Talk-A-Vino

Benvenutto Brunello is one of my favorite wine tasting to attend. If you like Italian wines, Brunello needs no introduction (and if you don’t, I’m not sure we can be friends) – one of the 3 big Bs of Italian winemaking – Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello.

Brunello is an epitome of the expression of the best known Italian red grape – Sangiovese. The Sangiovese growing in the Brunello di Montalcino proper is considered a clone – Sangiovese Grosso, but it is a Sangiovese nevertheless.

Brunello de Montalcino appellation is almost square, all located around the hill crowned with the town of Montalcino, with vineyards densely occupying 5,189 acres and located at various altitudes over a range of different soils. Different microclimate conditions, terroirs, guarantee a great diversity of styles among 200 or so producers in Brunello di Montalcino DOCG. Another interesting appellation within Brunello proper is Rosso di Montalcino DOC, occupying 2,124 acres (after expansion in 2020) of dedicated vineyards (Rosso DOC vineyards are only used for production of Rosso di Montalcino DOC). Take a look at this wonderful video providing an excellent overview of the Brunello di Montalcino region:

Gabrielle Gorelli, MW, led our highly informative Brunello Masterclass, providing a detailed overview of the 2020 vintage and the changes in vintage assessment that just went into effect.

The 2020 was a pivotal vintage for Brunello di Montalcino. Not because of the Brunello 2020 wines per se, but because of the fundamental changes made in assessment of the 2020 vintage and all future vintages to come.

Until 2020, Brunello di Montalcino vintages had quality assessment specified with the stars (from 1 to 5 stars) and a short slogan characterizing the vintage. For example, the 2014 vintage had a rating of 3 stars and was called “Grace under pressure”. 2015 had a rating of 5 stars, and it was called “Power and Purity”; the 2016 vintage was also rated 5 stars and called “Finesse and depth”.

The 2020 Brunello vintage marks the end of the star ratings – this is the last vintage awarded a star rating (5 stars, in case you are wondering). Instead, Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino is introducing Brunello Forma, which will only provide a verbal description of the vintage moving forward.

A significant amount of effort went into the creation of the new system. 39 weather stations were installed around the region to collect the microclimate data. Historical data of the past 12 years were collected and a significant number of samples from the past vintages were blind tasted to come up with the set of data which will allow to make vintage assessment more scientific, I guess.

To come up with the vintage verbal assessment, a panel of industry experts (masters of wine, wine distributors, wine writers) ran extensive tasting of the 2020 wines, then collected and processed a large number of descriptors used by the panel members to crystallize the 2020 Brunello vintage description into these three words:

Captivating, Bright, Succulent

As an engineer at heart, I’m not a fan of words. Simple numerical (3 stars, 92) or verbal (fair, good, very good) rating quickly gives me everything I need to know about the vintage in general – captivating or succulent doesn’t set my expectations about a given wine – not now, and especially, not in the future.

However, as it was explained later on during the dinner with Giacomo Bartolommeo, Brunello winemaker at Caprili, the star ratings were hurting the wineries, as wine buyers preferred to ignore wines from 3-star vintages and focus on acquiring better-rated vintages, without much regard to the qualities of the particular wine. Moving to verbal descriptors eliminates the opportunity for a quick rating-based decision. Well, winemakers are in the business of selling their wines, so it is not my place to complain or judge.

Then, of course, there were wines. I have to say that in the traditional Italian style (please take no offence), the tasting order was changed by our presenter, Gabrielle Gorelli, MW, compared to the order written on the notes page. However, I have to say that our tasting order was definitely the right one, showing progression from very tight and lean wines to wines that were softer and more approachable now. I attended both seminars, so below are my notes:

Morning Seminar

Col D’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino 2020
Ruby Color
Interesting nose, sapidity, earthy undertones, leather
Tart is the first sensation; tart cherries, expressive tannins, crisp acidity

Pian Delle Querci Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (36 months in Slavonian oak)
Dark ruby color
Sweet cherries, perfumy, very playful
Not as tart as the previous wine, but has very explicit tannins, good acidity, but lacking fruit, very lean

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (vineyards planted on the oldest soils, 3 years in big oak barrels)
Garnet color
Sweet tobacco, cherries, plums, attractive
Initially showed beautiful cherries, the tartness kicked in, followed by very dry finish with big but well integrated tannins

Marchesi Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (single vineyard, aged in big casks)
Garnet color
Beautiful nose, elegant, perfumy, with a touch of sweet cherries.
Tart cherries on the palate, herbs, tart finish with well pronounced tannings.

San Polo Podernovi Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (30 months in light-toast 40hl casks)
Garnet color with bright reddish hues
Beautiful nose, elegant, perfumy, sweet cherries, eucalyptus.
Tart cherries, tannins are overwhelming, but the most elegant finish so far.
Probably can be enjoyed now after decanting

La Poderina Brunello di Montalcino 2020
Dark Garnet
Playful, bright red fruit, cherries, herbs, sweet oak.
Palate is a tad bitter, strange, had to swallow the wine instead of spitting to establish that it was not corked. Overall, not bad, but the nose is way better than the palate.

Collematoni Brunello di Montalcino 2020
Dark ruby color, beautiful
Beautiful nose, sweet fruit, cherries, sage, beautiful.
The best palate so far – round, with sweet and tart cherries, elegant, delicious.
8+

2020 Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (38 months in oak)
Dark garnet
Beautiful, open, sweet fruit, sweet cherries, pencil shavings.
Tart cherries, explicit balsamic notes, succulent, mouthwatering, round, delicious, beautiful, superb.
8+

My favorite two wines of the morning seminar:

Afternoon seminar

Sanlorenzo Brunellodi Montalcino 2020 (aged in oak for about 3 years)
Garnet color
Beautiful, sweet fruit, cherries, dark undertones, earthiness.
Intense fruit quickly dissipates into very tart, very high expression tannins and acidity on the finish. Super-lean.

Mocali Brunello di Montalcino 2020
Dark garnet
Interesting nose, maybe racy is a good descriptor? Garrigue, some cherries show up a bit later.
Lots of sweet cherries which instantly disappear, but the finish is a bit less tart than the previous wine.

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino 2020
Very dark, practically black, darkest of the tasting so far
The nose is restrained, earthy and herbaceous
Sweet cherries, sweet oak, then tart, acidic, and ultra-tannic on the finish, very dry

Sassodisole Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (minimum 24 months in oak)
Dark Garnet
Cherries, sage, perfume, nice and open
Tart cherries, leather, well-integrated tannins
So far, the most approachable wine of the tasting

Camigliano Paesaggio Inatteso Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (30 months in oak barrels, 10 months in cement tanks after)
Bright ruby
Underbrush, a hint of smoke
Tart cherries, fresh cleansing acidity, acidic finish with some tannins, not bad.

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (30 months in Slovenian oak casks of different capacities)
Dark garnet
Nice, inviting, round, dark fruit, a touch of crushed rocks.
Sweet cherries, crunchy and succulent, great energy, cherries on the finish, delicious.
8+, the best of the second seminar

Cortonesi Poggiarelli Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (24 months in oak)
Dark garnet, almost black, with bright hues
Amazing nose. Cherries that magically pull you in.
Fish and powerful opening on the palate, but bitter tannins set in.
Best nose of both tastings, 9-/9. Palate is not great right now – 7+

Banfi Poggio Alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (24+ months in French oak)
Dark garnet with bright hues
Nice, open nose with lots of fresh herbs – sage, thyme.
Sweet dark fruit on the palate initially, then the palate is quickly shut down in front of the mouth. Again, if you swallow this wine instead of spitting, the wine is a lot more generous. Succulent is a perfect descriptor for such a wine. 8+

Best wines of the second seminar:

In addition to the seminars, there was tasting on the “main floor”. There were more of the excellent 2020 Brunellos, such as San Felice, Caprili,  or Corte Pavone. There were also many of the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva wines, which were simply outstanding. Additionally, 2023 Rosso di Montalcino were presented by almost all participating wineries and were excellent across the board.

My Brunello deep immersion didn’t stop there. After the event was over, we went for dinner with John Fodera and Giacomo Bartolommei, the winemaker at Caprili,  to the wonderful Italian New York restaurant Zero Otto Nove, famous not only for genuine Italian food but for the amazing wine list. There, Giacomo found 2001 Cerbaiona Brunello di Montalcino, which we ordered.

Wow, what a pleasure it was. Perfumy nose of succulent cherries, anis, eucalyptus. You can’t stop smelling the wine, you don’t even think of drinking it for a few minutes. Then you take a careful sip and experience an explosion of flavor with succulent cherries, balscami vinegar, iodine, and magic that only an Italian wine with age can offer. The experience was not identical to 1999 Soldera, but it was pretty darn close.

And now my Brunello report is complete. The 2020 vintage offers beautiful aromatics; it is approachable, it is succulent, it is captivating. Let’s raise the glass to the new era in Brunello and more tasty Brunello wines for us. Cheers!