Volpaia?
Yes
Bought a bunch there It’s a not to be missed adventure. Everything there was fabulous.
Could not thank you enough
Fuligni and Costanti are pretty much my favorite Brunello’s……
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Not going to go wrong there
I like so many including the ones u show .
Ill marreneto, they make a nice rosso also
Poggio di Sotto
Talenti
Valdicava
Some of my favorites to add to yours
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The escalating price points on BdM doesn’t bother you guys?
Yes, but there’s a lot of wineries to source from and work around the increases.
It definitely does. When people say the next generation isn’t drinking, I often think of the fact that they don’t as often taste things like Brunello. The increased costs I think will cost the industry in the long term imo.
BdM has been such a good category for quality, value and availability for so long.
But it does feel like prices are climbing a lot in the last year or two, at a time when it feels like the pricing pressure should be going the other way.
Am I right about that? If so, why are prices rising as much as they are?
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Off the top of my head, I’d say big critic scores, Argiano winning WS#1 a couple of years ago, and rising operating and importing costs are making them more expensive.
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It’s also the fact that for Americans coming from Napa wines, Brunello is an easier gateway into Italian than the brighter Chianti Classico. Brunello is often riper, denser, bigger…
I think it has actually been since the 2015 vintage that the prices have really been climbing though. I remember giving the price increases the pass on 2016 since it was such a good vintage, but then 2017 hit and prices kept rising. At least that was my impression at the time. Baricci was $65 on the shelf when 2016 hit. My cost wholesale is higher than that on the biggest case drop now.
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But that has been equally the case for the past couple decades in which pricing for Brunello was very moderate in general. I guess I don’t see that as something that changed in the last couple years.
Ditto for the high scores. Brunello has always gotten those.
And the thing Brunello was lacking — the high collector / geek / snob appeal — hasn’t really changed either.
Anyway, markets do what they do. Sometimes we can understand, but not always.
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I’ve been shocked by some of the prices that I’ve seen coming out of the region. Less so for the wines that have slowly increased year after year. That’s just the natural way of things. What I’m more surprised by are the prestige bottles and single-vineyard wines released at prices that compete with those in Napa Valley or High-end Bordeaux. There are still excellent values to be found in Brunello. However, this is certainly not the time or the market to embark upon drastic price increases or releasing prestige bottles that don’t represent a significant improvement in quality or exposing some exceptional terroir.
As for the 2019s, I’m very happy with the evolution of this vintage. It is really very special, and while the 2021s are excellent and a lot of fun, 2019 is the current vintage (currently tasted in bottle or barrel) that really thrills me. The 2016s are a slight improvement upon the 2019s, so anyone with a line on well-stored bottles should keep that in mind as well.
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I attended the class on the 2019 Brunello vintage at the Vinous Icons event this weekend. Overall, a very well curated list of wines that gave me a much better sense of the vintage than I’d had from the handful of 2019s I had tried on release. Also an interesting presentation by each of the winemakers with the satellite map of the vineyards giving a good sense of place.
The only negative was being hustled out pretty aggressively very shortly after the last speaker finished, which prevented me from properly revisiting the wines. Sharing the notes I was able to jot down here.
Overall Notes
10 wines ranging from premium single vineyard labels (e.g. the always great CdN Cerretalto) to regular Brunellos. My overall impression was that all of the wines were extremely well balanced, regardless of style. Most if not all had plenty of acid and tannin, so should last a long time, but all were very harmonious and a pleasure to drink today. Many were reasonably powerful but nothing was over the top.
Tasting Notes
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Le Chiuse
- Rustic, earthy but balanced. Good quality.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Pian delle Querci
- Very good. Dark red fruits, leather and earth but overall a fruit driven wine that’s fresh and light on it’s feet. Should age well. I liked this enough to seek it out.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Fuligni
- More aromatic - fruit/dark flowers. Warm, earthy, rustic balanced. Tastes older, almost ripasso style.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto, Casanova di Neri
- Knockout nose, complex - black fruit, truffle, minerals, violet. Powerful, sweet black fruit, tea, earth, leather. Fresh acidity but well balanced/soft. Soft tannins. Awesome.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne, Siro Pacenti
- Intensely orange - tea + orange. Similarly intensely flavor. Fuller tannin. Lovely, moreish.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Campo del Drago, Castiglion del Bosco
- V fragrant. Bright red fruit, yellow flowers, leather. Delicious. Sour cherry flavor, fruit with some spice + leather. Fresh acidity, drying tannis. Really good - a good food wine.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Ciliegio, La Magia
- Lovely nose - gentle, deep fruit, stone. Sumptuous flavor. Soft red clay + strawberry, orange rind, tobacco. Well integrated tannins, fresh but soft acid. Long finish of sweet orange rind.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Uccelliera
- Unusual nose and flavor but not bad - some banana skin + acetone. Regal structure - firm but not tight acid, firm tannins. Brimming w flavor - darker cherries, leather, banana notes.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, Le Macioche
- Deeply earthy aroma. Classic + well balanced flavor - red fruits, fresh acid, a little earthy, soft but full tannin.
- 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Suolo, Argiano
- Limited aroma but excellent flavor. Red fruit, lots of flavor. Super well balanced + bright.
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Tried a 3oz pour of the 2019 Biondi Santi at Disney Springs wine bar this week. Stunning glass. The color was noticeably more transparent than the ’22 Tignanello I had alongside it, which is exactly what draws me to Brunello. Light on its feet but with real power that lingers for minutes. Drinking better than the ’15 and ’16 I had a few years back, which is impressive for how young it is. Need to track down a bottle or two as this is a must buy for brunello lovers.
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Interesting! Fancy a guess on a drinking window?
It was drinking well from Coravin with 45 min of air, but I’d suspect in 4-5 years will do this bottle well.