Gianni Brunelli 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 750ml

This wine offers lifted fruit with popping cherry, blackcurrant and sour crab apple. This level of fruit brightness is not easy to maintain in a wine that ages for five years before its commercial release. The folks at Gianni Brunelli Le Chiuse di Sotto do a fine job. The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino delivers balanced oak renderings with exotic spice and dried chili flake. The wine has a beautiful nose, but the palate definitely needs more time to flesh out and relax, considering the current tightness of the tannins. With 14,230 bottles made, it promises a long drinking window.

Score: 97 points -- Monica Larner, RobertParker.com, 2023

Displaying a deeper though youthful red hue, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino is expressive with cherry liqueur notes coaxing from the glass, and it is well-woven with plush, refined aromas of fresh leather, crushed flowers, mocha, and fresh herbs. Expressive, with focused clarity, a great, pure feel, notes of blood orange, and mineral undercurrents all weaving together through the palate, it’s long and pure, with noble structure and balanced energy. Bursting with life and refinement, it offers nervous tension and a lingering perfume of dried apricot on the finish. At this youthful stage, there’s a hint of oak spice that frames the wine beautifully, but it demands cellaring to come together further. This is going to be one to cellar and drink over the coming decades. Drink 2027-2050.

Score: 98+ points -- Audrey Frick, jebdunnock.com, 2024