Brunello di Montalcino
Along with Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino is Tuscany's most famous DOCG and its boldest expression of the Sangiovese grape. Located 30 miles south of Siena, its 2,000 hectares of vines are hemmed in 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 its entirety. The wine cannot be released for sale until five years after the harvest.
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Il Poggione,
Ready, but will keep,
Food match: roast rack of lamb
This delicious Brunello comes from one of the region’s best producers, Il Poggione. Bold and rich, it's undeniably Sangiovese, full of cherry fruit. Complexity comes in the form of a damson stone edge, sweet spice and balsam. The palate is plushly textured with plenty of refreshing acidity balancing the tannins. While this wine has many years ahead of it, it is excellent now with red meat, and even better with time in a decanter.
This delicious Brunello comes from one of the region’s best producers, Il Poggione. Bold and rich, it's undeniably Sangiovese, full of cherry fruit. Complexity comes in the form of a damson stone edge, sweet spice and balsam. The palate is plushly textured with plenty of refreshing acidity balancing the tannins. While this wine has many years ahead of it, it is excellent now with red meat, and even better with time in a decanter.
La Màgia,
Ready, but will improve,
We’ve managed to secure a rare parcel of mature Brunello from La Màgia, an organic, family-owned state that works with some of the region’s best vineyards. Their Riserva is only produced in the best years and released in very small quantities. The 2007 vintage was fantastic here, and the resulting wine is now beautifully mature and complex, showing layers of forest fruit, earth, spice and meaty, gamey characters. A real treat with a traditional Florentine steak – one of the region’s classic dishes. Drink now to 2030.
Matt Smith, Buyer (August 2019)
Matt Smith, Buyer (August 2019)
Costanti,
Ready, but will keep,
Delightful red and black Sangiovese fruit, good ripeness and depth on the nose. More of the same with the addition of crisp acidity and ripe tannins on the palate, it’s all about the Sangiovese grosso fruit here, with notes of cherry, grilled meats and red currants. Good length and a harmonious finish, another great Brunello from Costanti, this will be at its best from its tenth birthday, but could be drunk from 2017.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
Biondi-Santi,
Ready, but will improve,
As soon as you pour the wine its remarkable nose immediately fills the air. Sweet cherry and raspberry dominate the lifted, beautifully fragrant nose. These are joined by crushed mint, sweet rose petals and just a very hint of graphite. The palate is wonderfully focussed, reassuringly tight, given the future this has ahead of it. The raspberry fruit is there again on the palate as are the rose notes, there is a fantastic intensity to the palate yet it remains wonderfully focussed. All this is rounded off with a lovely savoury garrigue-esque note. 2020-2040
Matthew Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager
The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Annata was among my favourite Brunello releases earlier this year, so I had high hopes for the 2010 riserva. It’s always immensely satisfying when those expectations are met and in this case, exceeded. An immediate superiority to the Annata is obvious on the nose, with an extra layer or two of depth, complexity and focus. The notes of ripe red fruit, spices and grilled steak are compelling and implore you to taste it. It is of course still very young, but even at this stage the concentration and impeccable balance are stunning. All of the above notes are echoed on the palate and combine to create a delightful mouth-feel and a finish which goes on for over a minute. This is a very special wine and one that will make very old bones, if you can resist drinking it while it’s still young.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
Matthew Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager
The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Annata was among my favourite Brunello releases earlier this year, so I had high hopes for the 2010 riserva. It’s always immensely satisfying when those expectations are met and in this case, exceeded. An immediate superiority to the Annata is obvious on the nose, with an extra layer or two of depth, complexity and focus. The notes of ripe red fruit, spices and grilled steak are compelling and implore you to taste it. It is of course still very young, but even at this stage the concentration and impeccable balance are stunning. All of the above notes are echoed on the palate and combine to create a delightful mouth-feel and a finish which goes on for over a minute. This is a very special wine and one that will make very old bones, if you can resist drinking it while it’s still young.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
La Serena, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
A hotly-awaited wine, the 2010 is Andrea’s first Riserva since the 2007 vintage. Only 8,000 bottles were made of this profound, deep-garnet beauty from the mythical 2010 vintage. Aged only in large botti, not barriques, the nose is rich with tamarind, kirsch, dark cherry, tobacco and loganberry. It's so finely detailed, yet flows effortlessly, a thread of dark, forest fruit, and white-stone minerality.
Local lad Andrea Mantengoli’s organic fruit, modern approach to winemaking and use of both large Slavonian barrels and small French barriques for ageing, provides a more contemporary expression of Brunello di Montalcino. Indeed so much so that we charged him with making our new own-label Brunello di Montalcino. The seven-hectare property is well located close to neighbours Cerbaiona, on the north-eastern shoulder of Montalcino, blessed with atypically white, tufo, limestone soils.
Local lad Andrea Mantengoli’s organic fruit, modern approach to winemaking and use of both large Slavonian barrels and small French barriques for ageing, provides a more contemporary expression of Brunello di Montalcino. Indeed so much so that we charged him with making our new own-label Brunello di Montalcino. The seven-hectare property is well located close to neighbours Cerbaiona, on the north-eastern shoulder of Montalcino, blessed with atypically white, tufo, limestone soils.
Lisini, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
One of Montalcino’s oldest estates, dating back to the time of the Medicis, Lisini is known more recently as one of the founding fathers of the Brunello di Montalcino Consorzio in the 1960s. The Clementi-Lisini family, at the 154-hectare property near Sant’Angelo in Colle (with 20 hectares are under vine), make a thoroughly traditional range that builds on ancient Eocene sand, clay and iron-rich soils; wines that were first bottled in 1967. Oenologist Filippo Paoletti stands guard over the estate’s pre-eminent position.
Lisini's Brunelli remain among our most traditional; in youth they are focused, quite serious, with crunchy-cool poise, and an almost Burgundian, herbal, cassis edge in 2011. Yet it opens up more on the palate, after 3.5 years’ oak-ageing after all, with juicy currants, gleaming cranberry-purity, cleansing acidity, red cherries, thick redcurrant-skins.
Lisini's Brunelli remain among our most traditional; in youth they are focused, quite serious, with crunchy-cool poise, and an almost Burgundian, herbal, cassis edge in 2011. Yet it opens up more on the palate, after 3.5 years’ oak-ageing after all, with juicy currants, gleaming cranberry-purity, cleansing acidity, red cherries, thick redcurrant-skins.
Il Poggione,
Ready, but will improve,
Right from the off this is clearly a serious wine, it has a deep brooding nose with spice, heaps of morello cherry and chocolate notes. The palate is beautifully dense, multi-layered, textured and beautifully done. The morello cherry is there again, this time accompanied by liquorice and smokey notes. The intensity is such that this has a long future ahead of it and long term it is a wine that is sure to enhance the 2010 vintage’s legacy. Drink 2020-2035
Matthew Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager
Matthew Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager
Case Basse di Gianfranco Soldera,
Ready, but will keep,
We are very happy about this wine. It is elegant, fine, balanced, complex, long on the taste and at the same time already drinkable and enjoyable; it is an inviting wine. About the grapes, the 2005 vintage has been a very good one, with fine weather and proper seasonal weather (some necessary rain showers in summer but nothing serious); a very good September which allowed a perfect maturation of the grapes until the end of September (generally speaking the best period for picking grapes here).
Harvest was at the end of September with very healthy and ripe grapes, quantity above our “normal” very low average production but it is always a very low yield here (around 15 hl/ha). Natural fermentation has been, I would say, “easy” and the evolution with ageing in our large, traditional botti has well developed the initial promise of the high quality of the fruit. We bottled the Brunello 2005 Riserva in March 2011 (11,000 bottles in total).
Gianfranco Soldera - winemaker
Harvest was at the end of September with very healthy and ripe grapes, quantity above our “normal” very low average production but it is always a very low yield here (around 15 hl/ha). Natural fermentation has been, I would say, “easy” and the evolution with ageing in our large, traditional botti has well developed the initial promise of the high quality of the fruit. We bottled the Brunello 2005 Riserva in March 2011 (11,000 bottles in total).
Gianfranco Soldera - winemaker
Lisini, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
Lisini’s Brunello remains doggedly old fashioned. Broodingly opaque, it is square and dense with spicy clove notes and more earth than fruit. There is simply nothing that you can teach this ancient Montalcino family about how to produce fine wine at a reasonable price. A product of the fine 2006 vintage, this wine will repay cellaring.
David Berry Green, August 2011
David Berry Green, August 2011
San Giuseppe, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
Talk about a treat: I somehow managed to spirit a precious few bottles directly from Stella’s cantina! A formidable, indomitable, emphatic Brunello, the second she made, that oozes that great 2006 vintage.
Still twinkling bright and vivid, the nose a resolute, still young and closed but profound leather, dark cherry, savoury mix. The palate an entrancing weave of ginger, liquorice, a sense of great importance, so solid, implacable! Still a bambino, but decant if you must.
David Berry Green
Still twinkling bright and vivid, the nose a resolute, still young and closed but profound leather, dark cherry, savoury mix. The palate an entrancing weave of ginger, liquorice, a sense of great importance, so solid, implacable! Still a bambino, but decant if you must.
David Berry Green
Lisini, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
Approximately 8,000 bottles of Lisini’s Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is produced each year from a single 1.4 hectare vineyard. 2005 Ugolaia is a fine-boned, fragile wine with fragrant licorice aromas, suave tannins and a seared meatiness that typifies Lisini’s wines. Utterly compelling and very fine indeed.
David Berry Green, August 2011
David Berry Green, August 2011
Il Poggione,
Ready, but will keep,
Bright and ripe classic Sangiovese notes on the nose of red and black fruit vying for attention, with a certain meaty nuance in the background. Lots of fine red fruit on the palate, tempered by crisp acidity and fine, ripe tannins, all in balance with a pleasing mouth-feel and satisfyingly complete finish. This is hard to resist now, but will become even more harmonious if cellared for another four to six years.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
Cerbaiona, Tuscany,
Ready, but will improve,
Deep ruby with a narrow orange rim. Cool fruit and herbs on the nose. Remarkable sweet and ripe fruit on the attack with firm, bitter tannins. A successful balancing act, showing great concentration while keeping perfect focus and poise.
Drinking window: 2020-2036
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com, 21 March 2016
Drinking window: 2020-2036
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com, 21 March 2016
Il Poggione,
Ready, but will keep,
The 2007 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a huge wine bursting with fruit. Powerful tannins provide the backdrop as the 2007 shows off its dazzling power and density. Rarely have sensuality and structure been so evident in a young Brunello. The 2007 is going to require considerable patience but it is a stunning wine. The long, explosive finish is utterly captivating.
Antonio Galloni - Wine Advocate #200 Apr 2012
Antonio Galloni - Wine Advocate #200 Apr 2012
Cerbaiona, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
Given the tiny size of the estate, all 3 hectares of it, little wonder only 8000 bottles were made of this statuesque wine. Compared to a more sensual wine from Stella's San Giuseppe estate to the south-west, Cerbaiona's high easterly aspect, combined with a hands-off traditional botte approach, makes for a profoundly structured, cool compact yet oh so suave black cherry, licorice, & wild herb compote that will take years to unravel; expect to drink from 2014 onwards. Montalcino's finest? We think so.
Cerbaiona, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
Compared to the darker, denser ‘Cerbaiona’ IGP, the 2009 Brunello di Montalcino is far more relaxed and open-hearted. It has suave redcurrant and wild herb notes, and lots of fleshy pleasure from the succulence and warming sun. Very laid-back, charming with sensual strawberry patch fruit. Just getting into its stride.
Il Poggione,
Ready, but will keep,
Il Poggione is one of the stars of Brunello, despite this it is always incredibly reasonably priced. Every year we sell through our allocation quickly and 2010 I think it is a case of blink and you will miss it! Il Poggione is a wine that reflects the more modern end of the styles in Brunello, it always has rich, lush fruit and in 2010 it is perfectly held in check by a cool freshness. Alongside the lovely cherry fruit, there are floral characters and toasted spice a wine with a sensual character.
Matt Smith, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd