Donatella Cinelli Colombini @LeSommelierWine

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (112607, $72.00, WineAlign)

Fanti’s 10 hectares of 20-30 year old vines have been developed in the amphitheatre of the south facing hills of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, at 350-430m, a part of which are quite proximate to the Roman Basilica of Sant’Antimo. This seems to be the optimum age for vines in Montalcino and for the production of a classic, estate or house style. Also a matter of manual harvest and the use of the sorting tables. Their Brunello is a classic expression of a gathered terroir. Ageing is done in part French oak barriques and partly in medium capacity (3,000L) casks for a minimum of 24 months (usually 28). Before release the wine is bottle-aged for a minimum of four (but usually up to 12) further months. Fanti’s 2013 is a deeply swelling affair of cherry liqueur and fresh leather, rich, decisive and quite intense. The liquid gelée is fully and completely welling in fruit and earth with more tonic and fine bitters in linger than most. This is a very specific sangiovese with a composed and singular style, chalky, variegated and gregarious. It will have many fans on restaurant lists all over the greater diaspora for Brunello. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted February and March 2018 tenuta_fanti lesommelierwine @tenutafanti @LeSommelierWine Elisa Fanti @LeSommelierWine

Il Grappolo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sassocheto 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $58.00, WineAlign)

On 25 hectares with 16 planted south of Montalcino around Camigliano, in an area dense with Mediterranean scrub lying between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Val d’Orcia. The vines look south towards Monte Amiata and west towards the valleys of the Maremma. Sassocheto is Il Grappolo’s iconic Brunello made from 20 year-old vines in the south-facing Piano Nero vineyard, planted at 300 metres of elevation in deep, pebble-rich schist soils with decomposed rocks of galestro, alberese, and sandstone. The wine ferments in temperature-controlled open vats and is given a lengthy maceration; it then matures at least 24 months in French and Slavonian oak barrels and a further 6/12 months in the bottle. Without equivocation and to keep us comfortably seated in the plush authenticity of traditional Brunello it is Sassocheto that confirms our notion of a sangiovese-Montalcino world. Should Il Grappolo’s be considered as more traditional than most? Yes, but just as this 2013 tells us with utmost clarity, the vernacular is spoken through an ever evolving and forward thinking lens. No pretence and all in for the right reasons. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted March 2018 #ilgrappolo @GrappoloFortius @IlGrappoloFortiusMontalcino

La Colombina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (445650, $69.95, WineAlign)

La Colombina di Caselli Anna Maria is the full name, a small three hectare estate in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, bordering on both the Ciacci and Uccelliera estates. The vineyards have been in the Caselli family for generations. Though they had always chosen to sell the grapes rather than bottle their own wines it was in 1997 when they converted to specialist wine growing with the planting of the three hectares and released their first wines in 2001. The Brunello is aged in a combination of barriques and tonneaux plus Bottle aging for eight to 10 months. Castelnuovo dell’Abate is one of Montalcino’s hottest sub-zones, protected from cold easterly winds by the extinct Amiata volcano and open to briny hot Mediterranean winds on from the west. The speciality of this zone and micro-climate bring great structure to La Colombina’s sangiovese though in 2013 a concentrated effort to emit amenable and enjoyable fruit puts this in an earlier frame of mind. That said it will outlast the ’12, a wine of fine liqueur. This is surely a consistent follow-up to that wine. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted March 2018 #lacolombina wineonline_ca #lacolombina @wineonline_ca WineOnline.ca

Tenute Loacker Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (237263, $59.00, WineAlign)

Since 1996 Corte Pavone has been owned by Rainer Loacker and his sons, Hayo and Franz. Hayo is the winemaker. It is located in the Casanuova area to the west of Montalcino with hillside clay soils upwards of 450-500m, certainly one of the higher elevations in the territory. Much of the 90 hectares of the estate is covered with meadows and forests. Only four hectares are dedicated to vineyards with vine age 30-35 years old and with a plan of converting another four also blessed with the best exposures. The organic wines are aged in Slavonian casks, French Barrique and Austrian oak barrels. Rainer Loacker is from the family that owns Biscotti Loacker and Remedia Loacker which produces and markets enzymes and other natural nutrients. He also owns Tenuta Schwarthof near Bolzano in Alto-Adige and Valdifalco in the Maremma. We often think about Brunello as coming from either northern or southern vineyards. In Casanuova and what separates it from other zones is the consideration of its western position and how the vineyards are affected by a closer proximity to the sea. More than this is the great altitude so that a cooler prevalence and diurnal temperature swing means Brunello of higher acidity. Though quite approachable for Montalcino sangiovese this ’13 is also reductive, fresh, energetic and its tones are set to high. Great food Brunello. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted March 2018 #cortepavone #CortePavone

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (363028, $49.95, WineAlign)

Pierluigi Tagliabue purchased the “healthy hill” Villa Poggio Salvi in 1979, now 21 hectares of vineyards owing its name to its historical location on the south side of Montalcino, overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The altitude is between 300 and 500 meters, with a rich weave of clay soils and a beneficial breeze. Pierluigi Tagliabue’s grandson Luca Belingardi is the winemaker. The Brunello spends 30 months in oak casks plus a minimum 6 months in bottle. The 2013 is an agriculturally clean, sound and precise wine meeting a viniculture on the same, extended plain for sangiovese of substance, passion and flare. This is quite tart and angular though only because the structure is meant for a launch forward, beyond the turn of the decade and forward to the next. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February and March 2018 #villapoggiosalvi halpernwine #VillaPoggioSalvi @HalpernWine Winery/Vineyard @halpernwine

Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Fiore 2011, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $79.95, WineAlign)

Having tasted the follow-up 2012 a year earlier in Montalcino made for more than a curious moment to look at this 2011 one year later and in Toronto. Nothing against the rock solid ’12 but this vintage is simply glorious. Waiting 12 months was not just worth it but clearly essential. The walls have come down, the sea departed, volcano stepped aside and all that is right in a Castelnuovo dell’Abate Brunello world is also righteous and beautiful. Some of Montalcino’s most famous and iconic wines have come from Stefano Cinelli Colombini and Fattoria Barbi, the oldest of which date back to 1870. There are two centuries of history with thanks to Francesca Colombini. The Vigna del