Montalcino Previews 2025: Brunello 2021, Brunello Riserva 2020, Rosso and older vintages

Montalcino morning

Thirty-eight years after first visiting Montalcino it was a phrase articulated by Canalicchio di Sopra’s Francesco Ripaccioli that helped to explain the true essence of the place. “Born here by chance, growing here by choice” were words to truth spoken for anyone who has vested a resolute interest in Tuscany’s most talked about hilltop village. For Capaccioli, consciousness is not something that happens incidentally or by accident, intention determines outcome and making wine in Montalcino has never been a pursuit for the timorous. Capaccioli’s ideology is expressive of his deep sense of belonging to a place and in his endeavours he is far from acting alone. The modern day story of Montalcino may only officially date back just shy of 60 years but roots run centuries deep and the current generation’s commitment to quality and community is taking the Brunello and Rosso (with smatterings of Sant’Antimo and Moscadello) to another level. Three examples amongst many can be found through the work of Tommaso Squarcia at Castello Tricerchi, Valeria Vittori at Il Molino di Sant’Antimo and Ilaria Martini with her partner Michael Peter Motiu at San Guglielmo. This group of young next generation producers have chosen to activate the living embodiment of the phrase voiced by their passionate peer. Nato qui per caso, cresciuto qui per scelta does well to define all that Montalcino was yesterday, continues to be today and surely will become tomorrow.

Francesco Ripaccioli, Canalicchio di Sopra

Annual visits to Montalcino are filled with vintage intelligence and journalists scoop up this information, Godello included. Vintage matters are no doubt important and yet each year the word Vigna seems to increasingly dominate the word count. Just 10 years ago the mix and juxtaposition of Brunello and Riserva was the thing – Today Vigna is the great foil for the classic Brunello bottling and it sure feels like Riserva’s status is decreasing, or perhaps altering in meaning. For more and more producers making a wine of place now comes before thoughts of producing wines of a vintage. “The wine of the vintage has to be a message to the market,” explains Ripaccioli, “and that is the Riserva – After 20 years a consumer will recognize it as a wine from the vintage it came from.” At the peak of Cupano’s elevation is the Cardetta Camigliano, “the road to the sea,” running through the vineyard. The road was the shore of the ancient river and thus the rocky disposition. Beginning with the 2022 vintage Cupano winemaker Andrea Polidoro decided to eliminate Riserva and instead made the choice to begin producing a new sangiovese from the rockiest vineyard. “I think it (Riserva) is a useless category,” insists Polidoro. “Just an excuse to take a Brunello and double the price.” What will this new wine be called? No answer as of yet, but Cupano di Cupano does have a nice ring to it.

The AIS Siena Sommeliers

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

So what about 2021? Perhaps a season of many characteristics shared with that of 2015. That said it was 2001 the last time there was a vintage with this combination of April frost, high quality fruit and ultimately balance. At Camigliano, lower production was the result of, if not quite a catastrophe due to the April frost. “A natural selection” says winemaker Sergio Cantini, with full yields in the upper blocks and 90 percent loss down below. In the end total production was 170,000 bottles as compared to a normal amount of 200,000. For Valeria Vittori at Il Molino di Sant’Antimo, the loss was 40 percent.

More of a “balanced vintage,” says Frescobaldi agronomist and winemaker Davide Bozzon, with a longer harvest from mid-September through to the early days of October. You might be tempted to compare 2021 with 2001 though they are assuredly different eras and it’s worth mentioning that Camigliano did away with barriques between 2005 and 2010. Since then the medium of choice has been 60 hL casks of mixed origin and so wines today are vastly different to those made in the early 2000s. At Argiano it was 2015 when the barriques were out and the large Botti in. La Fortuna lost nearly 40 percent of production to the ’21 frost, a bit less at the estate vineyard to the northeast while the 1997 planted Castelnouvo dell’Abate vineyard suffered a harsher fate. Similarly in 2020 though not quite to the same extent and from which Angelo Zannoni made the unique decision to de-classify some Brunello and create a “Late-Release” Rosso di Montalcino. “For terroir (nerds) and the Montréal market.” As for barrels, Zannoni makes use of his 27 hL casks for 10-15 years. Asked what he does with them after that he says “break then down, make a fire and cook a bistecca.”

With AIS Siena Sommelier Angela de Nardis and Le Chiuse

Banfi’s Chief Agronomist Gianni Savelli, Winemaker Matteo Bagnoli and Director Ridolfo Maralli explain the course of weather and action for the 2021 season. The frost of April 7th and 8th affected the lowest vineyards below 100m of elevation but most of the vines are above the frost line and so overall the yields were reduced by a mere 15-20 percent. The end of July and beginning of August saw heat spikes to peaks of more than 40 degrees and irrigation was used, then stopped after Ferragosto to avoid problems that might occur during veraison. Water does not reopen the vines from their shutdown because when temps are high the plants “valves” are closed and they will not absorb moisture because the water evaporates before that can happen.

Only short rains came in September, typical for Tuscany. To slow down sugar maturation the first thing was irrigation and the second a removal of the apical leaves. The bunches take 120 days but the leaves can be as short as 60 days to develop sugars so you do what you can to reduce the photosynthesis of the plants. Also to reduce alcohol by as much as one percent, though the colour stability becomes questionable. The team has figured out that reducing the yields to three or four tonnes per hectare brought lots of sugars, but not necessarily the best quality. In the end sangiovese is the most resilient variety and they are no longer looking for concentration, muscle and colour. Better to think in terms of say nebbiolo and not cabernet sauvignon. Banfi’s first selection goes to Col di Sasso, the second to Rosso di Montalcino. The third gets sorted in the winery, also using an optical sorter for Brunello di Montalcino.

Montalcino, September 2025

A look at vintages from current Rosso to future Brunello

Harvest 2023 intel from Biondi-Santi informs that here was 420 mm rain from October 22nd through February 23rd, most of it in the early winter, including snowfall. Frost came on April 6th, along with 32 rainy days out of 45 from May 3rd to June 14th, including a hail event on May 25th. The amount was 235 mm of total rain. More than 5mm on average every day, or an actual average of eight mm each day it rained, with the highest concentration right at full flowering. “In 25 years this is something I’ve never seen,” tells Biondi-Santi Director of Winemaking Federico Radi, but as they say, “quando piove sotto gli alberi non piove,” when it rains it doesn’t rain under the trees, or use an umbrella. Another hailstorm occurred on August 17th and 88 mm of rain fell in August. Harvest lasted 21 days, from September 13th to October 10th, with rainy days on September 14th, and the 21st to the 23rd. Harvest was longer than normal, with relatively stable weather during picking days.

There is no easy way to spell or say it but 2023 will always be known as the Peronospora vintage. The rainfall in mid-May through mid-June wreaked havoc on the vines through an unprecedented attack by the genus of oomycete plant pathogens, often called “water molds” that cause severe downy mildew diseases. The May-June deluge fostered the pathogens, often bypassing the leaves, heading straight to the budding fruit, in many cases attacking both simultaneously. In 2023 Canalicchio di Sopra blended the fruit from all three single vineyards into the Brunello. The loss was 65 percent and as a result no Cru, Vigna or Riserva were made. For more on the vintage read Godello’s Benvenuto Brunello report from the 2023 edition.

Masterclass with Gabriele Goreli MW

As for 2024, it was as challenging a vintage as they come, first from a rainy Spring, followed by a dry summer and into September with eight days of rain. Was hard to choose when to harvest and the overall weather posed a credible threat to organic agriculture. Stringent selection of grapes was necessary with variable ripenesses all over the vineyard map. The most variability came from fruit in the youngest vineyards and also those vines growing in the sandiest soils. Fourth generation Capanna winemaker Amedeo Cencioni explains that neither 2023 nor 2024 were vintages to put sangiovese into any new wood. For the most part the ’24s will be lighter wines, that much we know and barrel tastings at more than 20 estates confirm this prospect. That said the average alcohol will be in and around 13.5 percent and the most drinkable of all Montalcino wines will be beautiful.

At Cupano Andrea Polidoro speaks to their location as “the most Mediterranean part of Montalcino. For me it looks like Ireland – Compared to the Maremma.” Many agronomists are converting their vineyards from Cordone Speronato to Guyot and Polidoro has well considered his own responses to climate change, including ceasing the practice of vine topping in 2022. The change was nearly immediate with less alcohol development being the noted result. After a 2022 experiment Andrea did indeed convert the 2013 planted vineyard in 2023. “The bottom line is Guyot produces the most consistent yields from year to year.”

Garbriele Gorelli MW

The outlook for 2025 is arguably the most promising since 2021 and without there having been any significant frost events. The overall consensus is one of extreme positivity and that includes a high quantity of fruit. A rainy Spring beget a fresh July, followed by not just a warm but caldissimo days beginning in mid-August. Also some rain and therefore humidity but nothing overly detrimental to the plants and ripeness continued along a measured path. Sugars developed into moderately elevated ripeness at the end of the month, comfortably controlled by day for night temperature excursions well into September. The expansion and contraction of the skins created the requiem for gentle extractions and carefully executed pumpovers to nurture ’25’s tender sangiovese fruit.

At Capanna an experimental technique began in 2016 to be employed during fruit set whereby some basal leaves are removed, resulting in important actions for the fruit and vine. First to encourage a toughness in the developing skins, second to promote self-fortification during a stressful moment and third to elevate the poly-phenolic properties, acidity and also to promote a looser or less tight structure in the bunches. Ultimately to avoid disease pressure and equip the bunches for the rest of the growing season.

More harvest intel for the 2019 and 2020 vintages

Weather station data and interpretation reminds of higher rainfall in the 2019 Spring with a few further spikes in August and September. A total average of 400 mm across Biondi-Santi’s vineyards fell from April through September. After the rains of August 31 through to September 2nd the balancing of atmospheric conditions during a dry two weeks created ideal ripening conditions between September 10th and 15th. Harvest of 15 days lasted between the 14th and October 1st, save for a pause between the 22nd and 24th because of 50 mm of rain.

Harvest 2020 saw a 91 percent higher monthly minimum February average temperature than the norm from 1981-2010 and a monthly maximum February average temperature 26 percent higher than that of the same 30 year period. On the 26th of March a snowfall caused some damage to young buds in the vineyard. Average rainfall of 280 mm from April through September (230-320), the most at Greppo, least at Pievecchia. “A vintage of climate delicantenza,” is how it is described by Federico Radi, slowly, incrementally getting warmer, an indication of relative similar maximum average temperatures as compared to the previous 40 years. Then rains in August worked towards rebalancing the physiological state of the vines after a stressful Summer. Harvest was 10-plus days, from the 9th to the 21st of September, with rains at the end after picking was finished, including 68 mm on the 25th. “Easier than 2021,” tells Podere Brizio’s agronomist Lorenzo Bernini, “and more difficult than 2019. The most normal vintage in recent memory.” In other words, somewhere between moderate and difficult.

September 2025 Masterclass with Gabriele Gorelli MW: Brunello di Montalcino 2020

Montalcino is essentially a 17 km square, actually 17 x 18 and a terroir of great natural drainage. One of the region’s healthiest constants is its 44 percent of woodlands and 4,400 ha of vineyards are planted within the total surface area of 24,000. Rosso di Montalcino has increased from 510 to 860 hectares with 271 estates having been assigned a total of 352 hectares, in effect from the 2024 vintage, all from existing plantings that would have been Toscana IGT to eventually become Brunello. This raises the total production potential of four million to now five and a half million bottles. The thinking is ultimately to help producers adapt to different seasons, moving the needle in one way or another, to Rosso or Brunello. The destination of fruit per appellation is therefore fluid and producer defined. All this makes for a new dynamism in producing sangiovese in Montalcino. Age of the vines for Brunello must be 10 years and yet the average is actually more like 30.

From 2020 onwards the new way to approach and categorize Montalcino vintages is through the Brunello Forma. The new system replaces the old star ratings with three descriptive words to sketch each vintage. For 2025 the rubric is composed of “Captivating. Bright. Succulent.” Forma refers to the shape or fitness of a vintage, formulated through various studies, including weather data elaboration, bottle samples analyses and tastings by eight international MWs one month ahead of Benvenuto Brunello. The workgroup is led by Italian Masters of Wine Gabriele Gorelli and Andrea Lonardi. There have been 39 weather stations, owned or shared by wineries installed since 2019. Data from each individual weather station are correlated to a portion of territory, homogeneous in terms of altitude and slope exposure, occupied by a certain area of vineyards. Each single control unit is representative of a certain vineyard surface. The percentage of the surface represented, compared to the total vineyards of the denomination, is the weight that the weather station unit obtains in calculating the average of the values. In 2020, high temperatures in and around 35 degrees happened from July 20th through August 20th, followed by late August rainfall. In a nutshell, a tight window of harvest for 2020 occurred between September 12th and 20th, with worsening weather at the end of September. Here are the eight 2020 Brunello poured and tasted.

Brunello Masterclass

Aminta Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Southeast sector of Montalcino, in and around 400m of elevation, near to Castelnuovo dell’Abate off of Pietraforte with sand, silt and calcium carbonate. Also Formazione Silano, of schist, very stony and the presence of Galestro. The name Aminta is of Greek origin and means “defender” or “vindicator.” Derived from the ancient Greek word amyntor, it is also a classic name used in Italian culture and featured in the 16th-century pastoral drama Aminta by Torquato Tasso. Owned by the Cecchi family (of Chianti Classico) and this being their first Brunello vintage. Rough and tumble, chunky tannin, wood clanking through and time necessary to smooth out the details. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted September 2025

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A 50th anniversary vintage of Brunello that represents all four defined sectors of the region, with a minimum 25 plots contributing to the whole. Cutting edge technology eliminates unripe seeds in the sorting process during the first two days of fermentation. Good quality skins means 17-22 days of contact with them. Quite a savoury and crunchy time for Caparzo 2020, quick note of clove, wood still very much a factor but accessibility really beginning to take shape. Last tasted September 2025

Deeper now, into the 2020 well of fruit that feels layered and compact like compressed Galestro, held together by acidity and tannin. Truth for the interim but with time, say two, three or even four years that schist and clay will rise to the surface and begin to flake, to manifest as a Brunello that speaks in a clear vernacular for the vintage. Of the vintage, open and getable, willing to please with ultra correct style and proper generosity, though always on its own terms. Submit to its will, accept and appreciate the sentiment, await the reward. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2024

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Area of Sant’Angelo in Colle with some fruit also sourced in the southeast closer to Casetlnuovo dell’Abate, località Sesta. Small production, darker fruit with a sweetness of fruit doubled down by the impact of the wood. That would be 30 months in 32 hL Slavonian cask. Ready to be enjoyed by any measure. Last tasted September 2025

Should it be a surprise to find this 2020 to be as full, concentrated and appetizing as it quickly announces to be? Certainly not because fruit breadth is measurable and acidity marches along stride for stride. These are the effects of Botti aging in the most correct and commendable way, of spice and with a fine-grained tannic gait to add weight by way of freight. Solid conditioning which means longevity with very few pauses, certainly no dumb phases to await, not now, nor tomorrow and any stops along the way. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Aged in 30 and 50 hL botti with as much dynamic fruit ability to mix and match from dozens of sangiovese blocks. Little movement in year two after release with a sweet Balsamico indicative of the vineyards’ south-central location and all the macchia that grows in the area. Distinct personality for a large production Brunello. On brand for the 2020 vintage. Last tasted September 2025

The summer was about as warm at they come but early September rains cooled the vineyards down and so a delay created an allowance to harvest at “normal” times. The Brunello comes from vines aged to a minimum of 25 years and up to 60 from across 140 hectares of estate vineyards around the hill and village of Sant’Angelo in Colle. The vineyards range in elevation from 140 to 400-plus meters and it is this mix that allows for what is arguably Montalcino’s most consistent Annata Brunello to be made, vintage in and vintage out. A season that gifts purity of red fruit with a decided pomegranate-citrus zesty character, a brightness that is a mix of estate style and the year’s input, an aromatic wave that oscillates upon a line created and always connected to the base. Finely chalky and expressive, open and a mid-term ager available to a wide range of palates. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Lambardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

From the area of Canalicchio (di Sopra), almost a one man winery with a vineyard on the highest amount of clay (and tufo) leading to a chalky profile. Classic Brunello spiciness and a piquancy with amazing tension because of the push-pull posit tug between impressive fruit weight and the austerity of tannin. Fierce and in control, near-searing, with importance of intensity. Consistent with the 2018 by Lombardi which means for 2020 it’s a bit atypical. An emotive wine. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted September 2025

San Polo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Aging is done in 10,20 and 40 hL cask for 30 months. Showing its silken and polished style with mahogany red fruit and the scents of caramel and soy. More like caramelized plums and citrus with a mild bitterness at the finish. Hard to argue against the style being just a bit Venetian. Last tasted September 2025

A blend of the estate’s vineyards and without a doubt one of the first Brunello ‘20s you should consider getting to know. As with Rubio, Rosso and Vignamasso this is another imminently drinkable wine, an ideal sangiovese for the table without a worry that austere tannins are going to get in the way. Full and substantial with great acids and that iron meets Galestro mineral swath that runs through most of San Polo’s wines. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2024

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Showing some reduction 10 months later and also an herbaceous character with the presence of essential oils. Gabriele Gorelli M.W. describes this as a “noisy” wine, translation “in a current state of unsettled behaviour,” with blood orange and ultimately umami running through. There is an unbridled sense of intensity and passion going on here. Last tasted September 2025

Reserved and rather quiet for a Talenti Annata to speak of a timely and exacting harvest pick, fruit caught right at the moment the grapes might have chosen to part from their spurs, were you to ask them when that should be. The restraint and also ideally captured acidity put this 2020 Brunello in the zone where tannic freight can rumble comfortably through and the sangiovese is therefore carried forward with a great fission of energy yet to be released. Not sure many will understand this wine in its first three years but there should be little doubt that it will age with the best of the vintage. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Oliveto P.56 2020

Marginal place at the southeast border of the appellation, few vineyards nearby and abutting Maremma across the Orcia River. Nearly a year strengthens the leathery character of the wine with liquid chalky texture, ever so slightly coarse and so very real. Only Slavonian wood used, 20 and 35 hL, with some whole bunch fermentation making for a small amount of stemminess. Truthful example off Brunello di Montalcino. Last tasted September 2025

A fine and structured Brunello from 2020, bones solid, skeletally upright and with some flesh hanging taut for longevity to exceed some previous vintages. Tart and edgy at times, dusty and fresh, sweetly volatile, a cracker sangiovese that so properly represents the southerly reaches from a less than compact, dense and concentrated vintage. A proper wine made with care, ultra correct and one to pour, teach and explain what 2020 Montalcino truly is. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Northeast Montalcino at Canalicchio

In September of 2025 Godello was joined by best travel mate Michaela Morris, Brad Royale, Julie Garton and Igor Ryjenkov MW for a Squadra Canadese journey through Montalcino. Visits were made at Camigliano, Castelgiocondo, Villa Le Prata, La Fortuna, Patrizia Cencioni, Tenute Silvio Nardi, Ruffino Greppone Mazzi, Banfi and Canalicchio di Sopra. Miha and Mihe continued with calls at L’Aietta, Argiano and Gorelli. Finally Godello made a Sunday morning drop-in with le donne at Le Potazzine. In November of 2025 Miha and Mihe resumed their check-ins at Castello Tricerchi, Podere Brizio, Capanna, Il Marroneto, Biondi-Santi, Aminta, Molino di Sant’Antimo and Franco Pacenti. Godello’s last two visits were with Poggio Landi and Giodo. Benvenuto Brunello 2025 was without question another smashing success, with thanks as always to director Andrea Machetti, Marketing and Communication Manager Carlotta Salvini, the Consorzio’s new President Giacomo Bartolommei and the sommeliers from AIS Siena. The breakdown of the 285 wines tasted and reviewed in September and November is as follows: Rosso di Montalcino DOC (45); Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021 (125); Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020 (33); Older Brunello di Montalcino (and Riserva) DOCG (71); Toscana IGT and other wines (11).

Southwest Montalcino at Argiano

Rosso di Montalcino DOC

Aminta Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

The 2024 vintage marks a 180 degree turn from 2023 and the challenge could not have been greater for a team still in the throes of earliest stages about learning their three distinct vineyards. The purity, vision and intonement are much clearer for a Rosso that brings the elevations of Pian Bossolino and Cantina vineyards together. More Pietraforte stoniness, less dusty character and more clarity to speak for the duality of fruit. Acidity has heightened through the positivity of its natural sweetness and 2024 will almost certainly mark the beginning of deeper understanding just six years after the purchase of the estate. Will be released sometime in 2026. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Argiano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

The most new and unusual vintage, hot in August and rainy through September for an aromatically perfumed vintage with low alcohol at 13 point something percent. Bernardino believes it is truly a reflection of climate change, coming from the seas and their effect on storms and unusual weather patterns. He also believes Montalcino may be benefiting from this, especially if you are an estate that has the means to combat climate extremes. Argiano is blessed to have some control and so a vintage like 2024 comes out singing with fruit freshness, bright shine and exuberance. Then again there is a sneaky acid-tannin chain working as one that will se some longevity for a Rosso most people won’t imagine that to be possible. Drink 2025-2029.Tasted September 2025

Camigliano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

As challenging a vintage as they come, a rainy spring, dry summer and in September eight to the days of rain. Hard to choose when to harvest and a threat to organic agriculture. Stringent selection of grapes from a harvest with variable ripenesses. Mainly and usually fruit from the youngest vineyards and also those vines growing in the sandiest soils. Easy-drinking Rosso in any case, youthful and fresh, void of tannin, dare it be said…gamay like. Fruity, pretty and with a gentle carbonic pulse. Drink this bowl of fresh cherries early and often. Drink 2025-2026. Tasted September 2025

Caparzo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Stony Rosso di Montalcino, clearly conceived for Rosso’s sake and marked by elastic tension. Early drinking proposition, as it should be, all the crisp notes played in fine tuning. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Caprili Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Unique Rosso di Montalcino and if produced for easy drinking available to all, think again because there’s more to this 2024. Reflections of the vintage are clear and transparent but underneath there is some grip, phenolic presence and executive function by design. Feels like the extra stuffing is a matter of purpose. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Carpineto Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Very pretty Rosso di Montalcino that when tasted in the midst of many Brunello truly stands out alone to express its appellative character. Freshness and lightness with some olive oil pastry on the palate and fine if not aggressive tannin. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Freshest of vintages for sangiovese and the most refreshing change for Montalcino, exemplified in this wide open Rosso. Like a cool and windy blue sky November day in Montalcino. Just enough chalky liquid limestone underlay below the sweetness of a natural wine’s beautiful fruit. Do not come looking for spice, by wood or otherwise, nor body neither. Piedmontazine macerating transmogrifying into aging methodology might lead you to think Langhe Nebbiolo, but sangiovese from Montalcino is the measure, truth and the performance. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Youthful yet approachable Rosso di Montalcino with the stamp of 2024 and its lighter disposition. Then again there is consistently some weight and also wood to this, no different here, no matter the season. Drink 2026-2027. Tasted November 2025

Gianni Brunelli – Le Chiuse di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Rich and to be honest luxurious Rosso di Montalcino, extraordinary really for the 2024 vintage. So much for all the wines being light as a feather. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2025

Francesco Mulinari, L’Aietta

L’Aietta Rosso di Montalcino DOC Atia 2024

“Making a Rosso di Montalcino in amphora is romantic for me,” explains Francesco Mulinari, “because it comes from the land.” An amphora from the producer Tava cooked at 1200 degrees celsius, as opposed to many cured at 800, or qvevri at 600. Makes it less porous and more suitable for sangiovese and Rosso di Montalcino. Born in amphora and put straight to bottle, after six months of skin contact and maybe just 12 hours in stainless to clean and stabilize. Natural, pure, tannins extracted low and slow, verdant but not wooden and the chains are just the same. The flavour is purely and distinctly sangiovese, the wine called Atia, an Etruscan name for the god of the afterlife. A correct Rosso that both pushes the boundaries and connects the dots. Tannins dry in the end, unlike the smooth kind by wood and textural complexity is the bonus feature. Drink 2025-2028.Tasted September 2025

Patrizia Cencioni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Spices on the nose, rising tones, a struck tuning fork of red fruit reverberating until it fades out. Viscous mouthfeel and plummy with the red fruit tang. Neither high in acid nor phenolic of grip but somewhere comfortably in between. Correct, proper and solid Rosso for vintage and place. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Pietroso Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

One of the bigger and yet not more powerful of the Rosso di Montalcino while there are few that find this level of harmony and balance. Fantastic and inviting fruit profile, as Brunello or here as it is Rosso, if for the estate not the same level of structure or age-ability. That is the crux of their situation and so two things or truths are here. Drink now with pleasure and feel confident to age five years. Maybe more. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

The Rosso bodes well for 2024 with its clarity, transparency and brightness. The truth spoken and delivered without pause or distraction, ready to please right now. Looking forward to the coming Brunello experience three years further down the road. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Aminta Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Of the six hectares planted to sangiovese at Aminta, two point seven are classified as and dedicated to Rosso di Montalcino. The ’23 yields were clearly lower because of the Peronospora vintage but what remains is fresh, ripe, well-seasoned and macchia-dusty sangiovese. Rosso is a mix of Pian Bossolino plus Cantina (at Aminta) vineyard fruit and as a factor it is the Pietraforte that gives this wine a two-thirds sandy-stony feel. No worry about pushed extraction and instead come for a restrained, respectful, stony and as it is said, proprio Rosso. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Biondi-Santi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The hardest working Montalcino team making use of the most empirical data is sure to deliver a Rosso so distinctly Biondi-Santi, torch in hand abiding to all that has come before. The perfumes are the proof, namely of agriculture and because of the most difficult vintage in surely 25 years. A melting pot of aromas and flavours, gastronomical soup of seasoning, dashes of this and that, salt and pepper, aromatics pulled from so many places. Runs through the middle of 100 years of ripenesses, body, textures, acidities and overall structure, finishing with the best harmony achievable for the vintage. Never to forget the rains, Peronospora, frost and hail events, summer temperature spikes and all that kept a team on their toes for five consecutive months. The 2023 Biondi-Santi Rosso di Montalcino has weathered the storm to come away beautiful. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Not a Rosso vintage because of the Peronospora challenge but those who made any quantity did so as a choice to abide by always producing Rosso. As here and never taken for granted but instead with great focus and precision. Like finding a friend and sharing a bottle, here Rosso is joyous and comforting, there for a good laugh, full of energy. Pour for those who love Montalcino and they will feel like Brunello is in their glass. Pour for others who do not know or understand sangiovese and they will never go back. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Capanna Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Self-prescribed and professed traditional Rosso and structurally that would be accurate, however the sleek mouthfeel would suggest a more modern approach. There are 12 hectares of (classified) Brunello and 4.5 of Rosso, with some of the Brunello fruit joining the Rosso ranks. This is a matter of selection and also a necessity to provide the substance for a Capanna Rosso to handle oak aging. Acidity is particularly special for 2023 and the liquid chalky character suggests a run forward, potentially six years further. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The tragedy of 2023, a vintage of Peronospora and hail, resulting in 60-plus percent loss for Tommaso Squarcia. Deeper richness and concentration from 2023 without any quanity unfortunately but fruit quality and compaction of tannin are strong. The Piedmontazine maceration into aging style brings the sleek mouthfeel and length. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Col d’Orcia Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Ultra engaging and appealing Rosso di Montalcino from a master of the appellative craft, not only for drinking with immediate gratification but also to lay away and know that ten years (or more) will surely work to its benefit. The quality of the fruit, temperate ability of acidity and overall emotion are all as fine and prepared as ever. Blue chip Rosso di Montalcino stock. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2025

Col di Lamo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Unmistakable estate sangiovese, Brunello or Rosso, here the latter and with thanks to the house for making any at all. Rosso as Rosso for Monday though Friday, weekends too. Red fruit in flight, high in tone, warm of colour, easy on the palate. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Collemattoni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

One of the more perfumed Rosso di Montalcino for the vintage and that is saying something because there are many. A season of challenge and this feels to have met the issues and played the cards dealt, to come away more than relatively unscathed. A pure and decoded sangiovese in the Rosso idiom that speaks in a clear language for all to understand. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

With Donatella Cinelli Colombini and Violante Gardini

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Delectability in Rosso di Montalcino from the lowest quantity vintage and for the house a consistency of quality across the board. An appellative paradox but accepted in this world of farming and producing wine. This 2023 is made by a pioneer in summarily ways with a result as democratic as it is a leading example for Montalcino. Drink anytime or hold for up to five years. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Elia Palazzesi Rosso di Montalcino DOC Collelceto 2023

Now that is a bloody delicious Rosso di Montalcino – Both times tasted. Sharp and juicy, fruit forward yet undercut by a lightning strike of mineral presence. Purposed and persistent. Top echelon sangiovese food wine. Go to town. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Darker fruit for Rosso di Montalcino and all the better for it in this 2023 vintage. Concentrated beyond the pale and the norm, but again the inner workings of this example demand the material. Drink early and preferably with ragù, even better if made with cinghiale. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Franco Pacenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

A short stay in wood, quite significantly less than that of the grippy 2022 and that hot vintage. Makes for a more elegant Rosso and Lorenzo Pacenti says “it’s important for Rosso to not be too concentrated a wine,” which this is certainly not. Understated power and concentration actually, an aromatic stunner of floral perfumes, red roses and a distillate of the flowers so glycerol in texture. Stylish for Rosso, seductive and finishing with some palate coating warmth. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Perfect everyday Rosso di Montalcino predicated on red fruit at the height of availability and without the encumbrance of overwrought pressing, wood or structure. Comes at the palate in manageable and controllable ways, then leaves nothing but sangiovese footprints. Ideal for all. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

L’Aietta Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Only stainless for the fermentation process, 70 percent goes to Slavonian cask (for a guarantee of aging), 30 percent in steel for freshness and in the end the wine is re-blended after aging. Plenty of tension and intensity, especially considering the fruit all comes from Castelnuovo dell’Abate. With thanks to the schistous marl soil manifested as Galestro, creating notable but not austere or drying tannins. This is in fact a Rosso to age. Average production is 2,500-3,000 bottles but in 2023 only 800 due to August 17th golf balls sized hail in Castelnuovo dell’Abate and also cinghiale at L’Aietta in Montalcino. Drink 2026-2030.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Not an easy vintage because of so much Spring rain with (Peronospora) disease pressure, vine leaves always wet day and night. Many treatments, “24, mama mia,” says Angelo and it was impossible to consistently get through all 18 hectares as necessary. There was loss (30 percent) but not a disaster compared to many neighbours. The Rosso ages 12 months and yes the wood is felt as far as Rosso goes, however those who like the style and especially ready to drink Brunello will adore this firm and traditional character. Overall the ’23 is a seriously competent and proper Rosso with side accents of macchia and Balsamico. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Le Chiuse Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Memory traces back to first tasting this Rosso di Montalcino nine months ago and that recall is like looking in a mirror. This ’23 moment is an exact reflection of the first, uncanny and wonderment asks what wizardry could this be? How can fruit caught at optimum phenolic ripeness be unchanged with so much time having passed? How can the pitch perfect acidity react with the fruit and come away as accurate in this moment? How is any of this possible? “Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to taste and try.” Last tasted November 2025

“Another unique aspect of ’23 was the colour of the skin – black, not blue, like pinot noir. It usually looks like the colour of the blue ocean and in 2023 it was darker.” The words of Lorenzo Magnelli. Aromatic and fruity, like raspberry and currant but really floral, right form the very beginning.” Truth spoken and persistent from a vigorous season and Magnelli always picks at sunset when the temperatures are lowest. A unique Rosso for Le Chiuse and by extrapolation also the vintage, drinking dutifully and beautifully right away and while it may not seem so structured these tannins are quite sneaky. “A Rosso di Montalcino that goes straight to the point.” You get exactly what it and Lorenzo are saying. You listen and you like the story. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2025

Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Rosso 2023 is still very young, the aromatics still demure with the knowable perfumes waiting because they take a minimum two years to come out. The scents are certainly pretty, floral and like the flowers of herbs and aromatic brush in late Spring. Palate tells another story (for Rosso) with darker red fruit, firm grip, tight acidity and implosive intensity. Having tasted this previously there is a confirmation of 2023 being a longer to live and persist kind of vintage. A reminder 39 days of maceration with three pumpovers per day. All of the fruit is certified as Brunello, save for what goes into the IGT. Approximately 20-25 less production from 2023. Last tasted September 2025

The sangiovese on Le Potazzine’s property desires the botti for structure and complexity, especially because the average alcoholic fermentation is 40-50 days, longer than just about any in all of Montalcino. Freshness incarnate with a great focus on and of focused acidity, blessed with all the energy of Gigliola, Viola and Sofia combined. The winemaking team of three, mother and two daughters, makers of sangiovese unlike the rest. Of elevation and revelation for Rosso. No diss to 2022 but ’23 is out of this world. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Molino di Sant’Antimo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

One of the most floral Rosso di Montalcino, purest of red berries, nary a moment of earthy or dusty character. Kind of salty when you consider the mineral elements that clearly come from the vineyard. “Sometimes vintages are salty and others not so much,” says Valeria Vittori. ‘This one is salissimo.” She’s right – this is truly salty. The finish exhibits a bit of a kick so let this sit until the Spring and drink comfortably for four years more. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

Patrizia Cencioni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Organic in the vineyard but not certified. Due to extreme rains in May and June eighteen treatments were used in 2023, as compared to the average of 10. Made using fruit from the youngest vineyards, aged in the largest casks in the winery, French and Slavonian, 26 and 42 hL sizes. A Rosso of extreme perfumes, fresh roses, fennel, liquorice and spices in an aromatic concentration aided by much of the fruit either dropped or made into 5,000 bottles of Rosato. Crunchy and sneaky structured with some elements that just feel like Brunello, namely depth and structure. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted September 2025

Podere Brizio Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The Brizio Rosso is clearly in the same family as the Landi in terms of richness and concentration but what elevates are in added complexities, namely from location and experience. Vine age, southwest Montalcino geology and climate bring layers and different quality of tannin, also for Rosso. This ’23 has already come to a drinkable place and will pair dutifully with all the antipasti and primi piatti you might wish to bring to the table. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Ripe and fine-grained textural Rosso, wood factoring in spice and mouthfeel. Vinification in steel, 12 months in several sizes of botti. No concrete talks like in Dievole though that may change for the future. A real red citrus mixed with cherry stone bitters feel to ’23, specific to vintage meeting the north by northeast Montalcino location. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

San Guglielmo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Notably sweet acidity is the catalyst to elevate grip for this proper and bountiful Rosso. Shows the human side of the appellation with a producer’s unselfish approach to delivering great quality no matter the challenges or circumstances. Their gift is our fortune and 2023 is what we want to drink. Guessing it’s also their’s. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Still such a strong effort for Rosso 2023, fruit quite ripe, deftly extracted and macerated for an example with sweetness and a walk through the sottobosco. The mixing in of earthy character sets this above so many that only bring fruit and not much else. Proper does not of enough to explain the top quality Rosso coming from this estate. Last tasted November 2025

Sister property Voliero opens with easy access, as does Uccelliera but there is more structure in this 2023 Rosso. Was not fully expected but there it is as verticality and while not exactly closed – it’s not an open book by any stretch. Use your imagination to look ahead and be prepared for a sangiovese equipped to unravel over a long and slow period of time. Masterful example for the vintage. “The starting point for the territory and the wine that proves the ability of Montalcino is Rosso.” His explanation and Andrea Cortonesi will never take this wine for granted. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2025

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

The ’22 Rosso has now been in bottle two years following one year in barrel and that after fermentation in wood. Rich layering of red berries and local tree fruit for a most enjoyable Rosso you just want to drink. Then there are the sneaky moments of structure and grip to see the ‘22 Rosso age slowly for a good five-plus year run. Good and crunchy, herbal and tight at the finish. Yet another Gorelli sangiovese of clarity and promise. Drink 2026-2029. Last tasted September 2025

Il Marroneto Rosso di Montalcino DOC Iacopo 2022

The 2022 represents the latest Rosso vintage and the one that will remain for a spell because there was none made in 2023, only Brunello. Obviously well structured to be a Rosso from vineyards classified as Brunello. Not to mention a vintage were the barrels all exhibited more structure than usual. There are Rosso di Rosso, Rosso and this as Rosso by Rosso. Hard to fathom tannins could be this ripe and ripped for a sangiovese of appellate depth. “I like this Rosso, otherwise I wouldn’t put my name on it” says Iacopo Mori. He’s drinking this vintage right now, “but not everyday” he laughs. Same. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

A few years of aging is so righteous for this Rosso, taking it out of a vertical climb and into a place where the fruit stretches elastic out and back. A Rosso now ready for the market, though honestly it would already have been there some time ago. Soft and generous, a pulpy flesh of stone fruit from the tree into the hand even before it falls from the stem. Kind of the point don’t you think? Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Rosso di Montalcino DOC Vigna Spuntali 2022

Vigna for Rosso di Montalcino and also age, up to two years longer than the 2024s that will come to market starting in January 2026. Implosive red citrus, zesty in a grippy and structured example of the Rosso. No need to request more spirit with all the pent up energy to make one forget about things like concentration and texture. Sangiovese is want to pop on the palate and this 2022 is relentless in that pursuit. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

Argiano Rosso di Montalcino DOC Sella del Leccio 2021

Technically a Rosso di Montalcino though the vineyard could very well be given over to Brunello with soils similar to those in Vigna del Suolo. Made since 2019, organic since the beginning and 15 months of aging in barrel before bottling 1,500 total bottles. Bernardino Sani loves this vineyard, Vigna del Leccio, a place that delivers more form grip and concentration for Rosso. A saltiness runs through with a proper sourness and the intention is not just real, but realized. Seriously grippy Rosso with great potential for aging. Drink 2026-2030.Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Just 10 months forward and still freshness with not a single moment of oxidation defining the 2021 Rosso. Again, Francesco makes a Rosso that will not make a Brunello, if mainly because two more years in wood will oxidize the wine. Best young but there are easily five to seven years left in terms of potential for this wine . Last tasted September 2025

What is Rosso di Montalcino for Francesco Ripaccioli? “Put the wine in a reduction tank, a.k.a. the bottle,” he says with utmost seriousness. Here is how his Rosso is made, by tasting through barrels and finding wines that will only have the structure to become a “base” Brunello and Ripaccioli does not make that kind of wine. That may sound a bit elitist but it’s not – and also true. Selling less expensive Brunello may be attractive to the market and easier but Francesco will not take these kinds of short cuts. So now you know what a Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso really is. As for 2021 the concentration is at the peak for the DOC and if you slipped this blind into a Brunello tasting not a single taster would pull this as the ringer. But it is a different wine and needs to be treated and respected that way, to think of its potential as that of its character. Still the extract, pH, structure and even acidity are at levels that will see this travel across decades. Oxidation? Not a chance. This could stay in bottle before releasing it until 2025 but it was released in January 2023. For the market. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Warm and dry summer months followed the spring frost for smaller berries, lower yields and concentrated wines, including at the Rosso appellative level. Similar if just slightly less glycerol to 2020 but surely more spice and exuberance. Really full and promising Rosso that just seems to express the best of all worlds for this style of sangiovese. This is the vintage with balance and sapidity, Tuscan style, with a longer finish. Last tasted September 2025

Sweet fruit and availability with an underbelly of sweeter tannin. Chocolate and plums, flavourful and drying at the finish. Good acidity to be sure will help age this a few years . Tasted November 2024

That rare and favourable combination of rich and drinkable, a Rosso certifiably composed or Rosso sake. Perfectly ripened, fruit and acidity, classic if modern and clean, pure and reputable Rosso style. A mix of spice and sweetness so that all falls into place, especially for the palate. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2020

The 2020 remains in a perfectly fresh state, especially on the palate. That and a full red glycerol fruit vintage with a really seductive personality. Tasting at peak right here and now. Tasting side by side with the 2022 Rosso makes you realize just how tight that vintage is today. Then again the ’20 has just that small amount of tautness in tannin still to resolve. Drink 2025-2027. Last tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino DOC Special Late Release 2019

A selection of the (27 Hl) Slavonian Botte Grande and aged six months longer than the “normal” Rosso, released the following year for specific markets, in this case Montréal. The purpose is to position the wine somewhere between the Rosso and the Brunello and in fact the fruit comes from Brunello classified vineyards. Quasi de-classified in that sense but the concept is determined by export and wholesale price. First vintage was 2016 and while this really does fit the middle bill, there is more substance, grip and elasticity than Rosso. The acidity is quite elevated, though without any noticeable volatility and the wine speaks of the zone more than anything. The fruit only comes from the homefront to explain this extraordinary acidity translating as freshness, intensity, excitement, energy and finally the inducement of salivation. Rosso “Riserva” of seduction. Drink 2025-2030.Tasted September 2025

With Michaela Morris and Giulia Cecchi at Aminta

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Aminta – Famiglia Cecchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The label design for the coming January release of Aminta’s 2021 Brunello di Montalcino is inspired by a modern abstract painting by Giulia Cecchi’s grandmother Anita Sardelli, her given name combined with Monte Amiata as the handle for the newest Montalcino estate. The final kicker that encouraged the family to choose this name was the pastoral Torquato Tasso opera that finishes at a natural hot spring, which Aminta incidentally happens to have right next to the Cantina vineyard. Aging in French and Austrian tonneaux supplies plenty of wood seasoning though the fruit is able to climb through. That said another year is needed to see that to fruition and then we might see the clarity of winemaker Alessandra’s clean and precise style. The mix of the three Brunello vineyards, Cantina, Caselle and Pian Bossolino are all appropriately represented with Caselle more in control in the earlier stages of evolution. This is the beginning of something worth staying in full contact with, of a Cecchi family Brunello putting in the time, thought, energy and passion to create something new, worthy and proper for Montalcino. 6,200 bottles produced. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Aminta – Famiglia Cecchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Gli Amici 2021

Friendly sangiovese from these early days of Cecchi’s foray into Montalcino at Aminta with fruit sourcing threefold. Meanwhile the team digs sample pits in the vineyards, tests soils and figures out which block determines as the most singular for Etichetta and soon to be Vigna Brunello. For now there are Cantina, Bossolino and Cassele for Gli Amici and this most nurturing 2021. There is some dusty macchia and very noticeable local Balsamico to meet the stylish plum fruit in a Brunello that should rightly be predicated on its acidity. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Fermentation part in stainless and part in concrete, malo in cement and then racked to casks, from 15 to 50 hL sizes. More or less 30 months, a blend of different blocks, a passage in cement and bottled in June. Noted firmness and grip straight from the nose with a purity of red fruit in the most tangible Brunello di Montalcino way. You can’t deny the cherry quality, nor will any taster ignore the genius of a masterful acumen in blending many blocks and barrels into a sophisticated sangiovese. Acidity is the driver as always, travelling, unraveling, rewinding and repeating the processes forever on the palate. Long for a Brunello Classico, normal for an Argiano Annata. Drink 2026-2031.Tasted September 2025

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Suolo 2021

The mix of one year in (12 hL) Taransaud and two further in (15 hL) Garbellotto botti are the impetus, catalysts and ideal vessel voyage for Argiano’s out important sangiovese, here from a top ranking vintage with a moderate and accepted 30 percent loss to the April frost. Most important is to walk the spongy clay soils of the six hectare vineyard with a limestone content in the marl that rivals any in the whole of Montalcino. Also to witness the enormity of fossil shells in Francesco’s office to understand the history of geology and the ocean that once covered the land. Don’t forget the two streams that contain the long Suolo blocks, once bigger rushing rivers and now the silty alluvial deposits they have left behind. If the Classico Brunello holds an impressive level of grip then bear witness to Vigna del Suolo with its impressive and authoritative level of control, stoicism and restraint. Bottle aging is essential because well, sangiovese, although one would have to be without working senses to not see the beauty right here, right now. Once the wine has aged a further XTC years the purity, acidity and faultless tannin will find the senses working overtime. “Trying to take this all in. I’ve got one, two, three, four, five.” Or twenty years to enjoy the results. Drink 2028-2040.Tasted September 2025

Armilla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Sangiovese in all its obvious and proprietary glory comes from a restrained and correct 2021 Brunello. A crunchy and as they say croccante 2021 with savoury herbaceous bits and juicy proverbial bleed of Jove to cast and cake the palate while never allowing the brain to forget that this is the real sanguis Jovis sangiovese from Montalcino. Could never deny the importance of that kind of thought, or sensation. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

La Famiglia Camigliano

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Not only recently bottled (in May) but also more quantity of bottles as we speak and taste the youthful exuberance of this 2021 Brunello. Consistently and already at this stage one of the more silken and glycerol inflected sangiovese, here from a significant (94 hectares and fourth largest) production in the southwest of Montalcino. A selection (separating Rosso from Brunello) for which choices are made from year to year. A pure sangiovese syrup defining the mix of vintage and style, refined and perhaps many characteristics shared with that of 2015. That said it was 2001 the last time there was a vintage with this combination of April frost, high quality fruit and ultimately balance. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted September 2025

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paesaggio Inatesso 2021

Lower production due to the April frost, “a natural selection” says winemaker Sergio Cantini, with full yields in the upper blocks and 90 percent loss down below. In the end full production was 170,000 bottles as compared to a normal amount of 200,000, a 30 percent drop overall. The Etichetta label is a selection of quality and still made with the extra layer of concentration duty noted. A more structured sangiovese, less forthright and not yet giving itself away. Stylistically consistent but there is no doubt this selezione will be the more attractive wine. Ages in the Grandi Botti, new to four years old for a production of 30,000-40,000 bottles, on the lower side for 2021. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Stellar vintage with just over 10 percent loss in the Brunello Classico because of the April frost, though in the end the balance on the vines created the end game result. “We can’t talk about the balance of 2021 without the frost,” says Francesco Ripaccioli. “That is the paradox of the vintage.” You note, consider and feel the harmony from the first, through a continuance, in perpetuity, until the glass and bottle are done. A saline streak runs through, owing to schistous rocks manifested as Galestro interacting with calcium carbonate and Canalicchio’s various types of vineyard clays. There have been elegant Brunello is this estate’s tenure but the initial response from 2021 considers that adjective like never before. The highest dry extract ever matched by top ranking acidity is surely the reason, explained in a most simplified form. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casaccia 2021

You might want to think about what a single vineyard of cru Brunello means to you before tasting a sangiovese like Vigna La Casaccia. Why? Because this may not be what you expected, a serious wine without heft or the type of concentration you may think fulfills that definition. Instead there is freshness and restraint, of sweet clay and more alcohol (at 15 percent) because when phenolic maturity arrives the sugars have already climbed to that level. This is Casaccia and yet acidity does the yeoman work to elicit that vineyard’s magic and be sure to deliver its pleasure. A wine made exactly as the vineyard demands while that freshness shows strong four years after vintage is the catalyst to drive the point across. Bigger in a way, but all in balance. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2021

The aromatic profile is simply different to that of La Casaccia with location and soil composition being the reasons why. Less clay, more schistous stone come up to the surface as Galestro to see a change in structure, both of fruit and also tannin. More power, grip and trenchant intendment from Montosoli. All this and low lying greenery in the macchia spectrum, verdancy matched by a subtle natural sweetness though the brushy biodiversity surrounding the Montosoli hill can’t help but determine the aromatic course of this sangiovese. Again, bigger in a way, like Casaccia, not as obviously generous but frankly more complex. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted September 2025

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

No major frost issue for Capanna, with thanks to late pruning well into March and the end result for harvest was not considered a loss, but one of medium production. Not to mention this being an absolute classic Brunello di Montalcino and also one that represents the traditional yet luxe character of one from Capanna. Spot on, focused, precise and correct. The spirit of the north. Bottled approximately one year ago for 40,000 bottles produced, on average from vintage to vintage. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Nicco 2021

An experimental technique began in 2016 (first year of Nicco) to be employed during fruit set whereby some basal leaves are removed, resulting in important actions for the fruit and vine. First to encourage a toughness in the developing skins, second to promote self-fortification during a stressful moment and third to elevate the poly-phenolic properties, acidity and also to promote a looser or less tight structure in the bunches. Ultimately to avoid disease pressure and equip the bunches for the rest of the growing season. All this for a 2021 Nicco single vineyard sangiovese that may just be the finest Brunello ever made at Capanna. Glorious fruit, high acid sweetness, fineness of sleek tannin and harmonious every moment you spend with this Brunello. Poly-phenolic properties exude from a non-plussed sangiovese that went through its suffering long before ripeness ever began to set in. Sound from vision and humility by way of soul. There are 7,000-8,000 bottles of Nicco produced, on average. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Capanne Ricci Tenimenti Ricci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Higher tonality for 2021, acidities manifold to direct the destiny of a dusty, racy and rising sangiovese. Settle into itself on the palate with juicy fruit and that feeling of land able to store and reserve water to survive drought, ever so slowly releasing to itself. Here a Brunello refusing to let the tannins dry out on the palate. Successful vintage for this estate. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Take what you know or think you know about 2021 Brunello di Montalcino and do two things. First consider the vineyard, keep the rocks and stones in mind, the sandy clay and how they all might influence a vine and its fruit. Second exaggerate what you think that effect might be and concentrate these thoughts. It is then that you will see how the declarative hue and aromatic intensity of this Montalcino sangiovese are the product of place. Then it becomes all to clear what that means for 2021, closed in this earliest stage, potentially explosive and ready to burst. For Caparzo the time will come soon enough. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Casa 2021

Curious to note the reactive and still reductive state of the 2020 Caparzo (Riserva) and the lack thereof in this 2021 Vigna. La Casa is an entity unto itself, layered of the schist-strewn Galestro vineyard’s elemental gifts while not compact or mired in mitre or weight. Notably stoic, confident and organized for a slow, incremental and step-by-step approach to maturity. Hard to imagine there will be any change at all in the next few, perhaps even five years. A recognizable cru wine for northerly Montalcino, regardless of vintage. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2025

Caprili Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Another shade of richer fruit than sister property Armilla, lower in tone and bigger of flesh, ripeness at next level and intensity to match the elevated qualities that ultimately result in big time complexity. Serious sangiovese for the 2021 vintage. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quiet and demure aromas for the house, a sweet rose floral note and red berry inclusive of leafy verdancy carrying over to the palate. Mouthfeel is silky for the vintage and the way these wines are usually perceived, as is the natural sweetness with only vague hints of macchia. Simplicity of pleasure gifted and received. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

La Squadra Canadese at Banfi

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Red fruit multifold, berries mostly and that rare sangiovese with a wild strawberry note. Glycerol, an oiliness and liquid chalky mouthfeel for a polished and satiny Brunello. You can still feel the presence of barriques though a few years forward that element will begin to fade from the profile. Still a bit of a flavouring agent though the vintage’s quality provides this large quantity Brunello with a core of fruit freshness. Production is 480,000-540,000 cases from a section chosen out of 173 hectares of vineyards. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Marrucheto 2021

The single Vigna Marrucheto takes up where Brunello leaves and exaggerates the riches of that large production wine. Produced since 2016, significantly smaller amount, a selection from three plots in 10 hectares for around 8,000 bottles. Vines are uniquely trained in this vineyard to a mix of Cordone Speronato and “Alberello Banfi.” The result is a full ripeness of plummy red fruit, a more soil and micro-climate derived macchia and mid-palate substance. Crunchy for Brunello with savour and linearity. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted September 2025

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio alle Mura 2021

Though Poggio all Mura may have originally been conceived to make a wine of colour, muscles and especially wood, those days are in the past. No more bleeding off juice to increase colour and chance the loss of aromas. Gone are the comparisons or turns taken with Don Melchor at the top of 100 best lists and now this Brunello serves a new purpose. More about clonal selection and zonation, to express Banfi’s sector of Montalcino with sangiovese character and flavour. Medium-sized berries, middle of the road structure and Brunello di Montalcino identity. Approximately 38,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2030.Tasted September 2025

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Behold the sweetest vintage fruit captured at absolute peak ripeness, yet more than that the essentials encapsulate to regulate and dictate a northwestern Brunello di Montalcino’s future. A sangiovese of slow release, for qualities that will compound and gift new moments of higher truth with each passing month on the calendar for 15 years. Possibly even more because structure and what should be described as supple character can only develop a sangiovese this way. As fine as some vintages past have recently been, it is this 2021 that expresses essential ideals at the classic appellate level. Drink 2028-2038. Tasted November 2025

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Filo di Seta 2021

Massive aromatic attack, assault on the senses, classical movement rising to a crescendo. Fruit, spice and a toasted nuttiness unique to this and only this sangiovese. A perspective like no other, mimic of the vistas from the perch of the place, not to be fully grasped understood less you stand and look out with wonder from where the wines are raised. The 2021 runs like a stream through an untouched virgin forest, silken texture phantom threaded with the invisible filaments of finest tannin. The delicacy and subtlety of this wine will surely be the impetus to see it live 20-25 years, most of them in this original state. Drink 2028-2043. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

For Tommaso Squarcia the 2021 is more balanced than either 2019 or 2020 and in his mind, in a word, “perfect.” Picked in the first week of September, fermented in tonneaux, sent to tank under a submerged cap (Piedmontazine style) for six months and then finished in botti. Yes, six months. All the work that Tommaso has put in in his first seven years have come to this moment in his classic Brunello of northern Montalcino perfumes and mouthfeel of a kind and level never experienced before. Not from his sangiovese and not from 99 percent of Brunello made in the territory. Sleek and silken yes but more than that – something elastic, stretched and pliant, nimble and agile. The tannins follow suit and you can imagine their ebb, sway and flow for many years to come. “It’s not a legend of a vintage,” says Tommaso. “It’s very good and more personal.” The humility (e la vita) are beautiful. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A.D. 1441 2021

“This label was born with the submerged cap (Piedmontazine method of maceration into aging), but now it is everywhere in this winery.” Not 45 or 60 days but six months of cappella sommerso to add the sleekest mouthfeel an an already perfumed Brunello di Montalcino. The single vineyard is the saltiest of the Tricerchi Brunello, drawn from mid-slope where the most limestone filters through the soil. Tommaso Squarcia is preoccupied with pH and this is the lowest for these vineyards. Could this be a Riserva were it aged a year longer? Sure, but why and then no, because there is no tradition at Tricerchi and the A.D. 1441 carries more profound meaning as a Vigna wine. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Highly perfumed sangiovese here for 2021, spices run amok as they season every moment spent with this unique Brunello. Exotics from spice island across several seas, a Zanzibar biriyani, a Madagascar pepper, Indian masala and Indonesian kretek. Imagine cumin, coriander, cinnamon, allspice and more, from all over the world to make sangiovese feel gastronomical, developed of flavours and alive. With thanks to fine acidity and underlay of horizontal tannin, there should be even more to come. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo del Drago 2021

Some Etichetta and Vigna Brunello are quite similar to and really just extensions of their Classico kin but in this situation Campo del Drago is really different to the Castiglion del Bosco Brunello. Well to be fair the wild spice notes are here, but other elements command attention, steal hearts and the show. Perfumes go floral and the gentle way they nurture the senses shows just how special this vintage is for the estate. There are but a few in their northwesterly location but 2021 succeeds up there with the best of the denomination. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

More than flesh here with a full and substantial syrup of sangiovese in the clearest vernacular spoken by a house that knows its way around modern Brunello di Montalcino. Richness incarnate, sleek and smooth, wood judiciously employed and the sort of sangiovese to woo just about anyone who looks to be impressed by Brunello. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna di Pianrosso 2021

Imagine the sleek and silky way a classico by Ciacci Piccolomini will seduce palates and then multiply that notion for an experience on an entirely different and higher level. Vigna di Pianrosso is the highest quality of ripening in fruit of experience in a single vineyard that has shown to develop quantifiable character on the estate. That and a quality or rather quantity of tannic freight that makes this Etichetta label exist someplace grand. There are a number of 2021 Brunello with a similar profile, rich and stony, grippy and forceful, time the operative to shed some of the rigidity and stress. A vertical sangiovese of a tall order will take some tome to soften and see to its fruition. Impressive 2021s for this historic estate in the southern reaches of the denomination. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Sleek, smooth and palate caressing 2021 Brunello di Montalcino with a feeling of calm and tranquility. A second sip brings the spice by cask and a drying tannic feeling to speak for a requiem of aging further in bottle before the best moments are to be experienced. Would suggest two years to allow the kind of integration that will open arms wide open and encourage top hospitality from this sangiovese of truly fine potential. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A Diletta 2021

Wealth of fruit fills a Vigna/Etichetta cup runneth over for a Brunello of elegance and grace. Then comes the structure to equip this sangiovese with all the necessary elements for aging, likely to extend well into the next decade. The fineness of texture and architecture could very well put this in any Montalcino category, but simply put it’s made for a daughter. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

For 2021 a sangiovese of impressive perfume, a deep inhalant for the vintage, aromatically sweet and quite singular in that regard. A rich proposition, inviting, enticing and frankly seductive, classic for house and yet so forward thinking but also acting. No missing the tannic profile and ability to also command a structural proposition to see this travel long, and well. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Collemattoni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

There are not many Brunello that show cards or wear hearts on sleeves this early in their tenure and then there are those that almost feel dangerous, with lurking character in shadows and fog. This is one such sangiovese, deep and mysterious, an opaque and beautifully swarthy example, clean yet composite, clear though currently complex. All sangiovese needs the bottle and this will require ample time, likely more than most out of 2021. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Corte dei Venti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

High toned and rising still, perfumed to the maximum and yet taut, caught in a stiff, wind, yet to glide free. No crust or crispy texture but surely layers of skin to peel away, years required to get at the flesh of this sangiovese. Impressive variegation and stature, not to mention stature for 2021 Brunello. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quite the pure sangiovese yet singular, different, aromatic and textured of its own design. Accord as well, between various blocks where serious investigations attempt to disseminate what’s what, which is which and also what for. There is a sweet swarthy quality to 2021, clean and correct, acidity just about as fierce as the fruit and structured like the tannin. In a word, fine. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento 2021

Would wager a guess that this 2021 is the ripest of the four Vigna Brunello produced at this estate. Perhaps not the most structured in the squadra di quattro and yet there is plenty of stuffing to keep maturity far away while cask, fruit and tannic goods work forward together. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fiore del Vento 2021

Tasting Fior di Vento side bye each with Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento makes one realize that the latter is tighter and delivers less immediate gratification. The floral perfume and pulchritude of pulpy red fruit is extraordinary in this sangiovese child of the wind. There is no mistaking its generosity and willingness to please. Some sneaky structure will aid and abet, but the best years will be early for this 2021. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fior di Meliloto 2021

Deeper and to a degree more brooding with the fab four Vigna Brunello is Fior di Meliloto, the rhythm section, keeper of four-four time and the beat. The backbone behind the band, a star and unsung hero that makes sure everything else not only functions but delivers magic at the highest level. The fruit quality is impeccable in this flower child of a sangiovese, the timing sound and the vision unsung. Will age longer than anyone expects and probably look the same for as long as its parts each take care of their own abilities. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo Marzio 2021

The most expressive, effusive and excitable of the fab four would be the Campo Marzio, balladeer when the notes require passivity and screamer when necessary to get the message out, loud and clear. A sangiovese of dichotomy, giver of wisdom and beauty, fruit of the highest quality matched to backbone, but also greatest confidence that says take it or leave it. A 2021 Brunello that encourages a flexible and adaptable approach which means you should never feel obligated to agree, but are free to make a choice. Submits to nothing and creates art of the highest degree. Drink now or wait 20 years. Take what you want and leave the rest. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted November 2025

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Mannella 2021

If 2016 was the most democratic of Brunello di Montalcino vintages then from 2021 this may well be the most democratic and classic for sangiovese. This you feel from the very beginning, in aromas that invite yet do so of an gushing nature. They are floral and hint at something stony but do not commit one way or another. The palate presents a similar situation, beguiling though surely not gratuitous nor overarching of hastily remitted flavour. There is a subtlety about this 2021 and still nothing is taken for granted. The clarity and purity are both exemplary and aging potential will be long. Democratic speaker of sangiovese truth. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggiarelli 2021

Yes another democratic vintage Brunello if also delivered in deeper tone and understanding. More aromatic layers to shed, repeal and unfold, a greater set of complex tones and also for what comes after. From nose through palate, a pool of flavours resting in a deep well, warm as they are, fruit almost as syrup and still so properly elastic to say they will expand, contract and ever so slowly come closer and closer together. Terrific Vigna Brunello for 2021 with great potential. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted November 2025

Godello at Cupano

Cupano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The yields of 2021 were reduced by 60 percent because of the frosts on the nights of April 6th and 7th, yet thankfully Winemaker Andrea Polidoro pruned as late as possible, in early March. That saved the 40 percent result for a vintage which was his first as a solo artist. The temps reached 29 degrees in March and the frost nights as low as minus seven. Dio mio, man, porca miseria. Phenolic ripeness meets the natural sweetness of sugar ripe fruit with an underlay of red clay and silty chalkiness that speaks to the type of tannins come from a reduced number of bunches come to their fruition in a hot year. A chewiness to the texture, a longer maceration (28 days on skins) that may just be the last Cupano vintage to express itself this way. A unique perspective that may not deliver the same vantage point again. The finish feels almost citrusy, like blood orange, akin to 2013 yet here in a more classic stylistic, layering and effect. Keep 2021 in your hlass for 20 minutes and the structure will only intensify. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Cleanest, purest and topmost definitive Brunello recognized through a scan of Donatella’s tenure at Casato Prime Donne in northern Montalcino. Intoxicating perfume for a production totalling 40,000 bottles, spicy aromas, specific and deliberate, wildflowers and the full cupboard for all savoury, sweet and umami needs. Full and developed flavours, ever so slightly liquid chalky and of an early maturity for sangiovese that will stay in a holding pattern for five-plus years. Longevity is guaranteed for five-plus more. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted September 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Progetto Prime Donne 2021

Prime Donne is the selection, of barrels chosen by a group of women in wine, annually and for a special production of maximum 10,000 bottles. Concentration and barrel impact run deeper with the French wood enacting in greater charge. A plethora of spices amuse in a caraway and fenugreek exotic way. Again there is an early feeling of maturity, come togetherness and accessibility as noted in the 2021 Brunello. And again the sangiovese will await further instructions before setting about to change. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2025

Elia Palazzesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Great aromatic warmth, a peppery rise and spicy start. Crispy, herbal, crunchy and with drying tannic elements. Nothing particularly phenolic and so not a matter of finishing jitters. though needles are there on the back palate. Will benefit from time in bottle. Drink 2028-2031. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Oh the humanity and generosity of this sangiovese, giver of life, blood of Montalcino. Consistency with the finest and most erudite of them all, always liquid in its viscosity, no matter the season, of heat or drought and also non-plussed. The 2021 shows this ability at the top, reproduces the natural character of its actions with just enough energy an drive. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vallocchio 2021

Move across and upslope for a block of sangiovese fruit that grows and matures for something special to deliver a Vigna Brunello with the best of its vintage. To be fair the botti on this particular wine feels furtive, not heavy but surely stuck to the fruit in layers and weighty as a result. Pools upon and collects on the palate with warmth and this will take time to channel, outflow and ultimately subside. Would lay these down for two years. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

So much perfume, so little time. Red roses and spices, a liquid white peppery infiltrate into the distillate and all this even before taking a sip. More of the same to be honest, with drips of extract, from edible petals, rose and nasturtium, far from candied, herbs and cracked spice aromatics. Tannic to a pretty impressive degree and perhaps the most structure ever noted from this sangiovese. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Looking back to the most democratic vintage of the last 10-plus years there feels to be at least some semblance of similarity to that 2016 vintage Brunello. Here 2021 abides by the season, obliges with harmony of its parts and reminds just how important an appellate wine it truly is. Approachable and instructive, ultra correct and with just that right amount of backbone for 10 years of positive aging. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Fiore 2021

Consistency thy name is Barbi, Fattoria in delivery of expectation and dreams founded in history and tradition. Steadfast at every level of production, the classic Brunello unfailing and the Vigna unwavering in its determination to abide, but also oblige. We are the benefactors and proud to partake, always, hopefully without disruption. That is the hope. From 2021 Vigna Del Fiore is generous and structured, Full stop. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Sometimes there arrives a Brunello di Montalcino in the glass that feels next level, on another plain, of knowledge and determination. This would be a prime example of next level at the classic, traditional and to stay current, also most modern level. This 2021 screams Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Gianni Brunelli – Le Chiuse di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Aromatic volume but most noticeable and frankly notable for flavour depth, of red fruits with just a hint of blue. No missing the restrained power and surely the singularity of sangiovese, a matter of the soil and estate heart that all should know about in Montalcino. These sangiovese are snowflakes, like all sangiovese and 2021 separates them as distinctly as any vintage. Save a few of these for a rainy day. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

All of the vineyards are planted to Grosso clones of sangiovese, of looser bunches and small berries for distinctive France Pacenti Brunello in the località of Canalicchio. The winemaking is attentive and classic, no tricks, experimentations or magic, simply the Montalcino facts transmitted direct from respectful agriculture. The consistency of Pacenti’s sangiovese is second to none, clean and pure as any, chic and stylish, generous and beautiful from the moment each vintage is released. Better after two to three years for sure but simply a prime example of Montalcino that does not need time to show the proof of great fruit that results in top tier modernist Brunello. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Rosildo 2021

There are vintages when Rosildo and Brunello may seem similar, an extension from one to the next without great difference but the very fact certifies the Cru’s ability to simultaneously express concentration and elegance in a way the Brunello does not. No matter the vintage and the variation in the clay soils is the impetus to make that happen. Rosildo in 2021 speaks in eloquence and performs a delicate dance upon the palate, as if it hovers just a millimetre above every nerve and pore, with sweetness of fruit and acidity bound as one in a structural tiptoe across, with agility and poise. What a palate caress from the Grosso clone of sangiovese this ’21 truly performs, generously and without pause. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Giodo escaped the frost of April of 2021 after a long and cold winter that lingered well into late March/early April. Bud break and flowering was late and so production was not compromised after a high level summer season. After selection from barrel the best of the best find their streamlined way into this “Grand Vin” from which the most suave and finessed tannins wrap up the fruit in a tight flannel blanket. What matters most is that finesse and the way a carefully considered sip is hypnotic, inducing a sense of calm that ever so slowly and intentionally courses through the body. The length is endless and each successive sip just adds to the feeling. Sangiovese into the mystic. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2025

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Prètto 2021

Prètto is not a cru Brunello but in fact the new label, more approachable and drinkable a sangiovese as compared to the Giodo. Think of it like Bordeaux where the name of the estate is the top wine and if a bottle is written to another label then it is a second wine. The distinction is made in the cellar after tasting through barrels with the first selections ending up in the Giodo. This being the first and the idea was born two years ago with the production being higher than the Giodo. Bright like La Quinta yet deeper and more profound like Giodo, not in between but expressive of elements with connection to both. Much closer to the Giodo of course but you can drink this anytime. You open the bottle and you finish it. Opens the door to the Giodo. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Godello at Il Marroneto

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The Brunello is found to be in the middle between the powerful 2020 and 2022 vintages, yet the weather was basically the same as in 2020. The frost may have done damage for others but Il Marroneto’s vines showed neither stress nor damage. Nor was there any delay in the process of the plants. If anything the plants were helped by a product called Protect, an enzyme from nettles that helps keep the leaves closed and also safe from excessive summer heat. Look here another Marroneto Brunello super charged with local knowledge, confidence, bones and ability. There was stress from heat and thankfully early September brought rain so that the fruit could swell, hang on and wait for the harvest on September 27th. Fruit is developed, rippling with poly-phenolic grip and ripped with musculature. 31,000 bottles. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Madonna delle Grazie 2021

A vintage sandwiched between two of established structure at harvest time and described by Jacopo Mori as one of finesse and equilibrium. The Madonna delle Grazie selection has so much in common with the Brunello but what separates this wine is more than just a matter of concentration and mouthfeel. Usually power extends from finesse and elegance but in 2021 all the fruit and then everything in barrel was very close in character. Quality too and so the grape selection was made easier, resulting in a Selezione the team held with full confidence in their choices. The 2021 delivers fruit with many levels of violet perfumes of multifarious quality as a by product of small berries with higher ratio of skins.“ A distinction that makes this wine different” explains Jacopo Mori. Purity incarnate and from the protégé and next generation, absolute truth spoken. 9,500 bottles. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Must say the aromatic presence of this 2021 sangiovese feels so familiar, sweetly herbal, comfortable and recognizable. The style expresses a consistency of the house, a sticking to choices for making wines in a very specific way. A sap of sangiovese blood run through with mineral and wood, looking to come together though that has not yet happened. A year should do the trick. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Le Due Porte 2021

Recognizable moment here from the Vigna 2021 to connect with the classic Brunello label in a clear and present consistency of style. Exaggeration of sappy fruit, sweet herbals and liquified minerals all in one flavourful pool. Less anticipated structure than what might be necessary to live a really long life. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Very sangjovese, truly Il Poggione, verifiably vintage 2021. A most aromatic display, perfumes of red fruits and flowers, replays in flavours that only serve to accentuate the dream. Chewy and pulpy fruit make for an accessible, amenable and most well-rounded Brunello. No real reason to wait on these – Pour them in restaurants and dining rooms while other more austere 2021s work through their issues. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2021

Campione: A 2021 Brunello that Francesco Mulinari will bottle two days from now and so it’s really quite a finished wine. Aged in Slavonian cask of 5.5, 10 and 11.5 hL with the oldest being 23 years of age. More fruit because of the prominence of vintage and no problems with the April frost because of elevation at 400m in Castelnuovo dell’Abate and nearly 500m at L’Aietta. Then again 10 percent was pulled away from the home vineyard for a selection called Selezione Alberelli. Drier season and hotter than 2019 but acidity is equal and the structure more powerful. This is a fabulous wine, already showing some experience and maturity yet protected and surely built to last in this state for seven-plus years. Zero marmalata, aged for 45 months and of an architectural soundness to equip this sangiovese for a long life to live. 14 percent alcohol and 1,392 bottles made. Drink 2027-2035.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The Brunello is essentially a 50-50 split between La Fortuna and Castelnuovo dell’Abate fruit through the 30 percent loss to April frost in ’21 means less quantity from the southern vineyards. Still the balance is struck between the two with acidity rising and striking like the Rosso and so the northeast makes a strong statement for the vintage. The signature of La Fortuna and a personality so inviting with each sip induing saliva to wish for another. This is sangiovese that travels up the sides of the plate and back on repeat. Wood is a factor, from Slavonian (27 hL) cask while notes are also floral from a Brunello unrequitedly clean and precise. Amazing balance for 15 percent alcohol. Drink 2027-2033.Tasted September 2025

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

At first recognizable as an existing link to many other Brunello di Montalcino but then distinctive, unique to house and location, but also vintage. More open and generous in perfume before retreating and tightening on the palate. Tannins are firm, a bit austere and also drying in a most traditional way. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Pieve 2021

Quite a taut and for the vintage high acid example of 2021 Brunello. Ultra sangiovese, verifiable and true, a just and righteous way to express the variety in all its ancient Tuscan wisdom and high toned splendour. Cracker ’21, scintillant of lightning sangiovese strike, crisp and ready for food. Ragù or ragù? Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

High acid launch for sangiovese to jump with excitability and attract immediate attention. This from a 2021 of syrup and sap, like many but it is the acidity that helps fruit proceed with great determination. Settles in nicely and precisely for pleasure and attraction of flavours before drying with some tannic austerity. A wine in three parts needing a few years to come together. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Manapetra 2021

A much deeper and darker fruit expression of 2021 Brunello, rich in poly-phenolic properties, extract up there with the top end examples and fruit reaching away from the reds and into blacks and blues. Not as tannic as expected, nor does austerity make itself known. The extra substance will work to see this Vigna Brunello age for just about the same timeframe as the Brunello. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Certifiably La Magia, verifiably without a doubt and would wager a guess that scientific analysis should prove the specs on this 2021 Brunello to come from no place else. Scents and tastes like the house, the vines and fruit with unequivocal characteristic style. Crunchy and laden with the localized macchia, sweetened of its own volition and vertical as it always must be. As clean and clear as ever, a trusted sangiovese complete and poised at this appellative level. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2021

Ciliegio is connected like a fraternal twin to La Magia’s classic Brunello, more than acting as an extension from one to another. Not so much a matter of style but instead intendment and pretty much the most matter of fact Etichetta Brunello in the whole of the territory. What happens in the vineyard and the cellar is obvious to its maker, unavoidable and so the wine is the vintage, and vice versa. Quality without compromise, no matter the yield. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Then there is this. Come with its fruit identified and recognized from place and size to match A Lorenzo Magnelli concept and method to create Brunello di Montalcino. Makes for a compact yet far from densely layered sangiovese of fruit so red you gotta wear shades. A rare Brunello of depth without weight and steadfastness and backbone without compaction or compression. There is elastic tension mind you and that is the crux of the vintage situation for a wine needing time to reach its intended and desired destination. Enduring yet inviting, supremely confident, exacting and finally promising. Drink 2029-2042. Tasted November 2025

Le Macioche – Famiglia Cotarella Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Dark fruit and enthusiastic perfume, yet in a way still closed while knowing so much lays in waiting. Richness incarnate with Balsamico and then a serious swath of tannic freight spreading across the palate. Strong mocker for 2021 Brunello, more than many and needing time. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2021

Very little stress at Le Potazzine despite frost issues in the lower parts of Montalcino, heat and no rain through to August and hail on August 17th. Nothing at 500m in the west at Le Potazzine. Lucky, fortunate and blessed, which means Riserva could also be made. Picking began on September 26th – completely normal, whatever that is. Not a heavy crop, regular alcohol at 14 percent and very minimal sorting required. Ok the fruit is exemplary but the tannins – these are the quality you look for in sangiovese. Very youthful, reductive at this early stage and wound really tight, like a producer at midnight wondering if its will rain the night before the start of harvest. You can cut the tension with a Bistecca Fiorentina knife and so attention, attenzione, come back and try again in November. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted September 2025

Lisini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Ultra red fruit led sangiovese, pressed to express all availability from the ’21 vintage, including acidities soft and hard, making for a variegated affair. Tannins come up and break a bit with brittle tension. Time will help though this is not the estate’s most sound wine ever made. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Marchesi Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Castelgiocondo 2021

More of a “balanced vintage,” says winemaker Davide Bozzon, with a longer harvest from mid-September through to the early days of October. Comes from 20-30 blocks within the Castelgiocondo estate. There was a frost on the 8th-9th of April but the damage was minimal with thanks to vines at elevation above the frost line. Richness incarnate, as always these days with a red to black cherry set of notes from aromas through flavours and finishing with that knowable bitter pit note. Good acidity however with a low-ish pH in 2021, though always at Castelgiocondo where temperature excursions are greater than some other sectors of Montalcino. Average production is 350,000 bottles per year. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Aromas and mouthfeel pack a stronger punch and the sangiovese shows firmer grip than many from 2021, leading this Classic Brunello label in two directions. The first with volumetric fruit blessed with nature’s sweets and the second by structural presence to take over in the interim years. After three or four the two will come together and then three or four more will be the best. Be patient and allow for this to come about. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Loreto 2021

Further along and out there in aromatic presence but also volume than the classic Brunello label which means the Loreto speaks truth to the Etichetta and Vigna ideal. Here a sangiovese exaggerative of riches, stronger mocker and more pressed fruit for success come from higher quality grapes. Chosen ones, layered with their supportive acidifies and a manifest to elevate the game. The mid point for the house and the one to serve as one decade turns over to the next. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Schiena d’Asino 2021

A clear and present message is delivered by this top echelon Brunello with the most amusing Etichetta name in Montalcino. The donkey’s butt (or maybe saddle) is the most luxe and chic sangiovese of the three, each incrementally more suave than the last and the promise delivered this time is special indeed. Fruit is glorious, acidity sweet, sultry even and tannins are so bloody fine. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The sort off red fruit that splits a mind between vintage and house, reminiscent or rather exemplary of both, one layered or stitched through the other. Also savoury, like two-tone liquorice, of waxy paraffin crayon and a sharp tang. Feels like having been here before, comfortable and yet keenly aware of the vivid style. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Veltha 2021

The Vigna Veltha label takes refinement to another level, noted immediately in aromas gentle and inviting. A swirl of vintage fruit allowed to settle and fill up the palate with only what’s correct and without extraneous additives. The herbs, savoury bites, wood seasoning, tartaric acids and qualitative tannin are all there by association and for great purpose. The Brunello does what needs and delivers what wants. It works very well. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Molino di Sant’Antimo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paolus 2021

Ever so noticeably reductive sangiovese, surely owing to its youth as a Brunello having been recently put to bottle. Challenging season for Molino di Sant’Antimo with 40 percent loss to the April frost and what was left was ripe red fruit with kicks of tang and super energy. Moderate alcohol, definite soil-driven chalkiness, salt and white pepper seasoning, harmonious and two years away from integrating. Don’t really notice the wood at all, save for another layer on the structure of the wine. No doubt sangiovese for sangiovese’s sake, a sense of Molino’s southeastern Montalcino location at the vortices where the Orcia and Ombrone rivers meet, just above them with a backdrop of forest, exposed soft tufo cliffs and the hill of Poggio di Sotto. Valeria is happy in the end because the vintage brought all of this diversity together. Potential is really promising and there is a moment when a Costanti Brunello is invoked, if only in the blink of an eye. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

With Annalisa and Patrizia Cencioni

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Patrizia Cencioni calls her 2021 a sample but it’s not a true campione because it was bottled in May and has settled more than three months. Therefore a finished wine and the same wine that will be released to the market. The frost vintage did not affect this sector because bud break is later and pruning can still take place just after Christmas. In any case there is a sense of wonder in this ’21 Brunello, of sangiovese seduction however demure that may be and a magical energy transmitted to the senses. Something stirs and in turn turns the screws of emotion, even if we can’t put a finger on exactly what that is. And it does not matter. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted September 2025

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ofelio 2021

As with the Classico Brunello the Selezione is named a “sample” by Patrizia Cencioni even though it is a bottled and finished wine. Ofelio is named for the only Montalcinese who was there to help 20 year-old Patrizia Cencioni get things started back in 1987 and mainly comes from the three oldest vineyards, planted from 1987-1989. In the early days Paolo Vaggagini was the oenologist – Since 2018 it has been Valentino Chiarla. The first vintage of the label was 2018 and yet the Selezione produced in 2015 and 2016 (in the same way) were called 30 and 31, in honour of anniversary vintages. Next level richness, ripeness and concentration, also structural elements with a truly chalky, northeastern Montalcino elemental style. There is some leathery fruit with depth and breadth, vertically and horizontally, meeting at a shared axis. Surely a more traditional Brunello, aged only in 15 and 16 hL Slavonian cask. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted September 2025

Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

When dusty is cool and liquid savoury elements pool, the result is a sangiovese just like this. Somewhere between crunch and chew, a middle ground food where correct and without risk is the order of the day. Delivers a vintage message if without exclamation and certainly without question. Perfectly fine. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted November 2025

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Either the vintage made for a sangiovese lower in alcohol than usual or the house adjusted picking and winemaking ever so slightly to make that happen. Or perhaps the work put in has offered up the perception of less boozy power. Either way the 2021 drinks with gentle distinction and who would not be seduced by this power of restraint and nurturing grip? A winner and still champion sangiovese for a place on the hill falling steeply to the south west where the sun falls with declension on vines as the warmth of the days descends. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Pinino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Good chew of sangiovese fruit in a way that most 2021 do not is the way of this fresh pressed fruit leather of a Brunello. Quick to make its point, also to finish and so drink this early. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The first thing you notice about southwesterly Brizio Brunello is the aromatic exoticism as compared to northerly Poggio Landi. The third is the difference in tannins, more plush, layered and mouth-filling. In between there is the seamlessness of transition from Mediterranean macchia perfumes to the silken texture. A youthful exuberance defines the character, wood needs to integrate in bottle and the future looks very promising. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Amore e Magia 2021

Devilishly perfumed by way of dangerously decadent aromas launch the theatrics that are this 2021 Brunello. A sangiovese risk taken and reward gifted to those who want natural but also territorial. The exciting nature of this ’21 brings more than simply grape and place to the glass – It represents possibility and promise, two things some traditional houses are consistent to provide while many others will be hit or miss. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Similar exoticism and sweetness of fruit though a clearer picture is painted with the classico Brunello label. Does not flirt with swarthy danger nor does there seem to be the same kind of risks involved. At the price it commands these are good things to please the buyer who wants a correct and elevated sangiovese experience. There is a fineness to this 2021 and a type of acidity second to none that serves to express for the kind of consumer buyer hooked on a feeling. Poggio Antico “you got me thirsty for another cup of wine.” Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna I Poggi 2021

Aromatic depth is paramount to drawing one in for a magical, impressionable and experiential sangiovese ride. Expectation from a cru vineyard as important as I Poggi must not only be respected but also elevated – This has been accomplished and the result in 2021 is simply extraordinary. What isn’t seductive and rewarding about this sangiovese? Everything melts on the palate, all aspects coming aboard later are woven seamlessly together and the palate embrace does wonders for morale and well being. A spiritual retreat as Brunelo di Montalcino. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

To be honest this 2021 is extremely young and not nearly as forthright or giving to fully inuit what it will become. Then again the exemplary fruit in all its ripe and fleshy beauty knows to act submissive to backbone in a composition as upright and vertical as any. There is the temptation to see this ’21 as sublime but at this stage that would be saying or giving away far too much. For now there is plenty to appreciate and know that the finest days lay well ahead. Drink 2028-2038. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The 2021 Brunello reminds of the 2023 Rosso in the citrus aspect and finishing stone fruit bitters, although the fruit is darker, texture silkier and finish smoother. Lower yields and more concentration with longer (30 months) in botti make for a more elegant sangiovese expression. Length on the ’21 Brunello is excellent. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Renieri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Correct, clean, well composed and structured sangiovese as 2021 Brunello. Hits essential vintage notes with a mix of the fruity and savoury, accented by sharpening acidity, salt and pepper seasoning. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The 2021 is really the first vintage with the finishing stamp off new winemaker Alberto Stella, 32 months in French and Slavonian botte and just recently bottled in July. Like the 2020 there is reserve and hesitation upon entry but the fruit is different from 2021, more on the red to black spectrum with an absence of the 2020 blues. The Balsamico and macchia character (derived from the land, including limestone and marl) are more like 2019 and so not only is ’21 a good combination of the two, it takes the best of each of the two previous vintages and uses their personality traits to the best advantage. Wood, inclusive of perceived sweet spices, really needs to settle and the tannins are suave. With vines now passing the 20 year mark the ceiling raises and 2021 will become a fine wine. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted September 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Silky, suave, modernized, fruit captured at peak and truly sleek sangiovese. Flirts uncompromisingly with swarthy danger and works hard to play it clean, bringing something unique and also structured to a Brunello experience. Taste this and know there are no peers, certainly nothing replicative and then come to appreciate the soul within the style. Some will embrace the low level Brettanomyces and worryingly others will not. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted November 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2021

The Etichetta Brunello is always a one of denominational kind, a singular experience in sangiovese and something expressive of planning, the journey and execution. The 2021 is noticeably primary to be honest and all the better for it because it means there is much to learn from many tastings over the years from a wine equipped to handle time. Loving the clarity and transparency of this anything but light ’21 instead viewed as a stealth Brunello with unlimited potential. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sorgente 2021

Of the Salicutti Brunello portfolio in Classico, Annata or Brunello (Etichetta), or however you wish to refer to them, it is the Sorgente that speaks in the clearest, most succinct and utterly concise characterful vernacular. A dialectical Salicutti language once understood to the greatest degree allowable that will continually act in its extroverted way. The 2021 is endowed with a fine calcareous chalk swirling in centrifuge in the whirling whizz of devilishly and naturally formulated purest fruit imaginable. This is quietly and stealthily formidable as a sangiovese to represent itself. Great beauty and promise for decades to come. Bravi ragazzi di questa tenuta. Drink 2028-2044. Tasted November 2025

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Just the third Brunello 2021 tasted for this first Anteprima day and already a thread is weaving through a style and effect to explain a vintage after early returns. Power and grip yes but in a controlled and vertical way, proper, correct and classic. As if this were a really warm vintage 20 or 25 years ago when not all were like that and so the celebrations came fast and with conviction. Campogiovanni does this with savour and Balsamico, but also wood spice and an early note of sottobosco. Good complexity here. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

San Guglielmo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

There are classic houses in Montalcino and there are newer discoveries descended down from historical properties, now in the hands of experienced youth. This is the distinction of Ilaria and Michele, hosts and messengers for 2021 sangiovese, now ten years into their journey. The 2021 marks another turning point, a move ever so forward again, with a better understanding of how care outside begets promise inside. The fruit feels like it truly belongs and the acidity is pitch perfect. Tonality glides with the treble highs and bass lows interconnected and layered as required. All in all there is balance and the proviso for backbone to carry the wine up, up and away. When will it come down? Nobody knows. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Sanlorenzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Bright and a great clarity with highest while also sweetest acidity for 2021 Brunello. Purity of sangiovese and the most croccante of all the ‘21s, never wavering or falling from its high-toned, scintillant and electric style. Exciting although there are many (Italians namely) who will question the lightness as being un-Brunello. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quiet and reticent nose, fruit lurking in shadows, not yet open for floral business. Feels like a full and substantial Brunello in waiting, glycerol and salty chalkiness run below. Needs a couple, maybe even a few years to rise. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

San Polo Marilisa Allegrini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Bigger and broader shouldered Brunello for 2021, clear and present quality from a particular part of Montalcino above and aboard the concave bowl with valleys falling left and right below. Delivers the sensation of a muscular soil with skeletal elements breaking up the compaction to allow air and liquid nutrients into its fissures, to drink it up and fill its boots. This 2021 has bones and just needs a year or two for the fruit to flesh, rise and give. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

San Polo Marilisa Allegrini Brunello di MontalcinoDOCG Vignavecchia 2021

Intensity from the word go with old vines responsible for focus and even more evidenced by own gathering in assemblage. The aromatic presence is duly impressive, again with thanks to the experience of these plants and the matter concerns allowing them to speak without hinderance. The winemaker has succeeded in transmitting the information and emotion in a most necessary way. The finish does denote a pecorino woolliness that should subside after two or three years more time. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

San Polo Marilisa Allegrini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Podernovi 2021

A mix of the herbal and herbaceous, an uncanny hemp note that repeats itself, followed by the original development of red cherry fruit. Together they occupy space if not in simultaneous or seamless fashion. Vignavecchia feels more in tune and attuned to its tethered parts while Podernovi is obviously a vineyard entity that needs even more settling time. Drink 2029-2034. Tasted November 2025

Sesti di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Crisp and grippy sangiovese with reddest of red citrus fruit and an aromatic waft of fresh roses. Crunchy too, tannic as well with some austerity quite proper for the style and effect. Does what needs for Brunello without overdone elements, not from maceration nor fermentation, nor by anything that has or will happen. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

Sesti di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Magistra 2021

Magistra registers a much deeper resonance than the classic Brunello label, aromatically plush juxtaposed against a low-toned intention. Sappy and syrupy, yet to sate and unresolved at this early stage, finishing with seriously grippy tannin in relative austerity. Confounding, especially as compared to the restraint noted in the classic label. Drink 2028-2031. Tasted November 2025

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Composed, admittedly a bit closed and yet fully collected Brunello of extreme youth. Far from opening and what feels like a minimum four years necessary to see that happen. The silken fruit lays low, not as an agitated bubble but in a gentle simmer, never rolling or roiling but just a pop here and there. Purity of sangiovese incarnate comes from a classic ’21 of true learned meets modern vibes, but giving off an aura of old soul. Would choose to wait three years before seeing what is not only possible, but coming upon a place in Montalcino that will surely feel like home. Drink 2029-2040. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quite open and immediately generous for a type of gratification you won’t need to stand in line for. Suave and sleek through light on its feet and sneaky of structure to look ahead and enjoy a solid 10 year run. Admittedly one year further in bottle will ever so slightly soften the prickling of sharp acidity and tannic austerity. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piero 40esima Vendemmia 2021

Special “40th harvest” edition for the Etichetta label as an extension of the first, connected with as much kinship as any for Brunello di Montalcino. What is noticed more readily is the backbone, verticality of structure and requiem for time to assimilate and integrate the grippy early stage events of this sangiovese. For now it remains in a moment of tension and austerity, but that will pass and what comes next will be years of primary delight. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Tassi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Fruit forward and open sangiovese for 2021, with soft acidity and tannin, all in synch and ready to please. A 2021 for early drinking, no hurdles or locked doors, window just about wide open. Creamy mid-palate unlike many from the vintage. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Tassi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Colombaiolo 2021

Deeper aromatic inhalant of exaggerated sangiovese character to speak in a clear and forcefully prompt message. Tight winding wind of acidity around the fruit and tannins taut but also with the feeling of being tart. Unique Brunello 2021 perspective and a wine worth watching, especially through its first five years. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Hard to know just what each vintage save from the extreme ones are want to do for each and every nook of Montalcino. This however is a thought that can apply after a season like 2021 and one moment of nosing TBT’s classic label will tell you the southeast near below Castelnuovo dell’Abate has fared extremely well. As floral and mineral as any, dark fruit in the cherry spectrum pure and proper, so bloody sangiovese. Just enough glycerol to effect great mouthfeel and then backbone to extend length. Wood needs some time to melt in because the vanilla is noticeable, as are some spices, though they will all dissolve within given two years further in bottle. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021 Ciampoleto

Relatively speaking there is quiet and coolness in the opening aromatic salvo of Collemassari’s sister Brunello to Poggio di Sotto upwards on a semi-shared hill. Time in the glass opens the window and so that same give in bottle will do the same. There is a beautiful swirl of elements in the San Giorgio but also a getable quality just around the corner. Lovely and amenable wine with natural sweetness run all the way through. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Donna Olga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

From a group of Brunello labels that include Clos degli Amodeo, Poggiotondo and Pietranera, here from four hectares on the southwestern side of the Montalcino hill. A harmonic single vineyard expression of sangiovese with elevation and Mediterranean macchia running through its veins. Sweetly savoury and crispy or croccante, balance well delineated between fruit and acidity, a note of Balsamico and relatively moderate tannin. Well made, correct and purposed for early consumption. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Certainly lighter and brighter than the three cru/Riserva 2021s, less wood and red fruit so kind and hospitable. Like a bowl of cherries and blood orange with top ranking acidity and intensity for a long run ahead. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigneto Poggio Doria 2021

Only old casks are used, lately the wood of choice has been Pauscha (Austrian) and the vessels are acquired from other producers. First vintage of Doria was 2004, here 17 years later and mon dieu how full, substantial and concentrated this shows to be. As chewy and mouth-filling as they come from a style that suits the high quality of southeastern Montalcino fruit. Consulting oenologist is Andrea Politi. Drink 2027-2036.Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Manachiara 2021

A cru Brunello that could be a Riserva (and there was one in 2012, although it was the Poggio Doria) and while there are so many tannic moments happening in this highly macerated Brunello there is also a Bordeaux quality stemming from incredible ripeness matched by a grand style of oak aging. Not new mind you, of various sized casks between 20 and 80 hL, all working in extraction to deepen colour and give this sangiovese serious depth. There is more lift in this 2021 with big fruit and also fuel, though the wine is incredibly youthful and far from integrated. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted September 2025

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Perfumed as always, wood not yet resolved, nor should that be expected from a Brunello that needs the bottle. As all sangiovese do and 2021 is no exception, not for this estate moving from strength to strength. The back palate really picks up on the pull, grip and hold of tannin built into the fabric of a finely spun textural wine. There is some austerity here, throwback in nature for a ’21 of ripeness but also presenting a risk-reward prospect. Wait three years to see the results. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Tiezzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Agitative profundity of viscous swirl marks a sangiovese of ambition to be a force of reckoning for the 2021 vintage. There feels to be a whole lot of everything in this Brunello, gone for broke, pressed for success, macerated long to eek out all that is possible. Overdone is one way to look at it, playing its cards and showing the full hand another. Tough sledding and not sure there will be a great future here. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Tommasi Casisano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

In Italy location determines results in sangiovese for as much as any combination of grape with place to effect the character of its wines. Here the commonality with some other 2021 Brunello delivers spice, inclusive of cinnamon heart on the nose. Wood is part of this fixed and quantified matter, working with località to create the recognized consequence. A positive one in attributable personality not specific to this vintage but to wines made here as a general rule. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025.

Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

To understand this sangiovese from Andrea Cortonesi is to first recognize agriculture, followed by game. What begins in the field translates into the cantina for a consistency of style bred out of the argumentation of intention. The structural matters are always followed, as they are with 2021 and those who do not understand these Brunello are focused on the now when they should be using imagination and the powers of deduction to consider the future. Know this. There is fruit, classically attributed and only as ripe as the vintage allows. Acids are localized and the wine rises, slowly, effortlessly and without hurry. Wait for it. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

There is a natural sweetness in the fruit of this 2021 Brunello standing out and seducing with its easy returns. A layered effect come from three distinct locations together interspersed and so you feel the variegation, particularly in the textural fabric. Length is impressive as the wine lingers in its palate glide. A terrific preparation for tasting the single site wines to come. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2021

The focus on site is essential to the future of Montalcino and there is an argument to be made for single vineyard blocks located right where the cellar processes the grapes. Vigna del Lago is that place, the vineyard around the lake on the northeast side of Momntalcino’s hill. A warm grey clay place where the sangiovese is stealth, mineral and floral. This driest recent vintage with essential harvest time rain brings out the best for a Vigna sangiovese more vertical than normal. This combination of seduction and backbone raises the bar and ceiling. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Granchio 2021

If at first the aromatics in this single vineyard Brunello may seem to have no connection to the estate’s other Vigna sangiovese, well in some sense that would be the case. The verdancy here, an evergreen note and warmer site’s feel of the land’s green pastures does define the scents. Then again from a textural angle the wines surely have much in common. The sangiovese connects with the palate and shows no hurry to depart, in fact it coats and lingers long after the liquid is gone. This is a signature of the house, a chemical process of connection that helps the taster to recall character and style. This example introduces spice and older soul identity for they who are able to intuit and feel that link to the past. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Spicy, cinnamon hearts aroma straight off the top. Wood at the fore and down to the sangiovese core, more spices marking territory and springing the darker cherry character. Really woody Brunello, chalky and grainy, needing time. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted November 2025

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pomona 2021

Taut as it gets for 2021 Brunello, wood spice and tannin run amok, creating a drying and austere sensation marking the second half of the experience. Old school is the understatement here. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Voliero Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Firm and agricultural sangiovese, a wine born of the land, of Balsamico, verdant macchia and surely from smaller, somewhat less juicy berries raised at elevation. Plenty of sun and lack of water delivers a sangiovese of austerity and tannic freight. Missing some grace and generosity although there is no denying the impressive structure and stature. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gualto 2020

Energy and exuberance from a Riserva for 2020 that raises the bar for appellative excitement. Impressive capture and preservation of acidity for the vintage, a fact of facet that many estates faced a challenge to perform and here the effort is no small feat. This without any compromise to fruit and so the composition is an impressive one. Well done team, bravissimo. Last tasted November 2025

Traditional, normal and uneventful vintage, “a wine for people to drink, easy to understand,” in the words of winemaker Sergio Cantini. Once again stylistic consistency is inherent in the character of Camigliano’s sangiovese yet here the smaller sized cask (25 and 30 hL) inject their will into Riserva. Adds to the presence of vanilla, lavender and an accentuation of red berry fruit sweetness. Silky and spiced, full of glycerol and a smoothness throughout. The wood needs two more years to fully melt in and resolve. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2021

Just amazing to taste Riserva 2021 in the same sitting as both La Casaccia and Montosoli 2021 for three Brunello bottled back in May. Normally Riserva is tasted a year later and so this is a very special opportunity, but keep in mind there was no Riserva made from 2020. From Vigna Vecchia Mercatale inclusive of original plantings from 1987 (Francesco Ripaccioli’s vintage) and the place most connected to his grandfather, the BBS 11 (Biondi-Santi) clone and plants grafted onto old rootstock. A remarkable expression from 2021 with perhaps the most exuberance from the fruit and the sheer sweetness of the acidity. “My idea for Riserva is not one extra year,” says Francesco Ripaccioli, also “it’s a matter of a different vineyard.” From 2021 Vigna Vecchia Mercatale is the stuff of dreams that will live for two decades, likely more. Drink 2029-2042. Tasted September 2025

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

If there will be any Brunello Capanna that will benefit the most from the optical sorter introduced in 2023 by the son of Patrizio Cencioni and fourth generation winemaker Amadeo Cencioni, it will indeed be Riserva. For now the 2020 remains a sangiovese sorted and selected by Patrizio and his five decades of local experience. A vintage more than deserving and yes the qualities of concentration and poly-phenolic impression are worthy. Burnished gloss and brilliance elevate fruit on the shoulders of bountiful verticality built on acidity and backbone. Feels soft though is anything but and few Brunello are quite this seductive. There can potentially be 7,000-8,000 bottles of Riserva produced, on average, although most vintages only see three to four. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Still in a reactive state and showing minor reduction expressive of verdancy and pricks of tension. Requires movement, swirl and agitation to release the aromatic possessions ahead of a specific sangiovese’s appurtenances. This 2020 Riserva is not a big Brunello but rather a graceful example in no hurry to shed its baby fat ahead of opening the window high and wide. Take you time and settle in. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Caprili Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ad Alberto 2020

Good to see the variety and diversity in Riserva 2020 with this example being a much awaited one. Slick and sleek without any gratuity or excess whatsoever. Finding this to be understated and should anyone find it light and without musculature, well good, please and thank you. Leave the other “style” to the rest. There are many who will appreciate the refinement, lack of flash or decoration. Who actually prefers massive, overly pressed or indeed, even precious? Choose wisely Brunello lovers. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Classic for the house in Riserva with this mix of fruit maturity, dusty macchia, effect of elevation, high acidity and syrupy texture settled upon the palate. The acids keep the energy flowing and the fruit in a paused situation so that it will not decline or descend into leathery chewiness. All is well for the time being. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Corte dei Venti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Donna Elena 2020

Maturing Riserva well ahead of schedule. Fruit passing over into secondary life from a sangiovese needing to be consumed sooner rather than later. That said there are many who will love a Brunello with the feel and eyes of age, though they might prefer it to be one with at least 10 years post vintage. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Anemone al Sole 2020

An expression of aromatic volume and especially grip, notable and profound as Riserva clearly designed with exaggerated riches in fruit concentration. Must be considered in a specific to Riserva light, of deep impression and understanding. Found to be slightly more mature than expected for a not yet five year-old Brunello though the backbone is vertical and potential remains intact. The tannic thrush of truth is confirmation of that fact. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Even in Riserva the 2020s are not yet ready and still recognizably tight, with this from Donatella Cinelli Colombini being exemplary to explain the situation. Tannins persist in their pulled taut winding around original material, while texture swells with a depth composed of red ochre fruit, wood nurture and sweet acidity. The extra aging and choice of barrels has come to create true Riserva style for a wine that will join the ranks and live into Casato Prime Donne infamy. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2025

Elia Palazzesi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Floral, red rose freshness and spice components in the generosity of an aromatized beginning. A sangiovese of singular persona, palate presence and an experience that shows more nature than nurture. There is a persistent grain of tannic intention to keep the wine from advancing further and fruit freshness is not put into question. There are Brunello of responsible disposition and this would that in Riserva form. Ready to drink some bottles and will hold for some time yet. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna le Macchiarelle 2020

Should be noted and put out there how the 2020 Riserva to a sangiovese are showing some maturity – It’s simply a matter of vintage. These are not Brunello of extreme freshness and immovable structure, but instead the kind to consider drinking sooner rather than later. Yes the 2020s, inclusive of this will linger gently, gliding in the gusty Tramontana for a few years, but the best days are already here and the processeses have begun. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Freshest and most high toned of the Riserva tased thus far. Just picked red roses bouquet, also ranunculus and a sweet savoury element perfectly aligned. Croccante to a degree that’s not just anticipated but more so warranted to deliver an experience of excitability and longevity. Super smart and crafty Brunello Riserva of classicism and character. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Is this this first Marroneto Riserva? You better believe it and anything you thought what understood about a Brunello by Il Marroneto becomes secondary to what’s in this glass. Everything is the same except aging in botti is 54 months instead of 42 and “it’s a particular wine,” says Iacopo Mori. “It requires a little bit of passion.” The fruit darkens, the violets become candied and the tannins bear their teeth in ten times that of those from red fruited 2021. The colour is almost not to be believed and still i’s character of Il Marroneto is clearly preserved. Yes this is solo sangiovese, measuring the highest extract for the variety that has likely ever occurred at the estate. “The monster,” spoken by Alessandro Mori in 2023 when tasted from barrel and related once again by son Iacopo in 2025. There has never been anything like this and the sottobosco and concentration make one wish for fresh morels in the Spring. The tannins need four years to resolve and then those fungi will pair abidingly with this monster. Only four months in bottle, still tense and nervous and yet let the people choose what they want to do and when they want to drink. Drink 2029-2039. Tasted November 2025

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Paganelli 2020

Richness accumulated and conclusive, of fruit at the height of a duality, 90 percent fresh and juicy, the rest concentrated and leathery. These feelings noted in aromas and also flavours, pulpy and of a stone fruit style relating to a grand collection of blocks distilled down into Riserva. Sangiovese meanders and connections with every part of the palate, missing nothing, delivering everything. Some drying tannic moments suggest waiting another year or two. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

A Riserva of experience with leathery fruit aromas suggestive of fleshy if slightly dried stone (plum) fruit. A matter of vintage more than anything else, also the prune note associated with the movement of air and time. Still there is a high toned aspect in the character, along with grip in the tannic profile and so there is still some work to be done. Chewy and then crispy at the finish, a dichotomy wrapped inside a paradox. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2016

This singular Riserva is best tasted with the producer, perhaps in a way and for reasons that exceed any other in the whole of Montalcino. This because aging is slower, incremental and purposeful. Would not say today that the aromatics are closed, but neither are they aching to speak. Some wines do not need to shout, nor even announce their arrival and this continues to enter the world with a quiet presence. When the sangiovese takes up residence on the palate it does so with the poised demeanour of one that belongs, sharing space and creating an intimacy with its host. A remarkable connection when you consider it’s only wine but some Brunello are marked by such a mien. The Diecianni is one such near perfect bottle. Last tasted November 2025

Just beginning to shed its barrel weight, integrate that spice and see the smallest, most concentrated vineyard berries bursting of their fruit. The vintage is primed and near perfect for a Le Chiuse Riserva and who could not have a taste without thinking about the history and genetic transference of the place. Last tasted November 2024

Never overstate the Lorenzo Magnelli way of crafting Riserva, that is by aging in cask longer than not just the average, but indeed all others. His Le Chiuse Diecianni carries, drifts and gifts the most succulence whilst exhibiting a spice force to ignite the most sensation and emotion. A veritable melting pot of a sangiovese, complexities bound and wound, circulating throughout the wine’s coefficient of existential and elementary positions. These are the smallest of berries picked to forge what only Riserva can, to be cool, mineral licked, ethereal. Already exhibiting fruit purity and also density for a look at what two decades forward will come from this finest of Brunello wines. Drink 2024-2037. Tasted November 2021

Molino di Sant’Antimo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

The vineyard where Riserva comes from is littered with marne, stones left behind by an ocean many millennia ago, bestrewing the grey clay with limestone and river stones that all combine for a seriously unique example of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. A place where a river emptied into the sea and that alone tells so much about the nature and potential of this wine. A sangiovese of confluence, commitment and confidence, also clarity and palate response. Fruit is clearly darker than the Classico, but also more so than the coming 2021 vintage, here into a black raspberry hue, still transparent but not the red lightning of 2021. The finish moves into black cherry with a vague hint of stone and so much elemental-mineral longing that will be there on the finish for 10 years or more. Costanti and Le Chiuse would come to mind, especially in the way higher skin to juice ratio from smallest berries sees the transition from Classico to Riserva. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Marchesi Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Castelgiocondo Ripa al Convento 2020

Single vineyard for an early, concentrated and powerful vintage because of the hot and dry summer. No small barrels, only large cask mainly used, of 90-100 hL, really large. South exposure, two separate picks to bring in this smaller amount of fruit, one of silt that brings the essential oil and the other a salty aspect that delivers the architecture. The Galestro from flysch is surely responsible for that saline streak out of a single block that’s all stones at the surface with full draining capacity no matter how much it rains. The roots will always need to burrow deep to access water and the vines respond in kind, delivering a savoury sangiovese of low ph (3.4), high acidity and salty tang. More akin to Tenuta Perano in Gaiole as compared to the larger production Castelgiocondo Brunello. Average production is 15,000-20,000 bottles, on the higher side for 2021. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2025

Northeast Montalcino at Patrizia Cencioni

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 123 2020

The 2020 Riserva (along with the 2021 Brunelli) are the first wines to finish for three months in newly acquired 40 hL concrete vats. No increase in total aging time but three months less in cask. Why 123? Because on the map the vineyards are simply 1,2,3 and they are the oldest plantings, from 1988 and 1989. The stoniest places, 1.2 hectares total, high in calcareous material mixed into the base of argilla. Also higher solar radiation which makes for a quicker to ripen set of circumstances and on average 0.3 to 0.5 higher degree of alcohol. More texture and chew than any of the Classico or Selezione Brunelli, layer upon layer integrated through many layers of fruit and tannin, a mille-feuille lasagna of a sangiovese from the most delicately pressed way. Full yet airy, grippy while elegant and characteristically impressive. Production is maximum 5,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2025

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Nothing mature about this 2020 Riserva but with great immediacy it does come barreling forth in aromas and across the palate. Some sangiovese are quieter and others announce their assertive arrival. Impressive fruit layers crashing like waves on a rocky shore, relentless in their pursuit for commotion. Riserva’s fullness of concentration and sturdy carriage transporting character comes to define a family and their holdings. This is admittedly a big Brunello Riserva and also one found in balance for bottls to be consumed over a lengthy and extended period of time. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A year will effect a marked difference for Brizio’s classic Brunello. Today running positively true from a vintage of a cool Spring, followed by a hot summer. “Easier than 2021,” tells Lorenzo Bernini, “and more difficult than 2019. The most normal vintage in recent memory.” In the end the tannins are just a bit “raw.” Last tasted November 2025

Aromatic depth for sure and some peppery warmth to that petroleum nose. Built as Brunello, that is to say with full on wood aging, backbone of structure and ample acidity necessary to see time do the right thing. Well-pressed and dressed for success with another two years needed to begin exacting the desired effect. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Bosco Alto 2020

The Bosco Alto (upper or high forest) comes from the vineyard abutting those woods and so Riserva that ages longer (48 months in Botti Grandi) is refreshed by the forest. This foils the wood with positivity and harmony developing ways, as do the inclusion of ripe stems in the fermentation process. Brings a sweetness to the profile, an encouragement of natural fruit elements to rise above the wood and the tannin, almost surprisingly so. Though longer time spent in oak could result in the requiem for more time in bottle, in this case the wine acts nearly ready and aims to deliver near immediate gratification. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Lupi e Sirene 2020

Brash, blatant and blunt force sangiovese strike on the senses with Brunello Riserva. Volatility in its most natural, unadulterated and unkempt fashion, undisguised and unapologetic for how a Montalcino Brunello will come about. The fact here is how the tannins are intact, not brittle nor in any danger of cracking. Yet the style is ultra specific and unpolluted by public opinion. Vividly presented for all to choose. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Brighter as Riserva for 2020, beauty incarnate, of red rose hue and transparent like few others. No detectable wood on the nose and in many ways so different than the estate’s Brunello of just 10 years ago. The evolution of style but more importantly disposition is welcomed with open arms. Some may not see the shift as currently correct for the denomination, but who could or would not embrace this level of quality and elegance? Having tasted the 2001 in 2025 there is a similarity, if only in delicacy but the discernment is fodder for understanding. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

In Riserva the perforce notions of sangiovese in purezza and aromatic intensity are manifested in ways the classic Brunello is not. The extra layers, levels and manifestations are all a bit vivid when youth descries timing and temperament. Many ‘20s are already showing maturity but this, not even close and in fact the reductive and redacted elements lead fruit on the palate in a waxy and unresolved state. Would wait three or four years before opening bottles and considering passing any judgement. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Fruit comes from the northern part of Montosoli over a concave bowl of a vineyard filled with argilla, limestone and schist, manifested as Galestro. The geogolgy is Formazione Santa Fiora, the description essentially (like Mastrojanni). Increased power and depth from Riserva for 2020, aged 48 months in Botti Grandi and coming away with many layers of fruit and tannin. Five years old and still the wood is very much settling and integrating to accomplish before fruit can stand out. The uncanny note of almond comes from Riserva, unique to lands at and also near Montosoli, like cherry stone concentrated and almost becoming marzipan. Sweetly volatile right there up on the crest between beauty and danger. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Renieri Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Fine aromatic sangiovese swirl with red stone fruit accented by herbs, five spice and citrus. Not the most complicated or complex Riserva and yet acidity ranks high to raise the profile and put this in touch with food on the table. Crunchy 2020, ready to pour and please. Kudos to a team neither trying to overdo or ask too much of a vintage. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Teatro 2020

The Salicutti paradox is vividly represented in the Riserva 2020, a wine closer in style and effect to the Brunello than either Piaggione or Sorgente. Here from the wild casks, of natural fruit and its volatile accents. Unbridled, non-manipulated and unadulterated, left to its own devices, wooly and unabashedly itself. Tannins are fine and important but Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2020

Be in no hurry to gather thoughts on this Riserva. Take a moment, give it time and wait for the right moment to begin making comments and decisions. The aromas flow forth measured, slowly and gracefully, carefully considered from a pitch of selected red fruit seasoned with citrus zest. Just enough tart edginess to accent the bleed of sangiovese swirled into a natural pool of acidity, tannin and mood. For 2020 the effect is quietly impressive and yet could not have been easy to deliver. But it succeeds because a wine of humility can only come from out of the clutches of respect. Riserva is a mix of luminous skies and contentment. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Pian Di Conte 2020

A reductive element locks in freshness and keeps the 2020 Riserva from extending the proverbial olive branch. Not yet anyway and for the vintage there are both local and Mediterranean scents in the somewhat restrictive aromas. A Sant’Angelo in Colle herbaceous notation mixed with macchia brought in by far way winds that denote something singular. Crunchy Riserva, freschissimo, red stone fruit surrounded by tannin, dominated even and years away from settling. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ugolforte 2020

Fruit and wood are both providers of the spice in a lustrous and glossy Riserva. Of course this could only come from sangiovese, also Montalcino and to be honest the lower part of the hill occupied by Poggio di Sotto. The fruit is accepted by citrus and a red peppery spice specific to this wine. Impressive binate for the estate. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

A Riserva bottled in June of 2025 with the heaviest set of fruit and fuel, not to mention the grandest wallop of tannins imaginable for a Montalcino Brunello Riserva. Biggest, of deepest depths and years from resolving structural parts keeping fruit down, hidden away, undisturbed. Three months in bottle is far from the time needed to have any real inkling what’s in this glass. Then again there is some lift and rise to the 2021, red fruit freshness and great potential laid ahead. Keep looking at 2018, allow 2019 to keep settling, (there is no 2020 Riserva) and then return for 2021 way forward in 2028. Drink 2028-2036.Tasted September 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Rich in poly-phenolic presence, red citrus and glycerol for veritable and verifiable Riserva style. This 2020 has gone deep into the well to gather, accumulate and concentrate fruit, a necessity considering the verdant bites and especially tension alongside. Feels like Vigna Poggio al Granchio plays an important role in Riserva, especially in 2020. A sleek example, complex and so near to the time when it will be evident that the invitation should be opened. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Argiano

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG – Older Vintages

Aminta Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Fruit mainly from vineyards planted at the turn of the (20th to 21st) century by the previous owner when the farm was called Poggio Castellare. There is no questioning the quality of the fruit and the part of Montalcino where it’s grown. 3,000 bottles produced. Last tasted November 2025

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta “Greppo” 2020

They were very different climatic vintages but aromatically speaking there is a kinship between Rosso 2023 and Brunello 2020, which is to say a Biondi-Santi-ness that can’t be ignored, or denied. That and a physiological ripeness of heritage and tradition, as if this were made out of a vintage of a hot summer sometime 25 to 35 years ago. In other words a vintage that by let’s say 1985 standards would have been considered hot. This makes 2020 the kind of Brunello that makes one long for the past, not to return but to experience something from a time when things were more naive, less stressful and at a time when summer seemed to last forever. Not perfectly ripe or come from something easy, but relatively speaking a sangiovese of great pleasure and one that will age gracefully for potentially 30 years. An old soul sangiovese can do this. Drink 2026-2041. Tasted November 2025

With Cosimo Squarcia, Castello di Tricerchi

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Pinch of TCA. A three parcel Brunello, contiguous with one higher in limestone and one more defined by its red soil. The picking rolls through the three from east to west, the second and third ripening later than the first. Has come to a fine place and truthfully the 2020 is now ready to drink. Last tasted November 2025. Here sangiovese takes on a unique aromatic profile as the first to exhibit this note of fresh fennel or liquorice root, along with its cool, salt-licked black cherry profile. The vintage is not necessarily one of fruit but rather in so many cases more about mineral stone. And yet Tricerchi’s delivers the fruit in waves, with fresh cut herbs that muddle into an Amaro finish. Once again place is the driver and these abiders make sure to have transmitted it into bottle. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A.D. 1441 2020

Single vineyard sangiovese, a cru Brunello from Piedmontazine styling spent six months under a submerged (wet) cap. Tasted from two bottles, one opened yesterday and one this morning, the first more expressive and complex, the second fresher and feeling like a different vintage. You can choose which one you want, to drink the wine young, or at the end of the decade, as you wish, for one or another different experience altogether. Last tasted November 2025

Like son, like father, so goes Etichetta as goes Brunello, of aromas fresh and succulent with liquorice up front. Rich elixir of sangiovese through all the waves of exotically charged località aromas and flavours. A Balsamico though not a savoury one, no it’s more herbal and sweetly appetizing. Stimulates the palate to prepare for more sips and were luck be on side, a plate of carne alla griglia. No necessity to specify which protein because AD 1441 will work with all and measurably so. Terrific work from the Squarcia family. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Nastagio 2020

Travel back one year, not as 2020 Riserva tasted in 2025 but rather Vigna, a Nastagio held back as if it were a matter of the former. In a way it is exactly that, an extra year in bottle before the market can get a hold of its treasures, namely of increased aromatic volume, of perfumes specific to vintage. There are many reasons to wait on these Brunelli, especially from 2020 because the extra year of aging has done wonders to develop and even exaggerate their charms. Case in point 2020 Nastagio, a fine sangiovese with essential acids and yet wood still a prominent factor, here beginning to truly open for the first time. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG – LOT. 1 2020

Newest label in the Col d’Orca portfolio with next generation Santiago Marrone in the design mix for Lot. 1, Etichetta style. Not too dissimilar to the classic label if perhaps a bit more stoic and vertical. Higher acid profile and red citrus intensity as well – To be honest the sensation is more of a food wine that was influenced by a lover of riesling. What that has to do with sangiovese is up to you to interpret. but it is what it is. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2025

Giodo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

It seems like winemaker Riccardo Ferrari is extremely proud of his work with Brunello di Montalcino 2020, a very different wine from a truly apposite vintage. This when there was only one label and so all the Brunello fruit came here – This will change with a second label (Prètto) in 2021. A fast evolution happening, neither in reduction nor oxidation but in the way the fruit is showing, so floral and exotic at this stage. Tannins remain grippy and the wine finishes with a phenolic presence. Last tasted November 2025

There are profound examples of Brunello di Montalcino unique to place and more important vintage. This would be such a sangiovese because its aromas seem to be specific to the land from whence it came and flavours do the same. Or different, perhaps in deference to other wines yet apropos and consistent to itself. Dried herbs and brush, a Macchia Mediterranea ultra specific and in the end what we like to call evergreen biome. This is fascinating when you consider the oenological style of the maker but kudos to a winemaker who lets the land be the ultimate judge. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Clarity, finesse, focus and transparency, all English words to describe a Gorelli sangiovese yet none exacting enough to translate in Italian to say what you want to say. In any case a Brunello from 2020 that hits the correct notes and in this vintage with a true sense of località, whether that be defined as Canalicchio or something akin to Vigna del Lago. In any case there is a northeastern sensibility and an evergreen herbal aspect with true clay soil terroir. Still young and yet to integrate all of its Slavonian botti, finishing with a ton of chocolate. Last tasted September 2025

Welcome to one of the first and only reductive Brunelli and this from a wine 50 in during Benvenuto’s annual Montalcino affair. High toned sangiovese yet still tight and yet to unwind. Not yet ready for aromas to leap and bound from the glass, hiding back the fun and the fight. Some Brunello express this kind of tension on the nose and this would be a high and mighty example of such an animal. Closed fist of sangiovese strength with a savoury masala of lentisk, myrtle, heath, broom and rockrose in ever living-loving greens that currently pique the red fruit. Quite pure and also of a tannic intensity choosing not to relent. That and Botti Grandi with a mind to make a point as well but my goodness this Brunello is equipped with fruit and acidity to guarantee the prize will last long, the road well travelled and the destination far away. How can you not be seriously impressed by the content and structure of this wine? Drink 2027-2036. Tasted twice, November 2024

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Weather like 2022 and character like 2021 defines the dichotomy of Il Marroneto’s 2020 Brunello. Now settled one further year in bottle and frankly so much pleasure to be had at this early stage of its tenure. Purity of fruit and no walls to climb, nor hoops to jump through. “My objective is to have the same quality in every vintage,” says Iacopo. “Not the same wine, the same quality.” These are unbelievable tannins, suave yet finely grainy and working, working to develop and be ready to change when the time is right and the requiem to mature is necessary. Marroneto is a place to spend time with family and this 2020 really takes that to heart, not for the first time but in a new or rather next way. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Madonna delle Grazie 2020

Talk about the passion and the purity but with Madonna delle Grazie also the formidable assets of structural freight that in the current state do not want to relent. Then again in 2020 the difference between Brunello and Madonna delle Grazie is the first time the quality and stage presence of the two seem to be inching closer together. Meanwhile the natural sweetness of fruit makes this feel to be an amazingly elegant wine. Could there be a worry that separating the two will get harder and harder? No because the ’23 and ’24 vintages will see a larger chasm and going forward this will simply be a good problem to have. Drink this MdG as soon as you wish. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2025

L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2020

Classico Brunello is 70 percent Castelnuovo dell’Abate fruit plus the total production at the Alberello L’Aietta vines. Purely and expressly sangiovese with fine, tension-filled, implosive and instructive tannin. You may consider and call it old school but that would be simplifying the existential question. L’Aietta is an old soul in modern sangiovese, classic and forward thinking, knowing, experienced and looking straight ahead. So bloody proper and the feeling just speaks to the land, maker and what must be will be. Drink 2026-2032.Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino DOC Alberelli 2020

Just 10 percent of the yield from L’Aietta’s Alberello vines are put into the 300 bottle production of the “Selezione Alberelli.” For Francesco Mulinari the normal Brunello sees a tartaric acidity number of 5.8 to 6.1 g/L and yet the Alberelli vines reach 6.4, with a lowest of the low Brunello pH of 3.25. Virtually unheard of and he’s certain it is the sandstone (Arenaria) soils that deliver this effect. A stoic, not yet static and surely poised sangiovese that may have no peers in the whole of Montalcino. Once again that sense of maturity and purpose, experience, acumen and reason with a look to the future. Tannic chain and freight are both serious yet inviting and coupled with the acidity the aging potential is endless. Drink 2028-2038.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A particular vintage with summer heat and harvest rain that made picking challenging and timing was everything. This fruit first came in early from Castelnuovo dell’Abate and then late post rains from that southern vineyard along with the harvest at La Fortuna. The result is elastic concentration while the overall profile maintains the presence of higher acidity. This is because the northeast can keep that aspect of structure going even while patience is exercised. The energy does not match 2019 and yet the savour in macchia and Balsamico exceeds that previous vintage. There is some liquorice and tar with a deeper resonance. Keep in mind no Riserva was made and so that fruit mixed in makes for a different expression of the Brunello. Drink 2025-2029.Tasted September 2025

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2020

When you put your nose into 2020 Brunello you truly do sigh and say “this smells like Le Potazzine.” Which means classic, northwestern Montalcinese, timeless, reminding of 2016 and other democratic vintages that came before. Now in a moment like a scene in movie you can never forget that will repeat in both mind and imagination forever. This is Brunello. This is Le Potazzine. No Riserva in 2020. Last tasted September 2025

Even though the style and character of Brunello di Montalcino is not officially discussed in terms of “frazione,” in this part of the territory there is just something about the sangiovese way. Northwest that is, looking east to the village, at high elevation and with an ultra specific acidity. “Potazzinese” acidity and a Balsamico noted nowhere else but only on this narrow ridge shared five producers or less. This 2020 in “particolare” matched by purple fruit, not dark but shaded above its contemporaries, described as say cherry red and it’s just so intoxicating of a sangovese. As crunchy as they come. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Molino di Sant’Antimo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paolus 2020

Tasting Brunello 2020 and 2021 side by side reveals the polarization of two vintages, each unique and separated by their potential to transmit diversity but also because the more recent one is so youthful. You wonder if this 2020 was as tight and erudite one year ago and the answer is surely yes, but also no. The vintage is saltier, more like the Rosso 2023 and the seasoning shows less (yet still present) white pepper as compared to the Brunello 2021. You can see the appreciation for something like a Fuligni Brunello in Valeria’s classic style, abiding by her vineyard yet doing so in as clean and pure a way as could be possible. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

La Squadra Canadese at Patrizia Cencioni

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Patrizia Cencioni started to do spontaneous fermentations in 2020. The roses, fennel and spices perfume reminds of the 2023 Rosso di Montalcino and here there too is a sense of blood orange. This is quite a serious Brunello, layered an structured, yet to shed it’s baby fat, fully flesh out and my goodness it makes for a mouthful. Last tasted September 2025

Florally effusive as sangiovese that takes such matters to heart and here Brunello acts in exactly this way. The lithe and effortless is not always the best yet sometimes it’s just what the vintage ordered. Fineness and grace come from away with a Brunello that flies effortlessly and sweetly natural – indeed that is what this is. Bravissima. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ofelio 2020

No shock that the Selezione 2020 is simply an exaggeration of the Classico Brunello’s riches, fruit more than anything but more than that there is texture, something you can really sit your teeth into, part rare meaty Fiorentina flesh and part plum leathery fruit. Impressive composure and architecture, strong, grippy, layered, fibrous and without pause. Easily two years away from full integration of the barrel and their effect upon the stature of the wine. Freedom will be blessed when it comes. Drink 2027-2032.Tasted September 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Just six to eight months into the opening window of opportunity and timing could not be better, especially with local salumi made in Buonconvento. Notable softening and settling, especially of tannins for a sangiovese entering a next phase. Will age as expected although in three or four years time fungi will surely become part of the profile. Last tasted November 2025

Optimum ripeness found in a sangiovese of and for the vintage, just a bit to the right of the macerated and textural centre, yet reigned in at just about the right point. What stands out most for this Brunello is its length which indicates many things were done right. Will age somewhere between mid and long term. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Chiuso del Lupo 2020

The cru Brunello (acquired in 2016) for Poggio Landi, first vintage labeled as such and in terms aging it is made like a Riserva. The vineyard at 550m on Formazione Santa Fiora is due south of Montalcino, just south of and actually abutting Biondi-Santi. This is sangiovese so distinct, relative to location of course, far less affected by the aging in Botti Grandi to stand poised, focused and clearly finessed in its accomplished style. Very fine Brunello that is harvested later than Montosoli. “This is a soil I like,” says agronomist Lorenzo Bernini. “It took six or seven years and now the condition is great.” Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A variable vintage in Montalcino and so every wine will exist in a state of its own accord. In this case Ruffinos’s acts cool and reserved, aromatically quiet though there is an early sense of blue fruit to complement the classic red character of south by southeast fruit. Sweetly savoury and of a macchia that brings mint to meet what really does taste like blue fruit. Most curious and potential feels high. Last tasted September 2025

Sweet fruit and also acidity, combined, layered and working as one. Spot on correct and simplified Brunello di Montalcino that celebrates exactly what the vintage and the region need. The acidity is really the best of this sangiovese’s game, its calling card and the thing that will see longevity be added to its name. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2020

Deeply fruited of a spectrum more than merely red. Plummy in a way with good freshness and ample energy, drive and force. A sweetness of that stone fruit, ultra ripe and acidity of a similar fashion. Quite tart and then tension sets in, on the palate and through to a drying tannic finish. Nearly a matter of black cherry stone at the finish. Last tasted November 2025

A brighter and less weightier expression as compared to the Annata and so the fruit purity is more readily apparent and visible. Gives the sangiovese its much needed crunch which means more freshness and airy quality. Still the chalky underbelly and compression from the mid-palate forward. Finishes steady and in the end the feeling gained is of a rock solid Etichetta 2020. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

When you taste 2020 Classico Brunello side by side with the lifted 2021 you see vintage variation straight away. Back a year for a dusty, Balsamico inflected and higher toned style which is surely a matter of how fruit came away and come about from 2020. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigneto Poggio Doria 2020

One of two cru, both being one-plus hectare plots that make 3,000-4,000 bottles per year. “Our idea is to make traditional Brunello” says Marco Paier and only old cask are used, of 20, 50 and 80 hL, with a small amount of passage in smaller barrel. Hard to find a more modern, polished and elegant sangiovese with liquid black forest caky generosity than Poggio Doria. The nose is quiet, demure, willing to allow the flavours and textures to do the talking. Hard not to think you could drink this right away. Drink 2025-2030.Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Manachiara 2020

Silvio Nardi was a businessman from Umbria who purchased Casale del Bosco in 1950, first vintage was 1954 and Manachiara was acquired in 1962. The first vintage of this cru-designate Montalcino sangiovese was 1995. I mean if you close your eyes you might imagine Right Bank Bordeaux with high level richness and concentration. Follow that up with full wood nurturing and notes of caramel, soy and so much umami. The tannins at this stage are hard an austere so let them settle and see what will come of the composition as a whole. Plenty of patience required. Drink 2027-2032.Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Vescovo 2020

One of four single vineyard Le Prata Brunello only made when the combination of vineyard and vintage are right or for when a distinct expression separates from the Brunello. In this case a wild character replete with a feral note that is hard not to be explained other than some Brettanomyces captured within. A second taste also reveals some TCA. Tasted September 2025

With Federico Radi and Giampiero Bertolini, Biondi-Santi

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

The smile in winemaker Federico Radi’s eyes tells you much of what you need to know for how he feels about the 2019 vintage. Though Riserva (like the Brunello) is released a year later than almost all others in Montalcino there is a feeling about this wine that speaks to immediate gratification it is curiously capable of providing. The acidity is tops for ’19, sweet and oscillating, coming at the palate in waves, fruit surfing its crests and crashing across with maximum flavour. After the rains of August 31 through September 2 the balancing of atmospheric conditions during a dry two weeks created ideal ripening conditions between September 10th and 15th. The only part of 2019 that needs more time in bottle for integration is wood, this being the second vintage after which new casks were beginning to replace some older ones in the cellar. In that sense there is some resurfacing on this sangiovese yet also harmony and consistency from Riserva, two aspects that will guarantee not only longevity but also an abiding to what Radi, Giampiero Bertolini and their teams desire. Demand as well, to speak for the vineyards and relate the long Biondi-Santi story. Drink 2027-2045. Tasted November 2025

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gualto 2019

Really come together, maybe even ahead of schedule, window open, not fully though just six more months will show all the cards. A special sangiovese from Camigliano in 2019 now and for 10 more years. Last tasted September 2025

Strong perfumes, maximum. floral inhalant properly aggressive and engaging. You might expect a peppery kick to the aromas but you can take the longest breath in and the sangiovese nurtures, while opening you up for what’s to come. My goodness what a finessed and seamless experience this delivers, never too high or too low, always incisive and inviting. This house got both of its Brunello so right in 2019 and also 2020. They are not to be missed. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

La Squadra Canadese at Banfi

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio all’Oro 2019

Not produced in every vintage, first made in 1985. Not far from the Castello Banfi, direction Montalcino, 20 hectares at 450m with the oldest part planted in the 1970s. Finest acidity of all the Banfi Brunello, fruit brighter and energy higher. A cold winter and plenty of April through May rains, followed by a dry and beautiful summer, ending with a later harvest. High quantity needed to be reduced and the final product is the most silky, glycerol sangiovese with suave tannin. The vineyard has now been re-planted with massal section of the best plants from the old vineyard. Will be released in October. Last tasted September 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Unexpected but coming at 2019 for the first time and two years after its anteprima release there is this blood orange quality that reminds of 2013. Just the first stages of maturity are showing and this from the first vintage when natural ferments and Piedmontazine techniques were introduced by a young Tommaso Squarcia into his wines. A bit more wood here, certainly as compared to what begins to change with the 2020 vintage. Nevertheless welcome to another harmonious and elegant Castello Tricerchi vintage. A few new barrels for a vintage and period of transition. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Io Sono Donatella 2019

First vintage for “I am Donatella” was 2010, of fruit well considered in the vineyard and then wines resting in barrel that show themselves to be different.” A meaning that quips I am what I am and also a joke that “says we are able to do things and this is us.” The medieval study of gold and enamels from the Middle Ages marks the label for the unique sangiovese also made in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. Two types of wood are used, medium-sized and also botte grande cask for this third Brunello aisle with the the fourth being Riserva. Sees a bit more than two years of aging before finishing in cement eggs. Exaggerated riches and Balsamico, refinement at the height of a Donatella sangiovese with more spice run through than all the other wines combined. An expression full and knowing exactly what it purports and wants to be. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted September 2025

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The initial assessment posted two years ago for the Franco Pacenti family’s 2019 was clearly spot on – The proof lies in the state we find it residing in today, free, clear, untouched, unmoved, non-plussed and so far from exhibiting any significant change. Drink this now, as you wish and also be confident the first stage of its life still has a minimum two years left before any sense of next phase maturity will set in. Last tasted November 2025

The vintage is a generous one, also easy as they come, that much we know. Some sangiovese come away clean, fruity and free, others dense and tannic. Then come the Brunello ‘19s that combine every element, or at least a plethora of possibilities to exact Annata in ways that are full, layered and balanced. Some may say the best estates are the ones that succeed in the most challenging vintages and France Pacenti is one of those, but true excellence comes from those who achieve their goals both ways. Allow to be intrigued and introduced by a Brunello di Montalcino so very whole and built for all the ways that these sangiovese are capable of expressing their territory. The past and the future connected, forged and for all the right reasons. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Rosildo 2019

Yes Brunelo 2019 persists in a primary state, as of course does Rosidlo as well but the Cru sangiovese also speaks so clearly for the Canalicchio area in northeast Montalcino. The fruit is so clearly from this place and yet not every producer who inhabits this location gets the most out of their Sangiovese like Pacenti’s success. Some press too much to turn out harder wines, others barrel up with darker expressions and at least one succeeds with similar distinction. The ’19 Rosildo provides proof of its success here in 2025. Last tasted November 2025

The Etiquetta Rosildo is an easy and understandable transference from Franco Pacenti’s Annata label in Brunello for the 2019 vintage. What separates this sangiovese more than anything are its hyperbole of perfumes, aromatic fruits and seasoning that jump from the glass so much stronger with heightened expression. Neither peppery nor spicy but more so the effect felt from smelling the roses and opening jars to see which fragrance your intuition tells to spice what dish you are preparing. And so yes what you have here is a Brunello of gastronomy, a wine the chef has prepared and it is a complex one. The tannins here are very taut and compact, the probability for ageing much higher and potential truly serious. Impressive ’19 this Rosildo, up there with the vintage’s best. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

From Brunello through Rosildo to Riserva and the thread between the three is unmistakable. Similar Grosso clone of sangiovese, red fruit marked by glycerol, suave texture, sweet acidity and fullness on the palate. The first two tiers are the best wines made by France Pacenti and Riserva joins the ranks although there is more volume and density in this top echelon Brunello. A serious inhalant and a wine that grabs hold of attention, without relenting and demands that you pay it the highest possible amount of heed. Silky, sleek and seductive with a chalky underlay that speaks to needing three years to come together as one. Hard to find greater fruit or potential as compared with Rosildo and yet at the end of a night there may just be a glass to two left in the bottle while the other Brunelli are poured out. Just because of a matter of structure in economies of scale. Hard to say which of the two will live longer, the one of focus or the one of elegance. The question is, which one is which? To be fair, Riserva in 2019 shows more grip. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2025

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

“An annata più complessa,” insists Gabriele Gorelli and it would be fruitless to argue against the sentiment. Purity and sapidity walking hand in hand, red fruit so bloody consistent with all his Rosso and Brunello starting with this vintage, running through 2022 and all the ‘23s and ‘24s tasted from barrel. The consistency of style and effect is astonishing. The harmony between mouthfeel, acidity and fine tannin confirm the position and the advantage. Last tasted September 2025

Gorelli’s 2019 is unlike any other and while that can be said about many Montalcino Brunello in this case the clarity of that comment makes great and knowable sense. The aromas are particular, high casted, tonal, lifted and akin to scraping hard red fruit skins, getting their citrus musk under your nails and staying with you as you work through your day. Long lasting aromas part agricultural and part gastronomical. The Gorelli 2019 is also economical with neither gratuitous nor wasted moments. There is no distraction save for some botti texture that needs to melt a bit and find union with the excellent perfumes. The balsamic note late confirms the circle of sangiovese life to say longevity will be the right kind. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

If the Classico Brunello is considered in complex terms than condor Riserva as an exaggeration of such riches. Riserva for Goreli must be taken seriously, not released just one day after the turn of the calendar and aged longer, held longer, kept through another season. This extra time helps all of us understand and comprehend what he is trying to accomplish and more importantly giving the wine its due. The tannins are still somewhat massive, certainly in control and doing what is necessary to earn their keep and fulfil their charge. Fruit can handle the naked truth and keep up with the structure. Last tasted September 2025

Not your Nonno’s Riserva, nor a clean and modern iteration, but something other. A deep well filled with serious, concentrated and even severe aromas hard to decipher. Deepest inhalant, fullest volume, as vigorously distilled and undiluted as they come. No let down on the palate and while there is a modicum of volatility its actually met, challenged and suppressed by this proper realization of reduction and never dissipating spice. Casks have much to do with all of this and the wine is far from finished, but three years should bring everything into view. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2024

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Riserva comes from all parts, including Le Quercia, a big oak tree marking the 40 year-old vineyard in Castelnuovo dell’Abate. A part of the steep block exposed south grows small, loose berries that serve the Riserva with a special quality. Sees three years in 27 hL Botti and one in barriques (new, 2nd and 3rd) for an old school concept made as a most modern sangiovese. Wood is a factor no doubt, as ideally is concentration. To handle that truth and the catalyst is top notch acidity, as you will find in all of La Fortuna’s wines. The first Riserva was 1999 and here 20 years later there is just something understood, experienced and mature about its ways. Drink 2025-2031.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Giobi 2019

Giobi for Gioberto, Angelo’s father’s nickname for a great man who passed away in 2023. First produced in 2010, a Selezione of just 1,500 bottles that will be carried on. Sees three years in tonneaux and en extra year in bottle before release. Now tasting the ’19 nearly two years later there is no decline of freshness, the selection was obviously prudent, cerebrally organized and the vineyards in Castelnuovo dell’Abate are the important source. Shows a father’s romantic connection to the place he obviously loved and his instincts were clearly on point. May not be the kind of Brunello now in fashion but we should all love and appreciate it just the same. Last tasted September 2025

Etichetta labeled 2019 Giobi is a fine step forward and up for La Fortuna, fruit of a similar if surely richer ilk. You can really feel the extra levels and layers of constituent parts that form, build and mold this sangiovese into the full and substantial edifice it is. Should drink well for a decade and a half from now. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

With le donne of Le Potazzine

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOC 2019

Riserva must be something different. End stop. One more year in wood and one step up in concentration is still the same wine, but not at Le Potazzine. And so 2019 follows 2015, 2011, 2006 and 2004, with 2021 the next up. These are the seasons that delivered something other. All these parts are together as one but the wine has only been in bottle for nine months and the tannins are less than 2021 so there is a minimum 15 months left before the 2019 even considers becoming a Brunello. There can be little apprehension in saying 2019 will be one of the longer lived Riserva for Le Potazzine. Drink 2028-2040. Tasted September 2025

Campione: The first Riserva produced at Le Potazzine since 2015 and one of the only estates not to make one in 2016. Not the first time Gigliola Gianetti and her daughters chose to do something different than the rest. A dichotomous Riserva because the fruit is so ripe and well developed juxtaposed against that classic Potazzinese acidity raging high. This local Balsamico is uncanny, Only the third Riserva made, including ’11 and ’15. The singular Riserva, of gentle extraction, a wet submerged cap and the elegance you need to know. Drink 2028-2040. Tasted November 2024

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 123 2019

Everything that 2020 is, so too is 2019 but the vintage also brings in an extra element of seriously sweet and seductive acidity. This represents the magical addition to elevate the entire game of Brunello Riserva and shows Patrizia Cencioni’s ’19 holding a card that many others do not have. Expresses fruit in a gregarious while also haute sangiovese way for something extra and special. The cask aging plays a major role, namely in how spiced the wine has become and time will soften the edginess, however tension is something that can’t be denied, avoided or wished for this wine to be without. Last tasted September 2025

Rich Riserva with plenty of cask aging imparted into the aromas and especially the texture of the silky, glistening and chocolatey sangiovese. Terrific acids are the impetus for its structural significance and also the reason it will drink well for many years to come. The style is contemporary if not immediate and should appeal to a great many lovers of Brunello di Montalcino. Especially those who choose Riserva. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Bosco Alto 2019

With Brunello di Montalcino there is always the understood concept of sangiovese given an extra year in bottle and there then is the effect of a vintage like 2019. This to see a Brizio Brunello (Riserva or otherwise) come to its peak performance. The time is now coming upon this Riserva, to be enjoyed, prefreably with a chef’s deft touch put into a plate of Tagliatelle with a ragù of wild boar. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Terrific moment to revisit Dievole’s 2019 in Poggio Landi, just two days after having tasted through 2021 and 2020 in Montalcino. Right in the middle of the open window right now, perfumes at peak, middle weight and structure set at the precise halfway mark of the wine’s best performance. Last tasted November 2025

A bright, airy and cool Brunello for 2019, not surprising considering the northwesterly localitá. Still there is next level richness for the estate and a sign of what the future will bring when vintages are warm and fruit achieves top phenolic ripeness. As here with a red fruit scintillant but acids so fresh and ripe they really tie the sangiovese threads together. Essential style and effect if simple but all that makes this a really fine Brunello, one to relish and really want to drink. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Chiuso del Lupo 2019

A Brunello aged 38 months with fruit from the vineyard on the road to Montalcino’s southern areas although the località is quite close to the hill. It actually lies next to Biondi-Santi on the local name for the marl and limestone geology called Formazione Santa Fiora. There is freshness in 2019, more than 2020 to come and this is the difference between the two vintages for Poggio Landi. Drink or hold five more years easy. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Perhaps not the freshness of 2020 but in Riserva that idea is not quite as essential in defining the personality of this kind of wine. That said the acidity from 2019 is impressive, showing no signs of dissipating, nor will it as long as you keep bottles of this wine. The character feels very much in line with Brunello 2020 although the muscles flex more in Riserva 2019. Showing with poise and focus today. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Remarkably open and generous aromas lead into juicy, succulent and icy berry flavours like a dry sangiovese granita. There is some grip and firmness in the tannin to complement and thus complete the picture. Would not orate on this being the most complex Brunello ever made, but to say it is fitting, proper and representative of Brunello di Montalcino would be speaking the truth. Last tasted September 2025

Greppone Mazzi is in fine form from 2019 with about as much cherry red fruit capture as ever before. A haute couture of Brunello from Ruffino and their eastern Montalcino estate where warm days and nights for days on end add up to so much sun accumulation for ripe and ready Brunello. No lack of flavour and texture here, nor acidity and austere tannin neither. Needs time, food and the best situation. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

From a plot of 3.2 hectares called Greppone Grande, a single vineyard at 420m that makes approximately 4,000 bottles. This vintage spent 36-plus months in 25 hL cask. Recently bottled and so a full year later than most 2019 Riserva in Montalcino, settled and mature for a sangiovese pretty much ready to go. Winemaker Alberto will reduce the aging amount to 24 (in wood) starting with the 2025 vintage. Red fruit as with the Brunello, consistent from one to the next though obviously oak influence noted and while the wine is ready to drink it will be needing time to melt in. Liquid chalky, concentration to handle the wood and a creamy mid-palate. Tastes like sangiovese and Brunello though again there is a fullness of barrel dominating this wine. Drink 2025-2029.Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Riserva literally means it only qualifies for that appellation in a year deemed worthy of the esteem. “A true Riserva” says Marco Paiaer and while tasting 2021 side by side only reveals an immense set of tannin in a formidably structured Bruello – Well 2019 is no shrinking violet. Deep, dark, full, rich and layered with the most compact elements and while there is some light showing in the dark sky, there still need to be more passing of time to get to the crux of this wine. Last tasted September 2025

Quite a ripe expression for Brunello Riserva, of deeply rendered sangiovese fruit. Leads to the idea that this should be consumed on the earlier side, well ahead of some higher-toned and frantically energetic peers. The tannins are present, as is the feeling of wood and so one year forward should exact the right time for this wine. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A blend of the four vineyards of a total three hectares on the four hectare Villa Le Prata estate. A full on natural sangiovese sweetness rich in everything, including macchia, Balsamico and minerals. Layered, balanced and about as substantial as you could hope for in a Brunello not qualified as anything but what it is. Silky, non-gratuitous glycerin, joyous and structured for drinking soon to slightly later on. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Massimo 2019

Massimo as a vineyard creates sangiovese highest in poly-phenolic properties and there is no mistaking the botanical character moving into a comport of structure with some obvious and in control tannin. The layers and intersection of parts with notable verticality and backbone make for a 2019 with more grip than many a Vigna Brunello. Length is exceptional and the restraint is key to seeing a great future ahead. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Drinking at peak right in the heart of its intended and promised window, wood melted in, chocolate shed of its dark austerity and fruit persistent in its captured freshness. Three years left but the next 18 months will be this ’18’s best. Last tasted November 2025

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

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG “Late Release” 2018

A late release 2018 of 3,000 bottles “to have something special for clients” says Violante Gardini, with just a tweak on the bottom part of the label to indicate the extra aging. Born different with certain vines delivering fruit kept separate and not destined for the original 2018 Brunello, nor for Prime Donne or Riserva. In the end it is a “Selezione,” an oft used term in Italian wine and so not written on the label – but that is essentially what this is. A one-off, at least until now, more wood felt now well integrated into a softened, smooth and seductive elixir. A natural sweetness that the Brunello does not necessarily express and really quite easy to drink. Last tasted September 2025

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Though there was some question as to how “light” 2018 was as a vintage, Gorelli says there is a real similarity with 2024 which received a full consensus on its lightness. That said there is some grip and substance to his Brunello which only goes to show how he makes his wines and it’s a good thing he does it this way. Any more extraction and push would have resulted in a shove of jam and greenness, two aspects obviously wishing to be avoided. Instead there is charm and restraint with wood filling in any holes there might have been. Now calming and coming into a good and cool place, with ample natural sweetness. Last tasted September 2025

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

Edoardo Losappio, Villa Le Prata

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Le Prata 2018

Single vineyard Brunello known as the “hare” in its first year produced by winemaker Edoardo Losappio, on the right side of the cypress tree road up to the gate planted by massal selection to sangiovese of the thinnest skinned-grapes. They must be in top condition and age to a particular profile after two years to be chosen as one to be bottled as a single vineyard wine. Most aromatic sangiovese, of local Balsamico, as in the oils expressed when you run your fingers through herbs, whether they be rosemary, thyme or sage. Also the uncanny aroma of blood orange, a sweet citrus scenting mixed with Le Prata’s herbal plenitude. Something special for the vintage. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna San Prospero 2018

One of the four single vineyard (Vigna) wines produced when the vintage and quality are right, here from the first vintage when the concept was introduced and Riserva was cast away. More red and orange citrus from Prospero, exiled rightful duke of Milan and a master magician. Not here, not exiled like Riserva but instead this perfectly liquid chalky sangiovese that has matured, settled and come ready to be beautiful. Quite fine, its tension filed away and pleasant drinking in current fine form. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Dio mio the aromatic freshness of 2016 is remarkable, of purple fruit that seems to speak to the northeast sector at Torrenieri as much as anything else. Flavours are beginning to mature though acidity keeps the energy and faith very much alive. This earlier example of a Poggio Land does well to foreshadow the future for what is possible from their combined vineyards near Montosoli, at Torrenieri and Chiuso del Lupo. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Elia Palazzesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015

A lovely sway of spice in the perfume of a 10 year-old Brunello from a 10 ha estate, the wine macerated for 25 days in steel and aged 30 months in Botti Grandi. It’s classic and clean, traditional and pure, wood so sweet and silk threaded through fruit now passing uninterrupted past the portal to secondary life. All is settling in this elegant sangiovese that feels like it came out yesterday but is now a half generation away. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

La Serena Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gemini 2015

The Gemini are off course twins, as in the winemaker and his brother, architect and designer of the cellar. This Gemini as a 10 year-old Riserva is quite fresh and spirited with truly purple fruit and for the appellative level found to be right where you would wish a maturing, but far from old Brunello to be. A treat with vibrancy, vital acidity and a cool herbal, almost dry amaro streak running through. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2012

Older vintage, now well into secondary character with ample freshness persistent in the aromas. Sweetness abounds, naturally so and while age is apparent you feel a cool vintage in the mint, sweet herbs and absence of fungi notes. An educated guess would be 2014 or 2013 for this aged Brunello. Truly elegant and stylish at this age. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2010

No doubt the child of one of Montalcino’s warmer vintages though not what should be considered or remembered as “hot.” Showing a bricking maturity for sure but the core of the wine exhibits fullness and the extraction of the day. Also the wood and ample warmth not yet fully cooled down, perhaps needing to fully but no matter because it’s all about cover weather comfort. There is a brown sugar caramelized feeling, balanced between fruit acquiring a leathery chew and tannins softening into their next position. Flavours are pure gastronomical pleasure and texture truly satisfies. Acidity as well with the finish going long and deep. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2007

Rainy spring, hot summer and 10 year-old plants at the time that could begin to show the real identity of single vineyard Brunello. A vintage that began under the guidance of Carlo Ferrini and finished by Valerie Lavigne still present and making the wines today. A sangiovese that would have shown maturity from the start and has impossibly maintained its state of being through to 18 years later. The nose is persistently fresh, with great nuance and some heat, the palate expressive of sweet volatility and a liquid confluence of soils. Far from a perfect wine but with its inherent flaws their is grace and longevity under pressure. Flawed no more because all has been resolved and forgiven. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2001

Well into this Brunello’s tenure with shoe polish, soy, tiramisu, Tia Maria and caramel in a very mature Classico. Just has to be a warmest of warm vintages, perhaps younger than you think because the tannin is up front with grip and tension holding on. Likely 2007 and possibly 2004.Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 1988

Knowably older than the previous Classico Brunello tasted blind and here a more youthful expression with fresh red fruit right there on the floral front. A bit dusty with a local forest, Casale del Bosco macchia that really comes through at the 20-25 year stage. Just what you expect and wish for from a Brunello going back to another era. Really salty. The guess is 1998 or 2000.Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1983

Nearly 42 years after the 1983 harvest and the aromatics are not merely effusive but in a word explosive. This inclusive of a fruit freshness that by all means and matters of practicality should not be there. Every bottle of Biondi-Santi at the focal point where the crest is displayed is marked by the words Marca and Propria. Brand and trademark of propriety and when you taste something like this you simply say proper. Of heritage and character, persistence and longevity. Tannins are obviously no longer present, nor do they need to be because the acidity lingering is simply magical. As are perfumes of flowers and more notable the classic sottobosco of Montalcino. This feels like a dream and one not wished to wake from, but to let it linger, with cranberry and a feeling of blood orange spiked by spices and saffron, the finish vaguely salty, almost like caramel chocolate. This much might be said to 1983 Riserva. “I’m in so deep. You know I’m such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger.” Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOC 1979

Wow, holy umami Batman. The aromas are so tertiary and curious it ’s almost impossible to dream just how far back this Brunello goes. Likely from the 90s and perhaps early in that decade. The guess could very well be 1975 or a vintage when it rained incessantly and there is blood orange here, even saffron, which suggest botrytis. Give it 10 more minutes and the Porcino soup begins to emerge. Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Bernardino Sani, Argiano

Toscana IGT and Other Wines

Castello Tricerchi Sangiovese Luli’o 2024, Toscana IGT

First harvest of sangiovese off of the youngest vines in the lowest part of the vineyard. The grapes that would otherwise be green harvested and still are by others who “waste” fruit raised with great effort through hard-fought seasons. Simple winemaking results in 13 percent alcohol, a Rosso di Rosso di Montalcino, juicy and authentic, proper to the greatest degree. Natural and glou-glou. RdRdM. Drink 2025-2026. Tasted November 2025

Giodo La Quinta 2023, Toscana Sangiovese IGT

The Montalcinese IGT now in its sixth year aged in big cask and amphora, the twain split just above half and half. In some sense a “second wine” for Giodo with the grapes not destined to participate in the Brunello. That said they come from a classified Brunello vineyard and so La Quinta is most definitely a choice. The name is the fifth vineyard plate assigned by proprietor and oenologist Carlo Ferrini and thus the name. Clocks in at half a degree less than the Brunello (and now also the Rosso) with the light shone on reddest sangiovese imaginable for one of Montalcino’s brightest Rosso styled wines. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Le Potazzine Sangiovese 2024, Toscana IGT

A vintage with outlandish quantity and so first an August green harvest for dropping fruit, without making Rosé because “we have the best grapes in the world,” says Viola Gorelli. “Why would we make anything else.” Spicy nose, cinnamon stick and the juicy feeling that fresh sangiovese will give. This is what you want from a young entry into Montalcino before you consider what Rosso will bring followed by where Brunello can go. Just recently bottled for 6,200 bottles made. Perfect for a mix of the three. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Sangiovese Le Prata 2024, Toscana IGT

“The (sangiovese) is the more informal and easygoing wine we produce,” explains winemaker Eduardo, “made with 50 percent whole cluster on skins and carbonic maceration for one week and without sulphites,” but not so late that body and sweetness are the result. More in a Governo Toscano style, from two harvests two weeks apart with the second pick layered upon the first ferment. Aromas are just what you might expect from a sangiovese made this way; wild, woolly and dramatically fresh. Sangiovese made in the way the cool kids will want to drink at the highest level – Think Cigliano di Sopra in San Casciano. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Argiano Solengo 2023, Toscana Rosso IGT

“From the 2015 vintage we tried to go back to the days of Tachis for the Super Tuscan,” tells Bernardino Sani, “and to change the style.” Now 60 percent cabernet sauvignon, (20) cabernet franc and petit verdot with a small amount of sangiovese, with no merlot because it was lost to Peronospora and then the heatwave. Ages for 15 months in 50 per cent new Taransaud wood, some larger Garbellotto casks and a few used barriques. Finishes in cement before bottling. Sweet vanillin and fruit equally red to blue, herbal though not exactly minty, more like an essential oil of wild thyme or marjoram. A bit tight still, acidity quite sweet and a lift to the wine. All follows the original floral effect and in the end the palate experience is one a a truly silken and refined blend. 60,000-70,000 bottles annually. Drink 2026-2031.Tasted September 2025

Gorelli Sangiovese Brigo 2023, Toscana IGT

Young sangiovese, lifted and reductive, freshness with fruit that imagines the Tuscan corbezzolo fruit with its red acid twang. Evergreen note, Christmas Tree cool and verdant. Fresh but never aggressive, substantial enough and Montalcinese without infringing on Rosso or Brunello. Chalky finish suggests some tannic presence. More sapidity than most local sangiovese and finishing with cocoa despite never having spent a moment in wood. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Trebbiano Mania 2023

Skin-contact trebbiano, 25 days on the skins, aged in amphora. An experiment and maybe will be called Mania, goddess of the afterlife, but written right to left, like the Arameans. And this acts just like that, opposite of what you expect, of vivid aromas and a sweetness on the palate that keeps bitterness at bay. Crushable with a stone fruit profile that is so much more inviting and seductive than most wines of this ilk. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Carma 2021, Toscana IGT

New project in Radda in Chianti of builder Massimo Guarnacshelli, second vintage for only sangiovese grown above 600m of elevation. Across the road from Castello di Albola and Poggerino for a remarkable early effort just a bit pressed to eke out extra fruit from the high elevation vineyard. The vineyard has rights for Chianti Classico but for now father and daughter are bottling under IGT. There are some green tannins and yet the fruit and style remind of other Radda wines like Poggerino and Val delle Corti. The future looks very promising for this three hectare project and just 1,000 bottles currently made. Drink 2025-2027.Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Spumante Rosé Metodo Classico Non Dosato 2012

Francesco Mulinari began to make sparkling in 2010 with this 2012 having spent 84 months on the lees. Colour is Rosato, in part because of some original skin contact and also obviously age having compounded the effect. Three reasons for starting the program, first to stop wasting fruit to green harvest and second because his mother Loretta didn’t drink red wine. The fruit is only from the 0.5 hectare plot in Castelnuovo dell’Abate in the lowest part of the vineyard. The result is still zero residual sugar. Apple skin, orange zest and east African spice, a Zanzibar or Madagascar exoticism. It’s all very intoxicating with a furious tang. Sweet Loretta Martin, “get back to where you once belong.” Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Rosé Spumante Metodo Classico Non Dosato 2019

The 2019 is the first classic method sparkling wine that Francesco Mulinari used no white sugar but instead sangiovese juice is added after fermentation, raising the alcohol from 10 to 12 percent but also adding flavour. Just turned upside down a few minutes ago and so the nose is not perfectly clean but the high acidity and complexity are something special. A bit rough, tumble and acetic right now. Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Senza Tempo III, Toscano Rosso IGT

A wine reward, a gratificante offered up by Francesco Mulinari called “Senza Tempo,” its meaning timeless and made form the best sangiovese, “the perpetual wine” made with vintages from 2014 through 2018. The next and fifth edition will hold some drops of ’14 and travel to 2019. A rare multi vintage Rosso from Montalcino and most unique because it pulls the best fruit away from Rosso, Brunello and Brunello Selezione. Only bottled in Magnum, 150 of them for this third edition. Going forward probably only 75, half of a barrique. Tastes like an aged Brunello, say 10 years old, secondary leather and carob notes joining the macchia and Amaro herbals. Chewy liquorice and herbal pesto. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Good to go!

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Montalcino Previews 2023: Brunello DOCG 2019, Brunello Riserva DOCG 2018 and older vintages

Feb5

Benvenuto Brunello 2023, Montalcino

Benvenuto Brunello 2023 in Montalcino and Toronto, the 2019 vintage, extreme climate events, preventative agricultural measures and 285 wines tasted

This lengthy report is Godello’s most comprehensive coverage of Montalcino to date. On November 28th, 2023 Benvenuto Brunello events took place worldwide, including in the two Canadian cities of Vancouver and Toronto. It was Godello’s honour and indeed his privilege to present the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino DOCG and 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG to more than 150 sommeliers, trade, media and staff at Aria Ristorante in Toronto. The tasting was a big deal. There were many attendees in the room room who had heard Godello say this before. “No one of sound mind passes up the opportunity to taste Brunello from Montalcino.” The Toronto event received more than 350 requests for seats and those who secured a spot were afforded the opportunity to taste more than 70 Brunello di Montalcino in a very civilized way. A dozen sommeliers were on hand to pour and allow every taster to get through all the wines in the most efficient manner, to discover two vintages of these profound wines. The sangiovese available were an impressive collection from 34 archetypal producers.

Presenting at Benvenuto Brunello at Aria Ristorante in Toronto – November, 2023
Image (c) Draga – Front Row Images Inc.

Godello’s presentation happened less than a week after returning from eight days spent at Benvenuto Brunello in Montalcino where he tasted more than 280 sangiovese. Of that number 60 percent were from the 2019 vintage, including the Annata split between the Classica, Vigna, Etichetta and Altra Tipologia. He also tasted two dozen 2018 Riserva along with some older vintages at estate visits to Biondi-Santi, Canalicchio di Sopra, Cortonesi, Gaja – Pieve Santa Restituta, Giodo, Il Marroneto, La Magia, Le Chiuse, Le Potazzine, Podere Le Ripi, Poggio Anitico, Salicutti, Talenti and Valdicava. At the anteprima in Montalcino 118 producers were represented with multiple wines available from each, including for the DOCs of Rosso di Montalcino and Sant’Antimo. Less than half that could have been there but there are several reasons for the absences. For some producers the quality of the wines do not arrive at peak form when the November anteprima comes around. Many bottle their Brunello in May because “that’s when the Annata are ready” but it also allows a rest period for six months in bottle ahead of Benvenuto Brunello and eight before a January release. Then there is the control factor – not being able to test each bottle yourself and to trust other professionals to make sure your wines are showing at their best. It’s tricky and is not a system or timing that works for everyone.

Benvenuto Brunello at Aria Ristorante in Toronto – November, 2023 Image (c) Draga – Front Row Images Inc.

Extreme climate events and preventative agricultural measures

Montalcino is just 73 kms to the seaside village of Marina di Grosseto and so while it may be an inland growing area it’s proximity to the sea and its protection to the immediate south from Monte Amiata do create a recognizably prominent Mediterranean climate. It will snow in the winter and it will get oppressively hot in summer. Rainfall numbers have lessened but they have not reduced to a trickle. What has changed are the extremes of climate. Consider a few recent vintages, 2017, 2021 and 2023. In 2017 there was no precipitation between January 1st and August 31st. That is full on drought. In 2021 there were April 6th and 7th frosts that wiped out vast tracts of just budded vines. The current vintage is an unmitigated disaster. Some frosts early, again in August which also experienced a heatwave that caused a significant rise in PH. From May 15th to June 15th rainfall every afternoon made the control of the Peronospora fungus almost impossible. We call this Downy Mildew, oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants induced by an unrelated fungus called Plasmopara Viticola causing the powdery mildew.

Montalcino’s Upper Orcia Valley

The problem in ’23 was that the mildew by-passed the leaves and went straight to the flowers on the bunches, but the fungus also chooses to not discriminate between the organic and conventional producer. Some areas escaped, especially that of the Sesta Valley between Castelnuovo and Sant’Angelo. The estates in this area (Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona, Collosorbo, Agostina Peri and Piancornello) were very fortunate to enjoy a good quantity of healthy grapes. Nothing to do with organics mind you, perhaps specific airflow coming from the Orcia Valley, or just dumb luck. Other estates were not so lucky. Fabian Schwarz of La Magia siad he would normally spray copper and sulphur eight to 10 times per season – in that 30 day stretch alone he had to spray 20 times. Maximilian Hildebrandt of Salicutti noted that production was down 35 percent because of the Peronospora and two hailstorms in August and so no Sorgente Vineyard Brunello was made. The challenges faced made it hard to reach their aim “to create the wine on the plants” from a vintage when the usual four sulphur and copper treatments per year were increased to a staggering 22. That’s more heavy metal on the ground than Wacked Open Air. If you missed that reference it’s the most famous Heavy Metal festival held in Germany.

New Alberello plantings at Valdicava

The combined losses of these extreme climate events has been heavy. Up to 90 percent in northeastern Montalcino and anywhere from 10-50 in most other parts. At La Magia the number was 40 percent due to the Peronospora, but also hail. The 2023 vintage was also higher in pH at 3.7, mainly due to a very hot August and the number is normally down at around 3.3. “Maybe winter will see it drop,” said a wishful Schwarz. Vincenzo Abruzzese of Valdicava shrugged off the disaster. “I’m sad of the situation, but I’m not cutting off my arms.” Resiliency is strong, the people and plants will rebound and so much has been learned. Alberello planting is on the comeback “because you are working with three dimensions and every plant is by itself,” explained Fabian Schwarz, “including how it reacts to wind and rain.” But unfortunately that does not include dealing with animals like wild boar and deer. For Abruzzese Alberello vines require less water and can improve sangiovese’s ability to combat climate change, especially at a density of 6,000 vines per hectare. Guyot is replacing Cordone Speronato in many vineyards and almost no one is shoot topping anymore. Giampiero Bertolini of Biondi-Santi elucidated the concept of how plant structure and canopies are managed in a new way, with two parts coming up and together, to have the ability to change trajectory, to open and or close depending on the needs in relation to the weather. At Salicutti they are no longer cutting off the tops of the plants. This to protect them and keep the arches down, “like having a picnic under a big tree,” explained Hildebrandt, “so your butter is not melting.”

Lorenzo Magnelli, Le Chiuse

Lorenzo Magnelli at Le Chiuse is looking at creating micro-oxygenation in the soils to promote vine root growth. Cover crops help with this. Also less passages with the tractor to avoid compaction. Fabian and others have begun a two-step pruning process, the first in winter and the second after Easter, well past the time when the first buds had already emerged. This helps to delay the total number of buds before the typically potential Easter frosts though it will not help if a freak occurrence comes in May. And the way climate is trending that will surely happen. However “when you speak about quality,” reminds Schwarz, “it is not because of training systems, it’s from soil and micro-climate.” At La Magia he is also experimenting with anti-fungal activity using Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens, a root-colonizing biocontrol bacterium. “You buy one package and replicate it with a bioreactor,” explains Fabian. He makes a solution to spray in the vineyards as an organic way to ward of odium. The machine was originally purchased to replicate indigenous yeasts for fermentations but now serves a dual purpose.

Bioreactor at La Magia

A territory of four slopes

The northwest slope of the Montalcino hill is where poderi like Cortonesi’s La Mannella, Capanna, Pertimali from Sassetti Livio and the lower side of the Montosoli hill are located. There is great interest in this quadrant because the soils are some of the most variegate from farm to farm and places where really fresh wines are made. The southwestern slope is where you will find producers like Pietroso, Il Palazzone and Le Ragnaie but also the gateway further west to Castiglion del Bosco, Le Potazzine, Corte Pavone and Romitorio. And further southwest you reach Pian delle Vigne and Pieve Santa Restituta.

Poggiarelli Vineyard

The northeastern slope is a unique location with the Orcia Valley spread out to the east and the south. These are the wide-open spaces and rolling hills of Montalcino where the clays are less compact, the calcaire can be quite prevalent and the elevations relatively lower. Here you will find producers like Il Marroneto, Casanova di Neri, Le Chiuse, Ridolfi, Canalicchio di Sopra and Franco Pacenti. The southeastern slope covers everything south and southeast of Montalcino, characterized by steeper slopes, profound changes in elevation, thick forest and windswept plateaus. These are where estates leading down to the villages of Castelnuovo dell’Abate and Sant’Angelo in Colle are located. The highest concentration of farms are here, beginning with Constanti and Biondi-Santi. Then there are Talenti, Salicutti, La Magia, Poggiarelli Vineyard, Fanti and Poggio di Sotto, among many others.

Montalcino

Andrea Lonardi is Italy’s most recent MW and joins Montalcino’s Gabriele Gorelli with that unique distinction. Andrea is the COO of Angelini Wines and Estates and during Benvenuto Brunello week in Montalcino he led a vertical tasting of four vintages from three crus for Val di Suga Brunello. Three different locations, three micro-climates and soils. Lonardi asked “how many places in the world have such a change in landscapes around such a small area?” It tells us that Montalcino producers are focused on Cru, on Vigna and this pinpointing of how and why sangiovese comes away distinct from which place.

With Andrea Lonardi MW

During the final November weekend Godello made a tour of the combined five vineyards worked by the Brunello boys: Lorenzo Magnelli of Le Chuise, Tomasso Cortonesi of La Mannella and Francesco Ripaccioli of Canalicchio di Sopra. The purpose was to join them for a look at soils and taste the wines of each place. Francesco talked about La Casaccia as a place of high (8.2-8.3) pH characterized by the clay. “For me it’s sleekness in the wines,” he says “not opulence and less heaviness than from (a vineyard) of dense clay.” Walking the vineyard of Poggiarelli and the windy landscape overlooking the Orcia Valley within the forests will tell you so much about the freshness and also power of those Brunello. Tomasso Cortonesi says “it’s very important for me that a producer has to exult the identity of each single vineyard, including the Rosso.” Montalcino does not like to talk in terns of frazione, Villages, MGA or UGA, but they do like their cru. There motto is that great wine has a secret: “Vineyard, vineyard, vineyard.”

Vines at Talenti

Soils and Sangiovese

All of Montalcino is predicated on sand, clay and stone, like all of Tuscany but the sandstones are its predominant feature. These are mainly Arenaria, which is about as pure as sandstone gets and also Pietraforte, a much harder conglomerate rock that will contain other elements like schist, clay and calcium carbonate. But Montalcino has much less limestone than a region like Chianti Classico. There is some Alberese (and Palombino) stone but the sands are key. Everyone uses the term Galestro but it is not a type or epoch of soil – it’s a type of structure. The term Galestro refers to a manifestation of sedimentary soils at the surface as flakey outcroppings. Galesto mainly comes from schists but also sandstones and appears as flakes of those rocks in layers that fall to pieces, like bits of stony sand. We can say that Galestro soils have a great effect on these sangiovese – but true geological origins matter most.

La Casaccia Vineyard, Canalicchio di Sopra

The thing about sangiovese is that it loves rainfall but does not love really hot seasons. That messes with its natural acidity but Montalcino lives and dies by the variety as the only denomination where every wine is 100 percent sangiovese. There are other grapes grown around Montalcino but only sangiovese makes Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino. In Montalcino sangiovese vines don’t really produce as they once did after reaching 50-plus years of age. But there are many who care to preserve the memoria storica, that is the historical DNA and character of the vines. So they do so with massal selection. Keep in mind that Montalcino was a place where today’s producer is the grandchild of wine producers who woke up the morning, walked to the market to sell some form of goods, walked back down the hill to attend school and then worked the vineyard and the cellar for the rest of the day. Two dozen of them formed the Consorzio – both their descendants and their vines’ descendants are what make Brunello today. The village was along a Roman trading route and everyone knew Montalcino as the place where great wine was worth stopping for. Clemente Santi produced the first true commercial bottling in the 1880s, the Consorzio was formed in 1967, DOCG status awarded Brunello in 1980 and DOC to Rosso in 1984.

Godello, Benvenuto Brunello in Toronto – November, 2023
Image (c) Draga – Front Row Images Inc.

Rosso di Montalcino

Culturally speaking Rosso di Montalcino is the most important wine. It’s what the Montalcinese drink daily. Many winemakers will tell you that Rosso must reflect sangiovese’s character more than any other wine. In today’s Montalcino one’s Rosso is another’s Brunello. It’s now more than ever a matter of location, soil and altitude. There are many ways to skin a Rosso but these days it is always a wine treated with respect. There is enough Brunello to go around and the world needs a lot more Rosso di Montalcino. Godello was able to taste three dozen Rosso that week, covering vintages 2022 going back to 2016.

Benvenuto Brunello in Toronto presentation – November, 2023
Image (c) Draga | Front Row Images Inc.

The “top” 2019 vintage

Which brings us to 2019. Ah yes, the already famous vintage and for many reasons, 99 percent of them good. Comparable to 2016 in the sense in that quality and quantity were both running high. The very famous oenologist Carlo Ferrini of Giodo described the weather as calda but not caldissima. A statement of the obvious says that the key to a great wine in Montalcino is the relationship and balance between phenolic maturity and acidity. Achieving this kind of success was challenging in the two previous vintages. The problem with climate extremes is rising pH numbers, loss of acidity and when this happens you can’t make adjustments after harvest to correct deficiencies. This vintage was a literally a breeze. All the correct winds blew through and yes it was a warm vintage, but with no heat spikes upwards of 40 degrees as there had been in 2015 and also 2016. That is why producers are very happy with and also relieved by 2019. Terms like quality and quantity, easy, uncomplicated, fresh and substantial were tossed about. Even the usage of “The Goldilocks vintage,” not too hard or too soft. Not to dry and not too wet. It was just right. Francesco Ripaccioli noted that on September 15th there was 45-50 mm of rain. “It didn’t affect the vintage,” he insisted, “but the rain cleaned the grapes before they came into the cellar. Tomasso spent three weeks at the beach.” He was joking. Mostly.

Tasting through 426 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019 at Benvenuto Brunello in Toronto – November, 2023
Image (c) Draga | Front Row Images Inc.

If 2018 was the vertical vintage then 2019 was one of breadth and depth, this as far as Riccardo Talenti is concerned. What a vintage like 2019 allowed a Montalcino winemaker was the choice and the chance to make individual wines, not just good wines. To celebrate the spirit living within each vineyard and farm. To find richness from an uncontaminated place, because climate did not get in the way. To make a style of sangiovese leaning towards the oxidative and not the reductive because the fruit was so untainted. Brunello that carries the DNA of each farm and levels of acidity to see the prospect of the best examples aging for 30 years or more. Alessio Sostegni of Poggio Antico said “you should taste the freshness and concentration, especially because of the winds. The days may be have been hot, but the sea winds blew in each afternoon.” He added that “after a late August rain what followed were high daytime temperatures and nighttime lows. In fact the optical sorter at harvest eliminated almost no berries.” Higher temperatures but no major spikes and rainfall came at all the right times, first in the winter and then with that spike in mid-summer that cooled the vines but happened after the potential danger of funguses like Peronospora. A vintage that Gigliola Giannetti of Le Potazzine said was simply regolare and thank goodness because these days that is increasingly rarer and rarer. Sebastian Nasello of Podere Le Ripi said “it is also rare to find a vintage where both the western and eastern sectors performed in a positive way.” Vegetative growth was slow and steady and harvest stretched over a few weeks of time. The end result was slow and even ripening which could not be said for either 2017 or 2018.

Francesca Granelli Hakulinen and Alessandro Mori

What about Riserva 2018?

The wines are not the most concentrated, at times edgy and volatile, but their transparency makes them some of the most terroir-connected of the last 15 vintages. Twenty eighteen is a pure sangiovese vintage and there is nowhere for the wines to hide. There are many that could be referred to as sneaky structured. Many writers were and remain skeptical. Godello holds much respect for the hard work put in, the selective processes and the potential of these wines. Less Mediterranean as a vintage, lit from behind. Of course there are more impressive and also structured vintages but the guarantee here is in the consistency of farming and winemaking teams with a dedicated set of values. Today we are dealing with Riserva as a wine that only nature can decide whether or not it will become one. Alessandro Mori of Il Marroneto said that “it has a to be a monster to become a Riserva.” His might have been the outlier and not the norm for 2018. Giacomo Bartolommei of Caprili noted that the weather was the complete opposite of 2017. Winter snow, even in the southern part of Montalcino, cooler temperatures and consistent rainfall. “Lighter wines with potential for aging, not unlike 2013. They are showing well right now. We think 2018 will be the same. Even expecting greatness.”

The Brunello Boys: Lorenzo Magnelli, Tomasso Cortonesi and Francesco Ripaccioli

Tommaso Cortonesi: “A vintage where you can recognize the link between the producer and the terroir. The vintage does not show potential during he first two years in bottle. The wines of 2007 were like this. I taste the real Galestro of southeast Montalcino in Poggiarelli. Usually the northern areas do this but in 2018 the southern sectors do this and in balance.” Francesco Ripaccioli of Canalicchio di Sopra: “The first harvest was September 10th – a green one, to concentrate the best bunches. Then heavy rains on September 16th, followed by strong tramontana winds to dry out the vines and keep mildew away.” Producers needed to wait a few days and so harvest began on the 20th, at first looking for what Francesco calls “dimension in the bunches.” Phenolic ripeness and acidity were not developed chronologically but in a more chaotic way. Francesco puts the average ripeness number at 7.5 or 8 out of ten. “Ten doesn’t exist and if it did I would not want it because pH levels would be way too high. Maybe 8.5 is perfect.” This is really important information. Just as picking too early in a hot year is problematic, the chase to optimum phenolic ripeness is also wrought with dangers. High pH, low acidity, over-extraction, which depending on the season can bring exaggerations, mainly astringencies. Balance, that’s the key, regardless of what that equates to in any given year. And place.

The Italian Sommeliers of AIS Siena at Benvenuto Brunello in Montalcino

The sommeliers, consorzio and tasting notes

The success of the Benvenuto tastings would be impossible without the Italian AIS Sommeliers and in Montalcino that means the women and men of the AIS Siena division. These are the professionals who serve the wines in Montalcino. They are a tasters’ best friend because they quickly become aware of a taster’s needs even before the taster knows that their needs are needed. Being nice, patient, courteous, friendly and respectful of them is everything. They are there to help in the the best way they can.

Godello presenting at Benvenuto Brunello Toronto, November 28, 2023

The Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino President is Fabrizio Bindocci and the Director is Andrea Machetti. Giacomo Bartolommei, Riccardo Talenti and Enrico Viglierchio are the three Vice-Presidents. At the top of the list of those who put in the greatest amount of dedication is Carlotta Salvini who just might be the hardest working person in Montalcino today. Collectively they and their staff make Benvenuto Brunello one of the most important and best organized events on the anteprime schedule. If you would like to jump past this 40,000 word report and straight to the highest rated wines in order, please click here. The 285 wines reviewed are broken down as follows: Brunello di Montalcino 2019 (96), Brunello di Montalcino Vigna + Etichetta + Altra Tipologia 2019 (72), Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2018 (23), Other Vintages and Campione di Botti (4), Older Vintages (45), Rosso di Montalcino (36) and Toscana IGT (9).

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Agostina Pieri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

An Ontario mainstay over the last two decades and as of late a move into ethereal wines from Agostina Pieri. In the old days the cost was affordable and to an extent still is but these latest vintages should fetch much more. Case in point the elegant beauty of this 2019 with floral perfume that is in a Montalcino league of its own. Flavours and texture are no different or maybe they are as they move with such fluid grace. This may come as a surprise to some tasters and then there are those who already know that Pieri’s sangiovese is movement and tension together in one lovely Brunello package. Will look forward to a glass 10 years forward, much in the same way many 2013s are delivering with poise today. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Altesino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Irrefutably Altesino aromatics with that extra bit of ripeness and stuffing though for 2019 a very rounded expression. Purity of fruit as sangiovese once again in the clear Altesino style. Modern and plush though neither opulent for lush. The ease of vintage makes for naturally sweet Brunello that is clearly 2019 and also Altesino. That last comment is everything you need to know. Drinking well already and will continue this way. Will be a great restaurant bottle choice for six years easy. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Armilla Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

In 2019 terms this from Armilla offers up as much if more fruit than many with a swirling of multifarious masala seasoning and spice, but also wood resins and extracts. Vanilla from the French component but also that which is bled from nuts – almond namely while blossoms are floral here and also there. A very promising Brunello that can actually be enjoyed in the present tense though a decant and pause will be needed to open up the grit and chalk of the tannins. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

An important sangiovese here for Argiano out of 2019 because Vigna del Suolo is once again a wine named as a Brunello of the Year and so what remains of its unsold and unallocated bottles will be the most difficult to find. Which leaves the world with this Annata in their glass, of a grounded, seasoned and fruitful Brunello that opens the door to the estate, memories in history of a castle up on another hill nearby and as a general dictionary rule, to the rest of the territory. It is a beacon and the dictionary entry for the vintage and while it may seem like hyperbole to say, also the simple existence of the appellation. Fruit, lift, perfume, tart red fruits, chalky tannin, sandstone, a Galestro feel here and there and finally balsamic. Vintage direct. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Belpoggio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Cherry fruit more black cherry quite ripe and also aromatic, including the pit with some nutty bitters. A bit too much Brettanomyces unfortunately which both distracts and turns the palate with brittle to hard tannins. A bit too much I’m afraid to ever feel clean and free of itself. Tasted November 2023

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Quite a rich, macerated, fruit developed and well formulated Brunello from Camigliano that celebrates vintage with distinction if traditionally up and along the middle of the road. Nothing austere about this sangiovese with clean, pure and chewy red fruit. Fresh but of a leathery fruit texture, more than ample and fine acidity before allowing some tannin to take charge. A hint of green at the back end and so the contrast makes the aromatics and flavours come across as jammy in the end. More than solid and representative enough. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

Tasting at Canalicchio di Sopra

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The most recent plantings at Canalicchio were executed in 2009 next to the 1990 La Casaccia vineyard. These vines are maturing and will likely seek entrance into the Vigna label but for now they are picked for this classic Brunello. They may not be grapes of enigma or mystery but they are the epitome of purity and the Brunello represents a high-casted estate style to explain so much about the house of Ripaccioli and Canalicchio di Sopra. The 2019 Brunello is a wine of silkiness but not opulence. A sangiovese that is an extension of a producer’s hands and there is no separating the wine from its maker. As for place well yes because all the vineyards are close enough to one another to combine for unmistakable identity. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Canneta Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Wildly aromatic, fruit for the most part ripe and dripping their running juices. Mature fruit however and that is too bad because the wine will turn and move Ito secondary notes before too long. Will feel stewed and roasted within two years as noted by the drying tannins. Tasted November 2023

Carpineto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Carpineto is classic in every vintage because well it’s the scent of Carpineto but 2019 expresses hyperbole of all that is this estate’s Brunello. The winds and high elevation brush upwards of 500m, the herbs and plants that grow around the hill and lift, above all else it is lift that makes this sangiovese what it can never help but be. One sip and the truth is clear because here is a vintage from which Carpineto wishes to take full advantage with sour cherry at the fruit core and new leather hides everywhere on the backside and finish of the wine. More than solid and agreeable, of fullness and fine lines, as precise as it gets for the producer. This will begin its best days in 18 months or so until it begins to morph and express secondary notes five to six years ahead. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Capanna Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The 2019 Annata by Capanna comes from solid reasoning and sweet seasoning with a gentle touch. A matter of the Montosoli area as iterated through a savoury liquid sangiovese in surround of a great core of fruit. Though the tannins are important what stands out in this wine is lift, elevating the wine to a place of brightness and more lightness than many of the vintage. Restrained and of subtleties to allow more complexity a chance to emerge as each of these next eight years pass by. When food is ordered and Brunello is desired this by Capanna will act accordingly and deliver super amenability. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Capanne Ricci – Tenimenti Ricci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Rich and mature 2019 from well developed sangiovese of a warm and arid place. Spicy notes are those that fill the aromas without hesitation or trying too avoid getting too hot and heavy. The volatile acidity presents high, even if it’s a factor in relative position to fruit yet it distracts from the overall experience. The heat keeps coming and peppers the palate. All in all a tiring Brunello. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Tasting in the Chiostro with La Morris

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Fine and red chalky Caparzo 2019 that brings its mix of soil and climate origins to layer beautifully in fruit, for acidity (especially) and finally tannin. Trim in one sense but impressive nonetheless because of its purity, with well orchestrated pitch and motion. Delicate but that acidity is the core of the wine. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Very curious to taste Annata 2019 by Caprili side by each with its 2018 Riserva because style matters and the matters of heart are inseparable. That ’18 Adalberto is seriously unctuous sangiovese, as is this ’19 Annata, two peas in a pod, two ripe cherries together forever. No matter when you decide to open this wine and also the other you will see their connection, feel their familial pull and intuit just what matters for this estate. Beauty above all else and fruit. Tannins are fine if unresolved, length is very good and the future surely bright. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Casanova Di Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A major aromatic triumph from the Neri family out of 2019 with the signature, multi-plot cuvée of Casanova Di Neri standing vertically tall as the spokesperson for the estate. Actually quite traditional for Montalcino as far as that is considered in terms of bones, structure and heritage, but the flesh is all modern juiciness. More understood culture comes by way of the gentle swirl of swarthiness that gives this a most natural feel, as if the wine simply made itself. The chalky underbelly in the lower architecture tells a different story that concerns a Brunello to wait on, age for five or more years and then share with those you care deeply about. That is the dearth of this wine – it requires attention and company. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

Casanuova Delle Cerbaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

More than curious and singular aromatic profile from the Casanuova Delle Cerbaie Annata and location just has so much to do with the style. Quite herbal with an Amaro note, but also pencil shaving, graphite and other infiltrate smells that the botti are want to provide. There is pleasure on the palate and very good length to this wine. Feels like it may be polarizing because it is different, but with two years it should likely settle and come back to the centre where many 2019s exist. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2023

Casa Raia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A firm and dusty if very floral aromatic sangiovese with balsamic in every nook, crick and cranny of this Sant’Antimo proximate vineyard. Richer and darker than memory serves to some recent vintages. Classically styled, raised like Brunello of heritage with high rising acidity and no wavering from the mean. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2023

Castello Di Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The widest cuvée breadth of vineyard hectarage accumulation for Montalcino sangiovese is Castello Banfi. What other Brunello (along with Frescobaldi’s Castelgiocondo) over the last three decades has helped to spread the gospel and form the map? Banfi is a matter of consistency of course and said in plurality – locations, locations, locations. Of course a masters in blending with 2019 resting at the pinnacle of these kinds of machinations. There is richness and there are layers from fruit but also the many vessels involved, making sure to include the sweet emotion of wood tannins, saps and resins. This may be the most rounded Castello Banfi with the most accumulations and while it shows little austerity it will surely gain complexity with some age. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Very present Brunello from Castello di Romitorio, grippy and firm in aromatics so that it’s a bit of a tough nut to crack. Not an open book here from Filippo Chia’s 2019 but one where graces are hidden in the shadows of the wine. Very structured for the vintage and the upper reaches sector within a clear sky’s view of the village’s west side fortifications. A wine of passion and emotion, chiaroscuro and a full cupboard of spice. Not a toasty sangiovese but a meaty one, surely specific to place and also weather, as it happened at Romitorio through the course of 2019. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Open, generously modern and very available aromatics of western Montalcino fruit and forest. The scent of wet and fresh Spring woods, plummy fruit and a creosopte-graphite-tobacco mix. Some austerity and verdancy on the palate, in part because of location but also because of an ambitious style that maceration and aging conspire to effect. Solid, well built with that ever so slight brittleness in the tannic profile. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Celestino Pecci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Celestino Pecci’s is a high-toned, lifted and fiery 2019, a bit acid elevated for the vintage if on par with the idea that perfume, seasoning and lighter styling is correct for very specific areas of production. Here is a Brunello that’s meant for food, aching for the right pairing and equipped with the sort of tannins that request this kind of planning. Some dusty cocoa and chocolate shavings to resolve and yet there is good promise for the next seven to 10 years of this proper vintage exploration. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Cerbaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Cerbaia is so very curious and aromatically candid though we really do have to think for a few minutes before we figure out what we have in the glass. The estate is present and accounted for, as Cerbaia, grippy and firm in the aromatics, if consciously and accurately so. Not exactly wide open as far as a 2019 goes, nor one whose graces hidden in the structure are quick to emerge. Yet another one of those structured sangiovese for the vintage, here from mid-slope Montalcino elevation within a short climb up the north facing rise up to the village. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2023

Chiusa Grossa Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

High toned and spirited Brunello here from Chiusa Grossa with wild strawberry and more so like than many. The acetone wins because it runs so high while the balsamic is notably hot and heavy. Crunchy Brunello, acid is everything and fruit concentration just does not keep up. Imbalanced though the length is very good. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Will admit to a personal conundrum with the two previous vintages of Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona’s Brunello but 2019 comes back to connect with a carefully selected, thought out and restrained Annata. Speaks to the vintage and the estate vineyards in what is an ideally structured, thematically orchestrated and hermetically sealed nutshell. Just the right amount of salumi cure, musky fruit, earthy drama and volume. Unequivocally Ciacci that reminds so much of 2016 if just a bit more spiced and seasoned. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

Col di Lamo di Giovanna Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Col di Lamo’s is a plumb of concentration and unction from a vintage so bright and generous you may need to don shades while sipping through a glass (or three). No lack for substance or texture because the season put it out there and a Brunello like this took full advantage of weather, ripe fruit and tannin. There is some wood to resolve here but density and emotion run high for a sangiovese that is sincere, always ready to provide hospitality, enjoy the company and give of itself. There is a softness in this wine and who could not want to spend quality time with it, any time and any place. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The place comes first and so one nose into Collemattoni’s 2019 is as if the strike from glass could be from Sant’Angelo in Colle itself. Rings a bell for to gain such an important initial impression leading to profound understanding. Their’s is one of aromatic vintage richness but also the kind of lift that’s not only possible but necessary to see this Brunello age for a good length of time. Collemattoni’s is the sort to make a taster feel guilty for wanting to share a bottle today because the bones are strong and the flesh well developed for a decade and a half of age worthiness. Tasting this 10 years forward will show just what all this all really means. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

Collosorbo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

An aromatic masala of spices here with all the nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, coriander and cumin that can be imagined on the nose of a sangiovese. Plenty of fruit for those spices to pique and accent so happy we all are they are part of the mix. Sense of place for sure but also a toasting they receive from the casks. Complex Brunello no matter how you see this and one to have fun pairing with complex braised meat preparations. Guinea Fowl and also cinghiale come first to mind. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Godello and La Fede at Poggio Antico

Corte Dei Venti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

We often talk about distinct expressions of Brunello and few stand alone as does Corte die Venti, not for any idisosyncratic reason but just because their’s are perfumes unlike neighbours’ or other sangiovese near to far. This from 2019 stays that course and expresses south-central Montalcino proximate land just as it always has, with fragrance, roses, red fruit and lift. A crispy Brunello and that is said with great praise because the truth spoken is unchallenged in a 2019 that does not stray from what came before, nor will it likely roam too far from home. Heritage and tradition are integral to this wine and the taster who dreams of such Brunello will have come to an exact location and at a frozen moment in time. Because this is timeless Montalcino. That’s just a fact. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2023

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

There are several Corte Pavone expressions of Brunello produced by the Loacker family and this is the cuvée, of fruit that does not make its way into Campo Marzio, Poggio Molino al Vento, Fior di Meliloto and Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento. This could mean lesser sangiovese quality but when all your fruit is high quality from high elevation vineyards – the standard is a relative one. The Annata is pure and if straightforward then so be it because this should be the Loacker 2019 to get at as soon as the wine will make itself ready. That said there are some tannins that could use settling, refreshening and integration. At the end of the day 2019 classico is both amenable and promising, which means the Etichetta labels should be exemplary. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Cupano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Cupano’s is truly concentrated, consolidated and far from restless sangiovese with all the necessary elements of the vintage in place. A Brunello very much set up for success and one to seek because the vim, relish and vigour are all on side. The wood is a bit aggressive and in charge if only noted this way because the acid lift and energy run high alongside. Let this settle and integrate before rushing not opening your bottles. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2023

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Finding the Donatella Annata quite a different sort of Brunello than the Primedonne, not necessarily surprising and yet they are two sangiovese children of the same mothers. Plural because their makers are collective nurturers to prepare them for equality, equanimity and also surprise. You just never know where they will go but this much can be said. The 2019 Donatella Annata is perfectly clear, clean and handsomely beautiful in a way that may have never been noted before. The fruit is pure, managed to be ready as a tough and grippy sangiovese, but so very pure. Just that typical and knowing swarthiness lays low, gentle and subtle as a reminder of the who, where, what and why of this wine. Squadra davvero straordinaria. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Elia Palazzesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

As 2019 Brunello goes this from Elia Palazzesi is expressive of as much aromatic grip as any, with great seasoning infiltrative of the perfume. Not so much a matter of luxe et volupté but more so this masala of peppery spices that create a most frank and vivid sangiovese experience. What follows is full mouthfeel with a sappy mix of fruit and barrel but also an intensity that the acidity effects up, down and across the palate. A glaring example of sangiovese and the kind that should and likely could never be confused with any other variety. Full capture here of 2019 by Palazzesi. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

From 2019 Fanti does what Fanti does, staying a course that makes modern wines from traditional means and most importantly out of a heritage of heart. Though the fruit is admirably developed what makes this sangiovese tick is its high quality acidity, neither sweet nor savoury but one that leaves another sensory impression best described as that of umami. Clearly complex Brunello from 2019, high caste and stylish but never abandoning its profound roots. Bravo Fanti, come sempre. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Lovely, forthright, juicy and full vintage generosity capture here from Fattoi. Hard not to see this as (and it must be said out loud) how much one will almost surely want to drink this sangiovese without waiting for it to age. It really is that perfumed and open up front so don’t feel guilty if you feel this way. There is no lack of substance and structure so keeping bottles is obviously a smart idea but my how this seduces quickly and without hesitation. It is also clearly, credibly and more than ostensibly Fattoi, a classica of red fruit liqueur, gentle lift and composure. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The first two concepts that arrive in mind for Fattoria deli Barbi’s 2019 Annata are respect and tradition because this insistent sangiovese is just what has been and should always be. Fruit and acidity straight away, together and equal which means there will almost certainly be balance in effect all the way through. That is in fact the case for a 2019 that pays duty to vintage and homage to history. The wood is a bit aggressive mind you and that too adheres to lines of necessity to see a sangiovese from a very good Montalcino vintage with the ability to age. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Ferrero Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Notably perfumed up front, jumping from the glass with fruit confiture like few other 2019 Brunello. Rich and unctuous in that regard without the immediacy of knowing or imagining this to be a vertical or structured sangiovese. The acidity is grand while the jammy nature continues on the palate. Quite mature when added up and not a Brunello to hold for even another two years. Make haste people. Drink 2023-2024. Tasted November 2023

Fossacolle Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Truly proper 2019 Brunello from Fossacolle, simply assembled for an uncomplicated look at and pure enjoyment of the positive vintage. Fruit is ripe and well managed, acids maintain freshness and the construct is a solid if easily accessible one. Never austere if just some drying moments late to indicate a year or two is needed before this sangiovese rises to its peak. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG 2019

Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Fuligni has always been, will likely continue to be but also thrive as its very own Brunello di Montacino animal. Classic, cultural and traditional as it is but finding a way to ever so slowly and incrementally sidle forward with the times. There are austere vintages and this is not one of them so come into a glass expecting some generosity – which this 2019 philanthropically provides. Crispy vintage and that is written with greatest compliment because that’s just what biting into this sangiovese feels like you are doing. Tannins are a bit grippy so time is essential towards coaxing out the best in Fuligni’s 2019. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Giodo Estate

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Yes, the famous vintage, already and for many reasons, 99 percent of them good. Comparable to 2016 in the sense that quality and quantity were both high and weather “calda” but not “caldissima.” In other words no highs or lows but just what you need and when you need it. From the word nose you get the Giodo Località Casanova in Sant’Angelo in Colle spice and terroir components; herbals and herbs, all the scents, exotic and even those suspected of being exotic. “Molto profumato,” such beauty and a glass of Giodo that conjures imagery, like walking on a dusty Montalcino road as it enters onto grounds scattered with freely manicured perennials in rosemary, lavender, thyme and sage. Nor can the ripe cherry and note of liquorice be missed. Here Brunello finds itself in easy, ideal and effortless harmony while the French wood in particular needs to settle in and allow the optically perfect fruit to be the star. This will happen in two or three years. Just that hint of late balsamico adds to the reminder of what this is and where its from. Drink 2025-2035.Tasted November 2023

With Jacopo and Alessandro Mori

Il Marroneto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

“This is the historical line of Il Marroneto,” begins Alessandro Mori. “The wine that has always been made,” beginning in 1994, originally under the tutelage of Giulio Gambelli. Each vintage should and in fact increasingly will show the evolution of Mori’s work as a pupil and winemaker now in his 28th vintage. A real life and truth for Brunello, never a participant as a designer or connected to trends but achingly out of a mix of passion, lunacy, sagacity and devilishly boyish attitude. This is what you will taste from Mori’s ’19, carried in its DNA from the farm that holds acidity at a level unparalleled and Montalcino secrets only known to this family. The sweet structure will see this sangiovese live 30 years from the deepest of vintages as good as it gets for modern times. This because its makers do right by fruit and not by what markets ask it to chase. Hard not to be moved by this sort of glaring truth but it can’t be helped. The knowledge of evolution is already there, the feeling that this Brunello has already arrived but won’t mature with any obviousness or in any way over the next 10 years. It’s true – keep some bottles for 30. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted November 2023

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Quite recognizable as Il Palazzone, in fruit and style, here a step forward in concentration but also phenolic maturity as far as sangiovese grapes are concerned. The vintage allowed for a highly traditional vinification process because such a regular, easy and stress-free growing season (so unusual these days) meant no major adjustments or reactions needed to be made in the cellar. Saw 38 months in Botti, followed by a few more in neutral or raw (“crudo”) cement tanks for refinement. A spontaneous vintage and so all the usual aromatic, flavour and textural aspects are present in the wine; brushy herbs, fennel pollen, vanilla and balsamico for a true to form and place Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Straight off the top great work from Il Poggione 2019 with all the aspects and gains of the vintage on full aromatic display. Fruit as ripe as should be, seasoning, perfume and a saltiness in the air. Fruits of labour and perfumes that indicate red drupe we recognize and also that which is a bit exotic. From plum through corbezzolo and also the musky quality of skins equally ripe and lending character to true blue sangiovese. Acids right there, some good and proper tension, plenty of energy and then finally an austerity that indicates age ability. Finest Il Poggione in quite some time. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

La Casaccia Di Franceschi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Plenty of fruit concentration from this edible 2019 with a note of Ribena and roses moving from freshness to desiccation. Also a note of Brettanomyces that puts the tannins under some drying distress, turning hard and brittle so thankfully the fruit is in a good position. Will look forward to trying another bottle. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A rich and developed fruit set from 2019 and one to make sure you know exactly where you are and what time of history you are tasting Brunello di Montalcino. An intensity of floral perfume, a well organized trilogy of that fruit with sweet acids and fine tannins all conspiring to make this a most generous and also promising wine. Pure and respectful sangiovese, significant of place and no gratuities taken. Brava. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

La Fornace Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Bright and top fruit capture for vintage without going over to put a 2019 in a light that shines demure if bright. White peppery heat on the nose so just some imbalance in that regard but stuffing is elastic and quite seamless throughout. Crispy vintage here for the furnace and in a good place, without tannins or tension too demanding. That white pepper through – it is a little distracting. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

La Fortuna Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Nothing shy or held back about 2019 La Fortuna in a wine of great vintage fortune because the layers are all texture and more. Some sappy and resinous wood to qualify and integrate so time will need to be the ally. Good fruit is substantial and the structural parts are supportive. Wait 18 months and keep for up to a decade more. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A bit extreme lift and acetic tone from La Gerla, more than usual and so some air time is necessary here. A great balsamic stress, pomegranate and currants hard juiced and their levels turned up to the max. The wood here is sappy and resinous for a Brunello that arrives with high acidity if other parts also vivid, glaring and overly substantial. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Quite a luxe and rich sangiovese from La Leccaia’s 2019 Classica which bodes really well for what will almost surely follow in extrapolation by way of Vigna Manapetra. In some vintages the Vigna can cannibalize the normale but when the latter is this well developed the opposite will occur. This is pure and succulent liquidity because by the grace of the vintage acids melt and lift fruit where it wants to be. There is a bit of excess “grasso” texture and wood on this sangiovese but it too will melt into the fabric of what the aromatic and flavour profiles have showed in the first. Ideal mid-term Brunello. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

“It was a very easy vintage,” echoing what most producers have said but you can see in his eyes that for Fabian Schawrz this was the truth. Floral is the understatement and distillate expressive might be an over, but there is real liqueur on the nose of this 2019 Brunello. “A normal vintage” he reminds and normal sangiovese means classic, once upon a time style of wines. This includes lift, a thing that’s disappearing from Brunello and better today when purity and clarity are just as strong, but also important. Surprise is a good thing but so too is recognition and the aromatics of La Magia are just that, earth fragrant and brush savoury with fruit a willing participant in the agrarian game. The aromatic rising will surely settle because the palate is more that way and so it sure feels like everything well eventually get together. The work of Fabian Schwartz in on and in motion with this a matter of 2019 sangiovese fruit that leaves an impression. The wood is very much a part of the activity and the wine needs a few years to integrate but that it will with spices and seasoning always the accents to exact intricacy and entanglement. Fine work here, well received with a look forward two to three years. Classic 10 year Brunello if not one to lose in the cellar for 20 or more. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Brushy and savoury Mediterranean scented sangiovese is really exactly this and La Rasina fulfills its classica 2019 course in the delivery of this sort of aromatic profile. The palate follows suit and balsamico is everywhere, infiltrating all pores and punches of this wine. Very specific style, not ancient but traditional to say the least. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

La Serena Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Tight and wound, tart red fruit led Annata from La Serena. High toned with acids creating the lift and a white pepperiness that also leads, if thankfully does not dominate the nose. The quality of palate mouthfeel is high though the back end of the wine shows some greenness in the extracted tannins. As a by-product of this phenolic presence this does come across as a bit of a jammy Brunello separated from its structure. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2023

Montalcino from Le Chiuse

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Le Chiuse separates from the pack in many ways but first and foremost by levels of precision and purity to condition its sangiovese’s profound character and concentration. Always remember and keep in mind that there is no Vigna Brunello from Le Chiuse so Riserva aside (which was made in 2019) the finest small to medium-sized berries are chosen for this classica Brunello. The top of top level substance and so much profundity packed into the body and flesh of the wine. The kind of sangiovese that will take decades to unwind and yet the sleekness but also the purity are appreciated from the very first stages. The quality and sophistication of the tannins in Le Chiuse’s 2019 are nearly unparalleled. This is the truth and finally it is time that will help this vintage to continue to show the individual identity of the zone where Le Chiuse is born and raised. Drink 2028-2043. Tasted November 2023

Le Gode Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A corner has been turned and a next epoch for Le Gode comes into view with this Brunello 2019’s purity of fruit and a newfound clarity that makes the sangiovese sing. Feel the coolness of northerly fruit and a liqueur of really gentle maceration in such a sweet spot you feel like all is right in the world. While the acidity is right in line and well beyond the threshold of being openly lifted it is the tannins that show a sweet softness and demure nature. Most important is the fruit and how it has been coaxed with a gentle if fulsome touch. Structure is not most prescient from 2019 Annata and that seems to matter little. There should be many who seek Le Gode out in its first five years of fresh and primary life. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Le Macioche Famiglia Cotarella Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

As spiced, spicy and exotically charged aromatic entry as any from a 2019 Brunello. Also a thickness of palate texture, wood that feels grainy and dark chocolate, yet within reason. There is a minor note of Brettanomyces that turns the tannins a bit hard. Not egregious though a bit separated from that rich textural fabric. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Le Potazzine’s Viola Gorelli, Sofia Gorelli and Gigliola Giannetti

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A vintage Gigliola Giannetti says was simply regolare. Thank goodness because in these days that sort of respite is increasingly rarer and rarer. Which means that fruit and phenolic ripeness are just about as good as it gets, never a 10 out of ten because what is that, but this gets close. Also a sangiovese of concentration, full and substantial amplitude, while clearly built with some stuffing that certifies its appellative, cultural and heritage status. What you won’t quite find in ’17 and ’18 but surely will out of this ’19 is succulence as a by-product of varied fruits and acidities. This precocious Brunello will not quit, comes at the palate in waves and yet the Potazzine perfume pervades and outlasts all else. As fine as there has ever been bottled from this estate. Seems a shame to open and consume a bottle this young but how to stay away? There is no fault in wanting just a sip today. The sangiovese epitome of forbidden fruit. Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2023

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Would always expect Le Ragnaie to express its conditioning through estate elevation (on par with the village itself) and that it does, regardless of vintage. Yet this is 2019 and so depth is noted from the word go even while freshness, pitch prompt acidity and fine tannins are clearly present and dutifully accounted for. Sanguine if less so than some sangiovese in vineyards a bit further south on the same road that winds down towards Sant’Angelo in Colle. Youthful as Brunello here in the sense that the perfumes have yet to fully rise and pronounce their floral-herbal-mineral mix. Some glycerol makes for a mouthfeel that is the talk of the vintage. This is so correct for a Riccardo Campinoti Classica Brunello. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

Lisini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Ultra fresh and aromatically juicy Brunello for 2019, not unusual though this is a particularly expressive level of pulchritude through perfume. Feels like the nose is possessive of glycerol though we know it is what follows that really delivers such a vintage sensation. Yes the repeat on the palate is an act of contiguous sensibility with more transitions seamless and very good natured. There is restraint in power and grace under pressure. Fine 2019 that should have been easy to make happen though it truly never is. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Lovely adherence and respect shown here from Mastrojanni with crisp red fruit notes and herbals complimentary and sweet. Quite a modern take because the mouthfeel is quite silky and there really are no angles or unnecessary tension in the wine. Quite amenable, spiced by wood but here is nothing extraordinary or austere about this 2019 whatsoever. Early drinker in any case. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A very specific sort of red fruit makes a Máté and 2019 is the epitome of that kind. It being layered and citrus scraped, of orange to blood orange, zesty and piquant with more red citrus notes arriving and joining the specificity of this sangiovese mix. The palate brings wood and more than expected quite frankly but not as cakey texture, no its just an espresso-cocoa powder that will eventually stir into the liquid and emerge as a fine cream of 2019 Brunello. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Molino Della Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

TCA. Second bottle also laden with Brett. Tasted November 2023

Padelletti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Impressive showing for Padelletti’s 2019 with great perfumes and an airy breeze blowing through the light, bright and transparent red fruit. Just the right level of tart and acidity though not the most structured sangiovese from the vintage. No matter because there are some needed to service in the first few years after release while the bigger wines are finding their legs. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Darker if transparent within that notation and a deeper well of macerated red fruit is what comes from Brunello 2019 by Patrizia Cencioni. Sangiovese of really well developed ripe fruit in singular and volumetric dimension. The cask is really well integrated, the acidity well forged and one that should continue forward for a decade plus. The length on this vintage is really quite outstanding, freshness and purity as well. Improves with each moment in and out of the glass. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Pian Delle Querci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Quite a tart set of red fruit scents, of pomegranate and blood orange in this very citrus forward Brunello. On the lighter side in terms of substance and concentration to speak of location in the northern and veering western side in relation to the hill. The evergreen note seems to confirm this contention and the wine never fleshes but instead stays the citrus course. Will likely develop some amaro and mint notes with age. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Pietra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Higher tonalities out of a Pietra sangiovese heightened by the 2019 Brunello vintage. Dusty quality to the fruit, not deep enough to imagine plum but more so citrus in a fresh squeezed pomegranate way. There is balsamic everywhere, a piqued accent on the nose, a reduction on the palate and a richness at the finish. Speaks to the multiplicity of acidities involved which may peak to a threshold for some. It’s right there, keeping the freshness and though I believe this to be a specific kind of Brunello it will be one that remains preserved for a very long time. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

There are five vineyards from which the Pietroso Brunello cuvée can be made, they being (Casa) Pietroso, Petroso, (northerly) Montosoli, Fornello and Colombaiaolo near Castelnuovo dell’Abate. For 2019 only the older part of Montosoli and Petroso are not in here. Plenty of discussion and tastings about the hottest vintages and how the regulations for the elevation limits for growing sangiovese need to be adjusted but then along comes a vintage like 2019. A season so ideal and unassuming we might all think that everything is perfectly OK. On the contrary, but the focus is this fine 2019, half a point less alcohol (maybe more) than Rosso 2022, ebullient of perfume and so harmonic with all its voices in synch. It’s funny to say but today the perfect vintage is the one that’s just normal. Nothing out of sorts, no highs and lows, agreeable, in delivery of amenable fruit, happy acidity and tannins powerful yet in great restraint. This is Pietroso from 2019, a mix of Montalcino sectors, micro-climates and soils stacked and layered for all that could be wanted. Crispy, crunchy, a freshness incarnate, expertly judged and adjudicated. Have not tasted more than a handful of Pietroso Brunello and while all thus far have made an impression, this 2019 is in another league. Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2023

Pinino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Spicy and toasty nose on Pinino’s 2019 with so much wood resin, sap and spice. Hard to see the forest through the trees here and this will not likely change. Unusually heavy handed feel, especially for the vintage which likely indicates a troublesome bottle, which is a bit of a pity. Will hope to re-taste. Tasted November 2023

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Brizio 2019 is great expectation met through a sangiovese of red fruit multiplicity, like a cuvée of citrus, currant and corbezzolo, juiced and stirred with freshness incarnate. Tart and at the maximum tang for the vintage with expensive wood working so well to nurture, raise and release the precocious fruit. Stylish and well made in every way. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Alle Forche Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

More than what should be needed wood on this Brunello takes centre stage to shroud and cloud fruit and create a milkshake of a 2019 sangiovese. Hard to figure where in the territory this might come from because its ubiquity, make-up and made character just won’t allow it to talk freely. Seems like a yeoman try but it comes across sappy, sweet and thick textured. A work in progress perhaps and later vintages may tone it down to see the Montalcino light. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Antico

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The Annata is a blend of all estate sangiovese blocks except the lowest vineyard which goes to Rosso. The classic Poggio Antico Brunello of the past were always concentrated and substantial wines but in many vintages they softened relatively early, say after five to seven years before secondary character and creaminess would set in. This is changing for an estate possessive of vines at some of Montalcino’s higher elevation and this 2019 is proof of how increased solar radiation bathed by great technical (and also intuitional) work has equipped this sangiovese with more accumulated structure. Nothing against past vintages but we are here made privy to a wine that will not truly begin to morph in the first 10 years post harvest. The intricacies are many, the intertwine of fruit and sweet acid-tannin layers something other, or better still something next. This is a new epoch level style for Poggio Antico in the hands, minds and hearts of a team moving in a most profound but humble and well spoken direction. The attention to detail and respect for different blocks is evident. The 30cm of winter snow followed by perfectly timed quantity of rain in Spring when warm yet not too hot temperatures prevailed all added up to a near perfect start to the vintage. After a late August rain what followed were high daytime temperatures and nighttime lows. In fact the optical sorter at harvest eliminated almost no berries. “We will have to check the evolution over the next two years,” says Alessio Sostegni, but he’s quite sure it’s the best he has seen since taking the reigns full time starting back in 2012. 40,000 bottles were produced. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

There are but a few dozen Brunello teams that show this level of restraint and respect for their properties and despite the potential for ambition it is Poggio di Sotto not straying from that ideal. The vintage is great but that does not mean extraction and aging should try to max out on weight or power. This does not and instead delivers purity, refinement and grace. Its great charm is born of details, focus and a high regard for clean, clean precision. Hits the correct località notes and processes the quality of fruit through an acid to tannin information continuum like an artist with a keen sense of science. So expertly judged and designed. Once a sketch, then a stencil, now in full animation. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Renieri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Renieri’s is reductive of pepper and rubbery aromas above average for the vintage. The alcohol also stands out on the nose which makes for a rough and tumble experience. Time will settle and heal some wounds but as a rule 2019 Brunello should show more charm and grace. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2023

Ridolfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Brunello from a cooler Montalcino sector and always a savoury one, with more verdancy in brush and evergreen than many. A bit of stem sensation as well, some variegation in the fruit but also the tannin. Crunchy sangiovese, plenty of buzz and energy, then real length. That is a traditional Brunello’s strength. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

Roberto Cipresso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Rich but not powerful, fulsome if not exactly exploding and overall a very complete Annata sangiovese from Cipresso. The great liquidity by way of glycerol red fruit and structural components that are quite similar in potency, surely out of design. Fine and giving, steps up from the “normale” norm and a satisfying mouthful in the end. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Salicutti’s Annata 2019 is quite restrained, a bit closed, somewhat demure, fresh and youthful. Perhaps surprisingly so but this is no fruit bomb or Brunello of immediate gratification. I have the distinct memory of tasting this fruit in October of 2019 within two weeks of it coming off of the vines and there is little surprise that it’s showing four years later in this way. Fruit comes from the three single vineyards off of 4.5 hectares; Piaggione, Sorgente and Teatro and this is the first vintage out of which no Rosso di Montalcino was produced. Tension above all else and tightly compact structural parts that keep the freshness and fruit locked in tight. Just a touch of swarthiness and even a moment of Brett are noted on the back palate but there is no compromise to tannin. It’s austere but not drying so time will most certainly aid, abet and break the tie to see this drink well after a few years of time. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Salvioni – La Cerbaiola Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Not so difficult to establish the range of Brunello from a vintage like 2019, from the traditional to the ultra modern, the ambitious from the respectful. Salvioni’s is a complex matter, of the first and then the last, a sangiovese of heritage imperative and one that listens to both the vintage and also località wind. Most wines do not exhibit this kind of elastic tension but 2019 by Salvioni is exacting in its measure, focused in pliant ability and capable of eliciting a wide range of emotion. Catches the light in just the right way, makes ideal use of ripeness met by equal and supportive acidity and seeks something further than most that try to capture a vintage. This is the correct season experienced in a world where that gets harder every year. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Not so much a bright 2019 Brunello but ones that breathes quite free and easy. A wine so comfortable in its warm skin and a result for the vintage that is just what should occur from an estate moving forward with more vertical wines year after year. Wood is well managed and there is a lightness this time, a,k.a. freshness, without ambition or excess. Great result for southern Montalcino. Last tasted November 2023

An anteprima but bottled six months ago and the vintage to be shown at Benvenuto Brunello 2023 before being released in January 2024. Near to Argiano and Il Poggione below Sant’Angelo in Colle. Massive wine in ever respect with fruit that has not been seen in a few years, matched effortlessly by sweet acids and high caste tannins. Hefty throughout, sleek, silken and full throttle. Wait seven years to seek the open window of gratification. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted October 2023

San Guglielmo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

As for Brunello by Ilaria Martini and her Transylvanian husband Michael (Mike, or Michele), well this may just be the launching point for their tenure as seriously important Montalcino producers. Ilaria’s heritage is entrenched in the founding of the Consorzio, of which her grandfather Guglielmo was an original member. Here they are three to four vintages in, at 470m at elevation in a micro-climate and terroir shaped by and contained within its own bubble, where the Galestro and Palombino litter the surface at Località il Chiesino. Where feels like the middle of nowhere the land is a local matter of “macchia mediterranea,” the brushy Mediterranean scrub that these wines can’t help but express. If the smell of schist and soil could be noted in a wine then this would be it and so San Guglielmo’s is sangiovese born of the earth. Red fruit and clarity but never a Brunello that imposes its will. No, it simply translates and transposes the vineyard. Hard not to fall in love with this dirt. Drink 2024-20230. Tasted November 2023

Sanlorenzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Traditional, lighter and brighter sangiovese in the Brunello idiom, tart red fruit and structure. The construction is like an immovable natural stone terrace of Pietraforte to control erosion and that is the design for where this is going. It’s not that Brunello di Montlacino as a rule is a mineral wine per se but if any were to be described as one to imitate the geological nature of this land – Sanlorenzo may just as well be one of those such wines. Top vintage for the estate. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Rich and spicy nose for San Polino, red cherry fruit so ripe, spot on and comfortable within its skin. Freshness from those skins, no musk or must and simple divinity as it pertains to sangiovese. Such a well judged and rounded Brunello with just enough tension to create elasticity between that fruit and fine tannins. Acidity is the driver to see this live longer than the average, if not a few years more than that. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Middle range of elevation on a high plateau where winds blow softly and weather comes in great waves is the place where San Polo’s Annata get its wings. Some of the reddest cherry fruit of the appellation, swiftness of foot and smoothness of consistency put this in great, amenable and correct steading. There is also a soft sappy sapidity to the interaction and resulting texture yet it too will effect a lovely result for the consumption of this wine in its earliest years. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Sassetti Livio Peritamali Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Oh my what sweet and seductive perfume from Sassetti Livio’s 2019 that is simply beautiful hyperbole of the previous six vintages having arrived and culminating at this. Some will note the fact that matched against those gorgeous fruit aromas is a mild amount of Brettanomyces that to others will take away from the beauty. There is quite a bit of concentration out of extraction and tannins follow suit with confident steading. They are austere as well, drying quite measurably and so time will tell if the minor distraction will hinder or fade to allow the best of this sangiovese to shine. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Scopone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Not one of the most luxe or lush fruit substantial 2019 Brunello di Montalcino but in this instance a seamlessly fluid one. Fruit is good quality though hard not to intuit some greenness extracted in the tannin. Either some of the fruit was not quite ripe or the sangiovese was pressed with a bit of force. Either way the dichotomy is noted and the wine will always play as two parts. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2023

Sesta Di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Bit of a brooder this ’19 by Sesta di Sopra, neither dense nor pressed but a matter of soil it seems. Must come from a place of compact clay and hard stone as opposed to a soil of sand and Galestro. The structure is formidable and the wine sinks into its own maceration but also its phenolic austerity. More than ripe enough and serious sangiovese, built for aging and not in any sort of comfortable place at this time. A wine of potential and a certain part of 2019 is achieved here. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Ah Sesti, demure, soft-spoken, elegant, all descriptors not used lightly or taken with any gratuity. Sesti’s Brunello, understated and sure of its place, even while it wonders and we consider about this and that. Pensive and thoughtful, not the same thing, but one that follows the other. A beautiful example of lightness and grace, fluidity as it glides across the palate, turns to smile and moves away. There really does not need to be much more said save for the idea that this will live for decades. Drink 2026-2039. Tasted November 2023

Siro Parenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Pacenti’s is wisdom from Montalcino with experience for Brunello that starts and finishes with sangiovese at the crux and heart of the matter. A 2019 that captures the entire history, style and function of Siro Pacenti in one bottle. These are wines of a period that do not depart from their own fashion because they are the creator of what they are. There is no chase of design or trend but just the depth and plumbing of cool, savoury liquidity for this kind of sangiovese. Pacenti’s is what you expect if you know what Pacenti is. Like the 1997 recently opened it is this 2019 that connects that wine threaded to all that were produced in between. They are all one. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

With Michaela Morris and Riccardo Talenti

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

If 2018 was the vertical vintage then 2019 is one of breadth and depth, this as far as Riccardo Talenti is concerned. Specific to this Talenti vineyard cuvée which means all nine plots from every location, some obviously more than others. A mix of all five soil types and micro climates and no other recent vintage has layered, complicated and concentrated like the 2019. Variability sure but how seamless is this? Freshness and fulsome character are in synch as much as these two disparate ideas can be so that the Annata will express all that Talenti’s fruit has to offer. Good liquid peppery grip and length as long as the road from Montalcino to Amiata. Grande Riccardo. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Can’t miss the warm location result on the aromatics of Tenuta Buon Tempo’s ‘19 with a wisdom and maturity of fruit notes. Plum and pomegranate of a citrus intensity, a molasses of other juices if you will, with a drizzle of reduced balsamic. Like a sweet meets savoury plate, ying and yang, king and queen, balanced and dry as the desert despite the natural sugars that persist – even as they are not ones of residual effect. Some will find the resins and others will see the flesh. ’Tis is southern Montalcino effect from out of a warm vintage. There is no other way. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta La Fuga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Plenty of up front stuffing noted straight away from La Fuga’s Annata, a heavy set of fruit and fuel to see this ’19 travel a good distance. Bing cherry and orange, a reduction of fruit with a citrus angle and the sense is of a sangiovese subjected to a long maceration. Has brought about the glycerol feel while tannins are also of a fully developed nature. There is weight and also length, some astringency as well but time should be an ally. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Nardi’s 2019 Annata is a big and proud one, macerated long and brought into a place where it seems to be enjoying having consumers embrace this very moment of largesse. Plenty of sweet barrel flavours but also spiciness that take centre stage. Here and there the scents of roses and a return of the seasonings makes sure to remind abouth the matters of sangiovese, sense of place and ultimately what Brunello di Montalcino is all about. That wood needs to melt and disappear some and when that happens the real Nardi sangiovese should do what it was intended to do. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Casisano presence and perfume, big gains from 2019 and a sangiovese feeling through fruit and all the things that give it its silken texture. Glycerol and pectin for natural emulsification to coagulate all the ripenesses developed by a vintage. A bit salty this one and that is not perfectly indicative of vintage or style, but there it is to make this a most unique and also complex Annata. This must be the place. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

Uccelliera Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Uccelliera is wisdom and it is experience but most of all it is a Brunello of agriculture. The 2019 feels like a solid rock of sangiovese with emotions in check and this essential understanding that Brunello di Montalcino is half heritage and half longevity. Immediate gratification is not the sum of these fresh, youthful and organized parts, but long-term gains should be a great part of your purchasing and tasting goals. This is serious and expertly produced Brunello, tight and compact, lending or rather insisting on the feeling of soil, climate and human touch. All intrinsically connected and so this my people is a fine wine of terroir. It is purely and significantly Montalcino. Drink 2026-2039. Tasted November 2023

Valdicava Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Valdicava, literally the name of the località, “valley of the cave.” Dates back to 1953 when Vincenzo Abbruzzese’s father Bramante Martini founded the podere. He would walk up the hill to sell farmed goods at the Montalcino market, return for school and work the fields in the later day. A cow breeder who sold his early grapes to Biondi-Santi. Brunello is a mix of all parts of Valdicava’s 10 parcels, “something unique and complete,” tells PierFilippo Abbruzzese. The ’19 has been in bottle six months, from a vintage of good production, doubly important because there was no ’18 and just 10 percent of ’23 produced. Refined in cement vats lined with fibreglass, for a result that is neither reductive nor oxidative and to maintain balance. Prominently profound in so many ways, magnanimous of character, substantial fruit in waves, solvent acids, brunet complexion and sombre finishing tones. Shadows of Bretty-yeasty-toasty character, complexities in and out of every pore and a specific character that is simply Valdicava’s. “We choose to make individual wines, not good wines,” insists Vincenzo. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Plenty of perfume and impressive stuffing from the classica Val di Suga 2019, a Brunello open and lifted, fulsome of fruit times acid squared. Shows these elements with great energy and then the barrels though not with tannins loading up as a result of its elévage. There are some, but they are not from the wood – only from super ripe and proper skins. Truly well composed and promising Annata – especially considering there are three more etichetta/Vigna wines to discover in the Val di Sugar portfolio. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Ventolaio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Ventolaio has a lot of aromatic goings on that tease and titivate the olfactory senses as much as any Brunello from the vintage. Richly perfumed, seasoned and spiced, piquing with peppery jolts and red lightning fruit strikes. But it’s deeper than that and the palate wells with macerations, moves through machinations and delivers a full vintage effect. Some chaos here but things will eventually settle down and come together. Drink 2026-2032.Tasted November 2023

Voliero Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Like Uccelliera there is wisdom, acumen and experience gained from Andrea Cortonesi’s Voliero. While perhaps a bit less concentration there is indeed more energy and mineral sear in this sister label. More sweetness of fruit, less but still solid tension and higher acidity thus the buzz puts this in an earlier drinking window but still there is longevity in the fire. Really solid and proper Brunello, respectful of place and vintage, expertly put together and a perfect Brunello to drink while Uccelliera readies itself for the future. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2023

Riccardo Talenti

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019 Vigna + Etichetta + Altra Tipologia

Alessandro Rossi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Aisna 2019

Some reduction and vinyl shower curtain on the nose in what is not the most perfectly clean Brunello di Montalcino. Too bad because both fruit and acidity are right there in equal if opposing ripenesses but the distractions are at the head. Give it some time to clean itself, integrate and soften. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2023

Altesino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2019

Altesino’s part of the Galestro-strewn Montosoli hill is one of the bigger blocks in a very small area (of 30-plus hectares) where 10-ish producers create Brunello labels within the cru. A special northerly part of Montalcino that benefitted greatly from the vintage though truth is 2019 was good for everyone just about everywhere in the denomination. This is Altesino and the connection with the Classica is noted, but being Altesino-Montosoli there is more, something other, unnamed yet founded, underlying, streaking and trussing through. A sticking of soil and micro-activity that makes this wine and the others from this place a band of brothers and sisters. These are sangiovese and Altesino’s are included that have “been workin’ every night, travelin’ every day” to arrive at a vintage like 2019. It’s never been this calming to make a top quality wine from the hill that are not glaringly different than others in Montalcino. That’s both but not importantly good or bad because Montosoli as Altesino pleases the palate and sets up for long life. This is but one vintage that hints at the future which will brighten if perhaps tighten less and less. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Antinori Pian Delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Antinori’s foresight looked at this southwestern section of Montalcino where elevation is high and austerely savoury wines used to be the order of business in vintage after vintage. That intelligence has led to and seems to culminate at this 2019 because sweetness of fruit and acidity like never before transform Pian delle Vigne into a new epoch of the estate’s Brunello. As substantially ripe and full as never before and something so modern in construction it will attract a large audience, at least from they who can afford such wines. There are many and if marketing succeeds they will be found. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Antinori Pian Delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vignaferrovia 2019

As for the single Vignaferrovia the exaggeration and hyperbole for modern terms in Pian Delle Vigne is wrought times two with density, thick texture and also thankfully a wild side. No estate vineyard sangiovese from Antinori has ever reached this pinnacle of luxe, not Tignanello, not Badia a Passignano, not Pian delle Vigne. It just has to be a triumph for the team and Piero Antinori’s vision. Once again those who seek the modern style and can afford such a sangiovese will be very pleased with this top 2019 result. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Baricci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2019

Baricci’s Montosoli is indicative of the northern hill but perhaps the most singular of all the expressions from there. Their fruit darkens, feels at first aromatically baritone but then brightens and turns soprano on the palate. It’s an amazingly curious dichotomy of expression while the transition from one to the other is both seamless and appropriate. All the notes are in place, connected and complimentary but there are fills and subtly added transitions both inside and outside of the main frame. Cool, savoury and yes mineral even if those who wish this concept be eliminated from the Montalcino lexicon. The finish shows quite a bit of wood and so Baricci’s Montosoli should be held for a few years, to see expedited integration ahead of further investigation. Drink 2027-2039. Tasted November 2023

Castello Di Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Alle Mura 2019

The scent of south by southwest Montalcino in a perfect bubble is here captured by Banfi’s storico label “Poggio alle Mura.” So intrinsically sangiovese aromatically and vintage uttered with a 2019 of high tonality and quite obvious lift. All the tart red fruits and more, especially the balsamic finish blowing in the winds of Banfi’s magnanimous vineyard holdings. A classic. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Alle Mura Vigna Marrucheto 2019

High hopes, well actually expectations from Vigna 2019 and this is Banfi’s top iteration in that regard. Vigna Marrucheto owns itself and its perfumes open the discussion, ringing and singing of what is right and recognizable. There is clear depth and intendment from Marrucheto, of tannins so austere and unyielding yet they speak in unequivocal terms. Terms to request for time and only patience will exact any semblance of reward. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Three estate tasting at Canalicchio di Sopra

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casaccia 2019

La Casaccia is a brown clay with a prominence of calcium carbonate that gives this single vineyard sangiovese its colour. A place of high (8.2-8.3) pH characterized by the clay. “For me it’s sleekness,” tells Francesco Ripaccioli, “not opulence and less heaviness than from (a vineyard) of dense clay.” La Casaccia from that calcareous clay is no simple Rosso or classic Brunello for that matter and it is immediately apparent that concentration and depth of all parts manage the wine’s breadth at levels those drink earlier propositions do not. Similar grip to Riserva but not the same power although without tasting Riserva at the same time it would be hard to imagine how this could be improved or extrapolated upon. Simple but crazy complex and a most evocative elucidation to see this Brunello wooing with as much substance and intensity as it does – but these are the 2019s. A matter of deliberately annotating sangiovese and Casaccia through this interaction with a Brunello that enhances a taster’s understanding, recall and reaction to the vintage. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2023

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2019

A 1959 vineyard was no longer delivering any significant production and so it was re-planted in 2009 though this fruit joins the classic Brunello. The Montosoli fruit is from 1995-1996 vines and the total quantity is usually 35-40 hL of juice. Canalicchio di Sopra shares the hill/cru with several others including Altesino, Baricci, Caparzo, Casanova della Cerbaie, Le Gode, Le Ragnaie and Pietroso. The 2019 is not the most open expression of sangiovese but it is crunchy and saline Montosoli. Admittedly so young as a Vigna Brunello so take as much time as needed to breath in the air. Montosoli is clearly exceptional out of 2019 and tasted against La Casaccia it feels much more savoury and even a bit brooding. This is the relative assessment that makes Montosoli feel a bit salty. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Casa 2019

La Casa is the fortunate recipient of intensely factored and woven Montosoli fruit from some of Montalcino’s greatest Galestro-strewn vineyards. The levels of red scintillate-lightning fruit and mineral acidity here are simply off the charts. Magnificence and munificence, all pertness, no pretence or gratuity, simply definition, assembly and intendment. A trenchant wine that speaks in pure, unequivocal and grippy vintage voice. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2023

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta Nuova 2019

Tenuta Nuova is something next level and you know this from the moment you put nose to glass. It consumes the senses straight away with its intoxicating perfume as deep as it is strong. Muscular in that regard and exponentially so at the intersection of palate and structure. The stuffing, intensity, power and layers are what we call “off the charts” and there are but a few vintages that create, instil and then leave this kind of impression. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2023

Casanuova Delle Cerbaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli CdC 2019

A most curious and intriguing Montosoli hill sangiovese out of 2019 and one to spur the debate as to whether the northernly hill fares best in cooler, wetter, more challenging or easier vintages like this. The answer is complicated and always dependent on estate but Montosoli the cru is shared by many so most pertinent to the discussion. In this case the vintage makes for positivity because the phenolic character of this sangiovese is right there at the precipice between fruity and sapid. They can coexist so that the words adds up to flavour and that is this case in a nutshell. Acids are of a supportive quality and while wood lends just a bit too much sap and toast – these extras will dissolve and eventually become allies to the important matters of the wine. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Filo di Seta 2019

Same vintage but another matter altogether from Romitorio’s 2019 fantasy of Filo di Seta. The Annata is a meaty, darkly sanguine and almost brooding affair while FdS breathes with more marine salty air which means freshness is its introduction. An embarrassment of aromatic riches is one thing but definition and precision are another. Filo is expressive of all this and the romance on the palate plays with heartstrings but also empirically evident emotion. You could calculate a sangiovese algorithm by the numbers, exponential extrapolations and physical science of this greatly structured sangiovese. A profound sangiovese and while the classic is a very good wine its holds no candle to the Seta. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2023

Celestino Pecci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Al Carro 2019

The single vineyard (or Vigna) Poggio al Caro is near and dear to a Celestino Pecci heart and so the name rings clear and true. A focused sangiovese as ever has been cleared for tasting from this Montalcino house. A vigna sangiovese of great perfumes and seasoned to the hilt. This is the thing about 2019 Vigna out of which producers of a sensitive focus were able to coax clarity and finesse. This example hits the high notes and plays cool chords so that the wood stays background tough its drying notes will need a few years to integrate. Should hit its stride late in 2025. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo del Drago 2019

Heavy set fruit, sappy wood notes and plenty of forest all combine for a weighty, complex and ultra open-knit Brunello for the vintage. Nothing held back from Campo del Drago in fact it’s one of those all in 2019 Brunello that deliver up front seduction, even at the expense of long term gains. The goal here is an expression of impressive character that can be poured at tables where guests will be impressed by the size and star power nature of the wine. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pianrosso 2019

The single entity Pianrosso (the red plateau) is a clear and very present extension of the very classic 2019 with more grip, girth, intensity and power, though it too shows admirable restraint. This is southern Montalcino richness incarnate without heat, overarching weight or transgressions of the flesh. A very fine Etichetta labeled Brunello should be like this – confident and strong but never demanding too much from our palates. We the tasters are keenly aware of this sangiovese condition and respect what’s in this bottle. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Coesioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

A three-part blend between three Montalcino producers and friends; Riccardo Talenti, Tomasso Cortonesi and Francesco Rippacioli, with the proceeds of their projects going to local hospitals. Three farmed plots in very different parts of Montalcino and so whether the fruit comes from La Mannella, I Poggiarelli, Montosoli, Canalicchio di Sopra, Sant’Angelo in Colle, Castelnuovo dell’Abate, Ciacci Piccolomini, Collemattoni or Giodo is not the point. The combinative fruit sources will change from vintage to vintage but they are always high quality fruit sources. Here from 2018 the linearity and verticality of the vintage is captured and expressed as a Brunello that is a true cuvée composed by three studious Montalcino minds. There are times when three men like this could and likely should not agree how to layer and stick their fruit to create something special, but this is the exact opposite. It is a seamless wine with three-part tannic harmony (though not yet resolved) and all parts falling along a line with one trenchant purpose. Plenty of savour, a classic balsamic finish, some resins and drying notes too. This may as well be Riserva because it carries itself in such regard. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2023

Col di Lamo di Giovanna Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A Diletta 2019

“A Diletta,” dedicated to Giovanna Neri’s daughter and a Brunello of one vineyard only two hectares in size. The fruit is indeed richer, deeper and in a way more vibrant than the Annata but it’s also equipped with finer tannins that stand up to the fleshiness of the sangiovese. There is also more wood involved and that aspect will need a few years to melt, settle and resolve. Could be five or more before that work is finished. This carries a feeling that is usually one from Riserva conceived Brunello so that should give you an idea of where it is and where it will go. Milk chocolate on the finish. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Conti Costanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Colle Al Matrichese 2019

Take a moment, reflect even before this has even begun, focus the senses and prepare for a long connection with a 2019 from Andrea Costanti. A Brunello di Montalcino that graciously requests full attention paid because vineyard, experience and vintage have taken no liberties as it pertains to what is the necessary requiem. Aromatic wealth void of force and punch without gratuity comes out of the glass like an apparition gliding through the halls of a medieval edifice. They are sweet, flowing and casually swift. The palate and mouthfeel are one in the same – in most wines made everywhere around the world this is simply not the case. Acidity is right and it is bloody correct – whatever that means but in this case it’s true. Costanti tannins are always their best self but then there are 2019 tannins which elongate with elastic ease, always stretching forwards and return they will though it is hard to say when that will happen. It just does not happen on the finish, which is something impossibly so. Who would not wish to be frozen in this youth, impeccably fresh, limber and athletic? May act this way with generosity and charm for decades. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted November 2023

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campo Di Marzo 2019

Singular, unassailed and yet availing 2019 Vigna from Campo Marzio that may just be the most mature fruit set from a Brunello that digs deeps into sangiovese’s Montalcino depths. Fleshy yet not exactly unctuous and certainly far from cloying but this leaves an impression of red fruit aromas followed by substantial mouthfeel. Tannins are layered, variegate and in their grippiest moments severely intense. Does not mean austerity but does indicate several years are needed to untether ties, unfold creases and embolden bonds that will make this the Vigna 2019 it surely wants to be. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fiore del Vento 2019

Fiore del Vento is not Campo Marzio, nor should it be and yet their connection and bond are what put them in the same family of Vigna Brunello from vineyards that share location but also elevation and winds. As in this one where Fiore thrives and so Brunello di Montalcino is represented from a unique perspective. Fiore delivers more natural fruit sweetness and less lift, similar wood texture and in the end a softer, rounded and quicker to enjoy experience. Drink this ahead of Campo Marzio, though after the classico label. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fior di Meliloto 2019

Fior di Melioto is almost entirely unique though of course the DNA is shard with the four other ‘19s by Corte Pavone. This is expressive of the greatest aromatic perfume and lift of them all in a sangiovese of so much accumulation and concentration. It would appear that the sun and the best of the vintage shone on this parcel, not to the defect of others but this just shows more. Everything falls into place with Fior di Melioto and here is the Brunello that breaches the line to put Loacker’s deep dive into vineyard investigations into a whole new light. The next is here, the impression left one that will linger for longer than memory ever remembers and in the end we are moved by this next level of transformation. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

La Mannella Vineyard

Cortonesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Mannella 2019

Tomasso Cortonesi’s quip is messaged through the mouth of Francesco Ripaccioli: “When you have no space you have money. So you build a cellar and then you have space – but you have no money.” Appropriate irony from a northwestern Montalcinese winemaker whose La Mannella history has been one of Tetris – but that will soon change. The quality of his wines from this property arrive at peak form with an outstanding 2019 and going forward new cellar space will help to raise the bar. A bar set by these two Brunello boys who bottle in May because “that’s when the Annata are ready.” Also allows a rest period for six months in bottle ahead of Benvenuto Brunello and eight before a January release. Tomasso’s ’19 is fragrant but the kind at dusk on a cool November day in Montalcino, just like an hour ago. The most natural sweetness in a La Mannella sangiovese that has ever been noted and that makes for a Brunello you can find early gratification, but deeper down is the understanding concerning a sangiovese with fortified structure. Purely, expressly La Mannella, fresh and of a Brunello with great purpose. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2023

Poggiarelli Vineyard

Cortonesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggiarelli 2019

The artist formerly known as I Poggiarelli dropped the “I” in 2012 because, “like Facebook,” jokes Tomasso Cortonesi. These vines were planted in 1990 by father Marco and the original block furthest northeast in the vineyard from 1972 was put in by Tomasso’s grandfather. A windy place overlooking the Orcia Valley and surrounded by heavy forest. A fresh location and from ’19 comes the uncanny scent of a just bitten into fresh peach. It’s almost unfathomable how openly aromatic Poggiarelli is, for itself and also for any that have been tasted over the years. Walk the vineyard (which we did today) and the landscape within the forests will tell you so much about what is needed to know. Worth noting this is the first vintage with 15-20 percent of whole bunches in the fermentation (lasting 15-20 days). The bunches are small and the stems come out brown and dark. This was the suggestion from consulting oenologist Paolo Caciorgna. “If we don’t try, we never know,” says Cortonesi and the purpose is to induce some more volume on the wine. A risk because Brettanomyces can creep in to munch on sugars trapped inside the whole berries, especially when you rack. The attack can occur in the blink of an eye so timing and the quickest transitions must be executed, some sulphites added, all the while keeping care of pH. These are the actions that can be done to keep the microbes away. Success in 2019 without any doubt because the clarity, purity and precision of this Vigna Brunello are all in peak form. May be the earliest accessibility of a Poggiarelli yet longevity should not be questioned. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted November 2023

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Progetto Prime Donne 2019

Sidestepping away from the Annata here into the Primedonne for a Donatella sangiovese that is their vintage Brunello incarnate, rich and seasoned, vertical and expressive because it is made with reason. Lends credence for an example of what Brunello can be if more importantly become out of a gathering fixed into a moment in time. This is exactly the kind of 2019 that will act, look and taste differently each and every time because it is fickle, emotional and the most moving target in Montalcino wine. Note the acidity is never warm or cool, but always clean. For now the structure locks fruit tight and shows no sign of movement. Important for the vintage because there are many that did not find this gear, nor the potentiality of targets. Primedonne owns some and looks at many. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vallocchio 2019

Vallocchio the vineyard is a prized hillside block and expectation calls for excitement ahead of a taste, if also because the vintage should likely deliver top quality fruit. That it does but also supplies a structural set dubitably more serious from Valocchio for ’19. A verticality imagined as statuesque and so curious because many Brunelli of the vintage are ones of deep fruit impression, yet this is clearly not. There is austerity and trenchant intendment from Fanti, not entirely out of character but it shows that the family really wanted to make a serious sangiovese of longevity from and for the vintage. In this regard the classicism and heritage are followed so be aware, stay alert and exercise some patience. Drink 2027-2039. Tasted November 2023

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Fiore 2019

If the large quantity label of Annata-Classica will show youthfulness, wood and structure to need a few years further age than the single vineyard sangiovese will require two times the amount, at the very least. Vigna del Fiore fruit is deeper but also darker, richer in terms of texture and full of parts more developed. More than that are perfumes and spicing that demand attention while the interaction between fruit and structural parts are working through their motions. Having tasted the 2015 just the night before and finding it just beginning to reveal scenes two through four within act one notes tells us that 2019 VdF is likely 10 years away from that launching point. Sure it can be enjoyed to the fullest in five to seven years but the best will be a few more after that. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2023

Fattoria La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2019

Substantially increased concentration and suitably more depth from the canasta of Ciliegio while we understand that specific vineyard fruit is responsible for such a sangiovese excitation. If 2019 classica is youthful and not quite ready then getting a load of these sangiovese laces pulled tight in a Ciliegio is impossibly immovable. Some minutes in the glass makes a good difference but not nearly enough to coax out full grace and charm. There’s that lift once again but this time the acidity is both sweeter and dustier so that balsamic really makes a play. The style is modern that much is known and the riches luxe because ripenesses and extractions are each their partner for what is a very focused plan. Mouthfeel is exceptional, neither too silken or emulsified but somewhere elegantly hovering in the space between. Feels like air or space above and also below but also to both sides because this is not a round but rather a linear constructed wine. There is no happenstance but there is coincidence, as a La Magia Brunello and also as it connects and expands from the Annata label. An extra year would be preferred and the end point looks further ahead, as it must. More solid work from Fabian Schwarz. Should outlive the classica by five years at minimum. Only 2,000-2,500 bottles are produced, on the higher end with thanks to the vintage. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG Rosildo 2019

Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Castelgiocondo 2019

Such a lovely and forthright perfume to Castelgiocondo with fruit well extracted if judiciously so. This means balance from the get go and that is most appreciated with knowledge of there being ambitious potential from a vintage so high in quality. Yet the Frescobaldi team stays the course and delivers another consistent Brunello di Montalcino for loyal consumers and then to the budding adoration of a new generation alike. Such a solid wine of fruit, acid and tannin each equally and naturally sweet, one after another around the circumference, in perpetuity. Just a touch sappy at the finish but that is neither a distraction nor is it a crime. So well representative of the denomination and vintage. Quantity and quality. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Pieve Santa Restituta

Pieve Santa Restituta – Gaja Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Rennina 2019

For Angelo Gaja Rennina is akin to Barbaresco while Sugarille is like Barolo but this is Tuscany, the grape are sangiovese and so the wines are each their own entity. This Rennina is from a classic vintage when such a thing is rare these days, which means true località savour, cool herbal notes and wood that does not obfuscate Rennina’s reality. A pied de cuve alcoholic fermentation, followed by a week or two (as in 2019) of malolactic fermentation, “to fix the poly-phenolics” explains winemaker Nicola Vaglini. This happens half and half in wood and steel but the former is preferred to fix colour and stabilize the wine. Tonneaux is very much involved and bâtonnage has created an emulsified, filled in mid palate but overall the expression is from a mix that works empirically out of a sense of place. A richness and an impeccably dressed quality about this Brunello but it’s the more grounded and accessible of the two. You really do have to appreciate the freshness of the sangiovese. Feels warm on the finish which is the tannin speaking so allow two to three years for Rennina to find its calm. After that it should linger for 10 more without really changing much at all, with thanks to its terrific tension. Should also outlast Sugarille because it’s more elastic. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2023

Pieve Santa Restituta – Gaja Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sugarille 2019

Sees 24 months in wood (tonneaux and 30-60 HL botti) then six months in concrete. There are vintages however, especially warm ones when the wines need to be put back to tonneaux for a few extra aging months, given further bâtonnage and back to Botti again. This happened in 2019. The bigger, broader, more muscular and also austere of the two Brunello is Sugarille, the Barolo if you will but again Tuscan sangiovese is emphatically not nebbiolo. The truth is at first in the pudding of the aromas, sweetly herbal and floral, but then the palate is another matter altogether, built with layers upon layers of micro-oxygenated fruit and the kind of tannins that are compact, demanding and as mentioned – austere. Everything is elevated and magnified in Sugarille – you can surely see why it will age longer or more importantly once that happens it will change and move through secondary motions with greater haste then Rennina. Oxidative notes will usher in bosco, the forest floor, porcini and tartufo after 10 years or so. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Gianni Brunelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Le Chiuse di Sotto 2019

Classic perfumes from Laura at Gianni Brunelli and its Le Chuise di Sotto origins where red cherry fruit and balsamic accents coexist, heightened and fortified with 2019 fruit. A vintage of both intensity and also layering, seamless integration of all parts that can’t help but be rendered into some form of ethereal liquidity. Juicy and of a particular Montalcino twang because place and vintage come together for this tart red fruit molasses with singularly exotic spiced accents. Style and necessity are in the house for Gianni Brunelli. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

Gorelli Giuseppe Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Il Marroneto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Madonna Delle Grazie 2019

The label of Alessandro Mori’s Madonna Delle Grazie had not ever changed but today the name of the farm is more prominent than the denomination. This is now essential to Mori because things and times have changed. In his opinion too many Brunello di Montalcino are not representative or respectful of heritage, familial and estate culture but especially the genius loci of place. Too many that have lost the way and are brands, built by marketing and hollowness. The question here and of more importance with respect to Madonna Delle Grazie is do we like the wine? The answer is an emphatic and quite frankly epiphanic yes. The MdG’s power is not about killing you softly but instead holding onto and gripping the senses by explaining with unequivocal doubt what it means to be sangiovese grown at 420m on the northeastern slope of the Montalcino hill. This 2019 gains your full and complete attention at first with scents kicked up from underfoot on a moonless November night, but then by truth explained through differences made abundantly clear. Depth and profundity exceeding the majority of wines from this vintage, even while many of them would try to sku the mind to want to believe. You may until you taste a Brunello like this and Alessandro insists that you shouldn’t allow “50 percent of the wines make you think think the vintage is not great, because 2019 is fantastic.” He would of course be correct and his Vigna is hyper real but also generous. Acidity is essential and here dominant to help keep this sangiovese see to decades of enjoyment. What’s so incredible is how we don’t even talk about tannin in Il Marroneto’s Brunello, not because they are not there, nor are they taken for granted. They are pure and woven into the fabric, as they should be. Keep in mind this is not Riserva. “Only nature can decide what will become a Riserva. It has to be a monster.” Drink 2027-2045. Tasted November 2023

Il Palzzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Le Due Porte 2019

Le Due Porte is the name of the vineyard taken from the località of that name and the vineyard geology is unique, based on two variations of sandstone. One is Arenaria, ubiquitous to Tuscany and the other Pietranera, the Montalcino way of saying Pietraforte. Just like what happens from vintage to vintage with the Annata (classico) the same occurs for the “two doors.” In other words an exaggeration of Il Palazzone riches, from scents specific to these lands through silken glycerol mouthfeel and finally the knowable balsamic that is this place. More wood is felt to no surprise from truly traditional Brunello di Montalcino that sticks to its heritage in the production and refinement of sangiovese that could only come from this estate. The age abilities for Le Due Porte will indeed be long and fruitful. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Fiore Di NO 2019

Notably next step up and level for 2019 sangiovese with more aromatic presence and especially seasoning which is clearly the calling of Etichetta and even more so Vigna-designated wines. Shows off more and more special parts, expresses more feelings of place and doubles down on culture with respect to heritage and tradition. This too takes nothing for granted and so Fiore di NO should and will be respected for its gentle and restrained nature. Fine sangiovese is a good thing. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

La Fortuna Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Giobi 2019

Etichetta labeled 2019 Giobi is a fine step forward and up for La Fortuna, fruit of a similar if surely richer ilk. You can really feel the extra levels and layers of constituent parts that form, build and mold this sangiovese into the full and substantial edifice it is. Should drink well for a decade and a half from now. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Pieve 2019

More settling and caution comes from La Pieve of fruit quite proper and well utilized in a dozen ways that best the Annata label for La Gerla. Still the tones and lift run high but that fruit is respected and the cask aging of much less distraction. This would be a very solid classica and as a Vigna Brunello it’s serviceable if unexceptional. Not the most ideal vintage for La Gerla where some challenges were surely faced. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

Le Gode Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2019

Single sight stage presence is Le Gode’s 2019 act, of ripeness, cooling effects, sweet savour, clarity and purity. Like the Annata but a bit more concentrated while also expressive of the place, that being the important hill just to the northern sector of the higher and more historic centre. Everyone wants a pice of Montosoli and the Ripaccioli part in the hands of precocious makers like Carlotta Ripaccioli is a big deal. It’s real responsibility and this 2019 shows just how much care, sweat, passion and especially maturity are how collective respect is being shown to these crucial Montalcino vineyards. Once again tannins are not the driver and acidity lifts fruit up higher but still within a sphere of influence, gentle touch and style. A well made and frankly volupté Montosoli if not really one to lose in the cellar. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Manapetra 2019

As expected and predicted Vigna Manapetra takes up where the classica label leaves off and squares the parts for an ideal extrapolative extension that speaks so well this young. The fact that such substantial fruit comes swelling out of vineyard and into glass means that wood and tannins act calmer, sweeter, finer and more developed. Here is just lovely and full Vigna Brunelllo that will drink well as early as La Leccaia and also longer though it will be hard to avoid consuming whatever bottles are ever popped and whenever that happens. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Persante 2019

Lovely swirl of fruit richness in Le Rasina’s Etichetta Brunello 2019 and acidity that marches along stride for stride. Gentle swarthiness as well, an effect of all kinds of soil, weather and conditions but in harmony no matter the sidestepping of subtle sauvage. Chewy wine with crispy edges, angles if not sharp ones and some proper austerity in the drying tannins. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Casanovina Montosoli 2019

There is the temptation to say that northern Montalcino vineyards are no longer cooler, even while they are surely that as compared to the south. Montosoli is still a cool place and the sangiovese may be ripe from 2019 but its structural backbone is one of austere tannins and near raging acidity. Though this is true the vintage gifts some pretty succulent and fleshy fruit with orange zest, tart peach and red citrus running amok. Bit off a wild vintage for Casonovina, not in a sauvage, funky sausage or swarthy way, but the austerity meeting juicy tang and a feeling of “animale” makes for a seriously notable act of sangiovese intensity. The potential is for the whole and the profound so exercise patience, come back in three years and then let the games begin. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Passo del Lume Spento 2019

Passo del Lume Spento is the newest addition though by now an experienced Vigna Brunello from 620m which puts it at the perch of elevation for sangiovese in Montalcino. No surprise there is more light, extreme freshness and also tightly wound sangiovese which means that of the five Brunello made by Riccardo Campinoti it is this that seems the least vintage obvious. Consistency is ingrained into this sangiovese’s nature and perfumes are what define not only its entry but its destination. That and tannin which is drying, austere and profound – this is what puts this near unicorn of of Montalcino wine in vintage light because fruit, flesh and texture will almost certainly keep up for what could be a very long and slow process on the path to maturity. This is a really ideal vintage for this wine to find its next gear with a coursing mineral mix of karst and also flesh from bone. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted November 2023

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Petroso 2019

Petroso is the newer of vineyard plantings at the estate just to the south of Montalcino village and like Passo del Lume Spento is now coming into its own. High elevation though not quite like PDLM but still height matters in terms of solar radiation, day for night temperatures and freshness incarnate. A deeper tone here both from clay and sand but also vintage with 2019 delivering all the goods so that plenty of flesh hangs on these sangiovese bones. This has so many layers to peel away and to reveal what more there is to be discovered. It would be wise to point out how many people will likely fall in love with this most unctuous of Riccardo Campinoti’s Petroso but it currently lacks the complexity of the other Vigna wines. Just a bit of chalky bitterness at the finish suggests the tannins need to resolve to bring in the question of age. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino V.V. DOCG 2019

Yes V.V. stands for Vecchie Vignes, old vines in other words and so come for the concentration, stay for the vintage party. Richness out of ripeness squared and yet acidity preserved for freshness kept no matter the Brunelllo by Le Ragnaie. There is that blood orange juiciness again, not quite 2013 sanguine but it’s there in an almost succulent and mouth-watering way. Though there is austerity there is so much to back it up and the parts are each in their correct place. Makes for a focused sangiovese with great potential. The tannins here are riper and less chalky than Petroso, the finish cleaner, again fresher and the final result quite satisfying. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2023

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Loreto 2019

A similarity or thread comes into the single Loreto vineyard label though this is clearly amplified and more substantial sangiovese. Fuller and also more tannic with some tension between the fruit and its structural parts. More wood obviously and the modern sort that needs to dissolve before occupying new areas of a Brunello that shows really good length. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Schiena d’Asino 2019

Top parcel for Mastrojanni on two adjacent slopes in declension from a shared ridge between with 360-390m of elevation. One faces southeast and the other southwest, planted together in 1975. Just about 45 years of age and in 2019 picking was on October the 2nd. Sees 42 months in 16hL Allier barrels though you’d never know it because the French wood is so beautifully integrated. Surely herbal, brushy and balsamic on the nose but that is just a fraction of the generosity and the complexity this Vigna (or in a sense Vigne) Brunello is wanting to give. Crunchy sangiovese is just this type and if it’s not yours then you may not be paying attention. A serious glass of Brunello here, layered with variegate stony terroir feels and fruit captured in its veritable essence. Vigna Schiena d’Asino is one of the wines that define the vintage, especially for the southern reaches of Montalcino. Those who choose to afford a bottle should purchase at least two because the temptation is real and one may just have to be sacrificed early to see what all this fuss is about. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted January 2024

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Veltha 2019

Veltha is altra tipologia as in a fantasy name for a Brunello that essentially means a “selection” of vineyards, vines or casks. Imagination kicks in because this is what Veltha (from Etruscan mythology, Voltumna or Veltha was the chthonic – relating to or inhabiting the underworld deity) who became the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, the deus Etruriae princeps, according to Varro. Essentially a more calm if luxe, suave and silken version of a Máté Brunello with more juiced orange and blood orange than the classica. Veltha’s structure is already softening and so the drinkability is high though agea-ability less so. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2023

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ofelio 2019

Ofelio is altra tipologia as in a fantasy name for a Brunello that essentially means a “selection” of vineyards, vines or casks. Clear, present and devilishly dangerous sangiovese because like the Classica there is volume, dimension and great acidity. What takes it further is the spice component and the intoxication of fragrance. A much fuller expression but also one with great fantasy. This Ofelia will age and it may be really important to let that happen. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Pinino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Pinino 2019

Vigna Pinino of an iteration that was gifted all the best vintage fruit so that the classica label is really all wood and not much else. The Vigna is a better if still spiced and toasty example. Still it’s more wood than anything else and quite lactic within the overall mix of wood and lavender paste. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2023

Podere Giardino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Le Tracce 2019

Highly unusual for a 2019 Brunello and in this case also for the declamation in general. Sappy, resinous and artificially constructed aromas indicate faults, non-traditional style and suspect winemaking practices. From southerly vines near Sant’Angelo in Colle and a long (36 month) aging time spent in French wood. Soaked up too much, clouded the fruit and in the end there is high alcohol and a lack of balance.Tasted November 2023

Sebastian Nasello

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Cielo di Ulisse 2019

A team of 33 strong manages a 100,000 total bottle production for Francesco Illy’s Podere Le Ripi. In 2016 the estate grew from 12 to 34 hectares and is today under the guidance of CEO and Winemaker Sebastian Nasello. Two terroirs for Brunello, to the east Castelnuovo and Camigliano area in the west. Cielo Di Ulisse is Brunello from the latter, bottled back in May. This alluvial terroir is shared with Antinori’s Pian delle Vigne, of lower elevation down by the river with a surround of forest. A place that struggles in rainy seasons with an average yield of 6-7 tonnes per hectare. Other estates here are Cupano and Elia Palazzesi. This is a terroir where the ancient retreating river moved and left behind sand, outcrops of Galestro, erosion and run-off down from the hill of Campo del Drago and Capanna. Some Pietraforte is also found. Has settled in with six months refinement and the vintage is one “where both the (western and eastern” sectors performed in a positive way.” No real stressors, quality and quantity, higher yields in their alluvial area where that schisty Galestro and also the Pietraforte have their place. Fine, clean and precise for Montalcino, a transparent red juiciness and succulence that shows early picked sangiovese and captured acidity, both at their ripest for the time and place. There is an underlying earthiness, neither chalky nor sous bois but something sweetly vegetal. Fine and also a beef bone marrow quality, a bit grasso” grassy and oily. Flows naturally and lingers long. Likely some this label’s better to best tannins though pH is under control and the aforementioned acidity stays strong. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino Amore e Magia DOCG 2019

At Castelnuovo in the east the challenge is in the hot vintages where the silty, sandy calcarativo terroir is not high in limestone nut more like a calcareous dust. Also a calanico of clay so the geology is quite diverse. The key overarching plan is to find balance between phenolic maturity and acidity. “We are one of the first to pick,” tells Sebastian Nasello, starting at the beginning of September, even the end of August. “I want to work on the pH as best I can and not lose the spicy acidity.” He also insists on capping alcohol at 14.5 percent, especially when working with natural ferments and low use of sulphites. “Amore E Magia” is Brunello from Le Ripi’s estate vineyards, specifically the single plot of Magia and so here is a label that combines love and the place. A warmer place and because of the easy and low stress vintage this would have been picked very early, right at the advent of September when acids ran high, pH had yet to rise and tannins were still just a bit green. Fermented in foudres, aged in grandi botti (by Bozen) for 28 months, followed by concrete for eight or nine more. Shows fuller body but also depth of fruit than the Cielo though less brightness and excitability. It’s a matter of place and it should be supposed also style though cousins are kin and these wines know one another very well. The variegate tannins express character and lend this Brunello its personality. Mixed geology at this farm has much to do with the wine’s final result. Ageing should be long. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2023

Tasting Poggio Antico

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Vigna I Poggi 2019

Poggi is the cru within the cru, the vineyard at the highest point of the estate (upwards of 600m) and planted in 2005. “Ten years ago the wines that came out of this vineyard were too fresh,” admits Alessio Sostegni. The evolution of the vineyard has come to act out a meeting of concentration and acidity for a guarantee of freshness and so deserves to be a Vigna-designate Brunello. Aging includes some 23 hL Stockinger botti and this is a wine that shows the recent beneficial changes made at Poggio Antico. Speaks to climate change but also higher attention paid to organics, sustainability and the fact that the estate is an isolated one and every vintage is very different. Replaces the more ubiquitous Altero label which was a barrel selection and now Vigna is both a reflection of change but also necessity, if only because PA doesn’t need to rely on the idea of barrel selection to make a next level wine. It means the team is evolving and doing what is right today. Lots of limestone and schist derived Galestro, poor soils and the sangiovese delivers citrus, like blood orange (including zest and pith), the idea of bergamot, but also a very unique mineral chalkiness that streaks through the entirety of the wine. That is the language of soils talking and it is a taster’s imperative to pay close attention. The days of Altero were those that tried to impress but I Poggi changes the discourse and now the wine is about making an impression. This is very worth getting hands on a few bottles. There are not so many available. Approximately 7,000 bottles produced. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Ridolfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Donna Rebecca 2019

Donna Rebecca Etichetta Brunello 2019 is a sangiovese of great hyperbole as it pertains to the Annata of the same season. More of the cooler climate perfumes, upticks in acidity and lift, uptakes of seasoning and all the green elements from low lying bushes and high arching trees. Also an element of glycerol and unctuous texture. Finding the VA and the wood resins a bit over the top in this vintage. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

Ruffino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Greppone Mazzi 2019

Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2019

The estate was sold to Sabine and Felix Eichbauer in 2017 but all four Brunello (including three single vineyard labels) continue to hold great respect for the work of Francesco Leanza. Piaggione was Leanza’s Riserva and while the Eichbauers have transferred that power into Teatro, there is no loss of love for this single vineyard. Not hard to notice the extra layer of concentration and fruit layering from Piaggione and so that austerity and compactness in the Annata is lessened and forgiven through this Brunello. A finer expression that feels rounder and more natural but recent history does remind us that Piaggone’s tannins are sneaky ones waiting in the wings and shadows of the hidden meaning of the wine. Once again I am reminded of tasting the freshest pre-alcoholic fermentation fruit from the vat and with this kept in mind there is power in the knowledge of prediction. Piaggione also shows the slightest lift and Bretty moment but its tannins are sound and the sangiovese stays juicy from beginning to end. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2023

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sorgente 2019

The most substance and power comes from Sorgente, much more than Piaggione and clearly as compared to the classica Annata. What’s also evident is the tension between parts, all elastically tied in tether to one another, stretching, expanding and contracting on what seems like an endless or perpetual basis. Moments of acting crispy, chewy and crunchy are on the cycle and so fruit, acid and tannin all take turns, one after another, then back to the beginning again. The wheel keeps on turning and we don’t know where Sorgente will be tomorrow but the ferment, elévage, aging and now bottle time have all gone extremely well. This will age somewhat indefinitely and become a Brunello for the ages. Drink 2028-2040. Tasted November 2023

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2019

More volume and substance of course when you taste Helichrysum side by each with Katia Nussbaum’s classica but still the restraint and the stream of consciousness charm is what you seek in this fantasy of a wine. The cask is yet to fully integrate and the piques of spice fill the spaces in between, but given four years this will show its grace. At 10 it will accompany you for a memorable meal. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2023

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino Podernovi DOCG 2019

Podernovi takes perfume and aromatic seasoning to another level for a San Polo Brunello and 2019 answers the call for such effect-reward. Spiced with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, an almost kimchi spiciness and complexities running hither, thither and amok. A fine example of Etichetta from a prized vineyard location and all the possibilities in effect for probabilities going forward. Really well made. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2023

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vignvecchia 2019

Next level richness and concentration from the old vines Annata, above and beyond both classica and Podernovi. That said the Vignavecchia also holds cards for things Podernovi does not and lacks parts that its sister uses to great effect. The old vineyard knows experience and makes use of that acumen for a sangiovese of depth and complexity. It misses the precocious nature and liveliness of Podernovi but truth is this wine is years away from being ready and will outlive the others for a long and generous life. The tension in this wine tells us about these matters and so put them away, forget about them and return in four or more years time. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2023

Siro Parenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pelagrilli 2019

There is some surprise in the higher tonality and lift out if Siro Pacenti’s Pelagrilli because as an Etichetta label the expectation might have been richerm more baritone and somber style. Not the case in fact it’s the purity and transparency that sets this sangiovese apart from the Classica bottle. There is in fact more wood that is noted on the palate and the wonder will be if more than just Botti are used. The lavender, graphite and violets suggest otherwise and while major complexities are emitted there is this sense that a grand amount of time will be needed to integrate the parts of this ’19. A full expression of Brunello indeed, oscillating and moving in circles, especially on the palate. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2023

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piero 2019

Always bears reminding that Piero is a single vineyard at the estate below the village of Sant’Angelo in Colle that spends 24 months in tonneaux (new, second and third passage). The finale becomes a blend of these vessels in whatever increments are necessary to invoke and cement harmony. This vineyard designate wine also delivers the greatest sweet acids that make the fruit seem as ripe as is conscionable but the truth is something different. A marriage of cherry and peach with spicy pomegranate and it is the freshness of this sangiovese that piques the nose with a peppery tickle. It’s uncanny how Piero’s concentration always seems to have this effect. Solid if ever so tantalizingly salty, micro-climate conspicuous and then you add in this omnipresent quality of near perfect grapes out of a season that gifted everything – the consensus attitude and conclusion is of a wine that speaks in the clearest Montalcinese vernacular as if it were the language itself. Hard to find any fault or letdown in its presentation and architecture. The tannins are just about 100 percent ripe and as for issues, well there are none. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted November 2023

Tassi Di Franci Franca Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tassi Franci 2019

Rich, spicy and developed fruit with high if cooling acidity for a full aromatic complement that does just that for the vintage. Notable wood to assimilate and resolve before Tassi’s 2019 reaches its goal. Fine work once again and a sangiovese that speaks in very correct terms for its place and time. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2023

Tassi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Colombaiolo 2019

One of a few Colombaiolo single vineyard sangiovese in Montalcino and from Tassi a high toned and mildly swarthy one with a note of Brettanoymces present. Not a large one but it does dry out the finish after what began as an aromatically gregarious sangiovese with knowable potential. Need to find the right food pairing, preferably a traditional cinghiale or coniglio braise with a rich, wine-developed sauce. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ugolforte 2019

Poggio di Sotto’s sister property lower down the hill and under the auspices of the Collemasari group has grown out of its adolescence into a southerly Montalcino adult. The 2019 Ugolforte is ripe fruit cumulate, sweet acid driven and quite structured as compared to most of its first vintages. Wood spice and also those in the cupboard are present in masala form, dried at present while slowly working their way into the rich liquidity of the sangovese. Promise and potential are high with a future that should develop some earthy baritone notes. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Doria 2019

Magnifying classica is often what Vigna and/or Etichetta will do, as here with Nardi’s Poggio Dora. Much more profound fruit richness and layers to peel away but what matters more is how well the concentration stands up to the wood it is more than willing to receive. There is great richness here and there is one much needed tension to see this travel several years into the future. A long finish speaks to that regard. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

With Vincenzo Abbrusseze of Valdicava

Valdicava Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2019

Up until the 1970s Vincenzo Abbruzzese’s maternal grandfather Bramante Martini owned most of the Montosoli hill but he sold it off and in 2008 Valdicava purchased a small piece back, later to make a first Brunello in 2015 with the cru written on the label. Full south facing 1.3 hectare plot that was originally only bottled in 1,500 magnums but the first Classica size comes with this 2019 vintage. It begins with Abbruzzese saying that all great wines have a secret. “Vineyard, vineyard, vineyard,” meaning location, location, location. Montosoli was bottled more recently than the “normale” but still at least a few months back. Considering it has not traveled anywhere (except to the next room) it is surely settled. One of Valdicava’s labels (of a character half man and half woman) is a depiction by the Sienese Renaissance painter Domenico di Pace Beccafumi who painted the Archangel Michele in that tradition. At the time the artist was at odds with his church commissioners. The Montosoli label is of Jesus in Limbo, a then blasphemous image because it was something that did not exist. Abbruzzese is passionate about horses (he owns 30 of them) and also the arts and so the allegories help explain when he says his sangiovese are made “to celebrate that spirit living in a place.” That being Montosoli which from 2019 is rich, structured and immovable, like a Beccafumi that hangs through the centuries. Seriously Galestro-Pietraforte flaky and chalky, so far away from its intended destination. Some yeasty distraction but nothing more, a Montosoli produced with respect to neighbour Elisabetta Gnudi and her holdings at Altesino. Many layers are here to unfold during what will be a long and steady climb before the true notion of sublime and ethereal can be discussed. True balance is in order. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2023

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Al Granchio 2019

In the words of Angelini Wines and Estates COO Andrea Lonardi MW, Poggio Al Granchio from the eastern side of Montalcino is all about citrus and often unripe, angry tannins. In other words a Brunello of great potential. Poggio al Granchio is clearly high level Etiichetta-Vigna Brunello though in 2019 also rounder and less tension filled than Vigna del Lago. Here the smoothness of style and richness of parts gather for full and substantial sangiovese from which wood is a much greater factor. ‘Tis quite chocolaty and while time will help integrate that wood it will also continue to soften the overall impression we will get form the wine. Goo finishing spice and complex flavours remind us of grape and place but also season. Notable gaminess that is ostensibly and veritably Granchio take over the palate. A sanguine 2019, more than any of the others. a very good Brunello to try, especially in line with the other Val di Suga 2019s. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Spuntali 2019

Crunchy Vigna Spuntali from the southwest slope, a place of Mediterranean fauna, especially olive trees and Ginestra. Sols are sandstone and harder Pietraforte that deal in grapes that are spicy, with notes of orange candy and relatively softer tannins. Spuntali exists somewhere on a line between Vigna del Lago and Poggio al Granchio or maybe it is better viewed as a Brunello that combines the best of those other two worlds. Plenty of substantial fruit, more than notable wood, spice and seasoning but also great energy and focus. This Brunello is alive with the season and the fruit it was blessed to provide. There is a bleed of sanguinity but also lift from really high acidity. A cooler collection of sangiovese selected it would seem to result in a 2019 that both rises high and then seeks patience for time. This may just be the pearl in Val di Suga’s oyster and that of its wisdom. Hard not to notice the evergreen on the finish, typical of heavily forested western Montalcino and the always present mint at the finale. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2023

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Del Lago 2019

It may be the coolest of the three vineyard locations but this 2019 Vigna del Lago is special. It is here hat fruit compounds, layers and develops great richness, like the skins of the grapes within the bunches, keeping the flesh within so fresh and ready to burst. These must have been grapes that needed almost no pressing or “svinatura” because the plumpness and exceptionally clean clarity is near the top of the echelon in Vigna-designate wines. More than ample to generous acidity and also wood takes this to another place altogether for Brunello 2019 that impresses but the next level of impression is several years away. This is as near complete a 2019 Vigna as they come – the future will be really interesting. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Capanna Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Capanna Riserva is just that from 2018, befitting of the appellative profile having taken full advantage of the best fruit available to adhere and to fix a style. This is unctuous and also luxe sangiovese though not as tannic and unforgiving as some. Less crunchy and more silken though those tannins do express a certain expectation as a request for at least two more years of waiting. When they resolve they will do so quickly and so there will be a five year window where this wine will be at its finest before submitting to notes dominated by tartufo and “bosco.” Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2023

Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Adalberto 2018

“To Alberto” is a fine ode of Riserva and while the 2019 Annata are shining bright it is important to appreciate these next year retrospective looks at a vintage of variability. Riserva from Caprili is true blue appellative sangiovese because its swirl and fruit ooze are part of the distillate liqueur style that define the operation. This is Riserva richness incarnate and anyone looking to be pleased by a style which is precisely how they see it, well ’18 Adalberto will satisfy. Unequivocally a wine that was made with the best selection in order to fulfill promise and gift reward. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2023

Carpineto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Highly stylized sangiovese from Carpineto and clearly worthy of the Riserva calling if impossible not to notice the place at elevation with as mush southern brassiness as there is in Montalcino. Richness from fruit, sweet acids and wood resins all combine for true Riserva capability and the effort is duly noted. Lovely and stylish ’18 by Carpineto and worthy of accolades to any degree that is wished to be forthcoming. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Fontelontano 2018

A healthy liqueur in this Fontelontano Riserva Brunello from Collemattoni and a sangiovese expressive of something more than Annata can provide. A Brunello of major fruit and near equal cask, swirling if also oozing with naturally sweet red fruit flavours and a complimentary sweetness that wood is want to provide. This is very specific and beautiful in its very own way, neither lifted nor austere but in a way rounded, smooth, creamy and as mentioned, highly distinct. Some are vertical and some travel the circumference of a circle, creatively and not on a strict line but with the ability to move as a pack of its parts. Such is Collemattoni and many will relish the fineness but also the softness of its style. The source may be from far away but it’s surely one of inspiration, fonte di ispirazione. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2023

Collosorbo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Like the 2019 Annata this Collosorbo Riserva from the previous vintage provides an aromatic mess of spice that dominate within the exotic perfume. Once again this combination of place and winemaking does everything to encourage such a wild masala emission. That would be a località most proximate to Castelnuovo dell’Abate and the abbey of Sant’Antimo is the southeastern part of Montalcino. A place of V-shaped valleys that might be compared to certain parts of Barolo where warm seasons are contrasted and tempered by soils that offer cool respite to vines. A crunchy Riserva here from Collosorbo that uses its spices to make sure the wine is expressed with great complexity no matter the austerity or mild astringency of tannins and the finish. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2023

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Molino Al Vento 2018

The front label does not mention Poggio Molino al Vento, a.k.a. the windmill on the hill but that and this is Riserva with 2018 as its benefactor. A high toned one at that with fruit lifted by acidity that is without compromise a product of western Montalcino elevation and very exposed vineyards. To counteract and balance that effect there is quite a lot of barrel on this 2018 PMaV that trips the switch and transfers light onto the palate. Also a sappiness and richness of wood, not quite creamy but certainly gelid or thickened. Challenging vintage to effect Riserva when several Annata (and Vigna) are produced and this does well to find its legs. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Elia Palazzesi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Collelceto 2018

A wise and by now quite settled example of 2018 Riserva that presents with just about ready to drink amenability. Softening fruit and tannins are on the same page whereby a quick decant or aeration will ready this to be poured. Softer and simpler with easy and rounded corners, a caressing texture and nurturing glass of knowable red fruit sangiovese. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Next level fruit from 2018 Riserva but nothing out of the ordinary for Fattoi or the vintage and yet it’s hard not to see this as a most generous expression of that topsy turvy season. Just as 2019 Annata makes itself available the same can be said for 2018 Riserva. A fine wine of fluidity and brace, comfort and nurturing. Lovely swirl around and around, a round sangiovese but yet there are some tense moments because it is after all sangiovese. Fulsome and plenty of energy in the body politic to dance and please for years to come. Brava once again from the very philanthropic estate and always wine of great heritage. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ripa al Convento di Castelgiocondo 2018

Full ripeness, concentration and gravitas fills the bottles of Frescobald’s Riserva label for the historic edifice of Ripa al Convento di Castelgiocondo. Here is a Brunello di Montalcino so right and exacting for the times, full advantage of the best aspects of 2018 captured and disseminated by a team of experts. Readier than most ‘18s because of natural fruit sweetness but even more so acidity of a similar if even higher ilk. The tannins are surprisingly unaggressive which allow for access this early in a Riserva’s tenure. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2023

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Not all estates produced Riserva out of 2018 and yet those who did usually made the decision because their vineyard would have reframed better than many. Il Palazzone’s oldest vineyard of 50-plus years is such a place and worthy of gifting fruit for said purpose. This 2018 is blessed of both an aromatic and also textural liqueur that speaks to experience, concentration and finally refinement. There is almost no comparison between the Annata and Vigna ‘18s and this Riserva. Things are both heightened and finer in Riserva though the wine is far from dense. The mouthfeel is silken like organza textile and the fruit beautifully resolved. Acids are quite sweet and the only distraction comes from some vanilla candle-scented, as yet unresolved four and a half years spent aging in wood. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Fruit is worthy and wood is greater in Riserva from 2018 and memory says that Annata was just as expressive if more to the Montalcino point. Still there are important tenets and aspects to Riserva 2018, perhaps even some history in its shadows and things we just don’t know or understand. It’s a wine of the past, or feels like one and hard to predict when it will act more open in the future. Give it a few years to heal its tannic wounds and open up further. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

On a roll is how to best describe La Leccaia’s trajectory because retreating retrospectively back into Riserva 2018 there are emotions in reflections that speak about great Brunello from an estate that is doing yeoman work. Respectful work if modern and the kind of Brunello that appeal to the potential of a growing audience. If Brunello di Montalcino wishes to attract new consumers and lovers than La Leccaia’s wines are part of that plan. Riserva is beautiful, luxe and lovely. That is all. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

La Serena Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gemini 2018

A much fuller and richer expression of fruit and structure for La Serena and so it is clear that Gemini is the best selection of the estate’s fruit. On top of this fine layering comes quite a bit of wood in saps and resins to make for a Brunello that shows its makers’ hands. Will live a promising life though the wood will always be front and centre and if bottles are opened too distant in the future that fruit will have faded along. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1-2-3 2018

Perhaps, well in fact more fantasy from the imagination of Patrizia Cencioni and this time in Riserva from the 2018 season. One of success because extra care was surely taken to seek out and select the finest fruit available when less of that substance was available. Full with some thin or at least linear middle ground in which the wood adds weight and resinous fleshiness to make sure the whole package is delivered. Not a top vintage but one done up well and right. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Lupi e Sirene DOCG 2018

Podere Le Ripi’s location in southeastern Montalcino is key to understanding the positive outlook for a Riserva made out of the 2018 vintage. This from a single vineyard though the vines were still a bit stressed in the year following the extremely hot and dry 2017. And yet they bounced back enough to gift high level concentration of both fruit and tannin, one succulent, the other sweet. “The problem of the climate of today,” explains Sebastian Nasello “is that acids are lost and there is nothing you can do about it.” Nasello does not care about colour or tannins that are not perfectly ripe. Concrete stabilizing and longer aging can correct these things to a certain degree. “High pH is a warning for me.” His philosophy means that in 2018 the pick happened in the middle of September and aging was just about 30 months in the Bozen casks, not much longer than the Annata. That said it was released a full year later (as per the disciplinare) and yet this does in fact show more wood, vintage related for sure as the wine is weightier, unexpected, simply what it is. Still a bit shy and closed but some fatness and roundness will set a sangiovese that drinks dutifully in fine Riserva style not much more than six months from now. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Tasting with Poggio Antico winemaker Alessio Sostegni

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva 2018

I Poggi is the highest part of the vineyards while Riserva comes from the vines right in front of the cellar, south exposed and the highest concentration of fruit. “Our thinking behind the Riserva is a wine that can last over the years,” first iterated by Riccardo Bogi and oenologist Alessio Sostegni is in total accord. From the “plateau,” and half of the grapes become this volumetric and structured Riserva. Vinification in only stainless steel, four weeks of maceration and just two years in wood; small amount in tonneaux, old 25 hL Slavonian oak and one cask of 40 hL Grandi Botti. “We don’t have a recipe for every year,” says Sostegni. “It depends on the vintage.” You feel the density and the aromatic spice – you will have to be patient with this Brunello because the sauce and the alcohol on the nose are quite peppery strong. Also vanilla, graphite and mix of Amari liqueurs. Right now the lightest fruit elements are rising to the top but with time the wine will swirl, integrate and emulsify. It will come together and show much finer harmony. Approximately 5,000 bottles produced. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

The Riserva is usually aged for 45 months in one 30 hL cask but the vintage requested that amount of time be reduced and the makers heeded the advice to leave this 2018 fruit for 30 instead. A wise choice because the wood would have almost surely given more than its share to bother and smother the fruit. Why not even less is the obvious question but this is the finest fruit in the finest casks still deserving of a good long slumber. Not to mention 30 years of experience by a team with most members having all been there together. Clearly, unequivocally and universally Poggio di Sotto Montalcino, with the most vertical sangiovese from upwards of 500m at elevation and fruit so pure it aches with reality. Restrained at 14 percent as per the vintage call and acids so precise they give off a sheen that hits when the light is just right. The balsamic is a catalyst and the tannins express as much bright succulence as both the fruit and acids, both of which linger long after the wine has gone. A top 2018 by all accounts. Last tasted January 2024

For Montalcino the 2018 Riserva, as with the Annata before, are extremely variable sangiovese. The best are those born of careful selection after ensuring farming was executed as flawlessly as possible due to the challenge of a wet vintage. Not until 2023 will these great rains repeat though in 2018 they were much later, affecting harvest for those who were unlucky, out of synch or not on time. Poggio di Sotto put in the work and so their ’18 sangiovese was top notch and this Riserva equally so. Well dressed, seasoned and cut like a fine julienne, linear and vertical as a sangiovese must enact for this very particular vintage. Not one for the ages but a fine Riserva that will drink well 10-15 years forward. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Riserva 2018 is very different to Annata 2018 because of vintage obviously but also stylistic decisions. The extra level of spiciness and peppery piques on the nose indicate string cask usage and a sangiovese that has yet to cool itself before it pours as it was intended to. Still the bones are strong and the wine well structured if not entirely an example viewed as truly complex. Good Riserva with good length is always a proper thing. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Poggio San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

Quite the emotion to taste San Polo Riserva alongside its three Annata ‘19s and while some estate’s lose the connection or DNA – that is far from the case for San Polo. This clearly shows that 2018 fruit was spread to all of the children with equanimity but maybe just a bit more love was headed Reserva’s way. Its concentration is on par with Vignavecchia 2019 and it bones as vertical as Podernovi of that same vintage. What it really expresses is blanketing, nurturing and covering warmth. The fruit is exceptional, the length equally so and for the vintage this is a very fine example of the appellation. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2023

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2018

A closed phase for Siesta’s ’18 Riserva which is not entirely surprising, nor is it any great phenomenon. It is a however great Phenomena, of nature, surely once having been ready and forthcoming, now stubborn and set in its ways. This will change and things will change again. A Phenomena of heritage and tradition but always some fantasy I suppose with chalky tannins and greater structure than the pellucid character might otherwise suggest. Not sneaky because what is sneaky but shall we say a sangiovese that waits its turn. Let’s project just for fun and say three to fours years forward with six up to 10 blessed years of sipping after that. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta La Fuga Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Due Sorelle 2018

Bit of a struggle here with Riserva 2018 that’s quite lifted and unsettled. Big mess of fruit and acids, reduced if still quite intensely balsamic out of a very traditional Brunello that shows some vintage ambition. Crunchy to the nth degree, must be accompanied by cultural Montalcino (or Tuscan) cuisine and enjoyed with a group willing to pay close attention to the details in a parochial style of the local sangiovese. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

On the lighter and less ambitious side of the Riserva spectrum, not unusual and in fact appreciated from the vintage. A take what 2018 is want to give and pay respect to the levels of fruit concentration and structure made available. There is some sweetness to the acids and a repeat in the tannins with spices and cinnamon heart spiciness to carry fruit energetically forward. Not what some would consider proper in terms of Riserva but drinking really well nonetheless. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Other Vintages and Campione di Botti

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2021 (Campione)

Beautioful perfume that speaks to ’21’s gentle swarthiness. Hard to believe what a settled place in which this has already come to pass. Tells Maximilian Hildebrandt, “if it wasn’t for the frost this would have been a very balanced vintage.”

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Teatro 2021 (Campione)

Just so much more serious, structured and poised, not to say anything negative about Piaggione but it does not hold a vertical candle to Teatro. This is the epitome of finding succulenza reduced in a botte sample, Precision is drawn with an architectural line and if this is in fact muscular you would only know by the verticality of its tannins. A special vineyard but many people think the opposite. The question begs, is Teatro akin to Bourgogne? Perhaps – it’s depth and length are finest.

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Teatro Finari Alti 2021 (Campione)

From the highest (alto) reach of the vineyard, now separated unto itself, smaller berries and like the approach of Lorenzo Magnelli at Le Chiuse who directs this special fruit into Brunello and when the season is right, also Riserva. These small bits of sangiovese fruit of low juice to skin ratio will make an entirely different wine. Crunchy mineral salts and soil elements that induce a particular aftertaste but only after the palate has been fully engaged. Flavours awaken the senses and distract from the tannins, for a spell, but their attack is both delayed and less sever. The fineness here presents the string possibility for epiphanies to come later.

Tasting with Michaela Morris and The Brunello Boys

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Actually from a single vineyard called Vignavecchia Mercatale and the oldest vines planted in 1987 at the border with Ridolfi. Riserva 2019 will not be released for another year plus a few months so this bottled Canalicchio poetry has yet to write its next stanzas after just a few that have been put to memory. And yet the story has a beginning, is moving through its first few maneuvers, schemes and intrigues towards the delivery of much, much more before any final lines are read aloud. Does this Riserva traverse at least the same chasm as between Rosso and Brunello? The answer is emphatically yes and in fact the gap is equally doubled because the sangiovese in cask must have been a monster while it was transferring from post alcoholic fermentation through malolactic fermentation and finally into the final wine it has become. Or not because what is now will not be in a few more years and that refrain will be repeated several times before it is nosed and tasted with any real developed maturity. What we do know is that Riserva 2019 is powerful while elegant, which is the ultimate goal. Drink 2028-2042. Tasted November 2023

Tasting at Biondi-Santi

Older Vintages

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta “Greppo” 2018

“We are in transition period, with new vineyards going in” explains Giampiero Bertolini. He talks about a new approach. “In the vineyard the plant structure and canopies are managed in a new way, with two parts coming up and together, to have the ability to change its trajectory, to open and or close depending on the needs in relation to the weather.” The last vintage and this one are perfect polar opposites of why this new methodology is key. Whereas 2019 is the new release for 90-plus percent of Montalcino producers the Biondi-Santi is always a year later, not because of botti time but because the entire process is measured, structured, painstaking and ultimately timeless. Not really surprising how this ’18 is quiet, demure and slow to release all there is. A cool season overall with 44 days of rain (out of 180 total) from May through to harvest. The second for the new Biondi-Santi team, with the finale postponed to the end of September, after the winds arrived from the north to dry out the vines and then what followed were warmer days and cooler nights. The result is as fresh and aromatically sapid a Biondi-Santi for many vintages as there has recently been. May have been a moody season but the wine is clean, airy, unencumbered and what is referred to as vertical. Fruit yes but not dripping from the flesh because it’s taut, quite this side of leathery and the alcohol quite low at 13.5 percent. When you talk about being careful to respect Biondi-Santi style combined with the concept of a classic vintage then this is exactly the combination of those two ideas. Not an easy vintage but the 180 plus 30 more days of work on this and this alone has made for a wine of perfect response. Will age very well. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2023

Col D’orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Nastagio 2018

Not Riserva but rather a late single vineyard release from Col d’Orcia while many others are showing their 2019 Vigna Brunello at the 2023 anteprima. A full and focused sangiovese that does not so much exist between the ’19 Annata and ’18 Riserva Poggio al Vento but in its very own space because that is the nature of a proper and correct single vineyard wine. Noticing some extra stuffing out of 2018 which is notable for the vintage and this extra year has really softened the tannins which from memory are the least austere of the estate’s Brunelli. Lovely Nastagio out of 2018 and worthy of filling glasses for now to seven years forward. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2023

Vineyards at La Magia

Fattoria La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

The largest vineyard faces south between 420 and 480m with Sant’Antimo and Castelnuovo dell’Abate in the valley and distance below. The vineyard was planted west to east between 2005 and 2009, with neighbours being Colombaiolo (Tassi) and Pietroso to the ooposite hill. A bit surprised by how settled the 2018 Brunello is at this stage, quite something considering how youthful it was exactly one year ago. But it has not matured or started out from home. Here a sense and even a moment of truth to prove why we should be tasting and assessing Brunello di Montalcino five years (and not four) after vintage. Breadth of mouthfeel and length on this 2018 is not on par with 2019, but this is something you are already wanting to drink – if you dare because better days do still lay ahead. The current status is very positive and also proper. Last tasted November 2023

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

Fattoria La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2018

No doubt about the uptick inconcentration, quality acidity and overall impression from Ciliegio in La Magia’s 2018. Even this is in a beautiful spot and drinking beautifully but the tannic grains are finer, tighter and less likely to extend into softer days. Give this another two years for that to really begin. Last tasted November 2023

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

Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Luce 2018

Luce is the top (Annata) Brunello drop for Frescobaldi with all of its parts extrapolated and hyperbolizing Castelgiocondo in just about every way. Pure fruit gets no riper even while it is stretched, acids no sweeter and tannins are a factor of the first times the second, but also squared. Cherries macerating in their own über ripe liqueur and a fantasy of the juiciest red melon imagined, bled through this sangiovese with a squeeze of reduced blood orange for good measure but also tang. My goodness this Luce is full of light, flesh and intensity. Magnanimous in every respect, candidly seductive and built to live very long. Wood also delivers a tannic punch above and beyond the fruit. The sample is from a 2018 bottle which is labeled at 15 percent alcohol with this feeling every bit of that number. Style is everything and this is expertly made within that ideal. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2023

Looking west from Il Palazzone

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

From an aromatic and volumetric view the 2018 Annata is quite typical for Montalcino, however as it should the aromatic profile is expressly parochial, meaning it smells like a sangiovese from Il Palazzone. This speaks to a team not trying to put their stamp too direct or with unwarranted ego on the fruit collected to create a cuvée of different vineyard plots. This is the first vintage finished by incumbent consulting oenologist Maurizio Castelli and it’s quite pure, gently evolved and mature for Brunello. Truth is the vintage is a “traditional” one, cool and elongated, regular in the ways of what most winemakers remember about yesteryear Montalcino. The flavour profile is very pomegranate, the acids high and the finish quite balsamic. Tart and angular yet nurturing if at the hands of firm parents and tannins in their rearing. Will come into drinking window in another six months to a year. Last tasted November 2023

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 Palzzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Le Due Porte 2018

Up and above or perhaps better said to one side, back across and to the other is this Brunello of a località (local name for the place) to ameliorate a top selection from within a vineyard at the doorstep of the podere. Takes a step up in concentration but also stage presence with extrapolations of fruit, acids and structure. Nothing dense or overfilled about Le Due Porte but the sangiovese more clearly expresses culture and place. Ages longer than the classico Brunello, not in wood but in bottle before release. Again there is something typical here for the vintage and the finish shows the balsamic if also dried herbs and some austerity in the tannins. Highly specific to place, still holding and showing its wood, in need of an extra year above and beyond the Annata. Only produces 2,500 bottles. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

The 2018 Brunello is simply lovely, easy, gibbous and generous. To call it a normal vintage for Le Potazzine may be simplifying things too much but the Italian word facile and also spigliata deliver the right message from a sangoivese of the nurturing kind. With a glass one feels comfortable, at home, unstilted, never startled and present in the moment. There is also more structure than 2017 and so the wine will linger, evolve at a measured, incremental pace and drink with love for more than a decade’s further time. Such a settled wine of emotion and feeling though never too high, and definitely never too low. Have a glass and you will feel like you are in the home of a Brunello tasting with a family that cares. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2023

The San Guglielmo-Martini family

San Guglielmo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2018

They are only labels but they send a message. The Rosso depicts a dragon breathing red fire but for the Brunello the colour is gold. Like the sangiovese in this bottle, of more obvious richness as compared to 2019, or perhaps just a bit looser in combination with having aged a year further. Also a matter of picking time from a more challenging vintage with plenty of rain. “Like a race car,” says Michele, “if you have a great car you can win, but you don’t have to always win that way.” Which means you have done something right, as he and Ilaria surely have. This ’18 may not translate the vineyard as knowingly and with the same finesse as ’19, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Sant’Angelo in Colle from Talenti

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

In Riccardo Talenti’s estimation 2018 is a very linear and vertical vintage while 2019 shows more breadth and wide shouldered anatomy. So very true as the nose is both mature but also strict, nearing the idea of austere. Also a blood orange note and yes this is quite a sanguine vintage for the Brunello Annata that draws fruit from all nine estate plots. Even the tannins show some austerity and so while this ’18 does not approach the ripeness and generosity of the ’19 it does remind us that Brunello is in the glass, of heritage, culture and tradition. Classicists will adore this vintage of Talenti’s classico. Last tasted November 2023

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

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piero 2018

Impressione calma, explains Riccardo Talenti. That is where this 2018 Piero exists at this time. Interesting in that shy and closed is the sensorial translation. Not such a surprise considering the timing and the quality of its elements. It was more expressive this time last year and yet the palate shows very good weight and full substance. A vertical vintage but at this point the wine is quiet, demure and we’re not certain which direction it will travel next. So fascinating and something to look forward to when we hope to have the opportunity this time next year to look at it with Talenti once again. Last tasted November 2023

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

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Tasted side by each with 2018 and the two vintages could not be more different from one another. Here the heat is on but as with those Brunello that did the vintage well, acidity is super high and freshness therefore preserved. There is a sense of porcini broth as well to mingle with the classic fragrance only present and surely prevalent in the sangiovese of Le Potazzine. This is neither a wine of super maturation or concentration but the Giannetti-Gorelli family has found the right direction and says Gigliola, “the scent is watermelon.” How can that be, from a vintage where it did not rain for five straight months? Well it is here and it is quenching. Fine, entering its best drinking window and lovely, especially for the season. Last tasted November 2023

From the moment the Potazzine perfume comes from the glass it is known that few if any Montalcinese 2017 Brunelli will be like this. The advantages are manyfold, a northwest location, high elevation above 500m, later picking times, natural and longer fermentation, no filtration. Even in a vintage like this the women of Le Potazzine, Gigliola, Viola and Sofia can look to take risks for eventuation at reward. More herbal and savoury than ’16 and less concentrated than ’15 but still exhibits characteristics consistent with those bigger and easier vintages. As cool, fresh and salty as it can get but always with that perfume. Le Potazzine style, unassuming and bellissima. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted November 2021

San Guglielmo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

From one extreme to another, throwing away fruit (in 2018) due to mould, then to a vintage so dry and hot you just can’t afford to toss anything in the compost. No worry about concentration, “so you play with the lees,” explains Michele, “keep the (fermentative) cap wet and macerate less.” Such a well made, composed and gift of Brunello, ample of concentration, fine acidity preserved and more focus than many. Found harmony that will clearly be a mainstay of future vintages in Brunello but also known because of tasting Rosso 2020 and 2021. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piero 2017

A year later and 2017 is very expressive, showing its wares and character worn on both sleeves. Rich as any 2017 was and could still be, acids better than anyone could have ever imagined and indeed predicted from the hot and dry vintage. Yet this ’17 Piero sweeps with a mess of perfectly managed Talenti fruit. The blood orange and sanguine character, the spicy palate and finally the taut chalky tannic push. There are many years of life left on Piero and this is not considered or written flippantly. Structurally speaking this wine is as permanent as they come. Last tasted November 2023

Riccardo Talenti’s Brunelli spend over two years ageing in fine Allier and Slavonian oak. Pian del Conte is a Riserva from the oldest vineyards, near the centre of the estate (400m above sea level) and only made in exceptional years. This selezione Piero comes from two of the 20 estate hectares in Castelnuovo dell’Abate dedicated to the vineyard Paretaio, planted to a sangiovese clone selected by Pierluigi Talenti. Fruit gets no more developed and carried along to this level of ripeness and while Talenti’s Piero is showing evolution so early in its tenure the purity, honesty and admonition here must be noted. Not just a remark but an opening for props, kudos and general lauding. No pretence and absolute Talenti heart worn on a Vigna sleeve to say this is the vintage, deal with it, work with it and run with it. No forevers but drinking windows open and ready as soon as anyone feels the necessity for ready. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Godello and La Squadra Montalcinese

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

A Riserva of great depth, taut and youthful still with so much time ahead for much living yet to do. A matter of vine age at Vignavecchia Mercatale, the old rootstock and different clones mean that the mineral and elements drawn up will effect the wines differently. We can talk all we want about minerals, salts, elements, aromatics and flavours but the real transmission is tannin and the overall structure of the wine. These tannins are compact, not necessarily tight but they are not as elastic as Casaccia and surely the classica Brunello are loose by comparison. 4,200 bottles made. Last tasted November 2023

Some 2016s come out at and with great force, or speak so vividly. Riserva by Cannalicchio di Sopra is not so much quiet as it is confident, linear, upright and perfectly sturdy. A wine of great force but only willing to use that power incrementally, one essential step at a time. This is 2016 in a perfectly captured and preserved photograph, a mix of eastern and northern vineyards that gather with near perfect equanimity. Nothing left behind, all there and yet not quite ready, a preserve of Montalcino 2016 that will always persevere. Bank and bet on such a wine to pour with strength and elegance for decades. Tasted November 2021

Barrel Sample. A deeper well filled with that cherry liqueur and clearly more extract and concentration. The tannins are still fierce, intensely chalky and fine bitters are very much a part of the mix. A furthered texture Brunello with no less strength than most 16s will surely exhibit but the power is tempered by this feel and polish. Quite a potential here for 20 plus years of longevity. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted February 2020

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2016

A wine with a mind of its own and still in what Francesco Ripaccioli calls “a preserving state” because its anything but an extrovert. Give it enough agitation so that both character and charm are encouraged to emerge from out of this hard-nosed wine’s shell. Just the faintest note of scraped orange zest signals to a place (showing some affinity with Val di Suga’s Vigna del Lago) and yet this is made in a conservative slash reductive way, and so the wine is still so fresh and youthful. A wine with so much integrity and air is the thing to coax out what the wine is willing or rather will eventually be wanting to express. Nice piques and smacks of spice on the finish. Last tasted November 2023

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Casaccia 2016

La Cassacia on the east slope steppe below Montalcino village is brown clay wth a high percentage of calcium carbonate. Gives the earth and the wine its particular hue with high pH (between 8.2 and 8.3) that reinforces the colour contrast in the sangiovese. “For me it’s sleekness,” tells Francesco Ripaccioli. “Less heaviness than what comes from dense clay.” Still today one of the finest Cassacia’s made at Canalicchio di Sopra and one expressive of all its strengths right now. A completeness that is an extension of the original grounding that have made this La Casaccia one of the better vintages in the last couple of decades. Last tasted November 2023

Barrel Sample: Now this is something exceptional. This is what Casaccia is obviously capable of producing, The sweetest Canalicchio fruit of all, to date and with a rising low and slow angling of acidity (as opposed to straight verticality) that carries the fruit to great heights. This will be a triumph and in fact it is already tasting like a piece de Canalicchio resistance while it sings a long maestro song. A soloist that needs no accompaniment although food, company and peace would not hurt at all. Obviously this is more than just the northern side of Montalcino and more than Canalicchio. This is Casaccia. Drink 2025-2039. Tasted February 2020

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggiarelli 2016

Poggiarelli is a magnificent tract to behold, of very wide rows so typical of Montalcino when it was planted in 1990. The clay is only 10 percent and the stone indomitably Pietraforte, a dry soil ain a dry xone of Montalcino. A windy place overlooking the Orcia Valley and a place where disease pressure, including Perenospera ia not an issue. This look black at 2016 Poggiarelli really sees a separation or more importantly a very different expression to La Mannella because less energy and more grounding puts this vineyard in great vintage light. Poggiarelli ’16 is vintage and also Cortonesi, with more brightness and spirit than so many and again, not quite but akin to what you find in La Mannella. Last tasted November 2023

It seems that Poggiarelli will always be subjected to comparison because of the contrasting style to Cortonesi’s homefront La Mannella. Here the single-vineyard sangiovese rewrites itself in every vintage from the auspices of a warmer, southeasterly Montalcino location at 420m of elevation. Galestro sandy-grey is the ante-soil structure building block whereas La Mannella’s clay gifts earlier charm and elegance. Furthered élevage is a necessity, to instigate depth and structure but not to encourage too much power. Lastly Poggiarelli is almost always picked a minimum seven days after La Mannella. In 2016 this all adds up to one important, profound and vintage defining word. Fluidity. That’s the ideal to emulate, replicate, relipucate and remunerate. Tommaso’s ’16 Vigna is a fluid mosaic of sangiovese, as if its components were composed of phospholipids, cholesterol, proteins and carbohydrates. Even if they are seen simply as fruit, acid, texture and tannin they all move seamlessly as one, within one membrane, a perfect biological model, effortlessly layered elastic and fluid. Poetic structure. La liquidità di Montalcino. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted November 2021

Tomasso Cortonesi, Lorenzo Magnelli, Francesco Ripsccioli and Michaela Morris in Poggiarelli Vineyard

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Mannella 2016

At La Mannella as you head east up the Montalcino hill the steep steppe of the northeastern slope is embedded with river stones. This makes for more energy in residual effect than the other ‘16s tasted side by each and while those wines may live longer it is this La Mannella that is drinking beautifully right now. Tomasso Cortonesi is a bit critical of it but he’s always like this and as with any passionate winemaker the expectation is higher than that of anyone else. This is a great time and place for La Mannella 2016, spirited, rich and juicy, a real Montalcino succulence and length. Says Tomasso, “our goal is to exult the character of each single vineyard. We are not a modern winery.” Last tasted November 2023

La Mannella is Cortonesi’s home estate property on the flat just northeast and below the village of Montalcino where a warm and ideal vintage like 2016 could not help but raise near perfect fruit. Almost certainly an 8.5 out of ten ripeness that comes equipped with some of Montalcino’s finest tannins of well, forever. This 2016 Brunello would have been austere and crusty up until let’s say 12-15 months ago and is just now beginning to express its sangiovese in opening bloom. The triangle is traced with ease today, from fruit through acidity and tannin, now cycling through whereas before the movements would have been up and down, linear and retraceable. There is only forward if circular motion now and in the winter of 2023 this will be absolutely singing, continuing for four to six more after that. Drink 2023-2023. Tasted December 2022

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Like so many Cortonesi sangiovese there is great energy and spirit with this 2016 Riserva and today is one of those moments where you feel this way. Ebullient aromas, including chocolate mint and dark fruits of a liquid peppery kind. Still young and the tannins continue their aggressive drive so more years are needed to see this get to where it needs to go. There were 3,891 bottles made says Tomasso Cortonesi. Last tasted November 2023

Having an understanding that Tommaso Cortonesi knows how to make his wines and though Riserva is only made in what are deemed “suitable” vintages then 2016 is not an unexpected happenstance. Just so happens to emerge from that stellar growing season and if memory serves correct comes replete with a La Mannella upbringing poised and paused into the very fabric of this wine. A sangiovese of veritable home-front DNA, a torch passing from father and son with oenological consultancy aid and abetting by Paolo Caciorgna. Cortonesi’s Riserva is a linear one, firm of backbone built by later picked fruit and kept acidity. Neither dust nor agitated affectation presides as tannin over juice and in fact this is a very expressive Riserva. One of depth but also one that rises with constant upward movement. Onwards as well with 2016 a high point in the pantheon of the last 15 vintages. Tombola! Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2021

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Le Chiuse nothern location is of a similar micro-climate to the Montosoli hill but with very different soils. Less schist, more sandstone and the percentage decreases as you fall further and northerly away from the Montalcino hill. The first Biondi-Santi vineyard was planter here in 1946 – previous to that was wheat and olives. Ferella (a Biondi-Santi) was Lorenzo Magnelli’s grandmother and her daughter took over the winemaking. The BBS11 clone was grafted by Franco (B-S) onto the Le Chiuse vineyards., Lorenzo is looking at dreatring micro-oxygenation into the soil, to create space for vine roots, but also through cover crops. Results in less passages with the tractor. His 2016 emits the uncanny scent of fennel but more so true liquorice with mint in the background for what is truly aromatic Le Chiuse and in a most special if newly discovered way. There feels to be great wisdom and experience in this vintage of Lorenzo Magnelli’s Brunello, right, correct and important for the vintage. It’s really informative to taste this vintage alongside the current 2019s because you see just how grounded and stoically profound these wines are now, but truth is must have always been. Drink 2023-2036. Tasted November 2023

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2015

Twice the perfume and all the concentration from Riserva, not a surprise nor should it be unusual to think such a thought because is this not the intention and perchance the goal for this level of Montalcinese appellative wine at Le Potazzine? Feel the glycerin on the palate to mix with über fresh red fruits in swaths, swirls and layers. Yet the aging is not finished, not yet and some unresolved aspects of the how and what that put this wine together need to evolve, mature and settle. Could be a few years before this all comes about but that’s part of the exercise and expectation. There are some wild and exciting flavours in Riserva to the extent that time is the action out of which beauty will become the just result. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted November 2023

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Teatro 2016

Though this is a Salicutti that would have been influenced by the two decades of work put in by Francesco Leanza it does define a shift in direction under the ownership of Sabine and Felix Eichbauer. In the past it was Piaggione that was destined for Riserva but today and looking back to 2015 it has become Teatro. This 2016 speaks in the current appellative language and being privy to tasting campioni from 2021 and 2022 barrels connects the dots and submits to the transfer of power. This sangiovese is in a condition of swarthy beauty, a bridge to the past and a harbinger for the future. Great acidity, tart edges, lift and danger but fruit long, strong and tall. The future shines in this Riserva’s crystal ball and thoughts of 2019 can’t help but be forecasted. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2023

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento 2016

Col d’Orcia would not be the sort of producer to hold back all of its great fruit solely for Poggio al Vento Riserva and so with memories of the Annata and Nastagio labels (one tasted a year ago and the other 10 minutes prior) it comes to knowing equality was and still is the main focus. That will mean PaV will almost surely be a Riserva of subtlety and restraint. It is just that, with an extra two or three levels of richness by way of fruit concentration but even more so the elements of tradition, family heritage and what is yet unknown, a.k.a. the elements of surprise. Poggio al Vento 2016 will not seek immediate gratification but it will promise longevity. Anyone who has spent time tasting these wines over the years will have no doubt about the sentiment. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2023

San Guglielmo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

The 2016 sangiovese is a product of nervous energy and excitement. A matter of a resurrected estate bottling Brunello 53 years after a grandfather once made wine from this place. “You don’t know if this would have been a dream,” tells granddaughter Ilaria Martini. The fact is he can’t be here to participate and he would be very proud. Some maturity already from ’16 and tasting subsequent vintages shows just how much will have already been learned and so quickly. A sangiovese from 2016 that came out to market in 2021 to very little fanfare or even anyone knowing it was there – and yet its makers have persevered through the trepidation, fear and anxiety, to make finessed wines, in a better place and from a top terroir. These are sharp and exciting acids, precursors that will work with fruit translating soil. Fruit is persistent but getting leathery and the overall feeling is just a bit too much lift. Keep dreaming. Drink 2023-2024. Tasted November 2023

Valdicava Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Madonna Del Piano 2016

Riserva comes from the vineyard behind the winery on the north slope of the Montalcino hill and yields are in the range of a maximum 3.0-3.5 tonnes per hectare. Madonna Del Piano is THE Brunello that speaks about a producer (Vincenzo Abbruzzese) that believes in the term genius loci, a Roman concept that predates the idea of terroir. He refers to the “richness and non-contamination of the place.” Well, if La Madonna ’16 is not in a most incredible situation at this moment in November of 2023. Juiciest of fresh red fruit but also acidity that imagines blood orange, which is quite classic for certain areas of Montalcino from that season. This northerly steppe looking west to the Montosoli hill is one of the territory’s most historic and specific, creating some of Brunello’s freshest and sturdiest sangiovese. Linearity and verticality are a given in any vintage but this 2016 hyperbolizes the dimensionality, confirms the highest level of restraint and straps the wine in for long aging. Still rising yet years away from reaching its peak and simply very, very good Riserva. Like the queen of pop, “I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want.” Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Granchio 2016

Nicely mature and straddling the line between fresh and developed, reductive and oxidative. From what Andrea Lonardi calls “the Saint-Éstèphe side of Montalcino.” A place where iron in the soils leads to a gamey meatiness in the sangiovese and the winemaking is of a Bordeaux approach. Soft extraction, long maceration and no intention to try and extract tannins. Showing some maturity and while the acids are quite fine the caramelization and earthy woodiness are very much ahead of the fruit which now lags behind. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2016

“Our conversation was short and sweet, it nearly swept me off-a my feet. And I’m back in the rain, oh, oh, and you are on dry land.” Hard to believe 2009, 2010 and 2016 are from the same vineyard because while the change in weather is said to be extreme the emotions of the two earlier vintages are so connected. Blood on the tracks it feels, this visage a new one, fresh as the morning, cool, sweet glycerin red fruit and a sapidity of phenolic bite meeting toothsome flavour and texture. Not salty but spicy and long. Very good showing if perhaps an outlier for the location. Vigna Del Lago, “you made it there somehow. You’re a big girl now.” Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Spuntali 2016

As for Spuntali the comparison would be pinot noir and here on the western side of Montalcino in sandy soils the structure is less and so the technique attempts to pull out some tannins. The comparative concept is not so farfetched because this is an elegant expression so from 2016 the Rhône is not really what we are looking at here. Not the most structured Brunello but surely the kind of grace, char, precision and elegance that is something we all want to see. So much appreciation for 2016 and the first vintage for the new ownership group from which they really felt they were affecting the wines in the way they wanted. Last tasted November 2023

A combination of variegated fruit, red, also some orange and then this deep rooted earthiness. Hematic and a brush with forest floor success. Up level acids foil the earthbound nature and emotions run high in a Vigna Brunello of great parochial curiosity with much moving, stirring and complex behaviour. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2021

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013

Ten years old and perfectly fresh, indelibly stamped with the Pietroso perfume and as high level succulence for fruit and acids in Brunello can seemingly conspire to procure. There just seems to be no way this is a ten year-old sangiovese. It’s a what the fridge moment and while many need years to resolve their wood before opening perfumes and others are just bullies to age forever – well this tasted blind would be guessed as 2019, or younger. A testament to this cuvée of three Montalcino vineyards brought together from a vintage that shines when in the hands of a producer in total respect to climate and soil. Blown away by this showing. Even Andrea Pignattai smiles at a taste of this one. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2023

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2013

As with so many Brunello 13s the freshness has been quantitatively preserved. This would have been picked late at the highest available ripeness, something that previous proprietor Francesco Leanza always wanted. It was his last wine, released in 2019 (under the ownership of Sabine and Felix Eichbauer) and now it is showing top echelon citrus, site specific (Piaggione) acidity and a soft caramel slide. It too will likely come out more expressive with time in the glass. Truth spoken and a look back now is of a vintage that knew moving 10 years forward it would be a blessing. Swan song of a fine and memorable ilk. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

With Katia Nussbaum, San Polino

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2013

Ten years forward and truth be told this ’13 has held up extremely well, if indeed as well as any Brunello from the variable vintage. A sangiovese of impressive concentration from which you feel the fluid consistency of macerated, visceral and varietal fruit with knowledge of the gentle way you know it must have been pressed. The last vestiges of primary stage are giving way to secondary elements, especially in the aromas and yet the palate is full. Silky best describes that feeling and Helichrysum is no doubt an important Montalcino Vigna institution. Still there is some persistence of drying tannin so look for the right food match, braised rabbit being a wise choice, to keep the wine lively and encouraging of sip after sip. In the end this ’13 goes down smooth and easy, clearly indicative of what the vines and maker both wanted to gift. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

PierFillipo Abbruzzese of Valdicava

Valdicava Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2013

A well discussed vintage that was at times polarizing, especially within the sphere of critics during and immediately following the anteprima. There were admittedly some odd wines made in 2013, some that were disoriented or off course and then others that knew the way. As here with Valdicava’s vintage classica easily vindicated today. Secondary notes have begun, of frutta di bosco, chestnut, acacia and macadamia all toasted, a swirl of pomegranate molasses and dried fruit. The cast of characters are pretty and combine for complex wiles by design, but most importantly they celebrate the Valdicava fields. Having collectively come together this is today an elegant, elastic and refined Brunello. Not a wine to hold for ten years further but the next three or four will be grand. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Valdicava Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Madonna Del Piano 2013

Tasted side by each with the classica ’13 presents a whole other matter, of richness multiplied but also secondary notes more pronounced. The stylistic and result are very different, the depth in tapestry woven, of fruit and wood treated by pressing and wood in ways no longer attempted today. This sangiovese has fully settled and moved into its next phase in ways that will please Montalcino purists because this is the epitome of full bodied Brunello. Fleshy, substantial, textured and offering the feeling of an older wine. Will impress because there is nothing light nor moderate alcohol about it, tannins have softened, the barrel creaminess in full effect and the vintage is less noticeable as a final result. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2023

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2011

As with the 2004 and 2008 tasted together the initial reaction is maturity but wait, watch, smell and see. Little to no flavour bursts in the first few minutes because the wine has to wake up – remains to be seen if it will. The vintage was a hot one and the Piaggione sangiovese would have been one of musculature and power but in 2023 it’s in a disjointed state. Begins to refresh itself tough dried fruit dominates, with notes of carob while acids are fine, mint-toned and persistently in support. That said they are not the catalyst for energy. Tasted November 2023

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Tenuta Il Greppo 2010

A wine straight from the heart of Franco Biondi-Santi, opened last night (say 15 hours earlier) and a very important vintage. Created from a specific clone, the BBS11 which is a sangiovese grosso selected at Tenuta Greppo in the 1970s. A library wine from the storica cellar and just about as perfumed as it gets, not just for the estate but especially for the time. In a line-up of 50 Brunello di Montalcino this would stand out because of its originality and respect, but then again that would not be fair. There is pleasantry on the nose and yet the palate shows some austerity and cracking tannin, not because the wine is fading but because a gentle Bretty swarthiness is in the mix. A lovely look back, not the epiphany of some older estate wines but something special for sure. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2023

Valdicava Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Madonna Del Piano 2010

The 2010 Madonna del Piano is in finer condition (today) as compared to 2013, in part because of how Riserva is treated, especially in the cellar. Vintage always matters but less so for this style of wine, heavily barrel influenced, compact and concentrated. This is specific to the appellative discipline because conversely it is the ’13 Annata that is singing. This ’10 falls into line with 2001, 2004 and 2006 (reiterated confidently by Vincenzo Abbruzzese) in terms of great if also the notion of “complete” vintages, which 2016 and 2019 will also populate that list. Warm seasons that were able to deliver balance. Polite and nurturing vintages that make the wares of length and complexity ideal and this Valdicava is a mix of purity and persuasiveness showing at peak 13 years forward. There is ease and also vibrancy. Succulenza, finezza and scorrevole – the holy trinity of sangiovese incarnate. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2023

Andrea Lonardi MW presentation at Val di Suga

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Granchio 2010

It is well known that 2009, 2010 and 2016 were the vintages with the best average rainfall and the least number of 30 degree days, which will happen again in 2023. Poggio al Granchio is in a V-shaped valley where slates predominate in layers with clay and sand. Though a warm area it is this soils that cool and create potential for sangiovese. Andrea Lonardi refers to this as the Barolo of Montalcino areas where poor soils do well with sangiovese. Cordone Speronato system predominates for pruning at Poggio Al Granchio. The 2010 Granchio is much fresher than the 2009 and so it would seem the poorer soils did well with the conditions of a warmer and wetter vintage. From 2010 the structure is impressive and the finish really long. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2010

Andrea Lonardi sees Montalcino and is serious when he asks, how many places in the world have such a change in landscapes around such a small area? Val di Suga considers three of them and Vigna del Lago is very clay which means vines struggle in the extreme vintages, whether too hot and dry or wet and cold. The regular vintages are best for the clay and locally it is the Guyot system that predominates for pruning. Not a grand difference between 2009 and 2010 because the orange citrus is consistent but in 2010 there is also a caramelization, a shot of Amaro more like Spuntali and also a moment of saffron. The guess would be warmer than 2009 but also wetter – this feels like a touch of botrytis went into the fermentation. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Spuntali 2010

Vigna Spuntali in the west is closest to the seas and you have the longest hours of light. A breezy place and mostly not stressed by challenging conditions. Sandy soils, well draining and good for oxygen, even more important for than water for sangiovese. Volume without density and not a place that creates structure. The Châteauneuf du Pape of Montalcino, powdery character included. Gobelet system predominates for pruning. “Sangiovese loves rainfall and does not love really hot seasons” tells Andrea Lonardi MW. He also reminds that Galestro is not a type of soil – it’s a type of structure. “Thanks God Montalcino does not have salinity and minerality. But it does have succulence.” Earth and cheese rind, high acidity and three toned citrus – can really see the connection with the southern Rhône in a wine 10-15 years of age. There is that mint on the finish again! Tasted November 2023

Vertical tasting at Val di Suga

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Granchio 2009

When he first arrived in Montalcino on September 17th, 2012, Tenimenti Angelini COO Andrea Lonardi MW made some observations. Lonardi noted how Granchio on the eastern side was a site that gave sangiovese citrus, unripe, angry tannins and lots of potential. Granchio is the warmest of the three climes, what Andrea Lonardi describes as “a Chianti Classico area for Montalcino,” of warm days, cool nights and lesser winds for this part of Toscana. The soils are Galestro structured from clays and the maturity here is well past prime. Quite earthy with porcini and olive tapenade, no real fruit to speak of, persistent acidity and long ago left the building tannins. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2009

Vigna del Lago is the coolest of the three Val di Suga vineyards to the north of Montalcino and there is really no big surprise that 2009 has not only lasted but sings at this 14 year mark from just after the current 2023 harvest. The orange citrus and lavender honey scents are not only a meaning of place but also a matter of style. Val di Suga wines are of a historical character and looking back at this vintage of ample rain and no heat spikes shows off that flavour. The wine is in great condition and is a joy to drink. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Spuntali 2009

Andrea Lonardi introduces “crunchy Vigna Spuntali” off of the southwest slope where olive trees, the Mediterranean Ginestra, Sandstone and Pietraforte mark the terroir. In 2012 he found the grapes were spicy, tasting of orange candy, with soft tannins. The 2009 is neither fresh like Vigna del Lago nor mushroom-earthy like Poggio al Grancho and also not in between – but adjacent to both, if more so relatable to Granchio. This is because the earth, mycelium and tartufo shavings are in control with fruit having already faded. Not as muddy as PaG because there is a citrus element involved. Evolved in a real oxidative chatter now with amaro and then all mint at the finish. Drink 2023-2024. Tasted November 2023

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2008

Why did Francesco Leanza choose Piaggione for his Riserva? “He was in love with the vineyard,” explains Felix Eichbauer. “It was the character of Salicutti.” Eichbauer feels (at least today) that it produces sangiovese closer to the care of an American palate. Back in 2008 is is spiced by orange and lemon zests, was late harvested, higher in pH (than today) and the ’08 was the 14th vintage. Now soft and creamy chocolate in delivery of a slice of Tiramisu. Quite evolved to little surprise. But…give 2008 some time in the glass, odd perhaps to say but it matters. The aromas begin to burst, allowing for a release of toasted, roasted vegetal notes, like eggplant and peppers, skins charred, blistered and peeling, flesh caramelized beneath. Full change of perception, pace and mind. The ’04 woos straight away while the ’08 shows greater complexity given some time. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2004

For Francesco Leanza Riserva was always 100 percent Piaggione Vineyard fruit. When he made the decision to make a Riserva it was usually in a vintage when no one else did and he would put one barrel aside. For one thing these 19 year-old acids are still in full active swing and fruit is nearly faded but that’s not an issue because the wine sings with the near falsetto whisper of a Pino Daniele ballad. Mint, chocolate and reduced orange liqueur. Amazing. Tasted November 2023

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Tenuta Il Greppo 1988

It is very important to be reminded that Biondi-Santi is the original but also the estate that practiced early harvesting before just about anyone else. At the time the sangiovese grosso vines from the estate BBS11 clone (mainly intended for Riserva) would have been 25 years of age and while considered then and also now as a great vintage it is worth noting that in 1988 the final alcohol was 11 percent. When the estate style is reflected upon there is just something about the continuity which begins with the 1980s and especially the 1985 forward to the later part of that decade, all the way through to 2018 more than thirty years later. Yes there is in fact a connection despite the gap, the huge change in climate and the challenge to maintain identity. The last point is key because the contiguous teams focus on this ahead of all else. The ’88 now shows dried red fruits but also the wild strawberry and then frutta di bosco that are the hallmarks of an older Brunello that has not fallen over into the porcini and truffle zone. Not Biondi-Santi because wood was never the axis nor the focus and fruit was always carefully selected before being gently coaxed to arrive at this kind of secondary level. No matter the age the style persists as fresh red fruit, with fine acids more than alive and a specific succulence specific to place. Il Greppo the estate – which means the people abided by their charge to preserve this heritage. The original endowment of Montalcino. Respect. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

At Giodo with Carlo Ferrini, Michaela Morris, Federica Schir and Bianco Ferrini

Rosso di Montalcino DOC (36)

Altesino Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2022

Warm vintage for sangiovese in Montalcino and as always Rosso acts as the harbinger for the Brunello that will follow when the Anteprima wines are presented in November of 2026. Consumers will find darker, concentrated and luxe fruit, some but not formidable structure and generosity matched by equal and supportive sweetness in acidity. You can drink this straight away. The overall style really works for Altesino in 2022 Rosso – eventually it is the Brunello that will dutifully follow suit. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted January 2023

Caprili Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Somewhat deeper and therefore next level for Caprili while one will never forget the great 2020s and how their ferments were so sluggish before completing into high, high quality Rosso di Montalcino. This was surely quicker to the finish line and therefore also to the point but there is some structure involved. The third in a string of really well established and relayed Rosso vintages bodes well for the Brunellos to come. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Col d’Orcia Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

This Rosso may finds its way onto by the glass restaurant lists in 50 countries but know this. The scent is purely Col d’Orcia, the potential for aging guaranteed and the secret lays in the trees, bushes, riverside brush and overall Orcia Valley location. Red fruit incarnate and a Rosso that speaks as clearly as it does confidently. Will look forward to tasting it on the 2’s in 2026 along with other Rosso, Brunello and Poggio al Vento ’22, ’12, ’02, ’92, ’82 and ’72. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Elia Palazzesi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Very warm vintage for Rosso and so alcohols risen can mean heaviness but most producers will have surely found a way to exact balance in their wines. As here with Palazzesi’s ’22, rich and so full of fruit but neither heavy nor cloying and the result is something quite satisfying. Ready to roll with negligible tannin and acids as sweet as the fruit that precedes them. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Fabian Schwarz, La Magia

Fattoria La Magia Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

The oldest part of La Magia’s vineyard was replanted in 2018 to Alberello – “Becasue uou are working with three dimensions in every plant,” says Fabian Schwarz. “Every one is by itself, incurring its reactions to wind and rain, but not animals.” Just released after bottling early September. Very primary still, a work in progress, not so much reductive but on hold. In part because it was fixed to settle in newly acquired concrete tanks for a month or so, but it’s not predictive or explaining about what will become its eventual character. Really primary and at least six months should be needed to see this Rosso move into a fully finished state. Very fruity and fresh, ante-fresh actually with good purity and clarity. The weight is at the finish, another reason to give this wine some time. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022, (Campione)

Talk about timing – this Rosso 2022 will be bottled tomorrow! It may be a Campione but this is as close to a finished wine without looking backwards or forwards as there can be. Nose and taste the sangiovese of Le Potazzine and you will know that their perfume is omnipresent, all-pervasive, a factor of place and necessity of style. Stylish sangiovese with a shadowy hint of Balsamico. A Rosso of fineness and finesse, grace and controlled chaos. This from the most sluggish and slow ferment on record – 57 days! How can a winemaker and a family sleep through such a time? How can their hearts survive? Well they do and the end result is beauty incarnate. Acidity and moderate structure, first one and then the other, layered and intertwined. Spot on for Le Potazzine. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Pietroso Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

A Rosso from one of the hotter vintages on record and from vineyards that heat up when this happens despite being at elevation just outside of and at an almost similar height to the Montalcino hill. Clocks in at 15 percent while in studious balance but what stands out is the silky texture with high level glycerol involved. Some of the highest levels of naturally sweet fruit and acidity rolling together as one in what is just so very drinkable if at the same time weighty Rosso di Montalcino. Big wine, some structure that shows its power and yet not a wine to lose in the cellar. 17,000 bottles produced. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Antico Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022, (Campione, will be bottled in December)

Barrel sample: “In the past we used to make little Brunellos,” admits winemaker Alessio Sostegni, “but that has changed.” Now simply about freshness and a sangiovese to drink. Well if gently extracted, like an infusion with punching down only done in the earliest stage of the fermentation process. Really just to keep the cap wet. Surely in part because of the very warm vintage just 10 days maximum for Rosso. There is some wood but mostly stainless steel aging, but it is the barrel that brings the overall softness. As crisp and easy as it has ever been for Poggio Antico and yes, this is what you want to drink. Silky, smooth and pretty seductive for Rosso. Harvested by the middle of September, approximately a week ahead of 2021. Will be labeled at 14.5 percent alcohol. Approximately 20,000 bottles produced. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

San Felice Rosso di Montalcino DOC Campogiovanni 2022

Youthful Rosso from San Felice which is key because the hot vintage was doubly so at a località ike Campogiovanni. The juicy nature of sangiovese from young vines is captured with acidity in tact for a Rosso that is fine-tuned and full of tact. Also tactile because texture is like that of emulsifications and the wine finishes with a small attack of swarthy bites. Suggest to drink this easy because that will increase as the fruit fades off. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted November 2023

San Polino Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Feel the glycerin straight away from San Polino’s Rosso ’22 which is what happens to sangiovese from this località when the weather is warm and the vines work to concentrate fruit. Not hot like 2021 mind you but more than ample textural stuffing fills this glass. Solid, a bit grippy and chalky with late bite. Good complexity here. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Talenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Rosso comes from the part of the azienda where the youngest vines are maturing yet deliver a remarkably rich and concentrated level of sangiovese. A Rosso of expressiveness for the vintage and also one of length. It’s about fruit for Talenti and the specialty of a season, in this instance quite warm but there is succulenza and some of Montalcino’s finest Rosso charm. Vertical as needed, persistent as desired. That’s the crux of this Rosso situation and this 2022 expertly communicates what needs and wants. Expressive while full of freshness because the acidity is so well caught and in turn preserved. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta Buon Tempo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Über fresh as if the wine is still working through its machinations and a carbonic maceration process is in the works. There is a gummy bear quality to the aromas to tell us the fruit has yet to fully integrate with the rest of this sangiovese’s parts. Wait six months and all will be right because there is some structure, purity and finally sweetness, as opposed to drying austerity in the tannins. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Val di Suga Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Fine Rosso here from the warmth of 2022 but Val di Suga has the great fortune to draw fruit from three areas, micro-climates and geological terroirs of Montalcino. The layering seems so right because here the heat is cooled by grapes that infiltrate and integrate with those that matured through more humid and arid days. Makes for a well-rounded Rosso that may feel thicker in texture than some but one than maintains ample freshness for its success. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Ucceliera Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Though so bloody young and not yet close to be ready for drinking this Rosso by Ucceliera is already telling us everything we pretty much need to know. A wise and knowing example of fruit freshness, purity and that most sought after sangiovese aspect of Montalcino; succulenza. This is so real and properly made it should be on every Rosso list that anyone who wants to understand Montalcino will compile. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Valdicava Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2022

Rosso is made from the grapes that don’t qualify for Brunello and incidentally no top wines were made in both 2014 and also 2018. The first was a question of quality and the second a matter of allowing the vines to rebound and regenerate following the drought and heat of 2017. Vincenzo Abbruzzese says he “likes to think we have a very high bottom level,” a statement that could allude to both Brunello and this Rosso. The ’22 is just about to be bottled, within the coming weeks which makes it more of a finished wine than a campione. Another warm vintage for a juicy cherry red sangiovese, liquid chalky, northerly representative for the clay and Galestro landscape. Harmonious throughout, from entry through mid-palate to finish. A fine restraint and one with stuffing to travel long in the cellar. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Voliero Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

A similar Rosso to Ucceliera but more on the side of simple, correct and easy. Take a stab at a glass on repeat over a year or so before looking at the readiness of sister property Ucceliera’s Rosso 2022. This is quite settled and good to go. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Argiano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Easy, facile and grooving Rosso from Argiano, made from quality grapes conditioned and intended to please above all else. A simple expression of Rosso that speaks in everyday language, no matter the time or place for pop and pour activities. Very correct. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Castello Romitorio Rosso di Montalcino DOC Colto 2021

From go the complexities out of Romitorio’s Rosso abound and bounce around the olfactory like kernels in the kettle or balls in a lottery machine. The activity is repeated on the palate from ripe and energetic sangiovese so unsettled it falls under the adjunct of needing time. The requiem calls for nurturing and guidance to find the way to tranquility. These seem like fresh acids and also the kind that may never relent but that’s perfectly fine! With food this will already sing a song of elevation. Sleepless in love, “the morning air was crisp as a brand new bank note. He swaggered like a surfer.” Joe Ely Rosso love and danger. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Collemattoni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Purely and classically Collemattoni Rosso di Montalcino illumination with their ostensible sensibilities instilled into making the most dual-functional type. This means getable and put-away-able or as it is said by someone of German-Italian descent “two catches in a row,” though that is never something actually uttered in English. Nevertheless Collemattoni’s 2021 Rosso is such an ideal sangiovese we want in our glass today and will be pleased to have the same looking two, three, four and five years down the road. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Perfectly Rosso, bright and fresh with just that extra bit of substance and texture to put this in mind of drinkability but also a class of super sustenance. Crisp, crunchy, beautiful, delightful and strong. What more could you wish for from Rosso di Montalcino? Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Fattoria dei Barbi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Barbi’s Rosso is spot on 2021 juicy, fresh and high acid to gift what is right and correct. Having tasted samples and also a finished bottle of the Stefano Cinelli Colombini’s Toscana Rosso Senza Sulfiti there is no doubt about the connection between the two wines. Puts each in good light and makes sense of their complimentary positions as kinfolk each so fine to sip. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Franco Pacenti’s Rosso ’21 straddles the line, on one side there is freshness and breaths of early morning Montalcino air. On the other the architecture is Etruscan, established and immovable. Take a sip and note the sway towards the side of amenability because after all this is Rosso and FP does what is essential for a wine of this appellation. The balsamic touch at the back end is just spot on and correct to accent the concluding actions of this Rosso. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2023

Giuseppe Gorelli Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2021

Jacopo and Alessandro Mori of Il Marroneto

Il Marroneto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2021

Ignaccio is one of two Il Marroneto Rosso, “the classic” tells Alessandro Mori, compliment to son Jacopo’s next gen iteration. From a 0.7 hectare block farmed specifically for Rosso di Montalcino on the northeast side of the hill. The vines are 100 metres below the cru of Madonna delle Grazie at 420m and they deliver fruit that just simply tastes of the earth, naked and strong. There are no other Rosso that unites and coalesces this level of heritage, crazy and genius. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2023

Il Marroneto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Jacopo 2021

The second Rosso, named for and now created by Alessandro Mori’s son as a next generation cultural take on Montalcino’s most important wine. It’s what the Montalcinese will open daily and Jacopo wants to make the kind you want to drink. “When I started to choose through the barrels to make the selection,” he explains, “my mind went to crunchy wines with beautiful structure and no aggressiveness. I wanted to make a red wine.” This Jacopo, is it. A red wine. Something that dares to reach out to personal taste, to what is right for the palate. The vintage hits the mark because it does exactly what the winemaker wanted. It’s what we want as well and ask that we can continue enjoying it for a while before moving on to the Brunello. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Le Gode Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

For 2021 Rosso is a rich tapestry woven of acidity through fabric for a most textured Rosso. The lift and swarthy funk are up at that line where danger lurks but Le Gode keeps things formal with as much posit tug pull as it can muster. Brett lays high and tries to infiltrate but precocious luck and structural fortune are there to save the day. There are tannins here and they are brittle. That is OK because this is not a technically sound Rosso nor does it have to be. It will be loved by any who desire vim, relish and vividness – more importantly it is a stepping stone on the road to truly great Rossos to come. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2023

Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

The fact remains that a Potazzine is a Potazzine and here is not a rare one but clearly a Rosso that stands apart, set to an aromatic standard of hypnotic grace that makes Rosso so special. That said there are levels of richness and especially glycerol in 2021 that may not have been present in the last few vintages. How anyone could not fall in love with these scents, flavours and especially textures would be inconceivable. There is a chalky underlay as well and so structure is a part of this vintage. Wait a year and then drink over the following seven, perhaps even 10. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2023

Roberto Cipresso Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Quite a rich, mature and fruit forward if developed Rosso with lower level acidity and roundness than a good many. Fruit is lovely and the mouthful quite creamy but also soft. Drink up what bottles you have or may soon acquire. Tasted November 2023

San Guglielmo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2021

Sparkling clean, tight and an intensely red citrus Rosso. Just about as tart and acid lightning struck as it gets for Montalcino. Real, deliberate and delectable. Three week maceration and very gentle extraction for sure – no pressing involved. Not a bit. Pure, unadulterated and focused as sangiovese, exacting for Rosso to seduce the modern, discriminate and wishful palate, with no density or heaviness involved. For the kind of consumer in search of simple truths and respect for heritage in the cleanest way. Imagine the possibilities when better vintages provide the source. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Biondi-Santi Rosso di Montalcino DOC Tenuta “Greppo” 2020

The first wine tasted inside the newly renovated aging room, a sangiovese fermented in concrete vats and aged in classic Slavonian botti. Here the vintage that will be available in 2024. “What we are looking for in a Rosso is to preserve the history of the estate,” says Giampiero Betolini. “It took nine blending sessions to arrive at what the team was happy with, to enact the style of Biondi-Santi.” The 2020 is freshness and acidity first and foremost, from five levels of selection in the vineyard. Just put your nose in the Rosso and you will know it is Biondi-Santi, lighter than 2019, reflective of a vintage, moderately low in alcohol and perfumed. The “stampa” of Tenuta Il Greppo with circulative acids, not swirling but seemingly travelling the palate in mimic of a classic hydro-biodynamic pattern. Pure, clean and piercing. The kind of impression that is warranted, especially with so much new cask involved. Length is greater than 75 percent of denominational Brunello DOCG which explains three things; selection, tireless trials and longevity. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2023

San Guglielmo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

A different vintage to both 2019 and 2021 but San Guglielmo’s micro-climate is so unique to weave a constant thread in the wines from vintage to vintage. A warmer place that needs just the gentlest extractions, no pump-overs nor stirring neither, because ripeness need not be magnified and holes need not be filled. You feel the aromatic texture that seamlessly repeats on the palate. Direct, taut, lightning red fruit, finessed with the best of the area’s Rosso. In this style mind you, of clarity, intensity and focus. A sangiovese you desperately want to drink but you have to love acidity, this acidity and style. Why would you not? Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2019

Hard to argue against the idea that in 2019 the Rosso and the Brunello are closer together. Here there is some opulence and definitely more substance than the “average” Rosso so that some grapes could have theoretically gone either way. The difference is structure and so the Rosso vines will not deliver the kind of material for 15 years of aging. Also just slightly less acidity than the Brunello. In this vintage “the bottle makes the function of the barrel,” explains Francesco Ripaccioli. But this could trick many people because on the surface and in these first few years the identity is one of concentration and intensity. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Le Chiuse Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2019

“A sangiovese from Montalcino is going to learn a lot from being in the bottle,” tells Lorenzo Magnelli. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Brunello or a Rosso.” Never has this been more prescient and true (other than perhaps dfrom 2016) as this 2019, a wine where the chasm to Brunello is lessened but you have to look at the two wines in a completely different way. Magnelli’s approach is not single vineyard but a matter of size and site. The biggest berries matched with the location. If you can find a better Rosso than Le Chiuse’s 2019 there should be trens of thousands of sangiovese lovers that would like to know. Aromatic sound and vision, fruit matched by savoury qualities in perfect synch and so bloody harmonious in every way possible. Power and beauty, grip and elasticity. The biggest of Le Chiuse’s berries make for the juiciest Rosso that delivers an effect that is sweeter than Brunello. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2023

Podere Le Ripi Estate

Podere Le Ripi Rosso di Montalcino DOC Sogni de Follia 2019

Rosso di Montalcino comes from Le Ripi’s vineyards to the west, a good Rosso area where the berries are bigger, the alluvial terroir gifts intendment and the sangiovese acts truly fresh. No hydric stress, plenty of q vs Q and PDQ, I’s dotted and T’s crossed. Total and also specific heat transfer for an acid-tannin relationship supportive by keeping this wine linear and it’s really quite salty. The 24 months aging in cask has equipped a Rosso with quantified structure and combined with the mineral salts puts it in a really gastronomical position. This should be poured with antipasti and primi, especially in the late fall when truffles and mushrooms are available. Sogni di Foglia, words of Francesco Illy, translated as “dreams of madness.” Up to interpretation, perhaps just words that make sense in the context of all the names of Le Ripi’s wines. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

San Guglielmo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

The first Rosso of the new age under the guise of Ilaria and Michele at San Guglielmo. Some age and maturity showing on this ’19, but also more ripeness, phenolic presence and weight for what will follow out of the next two Rosso vintages. Good development, less red lightning fruit, ever so slightly jammy and certainly without the tension of 2020 an 2021. Drink 2023-2024. Tasted November 2023

Cortonesi Rosso di Montalcino DOC La Mannella 2016

Tomasso Cortonesi says “in my opinion from this bottle there is a little bit too much evolution on the nose” but the tasting group of producers and tasters believes to give it some air and more will come. The palate is perfectly vibrant with less maturity, acids in pique shape and fruit showing no fatigue. Tomasso is his own biggest critic and I’ve heard him say this before so he clearly tries to create and is always looking for top freshness. There is plenty here for a seven year-old Rosso and there will be a few years of very positive drinking ahead. Last tasted November 2023

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. 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

Toscana IGT

Fattoria Dei Barbi Senza Solfiti 2021, Toscana IGT

Stefano Cinelli Colombini’s idea has been to produce sangiovese without sulphites, not to make a natural or trendy wine but something that speaks to both heritage and the realities of today. A sangiovese made the way it once was, naked and alive but with the advantage of 2020 technology. This project had been in the works for several years and we tasted through young unfinished samples together back in October of 2021. This wine’s genesis and though ’21 is no longer the current release it makes the most sense to taste as a ready to drink wine. From concepts developed with the University of Pisa, clean as it could possibly be, a hint of carbonic pulse, extreme freshness, lightning red fruit, cracker acidity and an ideal match as an aperitivo with Barbi’s sharp cheeses coming out of the Caseificio dei Barbi. Drink 2023-2024. Tasted November 2023

Giodo La Quinta 2021, Toscana IGT

Sangiovese from Montalcino vines, “un piccolo Brunello,” smiles Carlo Ferrini if instantly insistent in terms of this not being a Rosso. Exotic in its aromatic profile, of young vines that can’t help but express a cupboard of spices but also a dusty, brushy and southern Montacino mountain tea. Translates as herbal and floral but the grace and lightness of being feed imagination like Villages or Hautes-Côtes Bourgogne. May as well be a young Brunello or whatever your fantasy may be dreamed because that just is this sangiovese. If it smells like Brunello and tastes like Brunello then it must be…well never mind. Plenty of mimicry on offer so dream away at will. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Il Palazzone Rosso di Palazzone Vino Rosso NV, Toscana IGT

The idea of Laura Gray who worked at Il Palazzone for more than two decades and a Rosso for “Rosso sake,” a “table wine” in the tradition of that concept, Montalcinese culture and also vernacular. To give a sangiovese credibility without appellative legality from bits and pieces of all the vineyards, including the IGT vineyard. No vintage on the label though the fruit is mainly 2021, yet there is some de-classified 2018 Brunello fruit. Amazing how primary it scents, juxtaposed by fresh rose petals, both curious considering it went to bottle in September of 2022. Lovely purity if not much complexity and just the right amount of volume, surely as intended. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Andrea and Gianni Pignattai, Pietroso

Pietroso 2020, Toscana IGT

Only Montosoli fruit and made as an IGT though you have to figure will one day, some day become a Vigna Brunello. The vines are young and the size of the vineyard small (as per the hill) with only 1.3 hectares farmed on the typical sandy Galestro as per the way these rocks are defined and described in Montalcino. Such a different expression for Pietroso, not in terms of style but surely aromatics and mouthfeel coming across apposite to the three-vineyard Brunello. More savour, sweet herbals and what can be best described as liquoroso. Amaro, sweet in perfume yet intensely dry on the palate. The name is in ode to the patriarchal grandfather, Berni Domenico, aged in Botti and tonneaux for two years. Quite the riches but my goodness such red fruit and so in the end this could only be Pietroso, no matter the vineyard. Always reminded of Montosoli’s savour and structure and so the longevity of this wine may be without bounds. Won’t be released until June of 2024. Smart choice. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2023

Podere Le Ripi Canna Torta 2021, Toscana IGT

Podere Le Ripi CEO and Winemaker Sebastian Nasello begins by saying “we have traditional Brunello but we also make wines for the next generation of wine drinkers. We have to care of them.” A mix of trebbiano and malvasia, six to eight months in vats on skins, followed by an additional six to eight in concrete. Grapes come from the western side of Montalcino, some of them purchased. A nickname meaning “a bad (or dull) shooter,” given to an employee who’s charge it is to control the deers. And so they dance on the label, as this does on the palate. Indeed this is a clean and rich example with just the right hints of tart fruits, herbs and shadows with hidden bits of umami. 2,000 bottles, more or less. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Podere Le Ripi Cappuccetto 2022, Toscano Rosato IGT

One night (maybe two) of skin contact, not a salasso, a Rosato at heart, salty and a veritable salsa of sangiovese. It’s really, actually, ostensibly, allegedly if truly Montalcinese, of savoury sapidity (in reference to taste) and ultimately a piquancy. This Rosé does not chase any specific or established style but just something you want to drink. It’s fucking delicious is what it is. Lovely touch of green and that’s just right. Also a bitter nectarine, not quite ripe but tart and satisfying. Who would not want to drink this?? Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Sebastian Nasello, Podere Le Ripi

Podere Le Ripi Attenti al Lupo 2022, Toscana IGT

Sebastian Nasello is trying to create some wines that can pe poured and enjoyed at wine bars that show another side of what can be done n Montalcino. Introducing whole cluster sangiovese in its fourth vintage but the first that is fully being brought to market, of approximately 4,000 bottles. Raw and unfiltered, fine and pulsating measure of sauvage, a light and knowable amount of Brettanomyces that crept in at the end of fermentation. Lacks precision as a result but more than makes up for it with unbridled and gangly personality. The following vintage temperature was lowered during the svinato to avoid this occurrence. The texture is attractive yet the tannins are brittle and drying at the finish. Those who seek out the natural and the hands off as much as possible will want this vintage. Yet faults are faults and they happen. Drink 2023-2024. Tasted November 2023

Podere Le Ripi Attenti al Lupo (Campione) 2023, Toscana IGT

Cask sample: Sebastian Nasello is deep into machinations with whole bunch and carbonic macerations, but in the cleanest way possible, Not gratuitously natural wines. This fifth vintage of the whole cluster is no longer experimental sangiovese because this is the one where things are really figured out. The carbonic fermentation, cooling at the time of svinatura and finished without any confining or gripping of tannin puts this in cru gamay Beaujolais territory. The terroir is alluvial from the western sector of Montalcino and now we are gifted a sangiovese of precision, succulent juiciness and long, sweetly natural finish. No Brett and this lovely carbonic buzz on the finish. Nice and clean. Will be bottled around harvest in 2024. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Tenuta Le Potazzine Sangiovese 2021, Toscana IGT

Youngest and freshest of the sangiovese, fragrant and of a perfume as intoxicating as it is demure. It’s just everywhere in this light and understated wine. Roses and bergamot, a hidden message of balsamico, simplicity if something hidden in the shadows to hint at or tease what will be possible for Rosso (especially) out of the warm 2022 vintage. The possibilities are evident, the promise palpable. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Good to go!

godello

Benvenuto Brunello 2023, Montalcino

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WineAlign

Montalcino Previews: 2020 and 2019 Rosso, 2017 Brunello Annata, Vigna and 2016 Riserva DOCG

Jan13

The year was 2020. We said arrivederci e ci vediamo to Montalcino on a mild and still February afternoon. Little did we or anyone know that a return engagement would not be possible until the fall of 2021. During that 20 month hiatus I hosted and moderated six webinars in Canada with more than 25 Montalcino producers, Each session was accompanied by a thematic article published to godello.ca inclusive of an account for each producer. With thanks to the recent forward thinking and openness of the Conzorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, along with compatriot, friend and travelling companion Michaela Morris, we chalked out our homecoming and dove headfirst into more than 200 current releases. Two immersive eight hour sommelier assisted assessment sessions of Montalcino’s sangiovese, 12 estate visits and meetings, all over the course of five days. Benvenuto Brunello 2021, Drogheria Franci, Caffè Fiaschetteria Italiana 1888, Il Giglio and Trattoria Il Pozzo. Cortonesi and Tenuta Buon Tempo. San Polo, Le Potazzine, Tenuta Fanti, Poggio di Sotto and Fattoria dei Barbi. Biondi-Santi, Conti Costanti, Castello di Romitorio and Le Ragnaie. All because of and in the name of sangiovese, tissue of Rosso, bones of Brunello, grape of the future.

Consorzio President Fabrizio Bindocci and Direttore Michele Fontana

Summing up that last Benvenuto Brunello in 2020 I noted that “Anteprime di Toscana’s culminating 2020 presentation of 2018 Rosso DOC and 2015 Brunello DOCG raised the bar for Montalcino’s venerable sangiovese.” Later I would write, “no one of sound mind passes up the opportunity to taste Brunello from Montalcino. When I think of Brunello di Montalcino there are two things that come to mind: Sangiovese and time. Longevità e tempo. Contrasts and comparisons are unnecessary, neither to other grape varieties nor to wine regions that also fashion structured red wines. The sangiovese of Montalcino are like the eponymous medieval hilltop village, an island in a sea of vast varietal openness. They share the impossibility of undergoing the slightest shift in meaning or change, that is, without the assistance of time. They are incomparable, generous and durable but also part of a great community, finding permanence and always seeking to endure. As do their makers and protectors.”

This most recent trip in Montalcino with @michaelawine has taken my lifelong plan to another level. Grazie Miha for teaching me so much about Sangiovese, staying calm, focused and balanced over long days and just plain having a grand old time.

The 2021 vintage

On April 8, 2021 mail from Tommaso Cortonesi brought news of the early April frosts. “Here in Montalcino the Covid situation is under control but in the last couple of days we had to fight a dangerous enemy. Temperatures lower than 0’C. Last night several producers in Montosoli including me, Capanna, Baricci, Val di Suga, decided to burn hay bales to try to protect the vines with the smoke. Fortunately the vegetative state of the vines is still quite early so we hope this action has limited the possible damages. I send you attached some pictures from last night.”

Burning fires at Montosoli, Montalcino April 2021

Despite a significant reduction for yields in many parts of Montalcino, the reasons for optimism are manyfold. Higher elevations above the frost danger zones, say 400-450m and up, especially to the northwest, for the most part remained unscathed. The vines had yet to fully awaken at estates like Corte Pavone, Le Potazzine, Castello di Romotorio and Le Ragnaie. By September things were looking up in many sectors of Montalcino. Though production will be down, significantly so for many estates, the promise for outstanding Rosso and Brunello is surely in the air.

Godello at 450m, San Polo, Montalcino

At the end of the harvest prospects looked very promising, not for a bountiful vintage but surely one of high quality. A week to ten days into September the temperatures fluctuated 15-20 degrees. On the 7th the high was 29 and the low was 11. Made for excellent acidity retention aboard the march to phenolic ripeness. Younger and lower elevation vineyards began picking around the third week of September while higher points at the beginning of October. The challenge was to find a way to keep the link with the sangiovese of Montalcino and in a warm vintage not to go too far, neither in extraction nor maceration and to deliver a respectful wine. Usually 25-30 days but more like 18-20 in 2017. Also a 26-30 degree fermentation when some vintages it can be as high as 34, if only for a few days. In many cases the fermentations were some of the slowest on recent record. In fact as of November 18th one of Cortonesi’s vats was still at 4-5 g/L of residual sugar and would only likely finish in the first week of December. What Tommaso called “sluggish because of the lowest level of yeasts.”

The 2017 vintage

The elephant in the room is obvious and most producers answer before the question is even posed. From a winemaker, oenologist and proprietor you will be hit with this recurring refrain. “You will be surprised by the freshness and acidity of the 2017, despite the warm vintage.” It was hot and dry and “that’s what you need in high elevation vineyards surrounded by forests,” is how Filippo Chia of Castello di Romitorio assesses the situation. When asked what to do with 2017 the pragmatic Andrea Costanti suggests it is a vintage “to introduce new people to Brunello di Montacino” and by extension a good Brunello for restaurants, sommeliers and licensees to take notice.

Francesco Ripaccioli of Canalicchio di Sopra remembers 2017 with almost wistful affection. He explains that following a summer during which there were 20 days above 35 degrees it was September that brought about the big surprise. After 40mm of rain on August 31st, through the course of the next month the phenolic maturation happened very slowly and finished late. Veraison at CdS did not begin until September and took nearly 30 days. “Even if you had a dry season (like 2017), you had this temperature fluctuation of on average 25 degrees by day and nine by night. That allowed you to harvest late, with preserved acidity and alcohol not so high. The plants were working very slowly with their reserve of water. (The vintages) of ’17 and ’12 for me are very similar, as seasons, where grapes and their skins wanted to oxidize but September changed everything. We went to school from 2012.”

With Consorzio President Fabrizio Bindocci and Chef Carlo Cracco

Low does not due justice to how small a vintage was 2017. “We tried to extract less and keep it on the lighter side,” tells Alberto Machetti of Tenuta Buon Tempo. For Riccardo Campinoti of Le Ragnaie yields and production were down 10-15 per cent, at least as compared with the previous two vintages. For Campinoti 2017 is a vintage of “unfinished tannins.” Not quite fully ripe and yet acidity never fell away. Another example of how Brunello can be sold now and for the next five years, especially to restaurants and shops for immediate or near-term consumption.

Riserva 2016

“In the beginning ’16 was…not enough,” begins the soliloquy by Fattoria dei Barbi’s Stefano Cinelli Colombini. “But after a year it changed.” Reading deeper one understands that time is the answer, for sangiovese, Brunello and 2016. “This is why Riserva should be sold after eight or 10 years,” continues Cinelli Colombini. “The problem with tradition is we make a mistake that if it exists, there must be a meaning inherent, otherwise it would not have taken so long. The mistake we make is between what is actually a tradition and the sense of tradition. You only need to taste to know that wine is the most democratic thing in the world.” This so beautifully sums up Riserva and 2016. As a vintage no other in the last seven-plus years is so intrinsically bonded with the grape and how it raises from the territory. Sangiovese and time is the connection and though ’16 is not one of those touted in barrel as of the decade, century or of the ages, it is in fact one of those, if not all.

Montalcino sommeliers

Molte sane, repeats Andrea Costanti as if by mantra through the course of the 45 minutes while we taste, consider and assess his Riserva 2016. Not just Costanti’s but dozens upon dozens of ’16 Riserva. The healthiest sangiovese of great, sheer and utter clarity. Wines that may be described as possessive of a fineness running with liquid chalkiness, fluido or scorrevole. The 2015s may have shown heady structure, power and also generosity but the 16s are the complete package because they are also filled with delicasse, elegance and grace.

Changes in agriculture and fermentation

Federico Radi is the incumbent oenologist at Biondi Santi, having worked previously at Isole e Olena and Mazzei Bolgheri, Radi is looking at regenerative agriculture, making compost integrating manure (which must be like black butter, aged several months before mixing into the soils), beginning now with cover crops and little disturbance to the soils. “We really want within the next five years to reach two point five per cent of organic matter in the soils.” A real fan of Chomsky, Federico feels the need to keep the carbon in the soils, to help reduce that 25 per cent that agriculture contributes to the release into the soils. “I’m sad when I see the grey and dusty soils. It shows they are dead. This needs to be improved. We have seen in two years that we have different soils so we have to tailor the cover crops to reach section. Not just regenerative but also preventative agriculture.” The plan is to keep alcohol levels from rising even further. “We want Biondi-Santi to stay under 14 per cent.” And so a nursery was started, “since the beginning.” Like when Bob Marley was asked “how long have you been a Rasta?” “Since creation.” Radi insists that it would be dangerous to live with only one clone of sangiovese, so 50 varieties are propagated.

A pensive Alberto Maccheti of Tenuta Buon Tempo. Must have been thinking about the 2017 vintage.

Filippo Chia of Castello di Romitorio is getting even more specific. He talks about one of the major introductions being smaller berries, spargolo berries. Moving away from traditional cask aging may also be a step towards a future in which producers combat climate change with fresh ideas. For instance at Tenuta Buon Tempo Alberto Maccheti has been installing new concrete tanks to replace the more than 20 year old 64 hL Garbelotto casks. Whatever it takes seems to be the prevailing attitude for a region that has to, must do something.

Morning in Montalcino

Much ado and what to do about Rosso di Montalcino

In 2020 I wrote that “culturally speaking Rosso di Montalcino is the most important wine. It’s what the Montalcinese drink daily. It’s a Monday night, a winemaker’s night off. There is work to be done in the morning so it wouldn’t be prudent to drink anything heavy or expensive. What to open? The answer is obvious and easy. Rosso di Montalcino. More than one Montalcino winemaker has used the phrase “it’s what we like to drink” and just as many will tell you that Rosso must reflect sangiovese’s character more than any other wine. What we know is that the Rosso are the protagonists of the new market.”

With Francesco Rippacioli and Tommaso Cortonesi

“The most fascinating thing about Rosso di Montalcino is that every producer has a unique philosophy and a personal relationship with the appellative wine. To some it persists in the old-school way, that is to think of it as a “baby Brunello,” or second wine, if you will. The days of Rosso being considered only in this way are long past. The baby Brunello concept now acquiesces to the notion of Rosso strictly made for Rosso, with great purpose and also meaning. There are some Rosso that really need to be considered and assessed just as you would Brunello and it is only where such structured sangiovese fit relative to the estate’s other Brunello that need qualify it as Rosso. In today’s Montalcino one’s Rosso is another’s Brunello. It’s now more than ever a matter of location, soil and altitude.”

Annual pic with the hardest working sommeliers in the business

“Rosso can refer to the sangiovese berries themselves, meaning the winemaker will pick the largest for Rosso, the medium berries for Brunello and the smallest ones for Riserva. Others will designate vineyards to the Rosso, or plant new ones and use the youngest fruit. Still there will be some who pass through all their vines and designate specific blocks, referring to it and even labelling it as a cru. Finally there are some who wait and craft Rosso in the cellar, after the fruit has come in and been pressed. There are many ways to skin a Rosso but these days it is always a wine treated with respect. In terms of elévage, Rosso will more likely than not be raised in big barrels but not the Grandi Botti often used for the Brunello. As for vine age it seems the sweet spot is between 15 and 20 years.”

Rosso di Montalcino could and should be elevated to DOCG status. To do so requires investment and also a mandatory minimum aging period in wood. The 2019 vintage is proof of why Rosso needs to once again be revisited, to be considered in its own light and of its own accord. This is because as a vintage much less Rosso was made, simply by the reason of across the board quality, raising the prospect of making more Brunello. A matter of available quantities and as an extension, economics. Which means that many vineyards capable of being purposed either way went in Brunello’s direction out of 2019. Which also means that more vineyards need to be designated as Rosso and were a DOCG awarded the rules would need to be altered to make sure the wines are pre-declared as such. There is enough Brunello to go around and the world needs more Rosso di Montalcino.

Drogheria Franci Restaurant Montalcino

Further to that the Consorzio’s decision to hold an anteprima in November causes producers to make choices they would not have had to think about before. The 2019 Rosso would have been shown in February and so November is both too late for producers who have already sold out or at least allocated their’s, but also too early for the 2020s to be presented. I purposely tasted only seven examples and each one was intensely youthful, tighter and more inaccessible than the next. The ’19s on the other hand were glorious, open and generous, as they would have already been just a few months earlier. Late April or early May would be an ideal time to show off the latest Rosso di Montalcino vintage, early enough for the early releasers and late enough for those who need 18 months before putting their Rosso to bed. Keep the Brunello anteprima in November if that works for the majority because the extra nine months (from the usual February event) works wonders for all three levels; Annata and Vigna plus the previous year’s Riserva. I can think of at least one more noble sangiovese producing appellation that would benefit from doing the same.

Here are 222 reviews, mostly from the November anteprima and estate visits but also some drawn from attending the October 2021 Gambero Rosso Awards tasting in Rome. There are 35 Rosso notes, 23 of them for the 2019 vintage. One hundred and seventy-one Brunello reviews, including seven from 2018 and for 2017 there are 103, 69 for Annata and 34 to Vigna. For 2016 there are 61 tasting notes, 45 on Riserva, the rest Annata and Vigna. Also 16 older vintages and IGTs.

Rosso di Montalcino 2020

Caparzo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

While so many 2020 Rosso are going to be intensely youthful, this from Caparzo is really quite approachable. Classic estate red, like a liquor dosage of itself running and integrating through itself. Tart and expertly crafted with express intention to please. Of this there can be no doubt. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Taverna dei Barbi

Fattoria Dei Barbi Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

A vintage of viscosity and deepest of red cherry fruit, off of vines five to fifteen years old. While really young there is access here for drinking a 2020 ahead of many others. Classically dark Barbi fruit and a Galestro feeling. Bottled just less than one month ago and settled into a calm state by now. Will remain stable for a few years, not necessarily gaining in complexity but surely keeping on. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Patrizia Cencioni Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

Extremely youthful, full deep fruit and whilst the carbonic feeling persists you can’t help but intuit a depth in this Rosso. Mix in an early high tonality and expectation then dictates this will offer up the fullest of mouthfeel. Charged and rich, a luxe Rosso with chalky underlay, a fine rage of acidity and a wine very much working in progress. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Talenti Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

Tight, young and early bracing Rosso from Talenti, showing off the darker fruit of the vintage and surely offering a glimpse into what the Brunello will bring three further years down the road. A vintage of well developed fruit and sharp acidity, vividly captured in a sangiovese just like this. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tenute Silvio Nardi Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

Very much a work just beginning its progress, both carbonic notions and sulphur completely unresolved. Needs a revisit to see where the darkening fruit will go. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2021

Ucceliera Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

A Rosso further along than many, at least in terms of fermentative culmination and post-shock living. Shows off the hue and depth of vintage fruit with more redness, cherry ingress and tannic redress. You can feel the grip and the controlled power in this sangiovese. Will be a very good one because it already is. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Voliero Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020

Tight, taut, wound around itself like a wire around a spool and yet having found its way out of fermentation and through bottling. Less fruit than brother Ucceliera and also lower toned, earthbound, grounded and yet the acids are right on point. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2021

Rosso di Montalcino 2019

Armilla Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Lovely red, red fruit, supple and stylish. As if cherries grew on rose bushes and this light, dusty feeling improvised by a Rosso with a tender modicum of fortifying structure. The right pressing, pushed and from a location ideal for Rosso out of 2019. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Castello Tricerchi Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Pushes the boundaries of red fruit into something deeper though the clarity and transparency are evident and true. Lithe yet subtle if also sneaky structured Rosso, one that will please those needing immediate gratification yet with an ability to travel further, while treading lightly into a whole other realm. Great curiosity and possibility here. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted November 2021

Castiglion Del Bosco Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Well-pressed, expressed and all tenets captured Rosso having taken full advantage of a vintage willing to give it all. Feel the ripeness pushed and the effects of so much greenery, a forest of hope and dreams also pressed into this fulsome Rosso. All the immediacy one could want is here for the taking. Drink this young and impressionable. Drink 2021-2022. Tasted November 2021

Collemattoni Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Classic Collemattoni liqueur, a glycerin texture that fills every pore, pouring through and through. Just the sangiovese goods in purest form and a Rosso that speaks in clear, ernest and knowable 2019 terms. What’s really special is the way the wine lingers and stays with you without any astringencies nor finishing nut, pith or bitters. A top Rosso for the vintage. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

With Andrea Costanti and Michaela Morris

Conti Costanti Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Vermiglio 2019

The level of purity multiplied by concentration from 2019 is off the proverbial sangiovese cross referenced by Montalcino charts. This from a vintage when much less Rosso was made because the quality of the Brunello was so important. The fruit is of course deep cherry but branching off into a spectral expanse of darkening reds. The well runs deep, pooling with cool, ethereal and mineral licked waters, the textural breadth reaching into three-dimensional fabric. Also a tomato reduction, sweat of San Marzano, viscous and flessibile or perhaps flessuoso. Nothing remains out of reach or control, instead all is in focus and structured. Most would kill to reach such potential, have, show and sell this as Brunello. In a way this ’19 Costanti is a first of its kind, impressive for Rosso with a set of finest tannins. Long on the chain, capable of the most age-worthy extension. With 20 minutes of air a swarthiness emerges, putting this Rosso commensurate with some historical vintages, say 1985, 1988, 1990 and 1997. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Relatively lithe, dusty and crafty Rosso, giving away the impression of a really purposed example, a sangiovese of credibility and composure. That said there is some grip and intention as well so perhaps wait a year and better still two before seeing where this will travel. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Cortonesi La Mannella Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

The 2011 planted vineyard is the youngest at La Mannella and is used exclusively for Tommaso Cortonesi’s Rosso. “In recent years, for my generation we are trying to approach Rosso di Montalcino is a more personal way,” tells Cortonesi. “A fresh wind, brought to the production and (especially) the communication. Finding a real identity, not as a baby Brunello.” The clay soil does not necessarily give big concentration but more so ease, elegance and classic sangiovese. Seemingly dark in hue but bright and tart in such an accentuated way. Can’t really shake the idea of the quality inherent in this specific scope of concentration. A liqueur of sangiovese, moving towards the finish swiftly and courteously across the palate. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

With Violante Gardini, Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Casato Prime Donne 2019

Having a moment with the outward exhale of this perfume because it’s unlike most other Rosso and so the time taken to breathe it in will do all parties well. Clarity of roses and spring flowers, an exotique nearly equal and surely apposite to the ulterior presence of a gamey note that’s so intriguing. This is what Casato Prime Donne brings to the table. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Elia Palazzesi Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019 Collelceto

Crisp and pure Rosso for Rosso’s sake, as automatically and knowable as sangiovese as a Rosso from Montalcino can really be. Tugs straight at the heartstrings by offering a cherry red, tightly focused and lightly grippy wine. Perfectly representative for a now to three years Rosso for all who query and consider, each and every day of the week. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Fanti

Fanti Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

From 15 hectares of Rosso vineyards with the potential to produce upwards of 50,000 bottles, though in truth much less is actually made. The rest of the unselected juice is sold off or portioned over to the IGT Torto Rosso. So yes a selection, aged for a year and a half in larger (30 hL) casks and some barriques. Not just another high quality and ready, rock-steady Rosso but here in 2019 a bolder and more substantial version of its always loveable and solid self. Gotta love it, any which way, all the time. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted November 2021

La Colombina Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Somewhat older-schooled, firm and grippy sangiovese in Rosso, a squeezed and captured liqueur that takes hold without letting go. Plenty of portents and intendments in a wine that will need time to ease, settle and deliver. There will be more earth than fruit when that time comes. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2021

La Fornace Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Beautiful gelid liqueur of sangiovese emits with fineness from La Fornace 2019 Rosso, making the vintage happen as it should from this part of town. Really fine tart red fruit capture and equal tannic ability but what’s really special here are the acids merging and making for great freshness. Parts are bigger than some and so well integrated. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

With Riccardo Campinoti, Le Ragnaie

Le Ragnaie Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Still a barrel sample because Riccardo Campinoti leaves his Rosso for two years, even though there are hundreds of the appellative wines already having been long ago released on the market. Still this is the final version, of 30,000 bottles produced, more or less. The barrels for the blend were chosen in October and bottling is imminent. Did not make it into this November’s anteprima because there was not enough notice given, also considering when Le Ragnaie puts Rosso to bottle. In 2019 there is 30 per cent Montosoli mixed in with Castelnuovo dell’Abate and even some estate vineyard fruit. A firm and chewy Rosso, not yet settled and ready to play as it will. Substantial everything, beyond fruit, especially texture and real tannins for a Rosso. A harbinger for the Brunello to come, especially with all three (zonal) fruit sources layering their involvement. This will age really well. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Cacio e Pepe, Il Giglio

Lisini Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

A Rosso of interest because of the ulterior aromas and motives, of a pomegranate to blood orange citrus tartness and a wish for immediate gratification. This is contrary to many Rosso of more grip and structure. This changes and then the wine shows its teeth. More interest than many and still in a Brunello vein. In a sense this Rosso does it all. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted November 2021

Mastrojanni Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Firm yet a Rosso with more than ample charm and grace, full red fruit and tannin interposed, layered and sharing the sangiovese stage. Takes some time but the fulsome and dusty work here really gains and makes haste of your senses. Takes hold and really does not let go. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Pinino Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Intensity of Rosso aromas, rich and invigorating while showing more wood than many. Perhaps some barriques or possible new wood quite seasoned and throwing much in the way of dark chocolate into the wine. Espresso too in a Rosso of such ilk. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted November 2021

Renieri Srl Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

From the word go the Renieri feels like a true and purposed Rosso, with no aspirations but to be Rosso and to take the appellation to a most important next level. This is the thing about Rosso today and in how the last five years have seen to arriving at moments like these. Chewy with red fruit in a liquorice way, lithely tart and a blood orange moment but incremental, a sangiovese climbing up as if on steps, not so much rising as getting to upwards levels. Length is outstanding. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

San Polo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Released in September of 2021, at the time when 2020 Rosso are allowed to be released by the Consorzio. Aged in 40 hL casks, from fruit selected each season out of the eight parcels at San Polo. Oh my what an inviting and reeling Rosso, purity of exacting 2019 red fruit and really quite a deft touch to tie all parts together. Fresh and spirited, a chewy interior but always smart, energetic and gracefully powerful throughout the outer layers. Surely a Rosso of crunch but also a salinity with thanks to all the rocks in these “mountain” Montalcino vineyards. Just feels like a Rosso for Rosso sake. Quite ideal. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted November 2021

Trattoria Il Pozzo, Sant Angelo in Colle

Sasso Di Sole Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Sasso Di Sole’s is a northeasterly Montalcino location in the neighbourhood of Torrenieri, a cooler sub-zone of the territory. Doesn’t necessarily apply when a vintage like 2019 is in bottle because beautiful weather and near perfect growing conditions will put just as beautiful Rosso into the bottle. Still you have to appreciate and focus on the added freshness, perhaps as compared to some jammier and lush examples made in the southern reaches of the region. This is quite a salty and structured little Rosso number, tart and sassy, full of sun yes but also dried herbal, brushy and dusty substance. It’s all in here, a touch idiosyncratic and then with tannins that really turn arid, as felt in the mouth long after the wine is gone. Strong for the DOC, dark of fruit and mildly astringent at the end. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted May and November 2021

Tenuta Buon Tempo Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

For Alberto Machetti a similar and equally “cool” vintage with grapes in Castelnuovo facing Monte Amiata. Picking started on the 16th of September in a vintage with great freshness and in this case an intense level of savour. From the seven lowest hectares on alluvial clay soil only 50 metres from the Orcia River. Of double density and yields which work best for Rosso. Fine but relative ease and linear concentration for an easy but more than notable substantial essay of Rosso. Purple fruit and proper acids. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta La Potazzine Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

Bottled in June 2021 and a Rosso of real identity, on its own, connected to Brunello but so much a wine of its own accord. Truly Rosso for the sake of aromas, subtlety and for a starting point for drinking three to four years forward. The 2017 must be at perfect peak now with five years easy left at that level. Indicates what will happen with this 2019, a Rosso delicate and in charge, with power, of itself and also us. Complex and yet easy. The opposite of so many of us. Wait another year or so for the wine to soften and arrive at the right place. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta San Giorgio Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Ciampoleto 2019

An old-fashioned Italian term meaning single-vineyard, from “Ciampolo.” Stainless steel and 15 months in Slavonian oak, from a vintage of excellent interchange and alternating between sunlight and rainfall. Also a vintage from which Monte Amiata really aided with airflow for freshness and kept acidity. Vineyards face southeast (next to Podere Le Ripi) and their age is up to 20 years of age. Youthful and charming Rosso, a snapshot of young vines and a luxe vintage getting together on the same page for sangiovese surety. Richness to be sure in that regard and a chocolate rendering, part milk and part dark, swirled through the texture of the wine. Fine grain of tannin runs through as well, taking over and finishing at macchianto. A savoury freshness and if you’ve tasted enough vintages of Ciampoleto you will know this is tops, exceptional, potent and seductive. Sweet fennel at the finish. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Ventolaio Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2019

High spirit and tonality, a Ventolaio speciality and what is expected from their Rosso. This especially when considering a vintage that could entice a maker to go further and deeper. The commitment to restraint and even more importantly consistency makes this a special wine. Crisp enough to call freshness the lead and with a fullness of texture to feel the barrel and lead this down a four to six year road. Exemplary, dictionary entry. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Rosso di Montalcino 2018 and 2017

Biondi Santi Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Tenuta “Greppo” 2018

The harvest started on September 16th, from a season where 800 grams of bunches per plant was almost double the norm so intensive selection was necessary. A tramontana wind came in and so the harvest was quickly concluded on the 26th. There was some fear of botrytis. Though there had been a great variability of ripeness 10 days earlier, the point was reached by the end of the season. Just a two week maceration, noted in the old-school colour, fragrant, never pushed, also perfume in the tannins, replicating the fruit. More to the point is the mimic of acidity so that all three are on the same page. Bottled just about one year ago so really coming into a drinking window. Labeled 13 per cent but in reality clocks in at exactly 12.8, which is nothing less than incredible. “There is something in this estate that is magic” tells Federico Radi. “This is Il Greppo, from the beginning there is balance and you can feel this in the first steps of alcoholic fermentation.” Could there be an easier place to work, in a sense, “because the quality of tannins are so fine.” So very true and as a Rosso an exact mirror into the vintage, lithe and elastic, pliable of structure and ready to drink quite soon. Textured of it’s own accord, disposition and way. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted November 2021

Poggio Di Sotto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2018

Rainy season early, cool enough with some sun but problematic at the outset by a daily pebbling of the two, followed by a terrific climatic summer. Definite herbal, Mediterranean aromatics, almost like walking and brushing past the hedges on the terrace overlooking the valley. Notably linear and demanding for Rosso, a Brunello (from barrel declassified) after three years. Hyper real, serious and gripped with no less mattering intendment. Remember that this too comes from a selection in the vineyard and so the backbone and probability begins from the day the grapes leave the vine. Teenage angst, rebellious, a bit angry and it will grown up. Proper role modelling and upbringing guarantees this Rosso 2018 will be fine and be great. Peppery piques at the finish and then all goes quiet. Elegance emerged. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tassi Di Franci Franca Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2018

Lean and transparent Rosso of purity and clarity, fruit far from full extraction and the wood very much a part of the easterly mix. Spice and chocolate shavings, intensity overall and while the barrel makes this immediate statement it falls away and the wine finishes with smooth, morbido and really pleasant consistency. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Poggio di Sotto

Poggio Di Sotto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

The work of Luca Marone (oenologist) and Federico Staderini (winemaking) surely had their cards laid out on the table from which they’ve managed to pick, sort and arrange in the creation of shared common ground sets of elegance and finesse. Not as other vintages per se but there are signs all over this wine to say it will pour like Brunello for years to come. The tannins are chalky overtop maximum sapid occupancy and mineral cuts in angles all across the body politic of this wine. Wait another year. You will be thankful for it. The volume was split between Rosso and Brunello, considering there was no Riserva produced. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

With Gigliola, Sofia and Viola, Le Potazzine

Tenuta La Potazzine Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2017

Poured from magnum, as Gigliola wishes all sangiovese were but knows it’s not really possible. Put thoughts of a hard vintage aside and just focus, use imagination and pay close attention to realities that tell the ’17 tale of this place. From vineyards upwards and exceeding 500m, a natural ferment, unfiltered and as fresh as any in Montalcino. If Montalcino were a perfume this might be it, inviting but with secrets, open and subtly so. Few sangiovese are as elegant and in such control, youthful but showing the cards to tell us what we should expect. Eventually. Slowly. Last tasted November 2021

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

Brunello di Montalcino 2018

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

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

Ragnaie Vineyard

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Passo 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

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

Brunello di Montalcino 2017

Altesino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

A fully macerated, extracted and vintage captured Brunello with a charming run through of transparency. More than a shake of wood spice and earthy grip, a sangiovese of immediacy but also intensity. You can feel the fruit of suffering and the resiliency. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

As one would expect the Argiano comes streaming with magnificent fruit on the heels of a string of recent vintages inclusive and in many ways culminating at their near perfect 2016s. What has been learned and essential changes that have been made have led to making this effortless ’17, relatively speaking but heat being little matter when acumen runs this high. Bernardino Sani has found the sweet spot, a place where optimum fruit ripeness can linger and develop all the necessary accoutrements to acquiesce at a positively proper meeting point. The length on this classic ’17 is outstanding with thanks to the work put in. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted November 2021

Armilla Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Armilla’s is truly honest and forthright, ripe cherry captured with zing and more than ample tannin making for a strengthening of multi-tiered structure. Admittedly closed at first, reluctant and reticent with so much lurking below, behind and underneath. There’s a richness that belies the closed nature of this sangiovese which purports to explain and make one expect more. Time is the necessary feature to make this happen. Be patient and allow Armilla to come through. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Banfi’s presents a bit of a conundrum because the fruit is luxe and ripe yet the tannic structure is both tight and demanding. There are two parts to this ’17, the warmth and full character up front and the wall of expectation out back. Many will purchase and consume this early as per the awareness of the name but more than the lion’s share of bottles should better be doted upon, kept sealed and opened a minimum six years after vintage. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

Camigliano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Quite the rich and fulsome Brunello 2017, all parts deep and intense, acidity running really high, all else running to keep up. A sangiovese of heat yet one that streaks through its world. The kind of Brunello that makes you feel like you must hurry to taste and figure things out when really what is required is tempo, for qualità and also longevita. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Classic Campogiovanni and Leonardo Bellaccini, full fruit and barrel intertwine, each supportive and enraptured in each other. Hard to imagine and believe that a Brunello di Montalcino could be traced and placed to such a specific locale, estate and winemaker but if there is only one this would be it. Chewy and textured sangiovese, spiced and seasoned, the kind that will impact many lives and offer a very specific kind of pleasure. At full ripeness, wood-aging and frosting of ganache. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG “Canalicchio Di Sopra” 2017

Considering the location of Canalicchio di Sopra’s vineyards to the east and north of Montalcino there should be every reason to think that 2017 would not pose a problem to making a top Annata. Francesco Ripaccioli would likely smile that wry smile when he knows that the year was in fact a magnanimous challenge but he would also follow up with that confident smile of his. Ripaccioli has the fortune and the instincts, to mix and match, to layer and compliment, to figure with mathematical precision and this wine expresses all that and more. There is cut and linearity, a finest architectural line and a freshness that belies what heat might want to take control. A fine classico for Montalcino that speaks to the best of all worlds within. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2021

Capanna Di Cencioni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Capanna has found the righteous path in 2017, a road paved with credible is softened tannins ushering fruit picked late and having reached great vintage maturity. This was no easy task and their’s is a wine from which higher alcohol is so well mitigated and controlled by the substantial quotient achieved. It helps more than a lot that their location is north of the hill which allowed the longer hang time without the amount of desiccation unavoidable in so many parts of the territory. Capanna’s is flat out a lovely ’17 that drinks like Brunello in the most unassuming and proper way. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

Capanne Ricci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

A spike and pique like many 2017s though fruit hangs in there for some extra time and effort. High acid and drying tannins complete the trilogy yet all the sections are set apart. Can’t really see this ever fully coming together as one. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Notable depth and intensity lead the way in Elisabetta Gnudi’s 2017 Annata, a sangiovese for sangiovese’s sake and a wine to consider earlier than some. Quite rich and welling with fulsome varietal liqueur, lightly tart, power in restraint and clearly designed for sooner rather than later enjoyment. Give this an hour or so aeration and get at the fine juice contained within. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Caprili’s is a 2017 Brunello of great bones, back rhythm and structure. A sangiovese from 2017 calculated and so very far from over-pressed, in feeling of vintage warmth plus seasoning but needing years to flesh away. The palate is full of meaty tones currently residing in swarthy pools while finest tannins work their way through the comports of this wine. There can be little immediate gratification here and considering the style and also the build, there really shouldn’t be. Wait three years on Giacomo Bartolomei’s strong and sure Annata. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted November 2021

Carpineto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

A tightly knit, forcefully wound and really serious 2017 here from Carpineto, full of all the seasoning and spice that can be coerced into crowding an Annata. Crisp, crafty and formidable. Big, big mouthful of Brunello, savoury and brushy to the end. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

It was hot and dry and “that’s what you need in high elevation vineyards surrounded by forests,” is how Filippo Chia sees the situation. Romitorio as a place of lower sun exposure received the hot and dry vintage for what Chia calls “the best vintage ever at Romitorio.” More woodwind instruments and less drums. Vinified and malolactic in cement, aged in 5000L barrels with some 3,600, 2,000L and a few per cent tonneaux. Only 10-12 days of maceration, much less than other years and this is consistent with others who know and do the same. Sourcing from 10 hectares of old and seven that are newer. In a vintage without water a plant like sangiovese saps up the minerals and in this place it’s a red earth, ferrous grab that can’t help but be expressed in the wine. Both pH and acidity really change and there is no rise of the former, or lowering of the latter after malolactic fermentation. A countercurrent Brunello, lithe, effusive and showing the nakedness of the land. Yield was down 40 per cent, concentration is up but not to look at, nor to feel in terms of polish. Healthy vines adapted and survived where others may not have been so fortunate. Big props to the older vineyards, ones that date back to 1985. Drink 2021-2033. Tasted November 2021

Castello Tricerchi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

As with their 2019 Rosso tasted just an hour earlier there is great poise, grace and also functionality in Tricerchi’s 2017 annata. A sangiovese that captures the grape’s essence and Montalcino presence while tempering and filtering the vintage demand. A wine crafted with strong hands holding an infant with delicate and appropriate ease. Also a wine that captures imagination which is so very much the point more than most of the time. When a producer steps up in a vintage like this you know they have moved on to new a greater heights. Do not miss out on this or any of these wines starting now. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Cava d’Onice Brunello Di Montalcino 2017

Top grape and emotive spirit emit from Cava d’Onice’s 2017, high-toned in slow-ripened and well-preserved acidity for the vintage. A sangiovese of fine lines, good bones and linear rising attitude. The alcoholic warmth is felt somewhat but the peppery pique is only a fleeting moment in what is otherwise a really good tempered wine. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Celestino Pecci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

From a location northeast and just downslope from the Montalcino hill and a Brunello of notable depth but most of all a linear, saline, elemental and purposed Annata. Benefitted from position and timing, feeling late picked enough and still maintaining red fruit freshness while also accessing full phenolic ripeness. Solid ’17, a success in the end result. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

If the wine’s perfume scents like Col d’Orcia then it must be Col d’Orcia. If one estate could be counted on to keep the faith and consistency of classico Brunello alive then once again, think Col d’Orcia. Here the warmth of the vintage is noted but the mineral and elemental saltiness that cuts through makes sure to keep freshness always at the fore. Will this live in infamy like decades of Brunello that have come before, per haps not but as always, many opened bottles will deliver the experience of being pleasantly surprised. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted November 2021

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lovely and balanced capture of what 2017 has to offer, luxe and seasoned sangiovese but also that which speaks in spirited spikes of freshness. There needs to be more of this style available because it’s pleasing and Brunello di Montalcino will always be inherently taut and structured. Collemattoni’s wines are both consistent and like the chameleon, able to adjust as necessary for and from what happens in every changing vintage. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Andrea Costanti

Conti Costanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Colle Al Matrichese 2017

Though beauty may be an elusive animal there must be sound reason for Andrea Costanti to follow through with making a Brunello in the 2017 vintage. After all he made the choice to not do so in 2014 and put the best fruit into Vermiglio Rosso. But Costanti clearly saw the forest for the trees and the difference; beyond simply one being cold and wet, the other hot and dry. Substantial fruit and ample tannin are clearly present, the former cherry with a minor key of pith and the latter liquid chalky. A cherrystone Annata, subtle in savour, sweetly stinging in sapidity. Fine and precise, a mimic of the maker, as it is written. Brunello 2017 is a wine needing to be mulled, chewed and considered, things that speak to how it was built and where it will go. Only 14 per cent alcohol adds to the mystique and curiosity for a sangiovese of temperance, divine skill and site. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Off the top one of the deeper 2017 Annata and of a density that speaks not to excess but to the northwestern red soils of Corte Pavone’s Montalcino sector. There is nothing about this Loacker Brunello that does not talk their localized talk nor walk with style the way a Corte Pavone wine is want to do. Fulsome and highly expressive, a sangiovese of many layers and commentary. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

The elephant in the room is obvious and Tommaso Cortonesi answers before the question is even posed. “You will be surprised by the freshness and acidity of the 2017, despite the warm vintage.” So how exactly can that be? Picked as usual, for one thing, at the end of September. “Montalcino can approach each kind of season and situation during the production process,” explains Cortonesi, meaning climate events, extremes and change be anathematized the vines have been nurtured and equipped to handle stress, especially drought, to sleep if necessary, call upon reserves and take full advantage of late season miracles. The ’17 is smartly piquant, wisely wily, youthful above reproach, even if technically requiring some correction. Levels of acidity and even volatility are high, as per the vintage but in reality drying fruit and tannin are not. Take your time with La Mannella, don’t rush or make any immediate demands of its emotions or time. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Casato Prime Donne 2017

Straight away the multi-layered and generational floral perfume mixed with earth, grace and musk that only a Casato Prime Donne will do. There is just something about the layers and treasures in a Donatella Brunello, gelid fruit first, textural movements second and finally the kind of qualities that make for futuristic classicism. Always a matter of how things must be. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Casanova di Neri is one of those Montalcino estates with the fortuitous ability to combine wines from a few terroirs to forge a most consistent and impressively layered Annata. Seeking, finding and capturing the best of the vintage is not just a specialty but a rite of passage. Our palates and senses are put on high alert in accessing the levels of variegated fruit, fine to striking acids and several ways in which structure envelopes it all. Just seems like this 2017 Brunello resides at the epicentre of what is right, correct and also knowable for the vintage. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lovely capture of fruit from the warm 2017 vintage that while over-stressed it is important to note each and every producer that found the way. To capture freshness and that honesty of sangiovese spirit, here from Montalcino’s south and with fortuitous elevation to keep the acids and the energy alive. Well done Tommasi, what else to say. Bravo. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Elia Palazzesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Collelceto 2017

The Annata 2017 from Elia Palazzesi Collelceto is one meant for everyone, meaning the combination of fruit substance and constructive optimism makes this so well rounded, formed and adjusted. No longer a child or even an adolescent but a responsbile adult with a sense of fun and adventure. Here sangiovese is beautiful, handsome, fresh and fleshy. Works every rounded corner of the glass, palate and room. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Fanti’s 2017 is just about as transparent a response as is possible for a Brunello to show where it comes from, a brushy, herbal and very micro-climatic territorial wine. Some thankfully refreshing rain at the end of August allowed for an extra two to three weeks of hang time so that this Annata could reach phenolic ripeness. Much of the fruit comes from 450m of elevation in nine hectares near San Polo’s Podernovi, a fruit source so essential for making a ’17 Brunello of energy and freshness. Very much a Brunello with ample concentration and yet that transparency tells you this is a Fanti. Will make itself available as early as any. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Fattoi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Wildly and exotically perfumed, here in Brunello finding the floral expressiveness not always so easy to access in this particular vintage. Follows the aromatique with a well-rounded if full to fleshy palate and then the sangiovese really digs in. Not in a particularly overt tannic way yet surely with some extensive and extending control. Really fine work in 2017 to be sure and a sleeper with all parts working as one. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

An aromatic Annata for Brunello and without a doubt a Barbi, belonging to no one else. There is bosco and brusco, or the decades forward extension thereof, with an average production of 180,000-200,000 bottles, though it could be much larger, selection notwithstanding. Fruit stylistic, cool, sweetly savoury, of clay, sand and Galestro infiltration. The estate style is the most important which means the cellar-master (Maurizio Cecchini) is more important than the oenologist(s). That is the truth. Not a rich wine or vintage obvious but so perfectly correct for style and place. That said there is a Mediterranean feel here, especially in 2017, of black olive, autumn floor and finally sweet wood. Worked as it should be and careful to carry the crest and the flag. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Fattoria Del Pino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Il Pino 2017

Major jam as confiture or at least a basin filled with cherry liqueur is the order of del Pino’s 2017, a sangiovese that speaks straight from the varietal heart. Truly of itself yet missing something after that, meaning middle palate substance and length despite the crust of finalizing tannin. Just missing that spark. Blame the vintage and del Pino’s kinship in time and place. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Fornacina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lovely lift, red current to berry fruit and real stage presence put this 2017 in a fine and bright vintage light. The timely picking has allowed for good ripeness and phenolic lift, not to mention a level of beauty too many have failed to find. A sangiovese of resilience that will drink with pleasure for more than a few years time. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG 2017

A bigger wine in total control from Franco Pacenti in 2017, following the cues of vintage and hallmarks of location to make a wine of necessity and also promise. Quite an effusive aromatic spray moving and grooving into a most gregarious set of palate parameters. Chewy wine that maintains freshness in the face of warmth and great spice. Needs time and will live long. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Il Palazzone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

A crescent moon of a Brunello Annata, partially formed with curves and angles, showing an asymmetrical symmetry as only a poetic sangiovese of this ilk may do. There’s an herbal quality and ulterior style that captures imagination while also doling out the fruits of bosco, noce and earth. A veritable spice, dried fruit and nuts market in a glass of sangiovese. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

More than expectation and in fact understanding directs the immediacy of Il Poggione’s fine and fulsome Annata. The guarantee of quality fruit makes the high spirit, vitality and energy of this 2017 all that much more exciting and especially palatable. Oh how knowledge and experience can work in an estate’s favour to bring charm, freshness and elegance into a Brunello that rises to meet a challenge. Ottimo per duemiladiciassette. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

La Fornace Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Quite a strike of limestone red lightning from La Fornace in 2017 and yet another way for the name and the place to maintain a sense of itself. Tart and just a bit underripe or underwhelming which means an early pick (likely), following by a gentle pressing. No astringency but also no gregarious flavours coming through. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

La Gerla Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Big and juicy Brunello, fully extracted and from fruit hung longer than some who chose that early exit route. As such there is plenty of character and flavour in La Gerla, but also some tannic demand and sour edging. Gets most qualities right and finishes a bit brittle. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2021

La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

La Lecciaia’s Annata emits a vivid and dramatic set of aromatics, namely brushy herbs in a rosemary to tarragon vein. Quite a tannic sangiovese for 2017, rich and fortifying, strong mocker, not shy and likely to outlive many of its peers. Not finding some of the charm and grace most La Lecciaia winds are want to express but this does choose the firm and grippy ’17 side so at least it has made a choice. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

La Màgia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

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

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lorenzo Magnelli’s picking scheme is most beneficial to vintages like 2017 because he’s thinking about berry size matched with appellation and so these medium sized grapes could only be at their optimum, regardless of when they came off the vine. Magnelli would have chosen which plants for when their fruit could do nothing but the best for place and time. Freshness, acidity and tannins are all on point, consecutively arranged while layered within and without. The bonding, seamlessness and insulation show no holes, nor leaking neither. Top quality and come together for the vintage. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted November 2021

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Excellent quality fruit was had from Le Ragnaie at 600m of elevation, also from northerly Montosoli and yet Riccardo Campinoti’s decision was to use southerly Castelnuovo dell-Abate (including that of Le Fornace) for the Rosso di Montalcino. Generally and frankly speaking the fruit at the estate was picked a minimum two weeks ahead of “normal” schedule, usually hanging well in October, but what is normal anymore? Some Petroso fruit was used in here as well. Yields and production were down 10-15 per cent, at least as compared with the previous two vintages. Remained on skins for 40 days, although Campinoti often does 60 or more and has even gone for 90 in the past. He also aims for the lightest extraction when considering skin-contact time and for him 2017 is a vintage of “unfinished tannins.” Not quite fully ripe and yet acidity never fell away. Another example of how Brunello can be sold now and for the next five years, especially to restaurants and shops for immediate consumption. Bottled at the end of August, good glycerin texture, finely sweetened bitters and all that said, one of the Annata’s better set of mostly resolved tannins. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Lisini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lisini gets much of 2017 right and beautiful with gently squeezed red fruit from an early but thankfully not too early a pick. Just enough development and juiciness comes through without any serious tannic or astringent concern. A perfectly middle road taken 2017 Brunello that pleases and will drink quite effortlessly, with red citrus bites, in the short to mid term. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted November 2021

Mastrojanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Later picked of that there can be little doubt and a full throttle red fruit juiciness expressed as only Montalcinese sangiovese can. Some swarthy funk and earthiness, no game or meaty behaviour but surely some acetic and high toned behaviour. This is a style that many relish because it captures a kind of authenticity for producer and territory. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Padelletti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Padelletti gets some integral and essential things right in 2017, namely fruit well developed and pressed where no grapes were harmed. The ripeness levels of acidity and tannin are really close to ideal, higher for the first and then lower for the second. Some oscillations are noted on the sangiovese EKG but not enough to cause any distress to the heart and soul

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

High tonality, great citrus freshness and a sense of pith are part of the overall thematic in extraction from this racy 2017. Notably vintage related and likely picked on the early side. Plenty of character comes on through while some parts are a bit demanding on the palate, including some chains of brittle tannin. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Pian Delle Vigne Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Expert consideration revolves and evolves from the ’17 Pian delle Vigne, a wine of combinative picking, layering and exposure. The result here is full fruit expanse, well enough acidities left alone and plenty of structure. Well made through the processes of proper execution. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Pietra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lovely Annata from owner and winemaker Matteo Perugino, elegant, saline and briny. A perfectly subtle and salutary ’17 from an estate just south and west of Montalcino, close to Ragnaie and well heeded by elevation. Consistent sangiovese from start to finish with fine acids and veritable succulence. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Pietroso Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the palate of the imbiber and if Pietroso does not capture all attention the we may not be paying enough attention. This would have been plucked from the vines at the ripest and most perfect time and the juice pressed with soft hands. Delivers a juiciness and a structure that captures the best of 2017 with charm and grace. Will come together in two years time and drink well to the end of the decade. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Podere Brizio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Really nice work here from Brizio in 2017, not a risk-reward Annata per se but one well managed. A lighter, on par with the vintage Brunello yet in delivery of more than ample substance. Crunch and startling red fruit, plenty of forging acidity, simple yet complimentary structure. Neither exciting nor overdone. An explanation of Brizio’s position and their relationship with 2017. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

There will be very few Brunello di Montalcino that act and taste like Poggio di Sotto from 2017. To gain some sort of understanding you would have to go back to the transition of 1989 when the purchase of the property initiated a vision to see how wines and palates would surely converge looking forward 25-30 years. This 2017 does not offer creativity, concentration and construct without that foreshadowing foresight and here it is in the glass. Glycerin, textural seamlessness, torch taken in hand from 2015 and 2016 despite the track being cracked, broken and blistered by the vintage sun. No matter to winemaker Federico Staderini and oenologist Luca Marone who knew and know how to handle such truth because we clearly see that Brunello’s time in wood has brought it to the window. Rosso is no further yet near equally further along. The vintage messes with the relationship but as we pay attention we see the matters of extract and finesse for how they react when poured into glass. This is actually quite ready to drink. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

Renieri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Quite a depth of fruit from Renieri and a darker hue, but also a sensation of all parts existing in such a realm. Crisp sangiovese, of an earthy crust that compounds that croccante sensation and while the acid-tannin formation is equalizing there is an herbal-earthy-spice quotient that offers some vintage distraction. Solid if weighty 2017 in the end. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Roberto Cipresso Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Nothing else smells like Roberto Cipressi’s Annata, aromatically gregarious of an intensity not really noted anywhere else. Smells like a pine forest, a bowl of chopped rosemary, essential oils and so much more. A waft like no other, wood spice in waves and glycerin texture, almost appassimento in feeling and that is something I thought I’d never say. Gets no more parochial nor specific than this. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Salvioni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Cerbaiola 2017

Really aromatic 2017 by Salvioni, hyperbole of Annata maceration and development, deep inhalant of varietal meets vintage pooling. Luxe and filled the with fluid and flowing sangiovese blood, naturally sweet and developed. Fine if grippy and slightly bitter tannin will eventually soften and help this wine find a true path. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

San Lorenzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Lithe, medium-bodied and a notably dry, herbal and dusty Annata profile. Older schooled, say late 80s/early 90s feel. Fine stream of fruit and good length albeit drying at the finish. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Once again the variability of 2017 is on display with great and ever altering difference. Another stylistic shift and this time into gelid and pectic filled Brunello that takes full vintage advantage with immediacy on notice. As early drinking as a San Polino has ever shown. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Super warm vintage and quite dry. The wines can only reflect the vintage and San Polo is one of the estates where position made for good fortune in the face of a great challenge. A season to make more Rubio and only Brunello from a stringent selection. One of the juiciest of all ’17 Annata and the elévage remained consistent, using 1000hL Slavonian plus 50 and 60hL Tonneaux. Regard the professional and emotive work in San Polo’s Annata, of fruit clearly allowed to travel long and develop the kind of phenolics and also glycerin needed to hang with these 2017 tannins. Yes there is some late arriving astringency but that is the vintage, perhaps not in every Montalcino sector but more than most. Tannins are grippy yet fine and also sweet on a wine of juicy substance. Sure it’s a red tart, almost sour raspberry vintage but the rocks and the approach harmonize the parts and the style. The great and forward moving positives are the substantial fruit and savour, aspects of a Brunello most needed to be there when the grip softens and melts away. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Sasso Di Sole Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Warm, glycerin and luxurious Brunello, a liqueur of sangiovese in the most sweetly aromatic, jammy fruited and silken way. Almost feels as if there could be some residual sugar left in, that’s how sultry and seductive this acts. Curious for the vintage and beautiful in it very own way. A wine with no major structure that needs revisiting to see how it will react with age. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Warm location and elevation conspire to raise the vintage bar for and from Sesti, an Annata of great expectation, fruit force and brut grip. Here sangiovese stands firm, linear and tall, the kind you could almost put a stick inside and watch it stay upright. That’s the concentration and the effect created in a wine that is so substantial and on so many levels. A kick of bitters at the finish is very vintage related but the aforementioned substance will stand up, be counted and last. Wait three years for the troubling tannins to start their subsiding and sliding away. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2021

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Riccardo Talenti’s 2017 is an aromatic one, a sangiovese of fruit, earth, forest, brush and herbs. A dusty one, a deep inhalant of place and trust, an Annata that captures all there is to know about this most obtrusive and demanding vintage. So curious in how the palate replays all these notes and notions, in seasoned flavour and savour. A big wine for Talenti and one made in contract with estate vineyards producing fruit of a very peculiar vintage. Here’s how you do it and fulfill what’s promised. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Tassi Di Franci Franca Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Really fine work for a lovely Annata from the Franci family, high-toned and eclectic sangiovese of red fruit at the top end of the spectrum. Crunchy fruit in the true sense of croccante but also scorrevole, sliding across the palate and extending onwards. There is raspberry and blood orange, tar and roses. Feels a little bit like having gone through some Piedmontese cappello sommerso, by long extraction and textured as a result. Fine tannins, finish, some red pith too but time will heal any wounds. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Picked between the 7th and 10th of September and only 22,000 bottles made from 12 hectares of vineyards. Low does not due justice to how small a vintage was 2017. “We tried to extract less and keep it on the lighter side,” tells Alberto Machetti and an exception was made to age 100 per cent in used tonneaux (and no Slavonian oak). This is mainly due to dry tannins and the lowest of low yields. So many dried grapes, 25 per cent of the production discarded, the berries so small, the liquid to skin ratio completely out of balance. “More off a Rosso style adapted to make a little bit of Brunello.” The decision had to be made to avoid alcohol through the roof, too risky overall and too little too screw it up. This has turned out as a really well made and blessed Annata with thanks to decision making that pushed the right buttons. Truth conceived, spoken and executed by Machetti and team. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta La Fuga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Big wine from La Fuga in 2017, fully ripened, pressed and expressed for breadth of sangiovese possibility. Pectin at a high level and full throttle actionability for a full on example to sell, discuss and impress. This is a wine that will help licensee/restaurant and bottle shop sales because it delivers Brunello expectation. That said it won’t necessarily gift longevity. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Le Potazzine Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ugolforte 2017

From vineyards facing southeast aged up to 25 years and really now coming into their own. Definite alcohol elevation balanced by fruit hung well into September, also with kept acidity. Perfectly reasoned seasoned ’17 here from Poggio di Sotto’s sister and second property. Fruit spirit and juiciness run up the middle of vintage possibility and as a result there is nary a bitter, overtly herbaceous or astringent moment. This with thanks to plot position, aid and abetting by Mount Amiata. Tannic as a ’17, drying and yet precocious as compared to Poggio di Sotto, concentration a matter of younger vineyards. Unfair perhaps but they are a family and the simplicity here is well-loved, needed and accepted. Different planet, same philosophy, embracing the land and the people who make it happen, without pretension. Brunello simplicity is the captured moment in time when vintage and stylistic merge as they do in San Giorgio’s ’17. No harm, no foul. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Quite a fortuitously heady Annata for Tenute Silvio Nardi out of the vintage ranging through many derivations or this one way. There are early picked, light and simple wines and their are later picked Brunelli with a full head of fruit and steam. This falls unto the latter with no lack of barrel seasoning and weight behind the thickening fruit. Needs time to settle and allow both wood and density to integrate and get on down. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

Ucceliera Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Big and brawny it might seem is the order of Andrea Cortonesi’s ’17 Annata but these are the things that elevation, solar radiation and poor soil will talk about together. The bones in Ucceliera’s Brunello are one thing but the fruit, the substance and the presence are all together another. These are the types of wines that stand out, separate and shine in a vintage such as this. Fully developed, phenols at the top of the requiem and then a come together because the work once inside is accomplished without supposition. Every estate in Montalcino should be so lucky to receive such consultancy. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted November 2021

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Dense, thick and chalky Brunello, fully extracted and developed, nothing left in the vineyard or on the table. Actually quite impressed by how much has been assembled in this super Annata cuvée without the oft-seen ’17 astringency that usually comes along for the ride. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted November 2021

Ventolaio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

That Ventolaio perfume, heady and gracious, always a wine that finds a way to climb into the nether regions of your heart. Alternatively crisp and then chewy, exterior and interior, a sangiovese of layers, spice and relatively early integration. Does well to bring all parts together with elasticity but also finesse. The vintage snapshot is very much in focus. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Villa Al Cortile Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

One sniff of this Annata and only 2017 could come to mind. It is important for sangiovese and vintage to come together, forge a symbiotic union and express what only this place can. Villa al Cortile finds the sweet spot between fruit and tannin in a place where ’17’s acids lie, lay and linger. Not too much of anything with respect to excess here and plenty of possibility. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Perfectly middle of the road Brunello in ’17, well developed, extracted and pressed though well shy of any distraction. A bit aromatically reticent which goes against the vintage norms but the palate here is quite heady and expressive. The tannins are serious and bit drying but there should be enough fruit to hang in there once the wine begins to turn in a year and half or so’s time. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Voliero Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2017

Such a similar profile to Ucceliera if perhaps a bit more sun worship mixed with lower tones to create a deeper and more pressing example of Annata 2017. In that sense a bit of a dualistic sangiovese in this Voliero while true to harmonized, focused and right proper Andrea Cortonesi form. Hard to imagine this wine needing to be anything but what pours into this glass. More fruit and less structure for the correctness of it all. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2017 Vigna

Altesino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2017

The northern aspect of Montosoli is perhaps no further benefitted from than in this vintage, a cooler location befitting the warmest and driest of vintages. That said a Spring frost meant lower production but never the mind as the famous and important hill gifts Altesino with a fine Vigna sangiovese. Graces the charms and substance of 2017 with equal rights and finds the sweet spot for what is truly a full throttle and seasoned Altesino. Will be ready earlier than most might think. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Benvenuto Brunello 2021

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Alle Mura Vigna Marrucheto 2017

Strength in fruit is Vigna Marrucheto’s calling card for a 2017 of true black cherry depth. Travels well beyond fruit to a place where all the necessary parts collect, integrate and repeat. Shocking good acids lift spirits and even more shocking sweet tannins tie the entire work together. Banfi’s team surely had an edge in this challenging vintage and while many Vigna canibalized their Annata it is clear that Banfi had plenty of riches to go around. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Casaccia 2017

This is where all the recent hard work put in by Francesco Ripaccioli and team really comes to light and fruition. La Casaccia is northerly-ish but certainly not Montosoli and yet the aromatic profile of this Vigna-designate Brunello is laced with cool nuance and found to be full of fine finesse. As per the Canalicchio di Sopra idiom there is plenty of wood casking through the bones of the wine and yet one can feel the highest quality of those large vessels gifting a select strength leading to chic style, surely to be followed by one and a half decades of aging. All what needs, what is and must be for La Casaccia. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2021

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Casa 2017

Grandiose La Casa from 2017, full of depth. breadth and shadowy nuance. Just a terrific and most important northern Montalcino vineyard with Altesino’s Montosoli side by each, both upon the hill of hopes and dreams. The Corton of Montalcino if you will and here an example of a Vigna wine showing high glycerol content mixed with the mineral white, blue and grey Galestro of the vineyard. Makes for a potent and beautiful mix. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Filo Di Seta 2017

Filo di Seta, done up only in concrete eggs, the first vintage being 2010. A clay and Galestro vineyard, ancient soils at 180m just above Montosoli. Aging in 500L barrels of first, second and third usage. Looking for crunch, chew and roll. Two picks, two or three weeks apart and “you feel the down valley character,” says Filippo Chia. The opposite of high altitude Brunello, “we call it the campone,” a vineyard that existed going back to the 1700s. A place “where there are monks there is wine.” Potent by glycerin as viscosity and an intimate connection to sangiovese’s chiaroscuro. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted November 2021

Castello Tricerchi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG A.D. 1441 2017

High-toned, fruit cumulate, juicy appropriated and just fine textural example of Vigna. In just a few vintages Tricerchi has climbed from there to here with a refreshed and nuanced understanding of how to turn their vineyards into the freshest andsmartest of Montalcino wines. There is a fine complement of wood on A.D. 1441 but not without reason and merit. The fruit is up to the task, especially because there is a naturally curated swarthiness to its character. This Vigna will show best in two to three years. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2021

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campo Del Drago 2017

Here Vigna in a prime example of a wine showing brilliantly if less concentrated than certainly the previous two vintages. That said having tasted both the ’16 and ’17 Annatas it seems apparent that some ’17 fruit normally destined there has remained in this Campo del Drago ’17. A gain to a loss and such is life though hard to think another avenue might have been taken. Nevertheless this fortunate one drinks with substantial weight, stone, fruit filling and desire. Spicy piques at every turn and a long, creative if turbulent finish. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

Cava d’Onice Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Colombaio 2017

Colombaio steals the 2017 Cava D’Onice show, perhaps to the detriment of the classico but as with past adversarial vintages such is life and the show must go on. Here the fruit is plenty good and substantial, pooling with macerations of cherry accented by hints of rosemary and fennel. A fine, stylish and even chic Brunello that shines and will live well into the future. One of longer probabilities it would surely seem. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Fiore Del Vento 2017

The first of three Hayo Loacker investigations into the specificities of his Corte Pavone terroir is this Fiore del Vento, literally “flowers of the wind,” an expression that does well to describe this windswept section to the west of Montalcino. A lovely and fruit pectic thickened Vigna in 2017, concentrated yet expertly so, pretty and almost soft but with some shadowy power beneath. Smooth, silky and yet red chalky, almost an iron sensation though the wine that never feels elemental or metallic. Fine bone structure and far from grippy. Lovely, as mentioned at the top. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Fiore Di Meliloto 2017

These flowers in Hayo Loacker’s second of three Vigna Brunelli are the delicacy in an otherwise firmer and more distinctly gripper one, again with florals also poking in tines and ferric under tones. This time there is an ionic, mineral and powerful feeling, with stronger tannic chalk and stony address. Still resides in the realm of fine and precise, a bit more chiseled but not expressly demanding. Will take longer to develop and with fruit in good shape this should drink well into the next decade. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Campo di Marzo 2017

Clearly the most concentrated and also powerful of the three Vigna Brunelli produced by Corte Pavone and then one to wait, wait some more and finally wait again before seeing this fruit and that structure work together as one. Great and important concentration with vineyard intendment makes Campo di Marzo (field of March) a sangiovese to reckon with and one you will have to show great patience for best results. Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2021

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG I Poggiarelli 2017

I Poggiarelli is picked a week to 10 days later than La Mannella and so necessary to allow the acid-tannin structure to develop, lengthen and replicate. A Brunello very much set up in a community and chain of command, fruit imagined as the lead bird behind which all other parts draught, for ease and decreased resistance. In I Poggiarelli’s case the length of time requires acids, texture and tannin to all take turns, in formation, in antecede and relegation. Depending on when this is tasted in the first seven or eight years from vintage there is no telling which will stand out and above the rest. Equally or rather proportionally perfumed and fragrant like La Mannella but from the start you sense the higher levels of backbone and structure. “But our idea is to play with the balance, to keep the link with the sangiovese of Montalcino and in a warm vintage not to go too far,” tells Tommaso Cortonesi. Neither in extraction nor maceration and to deliver a respectful wine. Usually 25-30 days but more like 18-20 in 2017. Also a 26-30 degree fermentation when some vintages it can be as high as 34, if only for a few days. Definitely a vertical Brunello and time matters. Always with sangiovese and especially with I Poggiarelli. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2021

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Progetto Prime Donne 2017

Most excellent exhaling of sangiovese blood, sweat, tears and love emits from Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s 2017 Vigna of great northern Montalcino importance. A project that Donatella, her daughter and team of women have come to create, foster, nurture and gift. For all of us today and set up to keep giving throughout future generations. Few wines find the precise nature of their vineyard and in how they are able to interact so gracefully with human emotion and flavour. The earth and deep-rooted fruitiness in Prime Donne acts swarthy and wild in youth but this wine has not yet begun to become the fine Vigna example it will eventually accede. Top ’17 for sure. Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2021

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vallocchio 2017

Vallocchio at 320-350m and its old 35-40 year-old vines has done well to find resiliency in 2017 with thanks to its very deep and experienced roots. Faces south by southwest and though the lack of water and 35-plus degree temperatures were a clear and present danger this vineyard knew what to do to survive. A selection more direct than other vintages because no Riserva was made and so Vallocchio is both and neither at the same time, with the maceration kept shorter (25-30 days) to minimize bitter aromas and possible astringencies. Certainly a warm Vallocchio for Fanti steeped like a viscous cherry tisane and seasoned with extra spice but always maintains its pedigree and then length. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2021

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Del Fiore 2017

More specific of course, focused and looking at a vineyard that has been studied for decades. A vineyard of more than five hectares with the resilience to handle the stressors of the 2017 vintage, thanks to many stones and the surrounding woods. “We have been paying taxes on this vineyard for 400 years, so that’s how old it is,” tells Stefano Cinelli Colombini. The current vineyard was planted in 1982 but some parts have been redone. Finding fineness is no easy seek and task at all times but most of all when water and cooling temperatures are absent for many months at a time. This is Vigna of polished fruit, consistency in hyperbole and while less austere than many vintages there is that elusive and often hiding combination of elegance and finesse. The wine achieves what it sets out to do, if no other way, in attitude. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2021

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcinio DOCG Rosildo 2017

A fine and finessed Rosildo, concentrated though at the precipice without asking too much of 2017. Rich and inviting, picked late enough to gather the optimum quality available through vintage adversity multiplied by possibility. The length and linger here is outstanding, a quality response to how fruit sumptuousness and fine-grained tannins interact. Quite symbiotic in relationship it needs saying. A requiem for specialized success. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2021

Fattoria La Màgia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2017

A Massive attack of fruit and power comes at you fast and furious in Ciliegio from La Màgia. 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

Fattoria La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Manapetra 2017

Manapetra exhibits no shortage or lack of fruit flesh and development and it must be wondered what filled this glass that the Annata did not receive. A top vineyard is needed in times of trouble and so mother Mary fruit was surely reserved in full for this Vigna sangiovese from La Lecciaia. This packs a wallop and a punch though the acidity remains shy and remote. No remorse though as a big glass of Brunello with Vigna credentials is available by the factor this Manapetra emits out of 2017. Perhaps a but atypical for the estate if a credible response to vintage variation. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

La Rasina Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Persante 2017

Sweet and substantially rendered fruit forms a great and needful response to a vintage of hoops and hurdles, frost, aridity and grapes so desperately wanting to shut themselves down. The rose to violet florals and high toned peppery piques are quite unrelenting and there is some real structure here. A bit on the acetic side and something that can’t be ignored but the wine maintains its composure and seeks out its main objective. Real Brunello in 2017. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

Le Gode Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Montosoli 2017

Such an earthy, swarthy and ferric wine from this northwestern section of the northerly Montosoli Hill and a wine that’s really hard to get to know. So much wild behaviour, microbial manifestations and conjecture. Where to begin and when will it end? Needs time and the question is will it go sideways, will the fruit outlast or will the feral-ness get stronger and stronger? Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Casanovina Montosoli 2017

From the northern hill at approximately 300m facing east, just past the cellar on the right. Another 2017 that stands apart because of the location though not as glaring as the Passo del Lume Spento at 620m. A sweetly sound and calming liqueur of red fruit and fresh herbs, well scented, floral and as a Brunello, notes darker of fruit and even a bit of tar. More complexity than many, severing and forking into the dimensional and though comparison can be pedantic there is a tightly wound tannic feeling that reminds of nebbiolo. Surely not one to last ages and live in infamy but it should be considered a 10-12 year wine. From a bottle opened two days so that really tells us something. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2021

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Passo Del Lume Spento 2017

A most dramatic way to describe a place that essentially means “a pass so windy it could blind travellers, or literally put out the lights.” Actually the pass across the highest point in Montalcino before heading down towards the southern valley below. The most ironic and interesting single-vineyard wine in Montalcino, formerly an IGT and here from the warm and dry vintage. The elevation is 621 meters above sea level and unequivocally the most singular aromatic profile of any in Montalcino. Approximately 60 per cent is used for this Vigna of sandstone on a plateau, flat and even keeled across its perch. Smells of the freshest herbal field but on a dry and crisp day, or crispy perhaps. That cured salumi aroma is so special for sangiovese and especially Brunello and then the palate really elevates the freshness, with just terrific acidity and the precociousness of young vines (planted in 2012), excited plants that could afford to be a little bit more aggressive in a hot vintage. Oh if more ‘17s could be like this and if more vineyards in Montalcino were above 600m. But I digress. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Le Ragnaie Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Vecchia 2017

V.V. as in Vigna Vecchia, a place of old vines, planted in 1968 at 600m. With the concentration of ingress by the vines this is a very structured wine of depth as compared to the new vineyard and also Montosoli. Faces southwest so plenty of sun, especially in 2017. Also the most texture of the 17s in terms of glycerol from Le Ragnaie but also the most backbone and early austerity when it comes to the tannins. Yet there is an orange component, not the skin but a gelid or granita of orange. Time is the vanishing point essential perspective and plenty of it, as V.V. always needs, with 2017 being no exception. As much Vigna Vecchia as it is anything else. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2021

Mastrojanni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Loreto 2017

Just a classic 2017, fruit ripe, juicy and red cherry inflated, a specific vintage concentration and made all the more pinpointed in Vigna form. Loreto does what needs and wants for a consumer looking for vintage answers and reply. Likely an earlier drinking Vigna for ’17 and one that will gift plenty of mid-decade pleasure. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2017

My if Helichrysum does not double down on San Polino’s classico, here in a Vigna with quite a push in terms of tannin. Rides to the end of the fruit’s property and build a fence so high there can be no escape until the barriers begin to fall away. In this case that could be ten years but worth beginning to taste and check in three or four. Chalky in swirling liquid form, forceful, youthful, exuberant and maybe even rebellious. Will see where this travels. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2021

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Podernovi 2017

The 1991 planted vineyard of three hectares faces southeast across the Orcia where on a clear morning in November the fog layer settles in the Valley. Aged in tonneaux of 40 and 50 hL for approximately 30 months. Cool and reticent aromatics whilst sweetly floral and easily leading towards the succulence accessed upon the palate. Very gardenia in fact, like a vertical herb garden leading the senses up to clay and stones that compact and make for a concentrated restraint. Podernovi’s softer complexion reflects a more delicate and perhaps also finessed Vigna as compared to sister block-designate Brunello Vignavecchia. The names alone should tells us this in a new versus old vein and so fineness and delicate structuring is the order of this very pretty wine. While the disposition may be understated the white peppery acids and scintillant of piques are surely not. Delicate perhaps but Podernovi still opens one’s eyes and palate to the possibilities of 2017. Awake now because of the freshness and croccante character of this wine. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted November 2021

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vignvecchia 2017

The 1989 planted vineyard of two hectares faces southwest on a steep slope aged in tonneaux (lightly toasted) of 60 hL for approximately 30 months. Smallest of the estate’s berries, ratio of flesh to skin minimized and without equivocation the most concentrated wine at San Polo. Like Podernovi also a cool and reticent nose but you can feel the power behind the veil. Hard to hide the ability, musculature and grip of the tight juice extracted from the small and profound tract of localita San Polo land. Clearly the stronger, deeper concentrated and more structured of the San Polo’s Vigne Brunelli and such a contrast in hue, texture and grip when tasted side by side with Podernovi. There is a thickness and swath of Rothko brushstroke in Vignavecchia, its sale captioned and finalized by a firm grip in handshake. Such a chewy wine, of tree fruit in pods and liquorice. Needs time to settle, integrate the notable amount of wood and elasticize towards a brighter future, more so than Podernovi, perhaps to outlive and outlast. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2021

Sasso di Sole Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Sasso Di Luna 2017

Cherry sangiovese liqueur in all its pooling and welling red fruit incarnations with fine acidity and not easy but also not formidable structure. A Vigna that surely does not try too hard and if it’s not the most substantial version of “Brunello” it surely takes off straight from where the Annata left off. All about love and happiness. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Piero 2017

Tassi Di Franci Franca Brunello Di Montalcino Vigna Colombaio DOCG 2017

Quite the open and blessedly pretty Vigna from Tassi di Franci Franca, on the lighter if lightning red fruit side of Vigna 2017 things, sappy tang, cherry liqueur and fine circulating acids. Simply stated, put and offered. No pretence neither, either way you look at it. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Oliveto P. 56 2017

Oliveto is the original name of the farm and the winery before the change in ownership in 2012. From the iron-rich red clay soils and the finest blocks of the vineyard. The location is a hot one but in 2016 there was not too much adversity to find and marry both sugar and phenolic ripeness. Also thanks to a vintage of higher acidity, picked between the 16th and 18th of September. There is a balance between some of Tenuta Buon Tempo’s best ever quality of fruit and a level of acid meets fine tannin structure that also reaches an historical peak. Two weeks of fermentation followed by four days of cappello sommerso and here some new Slavonian oak. A beautifuL Riserva, crisp, sweetly savoury and in perfect harmony. Says Alberto Machetti, “I think it’s the best wine we’ve made at Tenuta Buon Tempo. By a wide margin.” Who are we to argue and so the recommendation is tend to agree. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2021. Drink 2023-2026

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Poggio Doria 2017

Casale del Bosco dates back to XVII century, but the origins of this site are Etruscan. It was bought by Silvio Nardi in 1950 and is the source for the cru Brunello Poggio Doria. Uniquely singular Vigna-designate 2017 Brunello, deeply welling like an aperitif with fine bitters and natural sweetness, black cherry type fruit and well developed texture. Turns fiercely tannic and so the ultimate takeaway is big pressing, full extraction and every little grain that might come through from those stressed 2017 skins. This wine needs plenty of time. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2021

Tiezzi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Soccorso 2017

Quite the developed and verging towards oxidative Vigna Brunello from 2017 with sharp acids and tight if also brittle tannins. Continues along the road to acetic and stays the course. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Pomona 2017

Pomona in 2017 is a fine and bright Vigna Brunello of sharp red fruit, tart angles, piques, valleys and blessed pinpoint control. Tart and direct with enough finesse to keep a straight and fine line. Finds the best it can be from a less than generous vintage. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Il Greppo

Brunello di Montalcino and Vigna DOCG 2016

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta “Greppo” 2016

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

Castiglion Del Bosco Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Here a perfectly tidy and veramente example of the possibility for existential beauty out of the 2016 vintage. Ripe fruit beyond harmonious compare, weighted in concentration, mildly structured and right there for the taking. Just another year will allow this Brunello to drink at peak. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted October 2021

Filippo and Elisa Fanti

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

The clarity and translatable Fanti terroir in 2016 from the “normale” shines like the bluest of Montalcino days. It’s that simple in terms of growing, picking, fermenting and aging sangiovese from a grounded, persistently consistent and harmonizing vintage. Not a hot one but one hitched upon a long and linear even keel for the Brunello to reach that coveted arena of the elegant. Just what those who get it now want and quite frankly need from Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Taverna dei Barbi

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

“In the beginning ’16 was…not enough,” begins the soliloquy by Fattoria dei Barbi’s Stefano Cinelli Colombini. “But after a year it changed.” Reading deeper one understands that time is the answer, for sangiovese, Brunello and 2016. “This is why Riserva should be sold after eight or 10 years,” continues Cinelli Colombini. “The problem with tradition is we make a mistake that if it exists, there must be a meaning inherent, otherwise it would not have taken so long. The mistake we make is between what is actually a tradition and the sense of tradition. You only need to taste to know that wine is the most democratic thing in the world.” Yes this Barbi is showing as it should or as it should be beginning to, but tradition is what holds it back, for now. In time it will speak on behalf of what it must be. That is as a sangiovese with a true sense of itself and the tradition it not only represents but one it intrinsically and existentially is. Here from 2016 is one of the great Barbi Annata Brunello. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted October 2021

Fuligni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Fuligni’s is well, Fuligni. A classic Brunello with new bones and old school heart. Spice above freshness, seasoning over warmth. The most properly developed layers of southern Montalcino red fruit in a vintage aching to speak in a vernacular passed on through generations. Well seasoned casks impart their wisdom, structural slats and flavours, piqued right across the palate. Feels like white sand with calcareous veins and grey to ochre argiloso, a.k.a. the pangs of tradition and soil tang that historically run through Montalcinese sangiovese. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted October 2021

Giodo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

A different sort of 2016 feeling here from Giodo’s Località Casanova, Sant’Angelo in Colle Brunello. Mixed sensations, savoury and hillside brushy, of rosemary, fennel and lavender, but also mustard, arugula and cress. A masala of Montalcino earthy spice, seasoned purple fruit, tart and full of high-toned energy. Quite wood spiced and very long. Needs time to settle and find the grace. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2021

Pietroso Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Same 35,000 bottle production and like the 2015 a Brunello of great freshness and acidity yet here deeper and less immediately motivated interaction. A sangiovese of richness, layers and yet to be discovered nuance, fleshy to the point of distraction and seeing the structure for the trees. Once again Andrea Pignattai shows the sensibility, humility and grace in his very personal Brunello, capturing the northwest of Montalcino with sincere and respectful exigency. His ’16 is built to age very well. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted October 2021

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Tasted side by side with Riserva 2016 so its would not be stretch to expect great similarities. First things first. The difference between a Poggio di Sotto Annata and Riserva will always be on blatant display. Moments of clarity each of their own and this ’16 shows something specific, neither lesser nor better but a faithful and loyal expression of the upper vineyards. Great intensity, optimum concentration but not as if or needing to be compared to Riserva’s. Here sapidity swaths over the palate, pesto of herbs and brushstrokes of red velvet ganache. Sweetness of all parts, fruit to tannin, amongst the top for the vintage. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2021

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Nastagio 2016

Lovely Col d’Orcia liqueur from a newer Vigna-designate wine for the estate and here with as good a vintage as might be to come flying from the gate. It may be unfair because this is being tasted in the middle of dozens of 2017s but my how finesse, focus, depth and concentration all come together in this fine Vigna wine. Cool, ethereal, salt-licked and well, special. Can imagine drinking this for two plus decades. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted November 2021

Francesco Ripaccioli, Fabrizio Bindocci and Tommaso Cortonesi

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG I Poggiarelli 2016

It seems that I Poggiarelli will always be subjected to comparison because of the contrasting style to Cortonesi’s homefront La Mannella. Here the single-vineyard sangiovese rewrites itself in every vintage from the auspices of a warmer, southeasterly Montalcino location at 420m of elevation. Galestro sandy-grey is the ante-soil structure building block whereas La Mannella’s clay gifts earlier charm and elegance. Furthered élevage is a necessity, to instigate depth and structure but not to encourage too much power. Lastly I Poggiarelli is almost always picked a minimum seven days after La Mannella. In 2016 this all adds up to one important, profound and vintage defining word. Fluidity. That’s the ideal to emulate, replicate, relipucate and remunerate. Tommaso’s ’16 Vigna is a fluid mosaic of sangiovese, as if its components were composed of phospholipids, cholesterol, proteins and carbohydrates. Even if they are seen simply as fruit, acid, texture and tannin they all move seamlessly as one, within one membrane, a perfect biological model, effortlessly layered elastic and fluid. Poetic structure. La liquidità di Montalcino. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted November 2021

Luigi Peroni and Natalie Oliveiros, La Fiorita

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Fiore Di NO 2016

First vintage was 1993 and Natalie Oliveros came on board in 2011. Fiore Di NO is a special wine for her, a combination of three vineyards and only made in abundant years so as not to cannibalize the Annata. NO, as in the owner’s initials but also “no compromise,” no chemicals, barriques or tonneaux. NO is a wine of grace and power, one that exhales instead of holding in thoughts, emotions and feelings. It expresses itself with confidence and control, deserves all of our respect. Drink it now and for the next five years. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted October 2021

Claudia Callegari, San Polo and Michaela Morris

San Polo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

One of the few estates that made the decision for 2016 (by winemaker Riccardo Fratton) to not produce any Riserva. Simply because it was too fresh a vintage and the thinking was that an extra year in wood would compromise that ideal. Still a combination of Vignavecchia and Podernovi which means that all the best fruit outside of the single vineyards are in this freshest of fresh Annata. If you are at elevation and want to maintain the integrity of your vineyards then this is what you do. A wine of ethics, unification, probity, trenchant purpose and if simply idealized there is much complexity to assimilate. Grande. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted November 2021

Viola, Gigliola and Sofia, Le Potazzine

Tenuta Le Potazzine Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

This and this only, at least for today is the vintage of “I parfumi di Potazzine,” a set of aromas that define and depict this very particular place. A volumetric aroma set of land and space, woods and air, the transfer by “le donne” through a capture of their home. An “eleganza” and “ricercatezza” unparalleled, a wine of charm and obvious grace, controlled passion and incremental steps taken towards the most natural world of parochial perfection. Wild ferment, no filtration, 42 day maceration, long and slow, a risk taken and now such important reward. You had to do it it is said to Gigliola. “I didn’t know exactly,” she says. I don’t believe her. Such a special Annata and one we can trust with every part of our palates and hearts. Drink 2022-2036. Tasted November 2021

Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino Poggio Alle Mura DOCG 2016

How can there be any surprise to behold this massive capture of fruit and structure in Banfi’s much heralded yet somehow under-valued Poggio alle Mura? A wine clearly Riserva over Vigna, not just stylistically but all ways counted and speaking. Feel the barrel spice, notes of iodine, soy and scorched earth, the depth and the welling deep into the ground. Baritone sangiovese, a bit of an ode to the past, set in standard bearing and harmony. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

With Elisa Fanti

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vallocchio 2016

The emotional calculation for Fanti’s Vigna wine in 2016 is a special vineyard multiplied by an exceptionally understated vintage to equal a Vallocchio for the ages. The old vines block upwards of 350m could only love the cool, mostly cloudy and elongated season. Every year the best sangiovese comes from this plot on the hill looking up and to the right (north) of the winery. Vallocchio’s Galestro soil is poor and filled with grey to charcoal stones and was identified back in 2006 as the best block for sangiovese. More depth here than Annata to be sure but also an extenuating and extended level of calm, comfort and satisfaction. Just a wonderful and singular estate expression. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted November 2021

Lisini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Ugolaia 2016

Bright red and juicy concentrated fruit defines and designs this ropey, rosy and ripe liquorice Vigna from Lisini. Tightly wound but with ample to exemplary 2016 fruit of a very specific kind. A Selezione that exhibits all that 2016 truly is, can and wants to be. A vintage of fruit that benefited from hang time so that acids, texture and structure could all catch up to sugar and alcohol. The balance is here. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted November 2021

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Argiano Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Classica, an Argiano perfume that fills the glass and then the air, florals and wispy earth, a spray of rose, violet and finely decomposed argilo. There is a restraint, closed constraint and almost no tempt of fate in such a Riserva, sangiovese of maximum occupation if no real hurry to go anywhere and certainly not too fast. It can be imagined that this 2016 will remain almost frozen in this meditative state for up to 10 years. Having tasted through older vintages recently and knowing the current winemaking oeuvre, this grand notion is a given. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted November 2021

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Capanna Di Cencioni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Lithe and graceful for 2016, full yet reserved, a Riserva of purity and tight wind, also linear and sure. The fruit works a rich citrus edge, from pomegranate through blood orange, feeling healthy and spirited, at times coming down to a dry forest floor but always climbing back up. Quality grains of tannin run in chains, not just at the back but regressing in return through the channels of this most complex and grippy wine. Can’t turn away. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2021

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Deep and fulsome Brunello Riserva for Caparzo out of a vintage that offers as much as any winemaker wished to make use of. The richness of fruit is so northerly Brunello from an ideal vintage cut with argilo-limestone-Galestro mineral wealth. There is truly nothing lacking in the grape-acid-tannin structure in this all in sangiovese and the only question might be is this too much of a good thing? Is there such a thing? Ultimately time will provide the answer. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Carpineto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Gone for broke, full vintage capture and all in sentiment here from Caprineto’s warm and developed ’16. Will need a few years to render, melt and come together but there will always be the classic dustiness of a Carpineto sangiovese, seemingly no matter the Tuscan area from where it comes. Can there be a more consistent and recognizable house style? Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2021

Drogheria Franci, Montalcino

Casanuova Delle Cerbaie Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2016

Full-fruit in darkening cherry tone and the one Riserva 2016 to show some blueberry, unusual maybe but there it is. Good combinative crunch, some definite lift, salumi and while some may find this a touch acetic it should be suggested that the line is perfectly acceded and never crossed. There is a full compliment of Botti adding spiced and textured commission, also needing time to work within the parametric style. This will settle and when that happens all the parts will come together, swim in a pool of sangiovese liqueur and make for a truly promising future for the wine. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2021

Looking east towards Montalcino from Castello di Romitorio

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

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Only the old vineyards participate in the ’16 Riserva composition, in which beautiful means small in that air can pass through. A Riserva of sparsity, spargolo chicchi d’uva (grapes), from eight vineyards selected into one tank. Only the 10th Riserva in Romitorio’s history, harvested at 7.5 acidity and lower alcohol. There is muscle, ancient DNA, clonal diversity, forest floor, air and flora and then, time sliding into light strings and dappling all around. Not a flicker but a hum, almost imperceptible of electricity, kinetic, disciplined and smooth. No rattle, out of synch vibration, nor waste of notes to movement neither. A finished composition, Live at the Fillmore, effusive and light, of comfort and potential. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted November 2021

Conti Costanti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Colle Al Matrichese 2016

Molte sane, repeats Andrea Costanti as if by mantra through the course of the 45 minutes while we taste, consider and assess his Riserva 2016. Many healthy grapes, calories, syllables, words and then adjectives are needed to describe this important if never lithe or shadowy sangiovese. No, it is instead immediately upright, enduring as a vinous edifice and demanding of attention. Aromatically magnetic, floral and prepossessing of magnitude, drawing in close yet tantalizingly teasing at a safe distance. Intimates a feeling, as if standing in a deserted public space rendered in simple geometric forms. Animated de Chirico, mystery and melancholy, vanishing points and parallel lines. Crosses over the palate in mathematically fine lines, everything in order, at peace, perfectly groomed. A strict and generous Riserva, fruit moving two by two, contrapositions of history, tradition and life. In a Brunello for the sake of a Costanti Brunello there is so much to feel and say. Such a wine makes it hard to stop thinking but you must and you will, content with looking forward 12-15 years. Everything is in its right place but should not be disengaged. Not yet, or for a while. Steadily, fermamente, healthily, costantemente, constantly. Drink 2025-2041. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Anemone Al Sole 2016

This first of two Loacker Estates Riserva for their western Montalcino property is the “anemone in the sun,” surely a reference to sea fossils found in the vineyard, so very typical of this part of the territory. Also remarkable considering the elevation and the aspect where sangiovese does in fact bask in the radiation of the sun while also enjoying some of the area’s greatest temperature fluctuations. Deeply cherry, almost blackening but maintaining brightness with top quality acids. Not the most demanding tannins but they are there and will help see this wine move effortlessly through ten years easy. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted November 2021

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Molino Al Vento 2016

The second of two for Corte Pavone in Riserva terms is from “the hill of the windmill” and speaks to the windswept crest where the vineyard is perched. As such there should be and clearly is more air and breath in this Riserva as compared to the saline cut that runs through Anemone al Sole. Crisp and crunchy sangiovese here, fruit just a shade less dark than the sister vineyard, tannins finer and also grainier with less openness and more waiting time required. One and then the other. Isn’t that always the case? Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2021

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

The purest sangiovese of greatest clarity for the Donatella classics is this Riserva, not just because it comes from 2016 but for the very fact that time has had a great effect in resolving the special needs of such a wine. What’s so very special about a Casato Prime Donne Brunello di Montalcino is the complex weave of northerly fruit, swarthy sumptuousness and textural crema. Never more on display then in this Riserva and from this vintage, bright and you can almost sense the smile on the face of this expressive and inviting wine. Also structured with great sneak and sly movement, sure, unlike the others, so beautifully crafted, painted as opposed to sculpted. Timeless. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted November 2021

Elia Palazzesi Collelceto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

On the lithe and even jammy side for Riserva out of 2016, pretty enough and fruit red, fine, sweet even though there is a difficulty in shaking the feeling of cherry to raspberry confiture. Chewy and ropey, red liquorice and salty tannins. Intriguing Riserva, more like a really fine Annata but lacking depth and complexity. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Macchiarelle 2016

As for Le Macchierelle ’16 the contrast to 2015 is not so much night and day but 2015 (and its extra year in bottle) is showing more caress and Riserva delicacy as compared to this really grippy and tannic 2016. More concentration of tannin and not necessarily conversion of fruit. But to split fruit hairs is silly and there is no doubt the grape substance will easily pace and run with the structure to make Le Macchierelle live a very long, fruitful and slowly developing life. Where this diverges into the realm of special and profound is in the architecture that starts from the ground up. Iron-rich, calcareously cemented, skilled and seasoned. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted November 2021

Fattoi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Fattoi presents what can best be described as a Riserva for their place and time, a bright and effusive sangiovese of honesty, purity and estate vineyards’ transparency. Who could not be wooed, swayed and allayed by the freshness of such a pretty in pulchritude Riserva, cool and composed, with some of the finest acids and sweet grains of tannins imaginable. Top quality for the ilk and style. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

Taverna dei Barbi

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

The question is increasingly asked whether 2015 or 2016 is the true Riserva vintage, of the two. Assessing Barbi’s at this early stage does not answer the question straight away but there are some clues. The mineral swath that owes to iron, volcanic and sedimentary Galestro presence really does dominate the aromatics on what is again a could be nothing but a Fattoria dei Barbi sangiovese. Dark cherries that swim, bob perhaps but never over-macerate in their own sweet juices is the hallmark notation of this vineyard’s aromatic pool. Fine tannins are tight but not overtly demanding, acids stream freely and easy, supportive but not in authoritative control. A bit closed (or let’s say contained) to be honest and the warming finish indicates the need for a few years more time. As opposed to 2015 which was necessary and now here a ’16 that might remind of Brunello from the 1970s. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2021

Fornacina Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Slide nearly due east down from the Montalcino hill and you will come to Fornacina, an estate set in this idyllic quadrant of the area where cypress and grey to white sandy clay mineral soils predominate. Expect classic deep dusty plum fruit from a Riserva and a vintage as co-conspirators of calm, breadth and ease of collective breath. These and this are so true to form if not a serious Brunello, then one so knowable, unshakeable and just bloody proper. This ’16 gets it very right. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted November 2021

Fossacolle Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Quite a deep and developed Brunello Riserva ’16, moving well along its way to arrive at the near your and its destination. Slip sliding away, slowly yet surely, feeling no adversity, pouring soft and simple. Make use of this now while so many firm and tannic kin take their time to find a way. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

Franco Pacenti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Pacenti’s Riserva straddles two worlds and works both rooms with remarkable distinction. The fruit is open knit, effusive and perfectly consistent with the vineyard’s gifting but there is also a depth to this sangiovese that makes for a two-part wine. By depth this means a down to earth, low tonality and an herbal, fully formed and dense foundation. This is really solid, grounded and architecturally sound Brunello di Montalcino. More so than many and definitive of style. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

Il Poggione Brunello Di Motalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Paganelli 2016

Hard to find a more amenable and also soundly structured Riserva than this by Il Poggione, a Riserva that doubles as a Vigna (single-vineyard) Brunello di Montalcino. This is sangiovese for sangiovese’s sake, from a defined sense of place and made in a style that depicts meaning for a storied estate. Bright with depth, light tripping acids and grounding. Solid construction while always able to dance upon its feet. One of the best ever for the crew. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2021

La Fiorita Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Hard to imagine a Riserva from 2016 with more openness and inviting behaviour than this from La Fiorita but what’s clearly at play is the attention to detail, starting with dedicated and regenerative agriculture. A warm location is a challenge and yet fruit here is so well preserved and lifted at the very same time. The mix of textures, at once chewy and then crunchy, the blessings of commitment, passionate and respect, finally the way this wine seamlessly moves with delicasse and power. These are all stages and layers that knit a really fine Riserva. Brava. Veramente brava. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2021

La Gerla Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Gli Angeli is true Riserva, of a density in the depths of earth and fruit while conversely rising with lifted guide. Bone density too, then highlights before returning back from whence it rose. Loads of charred herbs, dusty tannins and a late drying sensation. Needs aeration and time. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

La Lecciaia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

A Riserva from Vallafrico southeast of the Montalcino village set in some of the territories’ most beautiful hills. While the rise and the piques alert the brows and put the buds on alert there too is sensory territorial understanding that gives this wine a grounded and calming sense of place. Leccaia’s fruit wells dark, climbs airy to ethereal and fulfills every point along the tasting journey. A complete wine in every respect, just, stylish and very fine. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2021

La Màgia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Rich and wholesome Riserva of great depth and breadth, though easy on the tannic power. They are there and highly involved but already developed, fine and near to relenting. A vanquished Riserva is a particular style, ready and willing but far from airy and light. Not so much a big 2016 but rather one of density in and amongst the many layers. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

La Poderina Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Abate 2016

From a hill above the abbey of Castelnuovo dell’Abate and a warmth running through this Riserva as much as any in the collection. Running tart and a bit brittle, hard tannins and sharp acids taking full control. A year should help settle the anger and the score. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

La Rasina Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Il Divasco 2016

At the height of what could be considered a lifted Riserva, especially for 2016, tones set to 11 in a sangiovese of great pulse and fiery style. After comes the wood, fulsome and chalky, grains of spice and chocolate through all its iterations. A bit old school and lovely for the sentiment. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2016

Padelletti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Finely composed and structured Brunello Riserva here from Padelletti out of the full and complete 2016 vintage. A sangiovese of cherries darkening to blue and black, of fruit oscillations that rise and fade, return and submit to the acids of this wine. Mighty acids they are, lifted and full of vim, vigour and relish. Not quite a vivid Riserva but surely one of what feels like a northerly ilk, cool, savoury and in its own world, blessed of a particular kind of wine. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Solaria Patrizia Cencioni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Brightness of tight lightning, red fruit sparked and ready to take on the world. Sharp tang, crisp and crunchy, shifting now, heading into an area occupied by the wood in the wine. Of a school where big cask and time conspire for older fashioning yet here of a clarity that speaks with clean admonition. In the end capitulates and commits to being a fine wine, nice and amenable. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Antinori Pian Delle Vigne Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Ferrovia 2016

Hard to imagine more warmth and deeply rooted red fruit development accessed and gathered in a Riserva from 2016. Pian delle Vigne’s doubles down on the vintage ideal, acting as both a Riserva and a Vigna wine, luxe and direct, full throttle and yet finely finessed. The lover of Brunello for Brunello’s just further back than most recent history will fall in love with this style of Montalcino Riserva. The credibility of the work can never be called into question. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

Pietroso Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Pietroso’s Riserva from 2016 is a lifted affair and also incredibly youthful, precocious and yet to be understood. Of all the Riserva from 2016 tasted in this session it seems to be one that needs air, contemplation and time. The fruit seems to mimic and intimate so many ilk, freshness mostly but also some moments feeling leathery and dry. Like cacchi (persimmon) for instance, also pods from certain trees and liquorice. A unique Riserva, solo artist from winemaker Andrea Pignattai, so worthy of distinction and as mentioned off the top, must be given plenty of time. In assessment and much further aging. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2021

Podere Brizio Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Brizio’s gives away so many aromas in Riserva, from herbs and brushy hillsides to all the spices in the world. A wine of forest proximate scents mixed with barrel affectation like few others and finishing where all the chocolate lays. The finish is quite soft and the tannins relenting, already at this time. Drink this earlier than many. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Wanting to head straight away into superlatives it must be cautioned not to do so because thinking about how 2016 Riserva relates to what Poggio di Sotto really is must be the first and last consideration. La nota di magnete, a metallic note, florals, red to black fruit and the sapidity of località is more than anything else a classic way to imagine and convince the world that this is exactly what Poggio di Sotto has been, is now and always will be. The same team that has been here and will be here has made this wine, humble professionals that support the Poggio di Sotto expression. Penetrating, intense, opening slowly, acids doing everything they can to elevate the sweetness and persistence of fruit. Keep in mind there is no single vineyard 2016 to cannibalize the top selection for this wine. The idea for this Riserva was known going in and the wine achieves every aspect of the goal. Meraviglioso. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted November 2021

Renieri Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Straight away on notice for lovely work in Riserva by Renieri with more upfront, right, pure and proper fruit than many. Hard to combine and manage freshness with textural chew and that is the fine accomplishment in this 2016. That and a fineness of acids and tannins also working as one for structural gains. A harmonized, nearly settled Riserva in upright position that will round out when the time is right. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2021

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Il Quercione 2016

Classical Campogiovanni, clearly Quercione and indisputably a wine factored, figured and crafted by Leonardo Bellaccini. Exceptional fruit quality meets barrel excellence, engages with one on one commitment and emerges married until death do they part. Richness and textural luxuries abiding and forever. Likely one of the biggest Riserva to discover out of the idealism of the vintage. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2021

San Polino Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

The 2016 Riserva from San Polino continues a string of most excellent wines tasted by this esteemed producer, including high quality Annata and Vigna 2017s. The depth and commitment to finesse in the face of power lays somewhere between exemplary and extraordinary with a Riserva unrelenting in its nature of calm, poised and collected spirit. Plenty of backbone and drying grains of fine to wispy tannin helps to drive forth the definitive point. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2021

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2016

Exemplary and necessary Sesti vineyards put in the work here for a Riserva 2016 of real gastronomic presence. Feels like a complex preparation, locally sourced and raised, as if by nightshades and also beefy, slow cooked and lean, seared to act as a perfect compliment with a glycerin salsa rossa tying it all together. Chewy and ropey as a savoury confiture to sidle up to cured salumi in yet another gustatory way of looking at Montalcinese sangiovese. All in all a fine and delicate wine. An execution, style and finished plate of own purpose, tradition and accord. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2021

Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Pian Di Conte 2016

Pian de Conte is without equivocation a very special wine. The best of Talenti’s vineyard blocks and selections make for a 2016 Riserva as finessed and fine as any. Perhaps the most important aspect and what matters to know about this Riserva is the restraint, the way the wine has gently travelled through its universe of maceration, fermentation and elévage. Pian de Conte is poised, perched and prescient within, upon and without all the points in between picking and pouring, always with an eye on the ultimate prize. That would be aging well into the next decade with one incremental structural step taken at wide, lengthy and unhurried intervals. Such a wine only comes around once in a while. Drink 2024-2038. Tasted November 2021

Azienda Di Franci Franca Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tassi Di Franci Franca Selezione Franci 2016

Franci Riserva is a gift of fruit, actually a gift wrapped package with red fruit at its core and a surround sound of sweet acidity tabled by even sweeter tannin. The lack of grip, pomp, astringency and circumstance is almost remarkable in a Riserva for 2016 that well, hits the sweet spot. Gainful, respectful of place and just a really lovely drop to enjoy nearer and dearer to time and heart. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta La Fuga Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Unusually reductive, especially for sangiovese and for Brunello. Don’t even get started on this but…20 minutes later it has blown off. Make sure to aerate your ’16 Riserva to give them the full respect they so deserve. Behind the curtain is a Riserva of full riches, richesse and real magnanimous behaviour noted by how it swirls in the mouth with so much flavour. Truly a cup runneth over Riserva that will stand a good and credible test of time. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2021

Ucceliera Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Have of late come to know and understand what a Brunello by Ucceliera smells like and this is it. In Riserva form but one of those sangiovese that feels like it has aged to an optimum point yet will almost surely remain right at this state of extant etiquette for many years to come. A Riserva that speaks to fruit edging into a cured, oxidative and dried spectrum though clearly suspended in fresh stopover animation. Brunello of salumi and the earth, of berries, plums and fragola, of bosco and nocie, umami and the future. If more were going in this 2016 there would not be enough bandwidth to take it all in. There is fortunately enough and at just the right amount. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted November 2021

Val Di Suga Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Spuntali 2016

A combination of variegated fruit, red, also some orange and then this deep rooted earthiness. Hematic and a brush with forest floor success. Up level acids foil the earthbound nature and emotions run high in a Vigna Brunello of great parochial curiosity and much moving, stirring and complex behaviour. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2021

Ventolaio Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

Ventolaio’s Riserva is one of the very few that is simply not a really noticeable departure from the Annata. A sangiovese of incredible clarity and also transparency. If ever a Brunello would speak in exacting, this is what, who and why terms then Ventolaio’s might just be the spokesperson at the head. These are their wines, highly specific, notable, bright and fine. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Verbena Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016

A recognizable style of Riserva here, part darker fruit and part high tonality, lifted skywards. Down to earth in terms of substance yet very much submissive to acidity, some tannin but much more of the former. A tart, edgy and drying sangiovese, likely best before too long and not too deep into the years following. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2021

Older vintages

Tenuta Le Potazzine Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2015

Bigger and more concentrated vintage, even for high elevation, cool and freshest of them all Le Potazzine. Clarity combined with finesse meet at the point where that clarity becomes vivid reality. More tannin and a sense of the Grandi Botti are in this vintage which means more time is still warranted to bring this to fruition. Will live as long as any in Montalcino. This is the reason 2015 is a Riserva vintage for Potazzine, more than most. It can handle and wants the extra year in wood. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted November 2021

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Cerretalto 2015

Explicit, outward, gregarious and highly expressive sangiovese, expansive in every way, by depth, width and breadth. Stretches elastically and widens fleshy with each inhale and exhale, sniff and sip. Wood is a major compliment with fruit the willing acceptor. Able to move freely, stitching parts seamlessly together and the length on this Brunello goes on seemingly forever. Prototypical Cerretalto from paradigmatic Neri, both of which always seem to calibrate shifts in Montalcino connotation. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted October 2021

Tommasi Casisano Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Colombaiolo 2015

Starts slowly out of the gate, a wine of understatement setting an even pace and in no rush to take the early lead. Charming no doubt, builds power, releases energy, based on high quality vintage fruit substance. Continues on a forward trajectory through sangiovese’s ability to self-assimilate reliable and relatable acidity throughout the taster’s experience. The wine takes over and you realize the freshness of volatility speaks to youthfulness and potential. Needs three more years easy. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2021

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2015

“2015 in my opinion, you will find more structure, the power and the generosity of this wine,” says Federico Radi. Submits to the idea that you won’t feel the power of 14.5 per cent alcohol and the power in your mouth. A gastronomic Riserva, gregarious, more grip than many Biondi-Santi Riserva while maintaining the DNA of pace in place. The vintage is felt, like a warm blanket and only 1997 reached this level of generosity and alcohol, with decisions made by Iacopo Biondi-Santi and a later harvest around the 21st of September. This is when poly-phenolic ripeness was finished but the alcohol rose over those past two weeks. A big wine for the estate, such a bambino now, full of ripe fruit at the apex of possibility, not austerity but near fierce tannins. They surround the grandiosity of fruit so that everything exists at a higher level. Needs more time and though will age for decades it should be suggested to drink these well before 2040. Drink 2025-2039. Tasted November 2021

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento 2015

Since the 1980s it has been Count Francesco Marone Cinzano who continued plantings to the current number at 140 hectares, 108 of which are dedicated to Brunello production. Since August 27, 2010 the whole estate including vineyards, olive groves, other fields and even the gardens are farmed exclusively following organic agricultural practices. The vineyards are located on the southern slope of the Montalcino territory, on hilly lands and extend over 540 hectares, from the Orcia River to the village of Sant’Angelo in Colle, at about 450 metres over sea level. Tasting Poggio al Vento in the midst of dozens of 2016s is more than curious indeed and in fact this island in that deepening stream is a red faced beauty. Shows the great contrast in vintages with higher tonality and fruit of a very different ripeness. Makes for a style not quite apposite but of a clarity that shows place with more transparency. Also a liquid chalkiness to reflect on the more baritone notes played by many ‘16s. Hard not to compare and contrast at this time while in Col d’Orcia terms the PaV resides in that pantheon with great distinction. Will grace tastings through the ages as well as any that have come before. Drink 2023-2034. Tasted November 2021

With Elisa Fanti and Michaela Morris

Fanti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Macchiarelle 2015

Le Macchierelle is a bit lower down on the slope below and to the south of Vallocchio, same Galestro stone-strewn type vineyard but less grey and now some rosso, iron-rich soil. And so there is less calm and more power here but really only in a slight if relative quantity. Such a rich expression of Vigna Brunello, also concentrated by even older plants, three and a half hectares of 40-plus year old vines. Remarkable for the vintage, full and satisfying, not the meditative wine that is Vallocchio. Also remember that this is Riserva so accordingly acts and disseminates as one. As it should. Just about ready to go. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted November 2021

Poggio Di Sotto Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2015

Still at this time a closed, iron-gated fortress, yet to reveal the expectation of aromatics but one taste and the full phenolic thrush circles right back to begin the begin again. Says so much about structure and time needed for this house and their truth with respect to Riserva in the vintage. A wealth of fleshy red sangiovese willingness is the dream to hang onto while knowing that three further years minimum are needed before the movement and evolution of the interested parties involved will initiate a secondary response. Only then can the entry be accessed with ease for a seamless and transitional parlay through Poggio di Sotto’s Riserva ’15. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted October 2021

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012

Really quite perfect to taste this side by side with 2016 because it was also one of those vintages that would have also been a bit contained or constrained until a year or two ago. Now expressive in a gregarious and generous way, a Riserva excavating and expediting historical attitude and execution to the present day surface. Riserva 2012 is in a wonderful place, wide open and giving, Barbi cherry fruit mixed with Galestro mineral mining and this cool smoulder that graces every part of your insides. Timing for the lover of timeless wines. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Le Potazzine Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2011

At nearly ten years there is clear development in this 2011 and also a most obvious stylistic that has since changed over the years. A little over 3,000 bottles were made and while wines have changed and are made differently these last five years or so this represents what Riserva is and must be with distinction. Persistent Botti spice and texture plus secondary notes in a tartufo, porcini and herbal Amaro vein. All parts have rendered and there is a ganache painting the berries long since melted through this wine. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted November 2021

Cortonesi La Mannella Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2010

The 2010 was the second Riserva made in a string of six vintages between 2004 and 2019, the others being ’12, 15 and ’16. A bottle showing so well tonight because of its ideal structure (and a really good cork). Still some unresolved tannin, quite fresh, some layers, tiers and parts still needing to break down. Tart and demanding, fruit very much intact and surprising how little it has moved forward. After 30 minutes the umami, frutta di bosco, scorched earth and tartufo emerge. Which is just perfect. Last tasted November 2021.

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. Tasted October 2019

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

Castello Romitorio Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2004

Old leather, cigar box, aging yet raspy singing florals. Whether or not the consensus is top vintage matters little because this ’04 has travelled to reside in a slice of Montalcino heaven. Like a dream and a trip back to the club, as if in the 1980s or 90s, the band playing your favourite song, playing it all night long. As the wine airs the dream continues, spice, tar and brewed notes emerge, all tied back to beginnings, naïveté, early passions and plans for the future. Drink 2021-2024. 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

Tenuta Fanti

A few IGTs

Tenuta Fanti Rosato 2020, IGT Toscana

Solo sangioivese from a very late green harvest in the first week of September. If you like soft-pressed, fresh from stainless, salty, little bit of lees cheesed Rosato then stop right here. Only 5,000 bottles are made of this thirst-quenching, satisfying and delicious stuff. Drink 2021-2022. Tasted November 2021

Cortonesi Lèonus Rosso 2020, IGT Toscana

Sangiovese, as always, like Rosso and Brunello but in Lèonus a quicker skin maceration on earlier harvested grapes. A performative style with low level extraction, especially of tannins and any possible green or astringent distractions. Looking for and finding immediate amenability with the same sangiovese from Montalcino indicator lights that signal place and time. Also higher acidity, better for matching food right now, easy to drink and the bottle will disappear before knowing it has happened. Fresh, clean, crisp and simple. So smart. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

Le Ragnaie Troncone 2019, IGT Toscana Rosso

Bottled in August, of lovely sour orange, currant and pomegranate, just tart enough to call this spirited and full enough to keep you satisfied. Easy and functional with an extra layer of depth, fun and by the glass quality. In 2019 there were 40,000 bottles produced of this sangiovese from vineyards inside and outside of the Montalcino zone. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021

Tenuta Buon Tempo La Funba Toscana Sangiovese 2019, IGT Toscana

The label is drawn by a French painter (a friend of Camilla’s) that depicts “the first Thanksgiving.” Amphora raised sangiovese for six months, just for fun, pure sangiovese, woolly and youthful, a terroir wine doubled down by the whole bunches and the clay. It’s delicious sangiovese, a new texture and only Gaiole in Chianti’s Riecine IGT sangiovese compares, or perhaps that of San Donato in Poggio’s Le Masse. Changes in the glass so concertedly and becomes a beautiful wine. Just beautiful. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2021

Good to go!

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