Brunello di Montalcino is anything but a simple and easily approachable wine. A top-notch Brunello is decidedly tart, even austere, often cool and very firm, its fruit is challenging rather than silky. This is frequently accompanied by prominent herbaceous notes reminiscent of soup greens and lovage, earthy notes and undergrowth as well as occasionally leafy notes. Both tannins and acidity are fairly prominent, although never chunky in good examples.

This combination of properties results in wines that are still firm and fresh, even in the case of powerful wines with noticeably more than 14 per cent of alcohol, of which there are many examples in the excellent 2006 vintage, wines that can be great partners with food, unlike many other wines in this class.

After some ups and down in quality round about the millennium, which was probably a result of a too rapid increase in vineyard area and in the number of producers, the outstanding 2006 vintage sees a superb return to form for Brunello di Montalcino. It can be said that never before has a vintage shown so many wines of such quality. At the same time, at this stage many of the Brunellos tasted remained rather closed, in spite of extensive aeration. We believe a few more years of bottle maturation will see a further improvement in many of these wines.

To the "BEST OF Brunello di Montalcino" (PDF document)

All recently tasted Brunello di Montalcino DOCG vintage 2006

All recently tasted Brunello di Montalcino DOCG older vintages