2015 Rosso di Montalcino, San Giuseppe, Stella di Campalto, Tuscany, Italy
Critics reviews
The 2015 Stella di Campalto Rosso di Montalcino shows a beautiful translucent ruby color, with a bouquet of sweet florals and dusty spice giving way to fresh strawberries, white smoke, and hints of leather. On the palate, soft textures flesh out across the senses in a wave of pure bright cherry, lifted by a core of vibrant acidity, which energizes yet also adds sweetness to its pretty red fruits, as minerals settle in and inner floral tones develop. The finish is long yet quite feminine, resonating on ripe red fruits, sweet florals, and spice, with lingering acids which sizzle on the senses. The 2015 is an understated yet remarkably pretty vintage for the Rosso; it’s a wine that begs to be drunk, not tasted, showing all the best qualities of the vintage while maintaining perfect form. It also worth mentioning that this was tasted within a flight of 2015 Brunellos, and it held its own. Drink 2020 - 2028.
Eric Guido, vinous.com (Feb 2020)
About this WINE
San Giuseppe, Tuscany
Run by the talented Stella di Campalto, the 6 hectare San Giuseppe wine estate in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, is strewn with several soil types (volcanic, iron-rich, galestro, clay...). It was originally planted in 1992, became organic in 1996 and then biodynamic in 2002.
Great attention is paid to harvesting the parcels of vines separately in order to capture the maximum fruit quality and soil expression, using gravity and a combination of large 38hl Austrian oak barrels and French oak barriques to vinify the juice as gently as possible.
All her fruit qualifies as Brunello di Montalcino, yet in 2003 she chose to declassify everything to Rosso di Montalcino; her inaugural Brunello has been released in 2009 for the 2004 vintage.
Rosso di Montalcino
Rosso di Montalcino is a large Tuscan DOC, to the far south of the Chianti Classico region, which has been classified since 1983.
The wines are fruity, soft, light and forward-maturing. They come from Sangiovesse vines outside the finer Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, harvested at up to 62 hl/ha, or from declassified Brunello fruit (often from young vines) in which case the yield must be the same as Brunello wines, at 55 hl/ha.
Sangiovese
A black grape widely grown in Central Italy and the main component of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano as well as being the sole permitted grape for the famed Brunello di Montalcino.
It is a high yielding, late ripening grape that performs best on well-drained calcareous soils on south-facing hillsides. For years it was blighted by poor clonal selection and massive overcropping - however since the 1980s the quality of Sangiovese-based wines has rocketed upwards and they are now some of the most sought after in the world.
It produces wines with pronounced tannins and acidity, though not always with great depth of colour, and its character can vary from farmyard/leather nuances through to essence of red cherries and plums. In the 1960s the advent of Super Tuscans saw bottlings of 100% Sangiovese wines, as well as the introduction of Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blends, the most famous being Tignanello.
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Description
The 2015 Stella di Campalto Rosso di Montalcino shows a beautiful translucent ruby color, with a bouquet of sweet florals and dusty spice giving way to fresh strawberries, white smoke, and hints of leather. On the palate, soft textures flesh out across the senses in a wave of pure bright cherry, lifted by a core of vibrant acidity, which energizes yet also adds sweetness to its pretty red fruits, as minerals settle in and inner floral tones develop. The finish is long yet quite feminine, resonating on ripe red fruits, sweet florals, and spice, with lingering acids which sizzle on the senses. The 2015 is an understated yet remarkably pretty vintage for the Rosso; it’s a wine that begs to be drunk, not tasted, showing all the best qualities of the vintage while maintaining perfect form. It also worth mentioning that this was tasted within a flight of 2015 Brunellos, and it held its own. Drink 2020 - 2028.
Eric Guido, vinous.com (Feb 2020)
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