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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