Brunello di Montalcino: The best wines to drink, cellar and invest in

One of the best wine bars in Montalcino boasts a large, wall-size shelf housing bottles of Barolo, Amarone and other great reds of Italy and France. Just 10 years ago, it would have been impossible to see anything there but Brunello di Montalcino. The famed Tuscan denomination is evolving under the influence of young generations, gaining wider awareness that informs the production of its own wines of unique character, as well as showing open-mindedness, butting up against the naturally individualistic culture of Italians.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 15 Brunellos to drink, cellar and invest

In the past, this historic hilltown in central-southeast Tuscany – at 250m-600m surrounded by rolling hills and farmland of rare beauty (within the greater Val d’Orcia area, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004) – was famed for a steep and stony soil that was hard to work. This land, once worthless, today changes hands for about €1m per hectare.

Brunello in numbers

Montalcino spans 24,000ha of land, less than 15% planted with vines: 510ha exclusively for Rosso di Montalcino DOC, 2,100ha reserved for Brunello di Montalcino DOCG. Government body Valoritalia’s updated data says there were 9.7 million bottles of Brunello released in 2022, of which 93% were annata (vintage) and 7% Riserva; among them, just 3% included the mention of a single vineyard on the bottle.

Rich history

Montalcino has been known for viticulture since the 19th century – the Brunello di Montalcino consorzio relates that ‘the Grapevine Classification Board of Siena issued a report on a particular Brunello di Montalcino that had been aged for 32 years from grapes harvested in 1843.

The report states that the wine was perfectly preserved, displaying its typical qualities, unchanged over time’ – a DNA that has always been focused on longevity. Biondi-Santi’s 1888 Riserva was one of the first celebrated labels of Brunello.

For its centenary in 1988, a few lucky journalists were able to catch a smell of it in one of the top-ups conducted by Franco Biondi Santi.

In 1966 Brunello di Montalcino became a DOC wine, and a year later the Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino body was founded. Efforts to market Brunello took off in the 1970s, but the global market was only conquered after 1980 (when the region was elevated to DOCG status), thanks to the growing number of wineries and bottles produced.

The arrival of the American Mariani family in 1978, who invested in Castello Banfi, helped Brunello to catch the eye of international wine lovers. Then Banfi winemaker Ezio Rivella revealed a controversial personality. ‘He visited cellars and suggested all the producers buy chainsaws to cut up the large Slavonian oak botti [casks] and transform them into flowerpots,’ recalls Fabrizio Bindocci, president of the consorzio. Rivella was 50% right: at that time, most of the botti grandi were not properly cleaned or sanitised, imparting faulty qualities to some of the wines.

Rules and styles

Brunello di Montalcino must spend at least two years in wooden barrels and is released onto the market from 1 January of the fifth year after harvest (one additional year is needed for Riserva). ‘In the last 20 years, the region of Brunello has been driven more by the US than the UK,’ notes Brett Fleming, managing director of UK importer Armit Wines. ‘The US styles deemed as the leading examples of Brunello were far darker in colour, bolder in expression and “bigger” wines in their weight expression, whereas in the UK the ethereal, almost Pinot-like styles held the attention of the top critics and buyers,’ he adds. ‘I am unclear whether it was point-chasing, but certainly the resulting wines became more and more “American” in style than true Brunello should be.’

When producing Brunello di Montalcino, Sangiovese is not allowed to be blended with other varieties, either indigenous or international. Traditionally, the main clone is Sangiovese Grosso, so-called because of its big clusters, producing pale and lifted wines, but in the late 1980s the Chianti Classico 2000 project was conceived in the Chianti Classico production area. This resulted in the identification of 239 possible Sangiovese clones, from which 24 were selected and seven eventually approved and entered into the national register of vine varieties. These selected clones became popular in Montalcino, as in Chianti Classico, for their smaller grapes and looser bunches, although in the early 2000s some producers lobbied the Brunello consorzio to introduce international grapes, mostly to satisfy the US market. Luckily, as everyone agrees today, the rules were not changed and the great personality of Brunello was preserved.

In Montalcino, Sangiovese naturally gains volume and structure due to the Mediterranean warm climate. This part of Tuscany is hotter than Chianti Classico, for example, so the wines show a brighter fruit character with more body, more integrated acidity and bigger tannins which are much easier to extract. Montalcino is sheltered by Monte Amiata (a dormant volcano peaking at 1,738m) to the southeast, from which cooling air descends during the summer nights. Coupled with the cooling effect of the forest which surrounds much of the Montalcino vineyard area, the wines gain complexity and freshness.

1. Brunello to drink

There are at least five different styles of Brunello, shaped by the different soils and slopes of Montalcino. If you’re looking for an earlier drinking Brunello di Montalcino, seek out wines made in the warmer southern zone of the denomination. The area around Sant’Angelo Scalo in the region’s southwest (about 100m-200m elevation) is very sandy; the Brunello made here is fruitier and ready to drink sooner, although it can struggle a bit to achieve complexity.

In the southeastern sector, between Sant’Angelo in Colle (444m) and the Orcia river, the wines show generous fruit allied with a classic nutty character, with greater complexity and amazing ripeness of tannins drawing from the combination of calcareous soil and lower levels of rainfall (500mm compared to 700mm on the northern side of the denomination). These are approachable wines yet still ageworthy, as demonstrated by labels such as Il Poggione or Col d’Orcia, both incredibly consistent in older vintages.

Further east, the village of Castelnuovo dell’Abate produces Brunello of earthy elegance and graceful power. Again, the wines feature rich fruit, sometimes with a yellow tinge of peach skin instead of pure cherry. Here, calcareous marls alternate with alluvial pebbles. Collosorbo has great vineyards here, as well as Ciacci Piccolomini. These three sub-zones (Sant’Angelo Scalo, Sant’Angelo in Colle and Castelnuovo dell’Abate) are preferred mostly in cooler vintages, such as 2013, 2018 and 2019. The 2018 vintage in particular produced delicious wines for early drinking, often elegant in style and – if I can be provocative – much closer to the amazing Rosso di Montalcino DOC wines rather than offering Brunello’s typical volume, structure and depth.

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona, Pianrosso 2019

Villa Le Prata 2019

Il Poggione, 2019

Giodo 2018

Salicutti, Piaggione 2018

2. Brunello to cellar

Northwest of Sant’Angelo in Colle, at 300m-350m, lie Tavernelle and Pieve Santa Restituta, where great estates such as Gaja and Soldera Case Basse are located. Due to nocturnal breezes, a lack of fog, predominantly rocky soils and forest all around, the season lasts consistently longer here, producing perfumed Brunello wines that are velvety, savoury and deep.

Climbing the southeast side of Montalcino hill, dominated by schist soils with high mineral content, you can discover some of the best vineyards of the appellation, giving classic, powerful wines such as those from benchmark Brunello producer Biondi-Santi. The elevation, up to 500m, and the easterly exposure keeps the fruit extremely fresh; cherry and strawberry characters intermingle. The grapes experience slow ripening, so the wines are full of complexity and fully structured, and the acidity is always firm, if not a bit excessive at release, underlining the chalkiness of the tannins when young. Biondi-Santi, Gianni Brunelli and Salicutti are among the acclaimed producers making wine here. It’s recommended to cellar them as they don’t give their best before 10 years after release.

The northern side of Montalcino is even fresher in terms of fruit style, producing wines with redcurrant and pomegranate characters, focused more on elegance than power – but the trade-off is that they are less expressive when young. Limestone is found at altitude close to Montalcino village, while there’s a higher clay presence as you descend down the hill of Canalicchi. Il Marroneto, situated at the peak, is distinctive for the stunning definition and filigree elegance of its wines, while Altesino is a leading producer in terms of hectares and also quality. Montosoli, at the bottom of the slope, is one of Brunello’s most prestigious crus and is a name to look out for on the label.

Gianni Brunelli 2019

San Filippo, Le Lucére 2019

Le Potazzine 2019

Mastrojanni, Schiena d’Asino 2019

Altesino, Montosoli 2019

3. Brunello to invest

The quality and value offered by Brunello di Montalcino should be enough for collectors to get behind the region in the coming years. According to analyst Wine Lister’s Pro data, Biondi-Santi’s Brunello di Montalcino annata, Il Marroneto’s Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie, and Sesti’s Brunello di Montalcino Phenomena Riserva have seen their prices increase steadily over the last two years. Soldera Case Basse has not officially been a Brunello di Montalcino since 2006, but is certainly a top label of the region – now bottled as a Toscana IGT, along with Biondi-Santi it’s one of Montalcino’s most expensive wines.

But not all great Brunello costs hundreds of pounds per bottle, and some of the best can still be had for between £60 and £80, while a few brands achieve prices of £100-£150. These figures are only set to grow in the coming years as their relative value is discovered compared to Bordeaux or Burgundy, for example.

There are other reasons to bet on Brunello. The overall quality of the 2019 vintage, to be released in January 2024, is outstanding; the 2019s have graceful balance more representative of Brunello di Montalcino compared, for example, to 2018. Also the new generation, now at the head of most of Montalcino’s estates, are demanding a fresher style of Brunello. If they can avoid over-lightening the wines – as the previous generation over-concentrated theirs – the new-school Brunellos are capable of perfectly expressing Montalcino’s terroir and Sangiovese’s graceful power.

Il Marroneto, Madonna delle Grazie 2019

Biondi-Santi, Riserva 2016

La Cerbaiola di Salvioni 2015

Soldera Case Basse, Toscana 2015

Poggio di Sotto 2019

Brunello di Montalcino: Fiordelli’s 15 to drink, cellar and invest

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