I saw Eric Guido’s report is out, so thought I’d be @F.Daner to the punch. Looks like it’s going to be a great vintage. Here is what really stood out to me:
The 2019 vintage stood out to them immediately; this is the last genuinely balanced year in the previous seven vintages (more on that later).
Francesco Buffi at the Baricci winery on the Montosoli hillside in the northeast explained 2019 as “Exceptional, in terms of quality and quantity. A vintage that takes me at least 20 years back… harvesting top-quality bunches in October, with excellent yields.”
Following the rainy 2018 vintage, the winter of 2019 was relatively cold, with moderate precipitation. Rainy conditions and below-average temperatures prevailed throughout April and May, which slowed the vegetative process, disturbed flowering to a degree and reduced the size of the clusters. However, these same rains built up water supplies in the soils, which paved the way for a successful warm and dry start to the summer. The highest temperatures reached during the season never exceeded 35° Celsius (95° Fahrenheit), nearly unheard of in modern-day Montalcino. Moreover, the temperature swings between day and night were drastic (15-20 degrees). These conditions were ideal for both a healthy flowering and little in the way of disease pressure. The rest of summer, while warm, was balanced and perfectly offset by refreshing rains at the end of July, the third week of August and the beginning of September. Favorable conditions continued leading up to harvest, sunny and dry, with one last rainstorm on the 22nd and 23rd of September, without any damage to the ripe berries on the vine.
Great report for sure and glad he included both notes on Rosso bottlings as well as a look back on most of the producers 2016 wines. These wines really over deliver for the $ and expect will be some of the few purchases I make next year.
I just checked Ian Dagatas report after reading his Barolo 2019 concerns and he had similar thoughts on Brunello. Curious to see how this vintage plays out when more folks start tasting.
Thanks for sharing and great report. 2019 Brunello will definitley be the majority of the wine budget this year for me. Did anyone in the NY area go to the Zachy’s tasting on Friday ?
I like Sangiovese, but haven’t collected much Brunello, my concern being I have had limited experiences with aged Brunello that were positive. And I’m not talking long aging, I’m talking 2000s - 2010. Vinous did a 2010 Brunello dinner in October of last year, and I’d say ~half the wines did not appear to be aging well. The few standouts still didn’t seem that attractive relative to price (Biondi Santi Riserva, Stella Riserva). The 2010 Madonna from il Marroneto was also really good, not a cheap wine either but a bit more reasonable. The two Brunello 2010 I personally collected, Mastrojanni and Conti Costanti, were very highly rated on release but have not aged well and seem past peak in my experience. On the other hand, when I’ve tasted through 2010 Barolo recently, producers at every price level, the results have been ~uniformly outstanding.
More recently, I went to a il Marroneto dinner and the recent wines were mostly very promising, but the wines from 1999 - 2010 did not show well in my opinion, and the provenance of the bottles was as good as possible.
Basically, while I wasn’t around to taste the 2010s on release vs. 2019s now, I don’t trust that the wines showing well young will evolve positively in the cellar for 10-20 years. Hopefully they will - Sangiovese is certainly capable of it based on tasting great aged Chianti.
Rob, I agree with you. I only trust traditional Brunello producers to age in the cellar, not modern producers. As an example, I’ve recently enjoyed the ‘07 and ‘08 Livio Sassetti and ‘01 Caprili Riserva. I’ve also had the ‘10 Mastrojanni and I agree with you that its best days are behind us.
But, all based on trying the wines young (which I have loved) . Very limited experience with aged brunello so I am hoping the posts on not holding up does not end up being my experience. Above list are favorites after trying a wide range of young brunellos
Il Marronetto have never tried because of the price, though it looks like the rest of Brunellos are catching up on that front m
not sure what you’re referring to about wines ‘not holding up?’
Of those Eric says go long on Potazzine if you like more pure fruit. Older Brunello drifts into leather/tobacco secondary flavors as they age, and as anyone knows until you’ve had a bunch of properly aged wines it’s hard to say whether or not your palate even likes aged wine so it’s always hard to recommend how long to hold things. Generally though a Brunello from a top producer in a top vintage can go 20 years easy before they start to approach tasting ‘old.’
Simply referring to the multiple people on this thread who are saying in their experience that brunello didn’t age as well as they expected. Obviously, I don’t know their experiences and/or why they were disappointed - just saying hopefully doesn’t happen to me. I greatly enjoy brunello as well as the vineyards I mentioned
I am very curious for those who have misses… which vineyards?
There are so many variables: producers, sub zones, modern vs traditional, vintage year, etc that I find it a bit hard to form a point of view based on high level comments. Also, we’re bad bottles before or after the brunello scandal?
A 2007 Fuligni that I had was spectacular. Same with a 2013 Chiuse riserva.
