2018 Brunello di Montalcino

This is a flavorful, layered Brunello with aromas of fresh and sour cherries, plums, bay leaves, rosemary and olives. Cloves and licorice, too. It’s medium- to full-bodied with firm, fine-grained tannins. Sleek and well-integrated, with a lengthy and deliciously savory finish. Drink from 2023. (11/2022)

Layers of black cherry and spice emerge in the 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino along with hints of polished leather, sassafras, and cedar. It is medium to full-bodied, though it remains somewhat compact and coiled with tension and energy on the palate, and offers red berries, orange peel, clove, and tightly wound tannins throughout. Give it another couple of years in the cellar and drink 2025-2040. (03/2023)

The Il Poggione estate is in the hotter, south-west part of the Montalcino DOCG. Fabrizio Bindocci was the chief winemaker here for many years and now his son Alessandro fulfills this role, while Fabrizio has become president of the Brunello Consorzio. This 2018 Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino has smoky, tarry aromas that I often find on this producer’s wines becoming more like a waxy, lifted note as it opens up and then becomes more oaky. What I like about this Brunello is that there is an intense, nervy, energy to this wine. It is tightly wrought like a coiled spring. The tannins have become much more refined in recent vintages from Il Poggione and in addition there is a kind of lively, energy to this wine. (02/2023)