I have not had much Brunello but tried a few in the last year including Altesino. They tasted primary and medicinal to me. Not a fan. I am sure Rosso can be plenty good.
Wow, some nice wines there! I would guess the Mastrojanni was still a bit restrained?
You would miss a lot!
Personally, I drink the Rosso until the age of 10 and start drinking Brunello with 10 years, depending on vintage.
I can understand your position 20 years ago, when many vines were young and many new producers still settled. For example the region around Castelnuovo dell’Abate which is in the south-eastern part of Montalcino. Many vineyards around Castelnuovo dell’Abate were newly planted in the early nineties due to the fact that Bianchini - who had taken over Ciacci Piccolomini - sold much land to be planted with vines. Many today famous producers bought land from him such as Palmucci/Poggio di Sotto and many others (I guess also Stella di Campalto). These vines were still young 20 years ago but are now firing on all cylinders, as you can see with the 2016 vintage.
Mastrojanni, Baricci, Talenti, Brunelli, Biondi Santi, Lisini (not any more), Soldera (not any more 
) - these are the wines which are or were a must in my cellar and where the Brunello was clearly step up to the Rosso.
What happened with Lisini? That was a producer where I’ve often liked the Brunello and the rosso.
I’m a bit confused on that myself. They’ve moved their emphasis on higher end bottling to their single-vineyard wine(as they should imo, Brunello Riserva is kinda worthless), but unless there’s something I’ve missed, they still do things as they always did. They’re one of the few producers in the southern regions that doesn’t make over industrial crap
Yes very. But also very promising
I would add Poggio di Sotto to some that have already been mentioned. Expensive, though.
I think Rosso di Montalcino is just as variable, and just as often disappointing, as Brunello as a category. I really like some of the wines in both cases, but most don’t seem well valued to me. So, I’ll generalize, but I also won’t dismiss either as a category. For Brunello examples, I’ll also mention Poggio di Sotto, and Cerbaiona (pre-sale – not sure about recent vintages as I haven’t tried them). Those are both significantly better than any Chianti I’ve had, at least for me.
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I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread. As for the main topic, I wouldn’t stop buying Brunello for Rosso–I buy both. I think one of the biggest issues here is not just diversity of styles but also of terroir. The wines of the northeast that weren’t even popular twenty years ago and the wines that are showing incredibly well now at 20 years old. In the same token, they are very hard to enjoy young. As for style, I think Argiano is a good example of a southern estate that’s very honest about what they used to produce versus what they are making now. The wines from the 2000s are so oak influenced that they are falling out of balance. As for Il Poggione, those wines almost always need twenty years. In fact, when I think of opening a Brunello, looking back at the comment from Anders G , ten years is just about the earliest I think to start drinking them–and that’s from the riper vintages. 2011 and 2012 are just starting to wake up. 2010 is still in a deep slumber. 2009 can be fun but the tannins may never come fully into balance. 2008s are sultry and grippy but fun. 2007s are delicious from northern producers today. My sweet spot right now are the 1999s and 2001s.
As for a Rosso to add to your Buy list, Canalicchio di Sopra is top notch and nowhere near as expensive as many others. I buy it every year.
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interesting comments on Argiano and 2007 Eric. A friend on BWE always criticizes their output as being boring/commercial. I had one of their BdM roughly two years ago, and my (certain comments excised) thoughts were
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I’ve been sipping on a 2007 Argiano [Brunello di Montalcino] the last couple of days, tapping this note up while I soak lamb in Worcestershire for tonite. It’s 100F+ today and I’m dreading standing by the grill, which is needed when cooking lamb, due to fat flare ups. (The family vetoed my suggestion of Insta-Pot lamb stew, which can be done on the veranda, keeping heat outside the house … and me inside). I double decanted and aerated this Brunello, as I assumed a teenage wine would be ready to drink now. 14% abv, with a complex nose of saddle, torn mint. On the palate its showing cherry fruit on day #2, with resolved tannins, and balanced acidity. I was inclined to be negative on this, but its more likable than I expected. This 2007 is medium bodied, and ok to drink on a hot day, without the heavy tannin/earth that my more typical afternoon kitchen sipping wines might have.
I’d slot this into the B+ category, and poor QPR. It seems to get much higher regard from the industry. In the $35-45 zone, there’s a lot of competition.
Argiano effectively did a complete 180 with the 15 vintage. So, it’s very understandable that an 07 may be clunky and viewed as a poor qpr. The 15 and 16s however are beautiful, supple expression of Sangiovese from the southern areas of Montalcino.
Part of my critique earlier that I probably didn’t get into is that somehow, Montalcino seems to be viewed as a monolith where everything is effectively the same. It’s not. The northern areas are cooler and at higher altitudes while the southern areas unfortunately have some giants that bulldozed hills to make moscato.
On top of that, it’s a drier region than Chianti. This cannot be escaped. I’m not saying that Sangiovese can’t be elegant from Montalcino, but to consistently expect a deft hand and something akin to burgundy just lives in a fantasy land. Chianti also blends where Montalcino shouldn’t have to. Ignoring these factors is frustrating imo and it wouldn’t be tolerated for Burgundy or Piedmont if someone were to make a claim akin to the “I can get that in Chianti” posts that pop up when these discussions seem to happen.
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There is a whole new management team at Argiano these days and they are focused on understanding the vineyards better and making the wines in a more “terroir-transparent” way. In the end, they will always be a deep-south Montalcino estate, but I expect the wines will continue to improve in a big way.
I’ll echo Eric’s rec for the RdM from Canalicchio di Sopra. It’s been excellent in the last many vintages and I’m patiently waiting for the 2019 and contemplating getting more based on the ‘18 I just drank. It seems quite serious for a Rosso but still maintains freshness and some red fruit elements.
Brunello is a difficult mistress at times, but no. When she is up for it, she purrrs.
Hi,
Had Il Poggione Brunello 2004 recently and it was magnificent.
Sourced from local importer that purchased it among other library vintages directly from the winery - impeccable provenance and storage. Quite a price premium attached yet well worth it.
Here are the notes:
med+ to high acidity
med+ tannin
red fruit game still on
also some iron, savoury, somewhat nebbiolo like, thyme
holding strong after 3/4 hours
def decant. lots of sediment
still somewhat tight, high acidity
great to enjoy but can age easily 5, 10+ yrs.
outstanding
Tried some dozen RdMs last few months, mostly 19s, some 20s, my personal top picks would be
Mastrojanni
Le Chiuse
La Gerla
Pertimalli Sassetti Livio
Fuligni Ginestreto
Ciacci Piccolomini
For comparison to BdM I need to wait a bit for some 16s to age some more
Klaus
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I second or third the Il Poggione Rosso di Toscana (2018), very lively and drinkable, although not really to be confused with a proper age-worthy Brunello. Great daily drinker type at a good price point, but comparison with the Brunello seems hard (comparison with Chianti even harder)… Maybe not exactly a Rosso di Montalcino?
Also a 2015 Rosso Riserva “Montecucco” from Colle Massari was very good, and reasonably priced at a local restaurant.
Moscato? In Montalcino? Not that I’m following the region, but this is the first time I’m hearing this. Tuscany really isn’t suitable for Moscato production and there are only a handful of producers who make either funky skin-contact whites or sweet passito wines. Finding a “normal” Tuscan Moscato is like finding a needle in a haystack, which is why planting Moscato in Montalcino sounds plain odd.
The only 2019 RdM I’ve tried is the 2019 Ciacci Piccolomini Rosso di Montalcino Rossofonte, which is quite nice.
-Al
I’m talking about Banfi and them terraforming the land flat a while back. I don’t think they still make moscato there as they learned the ills of their ways on that, but they absolutely bastardized their land
I think you’re drinking the wrong Brunello…or, it could just be that you don’t like aged Brunello. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve not had any of those that you mentioned in my past that I can remember. I tend to stick to producers like Argiano, Fuligni, Biondi Santi, & Poggio di Sotto. Having said all that, my largest holdings are in Rosso rather than Brunello because one can’t drink Brunello all the time (at least not this guy).