2010 Brunello di Montalcino, Sesti, Tuscany, Italy

2010 Brunello di Montalcino, Sesti, Tuscany, Italy

Product: 20108015431
Prices start from £315.00 per case Buying options
2010 Brunello di Montalcino, Sesti, Tuscany, Italy

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

This Sesti Brunello di Montalcino, bottled in February 2014, was tasted late Jan 2015. Gigi Elisa both pointed out that 2010 was remarkable not just for the quality of the wines but also of the olive oil. Sporting the telltale ‘terra di Argiano’ iron-red ochre colour, their incense-rich, soft, dark quinine, liquorice nutmeg perfumed Brunello is incredibly compact restrained, giving little away still. It has great presence, combining fleshiness with structure, refined, sleek even, cool quinine flavours, sunny, softly-spoken penetrating. ‘Al dente’ with a wonderful raspberry zip, and profound minerality (the result of ancient sedimentary marine life).
David Berry Green

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About this WINE

Sesti/Castello di Argiano, Tuscany

Sesti/Castello di Argiano, Tuscany

What started as neighbourly help assisting in the nearby vineyards and wineries soon led Giuseppe Sesti to discovering his own passion and talent for winemaking, planting his own vines at Castello di Argiano in 1991, a 13th century property with Etruscan origins.
 
The progress Giuseppe has made in such a short time is staggering, and the Sesti wines are now widely acknowledged to be quite simply some of the finest that Montalcino has to offer. Having studied astronomy, it is not surprising that many of his winemaking processes follow the lunar cycle. Expertly assisted by his daughter Elisa who gave up a career as a theatre director, Giuseppe has succeeded in establishing an extremely impressive international reputation in the world of wine.
 
The Sesti estate consists of 102 hectares (254 acres) of land, of which nine hectares are planted to vineyards. The rest is given to olive groves grazing or woodland.

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Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino

Along with Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino is Tuscany's most famous DOCG and the region's boldest expression of Sangiovese. Located 30 miles south of Siena with the hilltop town of Montalcino as its epicentre, its 2,000 hectares of vines are naturally delimited by the Orcia, Asso and Ombrone valleys. Brunello is the local name for the Sangiovese Grosso clone from which Brunello di Montalcino should be made in purezza (ie 100 percent).

The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG has a whale-like shape: at its head, at 661 metres above sea level on ancient, stony galestro soils facing east and southeast lies the town of Montalcino, where the DOC was founded. As you follow the spine south towards the tail, the vineyards lose altitude – those around Colle Sant'Angelo are at 250 metres – while the soils become richer with iron and clay. Further east, in the shadow of the 1,734 metre Mont'Amiata lies the village of Castelnuovo dell'Abate where the vineyards are strewn with a rich mix of galestro, granitic, volcanic, clay and schist soil types.

While Brunello di Montalcino's climate is mildly Mediterranean, thanks to the sea being a mere 20 miles away, the elevation of the vineyards provides an important diurnal temperature variation (ie hot days and cool nights). This benefits the grapes by maintaining acidity levels and extending their ripening time. The howling tramontana wind can also play an important role in drying and concentrating the fruit.

Historically, the zone is one of Tuscany's youngest. First praised in 1550 by Leandro Alberti for the quality of its wines, it was Tenuta Il Greppo who bottled the inaugural Brunello di Montalcino in 1888. By 1929, the region had 925 hectares of vines and 1,243 hectares of mixed crops, while in 1932 it was decreed that only those wines made and bottled within the commune could be labelled as Brunello di Montalcino. Since then, the number of producers has risen from 11 in 1960 to 230 in 2006, while over the same period the vineyards have expanded from 1,000 hectares to 12,000. The region earned its DOC in 1966, and was upgraded to DOCG in 1980.

Brunello di Montalcino cannot be released for sale until five years after the harvest, or six years in the case of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. During this time the wines should be aged for at least two years in oak, followed by at least four months in bottle (six months for Riservas); maximum yields are 55 hl/ha. 

Rosso di Montalcino is declassified Brunello di Montalcino, released for sale 18 months after the harvest.

Recommended producers: Costanti, Fuligni, Lisini, San Giuseppe, Soldera, Cerbaiona

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Sangiovese

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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