James Suckling (100)

This is a splendid Brunello, showing extraordinary purity of sangiovese character. Cherry and floral aromas and flavors. Full-bodied with incredibly integrated tannins that seem like they are not there. But they are and are comprehensive on the palate. Great depth and agility. Just floats on the palate. Magic carpet. Drinkable, to enjoy the magic, but needs three or four years to come around.

James Suckling (100)

Seamless is a great way to describe this red wine with intense aromas of plums, cherries, walnut and sandalwood. Some lightly toasted oak, roses and lavender as well. Really aromatic. The palate is full and extremely polished with super fine tannins that go on for minutes and spread across your palate. A great wine, following the perfect, 100-point 2015. Better to start drinking this after 2023.

Indulge your palate with the exquisite Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino 2018, a true embodiment of Tuscan winemaking mastery. Produced in the scenic Montalcino region of Italy, this wine harbours the profound essence of its native lands in every sip.

Rigorously selected Sangiovese grapes from Gorelli's vineyards are employed to create this high-calibre Brunello. Underpinned by stringent quality-ensuring techniques, the grapes are traditionally fermented and aged in large Slavonian oak barrels for a lengthy four years. This process bestows a remarkable complexity and depth to the wine.

The result is a truly sumptuous wine offering notes of red and dark berries, hints of leather and earth; all perfectly balanced with a harmonious acidity and tannins. Loyal to the Gorelli ethos, this Brunello reflects the spirit of its birthplace with an elegant, finely structured profile. The Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino 2018 is indeed a testament to the sublime mastery of Italian wine creation.

Vinous (94)

Bright red. The intense note of violet on the nose is absolutely captivating and nicely lifts the aromas of sweet red cherry and aromatic oils. Then very rich, dense and juicy, conveying a seamless quality to its multilayered orchard fruit, spicy red berry and mineral flavors. The exhilarating finish echoes with lingering and repeating floral and mineral notes nicely extended by lipsmacking but harmonious acidity. Classic vintages such as the 2013 really showcase Il Marroneto’s magnificent terroir to its fullest capacity; in these vintages, talented Alessandro Mori produces sleek, refined Brunellos that are true benchmarks of Sangiovese in Montalcino. Very well done.

Wine Enthusiast (97)

A gorgeous offering, this opens with enticing scents of ripe woodland berries, blue flowers, new leather and baking spice. On the elegantly structured, savory palate, taut, polished tannins accompany raspberry compote, ripe Marasca cherry, star anise and crushed rosemary. It's already showing beautifully but will also offer years of fine sipping. Drink 2023–2029

Kerin O'Keefe (97)

This fragrant, gorgeous red opens with enticing scents of rose hips, new leather and forest berries. Showing the house style of extreme elegance and vibrancy, the focused, racy palate features juicy red cherries, white pepper and dark spices encased in taut, refined tannins. Bright acidity keeps it balanced and energized. Absolutely fantastic. Drink 2026–2043.

Wine Enthusiast (98)

Pressed rose, forest berries, crushed mint and dark spice are front and center on this fragrant, stunning red, which also has whiffs of new leather. Showing the estate's hallmark of finesse and structure, the delicious palate delivers crushed raspberry, ripe Morello cherry, baking spice and licorice framed in tightly wound, refined tannins. Fresh acidity keeps it balanced. This is one of the few 2017s that show some serious aging potential. Drink 2025–2037.

Kerin O'Keefe (99)

More structured than the Brunello Annata and exhibiting the firm’s trademark of mesmerizing finesse, this captivating stunner has lovely aromas of blue flower, rose, wild herb and a whiff of fine tobacco blend. The luminous, youthfully austere but already delicious palate has irresistible precision and a pristine quality, delivering ripe raspberry, baking spice and black tea alongside tight, refined tannins. It’s young but already beautifully balanced, with bright acidity. Spoiler alert: this is only for fans of extremely refined, exhilarating and terroir-driven wines. Drink 2028–2048.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

For lovers of this estate, you’re going to want to stop everything and go find the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Madonna Delle Grazie if you have the means. There’s simply nothing else like it, and it needs to be experienced. It pours a saturated, youthful ruby color and has an unmistakable and distinctive nose that is highly expressive, with layered aromas jumping from the glass and unfolding notes of cassis, wildflowers, orange marmalade, clove, and blackberries. (Words do this no justice.) Equally potent and layered on the palate, it continues seamlessly, with noble structure and profound concentration through a stunning and long finish that lasts for several minutes (or as long as I could give it until moving on). Remarkable and singular, it truly stands apart from the crowd, even in this phenomenal vintage, where it’s hard to do much wrong. Profound. It’s a showstopper now and will be one of the great wines of the region for decades. Drink 2028-2050.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is a stunning creation from an iconic vintage. Sangiovese specifically requires the perfect growing conditions to show its magic, and this vintage delivers those special qualities in troves. You are aware of the deep inner power and integrity of the fruit, yet the wine opens softly on the bouquet with elegance and grace. This bottle shows stunning complexity with a bouquet that peels back to reveal dark cherry, spice, balsam herb and dried violets. The mouthfeel has yielded to a greater sense of inner softness and mellowness since I last tasted this gorgeous wine upon its commercial release.

Kerin O'Keefe (99)

Le Chiuse 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is fragrant, radiant and practically bursting with finesse. Made with organically grown grapes, this is an absolute stunner, offering enticing scents of woodland berry, forest floor, blue flower, eucalyptus and culinary spice. It’s energized and linear, delivering delicious layers of flavor including juicy red cherry, cinnamon, black tea and blood orange accompanied by taut, extremely refined tannins and vibrant acidity. Already showing beautifully, it also has the intensity and radiance to age well for 20 years or more.

Vinous (95)

The remarkably pretty 2016 Brunello di Montalcino shows a pure bouquet full of wild strawberries, woodland berries and herbs with a hint of crushed stone. It’s soft and enveloping, displaying fleshy red fruits, savory spice and salty minerals, while vibrant acids maintain wonderful freshness. It’s only at the very end that its youthful structure comes forward, grippy and classically drying, yet under an air of red licorice and inner rose. There’s a beautiful harmony to this vintage of Le Potazzine, which should provide a long and wide drinking window.

Vinous (98)

Stunning from the first tilt of the glass, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino is impossible to ignore. This blends an array of dried flowers with autumnal spices, cedar-tinged cherries and clove hints in a way that I find wildly appealing. It sweeps across the palate with textures of pure silk guided by bright acidity as depths of wild berry fruits and mineral tones saturate toward the close. The 2019 lingers impossibly long, leaving a staining of primary concentration to mingle with grippy tannins and licorice nuances, yet an airy freshness remains through it all. The combination of house style and vintage character here is otherworldly. It will take much willpower to keep our hands off of the 2019 long enough to watch it properly mature. Spellbinding.

Vinous (99)

The 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna delle Grazie pulls you close and holds your attention with a wildly perfumed and hauntingly seductive bouquet, boasting an intense array of wild strawberry, currants, waxy rose and licorice. There are depths of plush texture, dark and rich, yet with stimulating acidity to balance, and saturating mineral-tinged red fruits and spices that cascade across the palate. This leaves you with cheek-puckering tension, chiseled structure and tart red berry concentration that seems like it could go on for days. The 2013 is dense and youthfully poised, yet aching to explode. This is just a baby today, but the potential is off the charts. The Riserva is a special, single-barrel selection made by Alessandro Mori. While this was the first opportunity to taste the 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna delle Grazie, the wine was originally released in 2019.

Immerse yourself in the unparalleled elegance of Pian Orino Brunello di Montalcino Vigneti del Versante 2017, a sensational embodiment of Tuscan finesse. Masterfully crafted at the esteemed Pian Orino estate, nested in the coveted viticultural region of Montalcino, Italy, this wine breathes the poignant echoes of terroir. The grapes are handpicked from Vigneti del Versante vineyards, renowned for its rich, mineral-laden soils optimally situated for mature, flavourful fruit expression. The winemaking process is an artisanal marvel, including an extended maceration period and ageing in French oak barrels, creating a harmonious interplay between tannin, fruit and acidity.

On the palate, anticipate a dense core of ripe red fruit with luscious layers of spice, leather and cocoa. This Brunello intoxicates with its full-bodied, balanced character and persistent finish. The Pian Orino Brunello di Montalcino Vigneti del Versante 2017 is a testament to superior winemaking, destined for the discerning oenophile's collection.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2013 Brunello di Montalcino is downright gorgeous. The wine is inward-looking at the very beginning, but it quickly revs up to deliver soaring intensity and profound elegance. It goes from first to sixth gear in seconds and grabs all your attention and admiration in the process. The bouquet reads like a textbook Sangiovese, with wild berry, rose hip, pressed violets, cola, balsam herb, licorice and cigar ash. The bouquet underlines the wine's enormous finesse and pedigree, but the mouthfeel is all about frankness, directness and power. This is a naked and pure Brunello that glows bright with confidence and pride.

Wine Advocate (97)

Made with certified-organic fruit, the 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is an impossibly graceful wine from a challenging vintage. This bottle defies the odds—and the dry heat of the growing season—to reveal soft layers of cherry, cassis and more vibrant fruit. It glides clear over the palate with silky momentum, and you only notice the tannins at the very end. Even those should soften and integrate as this collectible wine continues it bottle evolution. Production is 19,000 bottles.

Wine Advocate (98)

The Castello Romitorio 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Filo di Seta reaches a whole other level of intensity and brilliance with dark fruit, blackberry, an etched mineral quality, petrichor and wet slate that gives this wine an incredibly etched and lively presentation. The tannins are velvety and perfectly match the generous texture of this beautiful Sangiovese. Only later, you start to notice the delicate tones of purple flower and iris root that give this wine such an elegant finish. This is a cellar keeper. There are 9,000 bottles of this wine.

Vinous (95)

The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino is a total charmer, understated at first, but worthy of patience, as swirling unlocks depths of cinnamon and clove-tinged cherries, nuances of sweet mint, pine shavings and white smoke. It envelopes the palate with ripe textural fruits, soothing and round, while saline-minerals and fine tannins mingle throughout, adding a balanced tension. Nothing is out of place here, as the 2012 finishes lightly structured, remarkably fresh and perfumed with red inner florals and savory spice. This is a beautiful and graceful interpretation of the vintage that still has many years of positive evolution for collectors to look forward to. Salvioni only made Brunello (no Rosso) in 2012, and production was down at 12,000, usually around 1,8000 to 19000 bottles total, between Rosso and Brunello. This was due to the heat of the vintage and smaller berries.

Vinous (92)

The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino Le Lucere emerges from the estate's oldest vines. Here the balance of fruit and tannin is much more successful. Sensual and layered in the glass, the Lucere offers good up-front richness to match its creamy, inviting personality. Generous black cherry, plum, smoke, spice and menthol flesh out on a resonant finish laced with attractive aromatic overtones. In this vintage, the oak and tannins are very nicely balanced, something that hasn't always been the case here. At times, the ripeness of the vintage is a bit dominant, but this is a gorgeous wine from San Filippo.

James Suckling (100)

Decadent aromas of ripe fruit, such as plums and peaches with black truffles and porcini mushrooms. Full body, with layers of ripe fruit and round and chewy tannins. Lots of chocolate and fresh mushroom at the finish. A thoroughly terroir-driven red. Try after 2022.

Vinous (93)

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Manachiara is dark, bold and powerful. Sweet red cherry, plum, hard candy, flowers and mint rush forward as this succulent, open-knit Riserva shows off its personality. The Manachiara is quite forward and fruit-driven, yet it is also very nicely balanced throughout. This is a terrific showing from Nardi.

James Suckling (97)

This is really beautiful with black cherries, porcini mushrooms, black walnuts and dried flowers on the nose. It’s full-bodied, yet very toned and tight with class and precision. Wonderful length and focus. Goes on for minutes. What a wine from here. Best ever? Try after 2025.

Vinous (94)

Dark cherries, cloves and dusty rose lift up from the aromatically stunning 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva PS. This gains in depth and richness with time in the glass, as hints of plum sauce and sage evolve. You can feel the sheer weight of the old vines here, soaking the palate with velvety depths of spicy red and black fruits, but with a cooling wave of minty herbs. Soft, sweet tannins gain a salty and very mineral twang under an air of savory herbs and tobacco, showing incredibly long and structured yet massively dark, like a black hole of concentration. Frankly, I underestimated this wine the last time I tasted it, and I am happy to upgrade my score.

James Suckling (96)

There’s freshness galore here i,n the form of orange zest and citrus peel. But this Brunello isn’t short on power either; red licorice, cardamom and dried hibiscus pepper the nose. To support the ripe fruit are layers of sinewy tannins and gliding acidity, making for an altogether sophisticated and edgy impression. Refined and elegant on the long finish. Drink from 2023.

James Suckling (99)

Wonderful aromas of roses and sliced plums with wet earth and truffles. Then turns to raspberries and blackberries. Cherries, too. Full and firm with super integrated tannins that melt into the wine. It flows from the center palate in a beautiful sheet of fruit and tannins. Extremely long and coated with great finesse. Goes on for minutes. Better in 2022, but already a joy to taste.

James Suckling (100)

This is the first commercial release of Montosoli from Valdicava and shows incredibly complex and decadent aromas of fruit, wet earth, forest floor, leaves and cedar. Full-bodied with tannins that roll off the palate and flow to the finish. Fine, velvety texture. Lasts for minutes. Already so attractive, but be patient. Try after 2021 and onwards.