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La Place de Bordeaux’s Brunello di Montalcino releases
When we think of the calendar of la place de Bordeaux’s ‘beyond Bordeaux’ releases we typically think of a spring collection and an autumn campaign. But the wines of Brunello di Montalcino dance, even in Bordeaux, to a slightly different rhythm. Colin Hay,db’s Bordeaux correspondent, reports.
Even on la place de Bordeaux, the wines of Brunello di Montalcino are something of an exception. For the strict rules of the appellation stipulate that the new Brunello releases come to the market no less than five years after the vintage itself, in January, with the Riserva wines following on a year later, six years after the vintage of the harvest.
In anticipation of this, the presentation of these wines to critics and commercial buyers typically takes place in November, starting with the iconic Benvenuto Brunello tasting at the Museo di Sant’Agostino and organised by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino.
On la place the release of these wines respects that tradition, with Giodo releasing its Brunello on la place to coincide with the Benvenuto Brunello tastings and the Poggio di Sotto releases happening at the start of December.
Though I was unable to be in Montalcino for the Benvenuto Brunello tastings, I was fortunate enough to be able to taste through these exciting releases last week in Paris. I include also tasting notes for the exceptional wines of Poggio Antico. These are no longer released through la place but deserve serious consideration from all genuine admirers of terroir-driven Brunello.
Tasting notes
| La place December releases | Vintage | Region | Rating |
| Giodo Brunello di Montalcino | 2020 | Toscana | 96+ |
| Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino | 2021 | Toscana | 94 |
| Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino | 2020 | Toscana | 99 |
| Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva | 2019 | Toscana | 100 |
| Additional releases | Vintage | Region | Rating |
| Poggio Antico Rosso di Montalcino | 2023 | Toscana | 92+ |
| Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino | 2020 | Toscana | 94+ |
| Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Riserva | 2019 | Toscana | 96 |
| Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Vigna I Poggi | 2020 | Toscana | 98+ |
Giodo Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (Toscana IGT; 100% Sangiovese; 14.5% alcohol). Gorgeous aromatically, with lots of wild herbal notes – lavender, wild rosemary, dried oregano and a little rose petal. In fact, more and more rose petals as this takes in the air and relaxes. The fruit is a little darker than some of the other top 2020 Brunelli – raspberry and loganberry, a little hint of grenadine and glacé cherries. There’s candlewax too and blood orange and seared clementine rind. Great intensity and viscosity on the palate, accentuated by the quite narrow frame constructed by the grainy, grippy tannins. Better even than the exceptional 2019. I love the parting note of crushed rose petals. 96+.
Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino 2021 (Rosso di Montalcino DOC; 100% Sangiovese; 14% alcohol; certified organic). Gorgeously floaty and aerial aromatically, with lovely cinnamon and gentle sweet spices dancing around the ripe red berry fruits – cranberries, loganberries, red currants and a little pomegranate too. Ceylon leaf tea and red cherry with a little more aeration. There’s a dusty, earthy minerality too that is oh so redolent of Montalcino. Fluid, fleshy, bright and wonderfully translucent in the mid-palate with impressive intensity for a wine that is so dynamic and luminous. So sapid, juicy and succulent on the finish. If you can’t afford the Brunello, dive in to this. The only risk is that once you’ve tasted it you’ll covet the Brunello (and, in turn, the Riserva) even more. 94.
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (Brunello di Montalcino; 100% Sangiovese; certified organic; 14% alcohol). Ethereal and utterly beguiling, this has me in raptures just as the 2019 did almost a year ago. A wine that is highly expressive aromatically, yet which is constantly evolving and revealing more of its charms as it inhales, breathes and opens. You’re drawn back to it time and again and each time it gives a little more. There are subtle warm spice notes, an elegant and delicate florality, there’s a hint of iodine and marine salinity – half oyster shall, half nori – and there’s a beautiful assortment of red berries and a little cherry too. Above all one has an almost physical sensation of the gentle warmth of the summer sunshine – like walking on the edge of the shore at the point where the cooling breeze off the sea intermingles with the heat reflecting off the sand. This has a most beautiful shape and form in the mouth too, so sleek, so lithe, so gently caressing and yet the beady tannins are a constant presence – here like little glass rollers on which the purity of the fruit is gently conveyed. Utterly divine. 99.
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2019 (Brunello di Montalcino; 100% Sangiovese; certified organic; 13.5% alcohol). A legend in the making, this is sumptuous. Slow to reveal its charms at first, this is the Brunello equivalent of Cheval Blanc. Pitch perfect poise, elegance, charm, finesse and delicacy. One of the most beautiful aromatic profiles of any Italian wine I have ever encountered. It’s incredibly floral – violet, lavender, peony and a mix of dried flesh-pink rose petals and fresh yellow rose petals (I’m back in my grandfather’s garden). There’s a dusty, earthy note too and a little cinnamon, freshly grated. In the mouth, there’s more amplitude here than the slightly more structured 2020 Brunello itself. The effect is to give the fruit, still generously enrobed in its floral pink silk pyjamas, more space to dance and glide and express itself. There’s amazing freshness, a milles feuilles sense of layering and a seemingly endless finish stretching all the way to a distant vanishing point. Incredible. 100.
Poggio Antico Rosso di Montalcino 2023 (Rosso di Montalcino DOC; 100% Sangiovese; 14.5% alcohol; certified organic). Delicate yet highly expressive aromatically with an ethereal wild strawberry and dusty earthy minerality the first notes to soar from the glass. A little leaf tea, pomegranate and red cherry, then wild thyme and lemon thyme. Taut and tender with a very gracious attack, impressive density and then a wave of fine-grained but very grippy and energising tannins. Finishing very high on the roof of the mouth. This needs a couple of years in bottle but the potential is extraordinary. Serious Rosso and seriously good too. 92+.
Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino 2020 (Brunello di Montalcino DOC; 100% Sangiovese; 14.5% alcohol; certified organic). Wow. Fabulous. Vivid, vibrant, extremely dynamic and energetic aromatically with the lift of a trans-stellar rocket of its launchpad. A fascinating combination of dry spices freshly grated or pounded and wild, delicate herbal and floral aromatic elements intermingle with pomegranate, red cherry and raspberry. Maybe a little saffron too – that feeling of the gentle radiant warmth of summer sunshine. So pure and refined, sleep and subtle, yet intense, quite viscous and almost a little bloody (accentuated by the slightly ferrous mineral character). It’s certainly less complex than the Riserva or Vigna I Poggi, but the mouthfeel is gorgeous and the aromatics I love. 94+.
Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2019 (Brunello di Montalcino DOC; 100% Sangiovese; 15% alcohol; certified organic). Exciting and brilliant in equal measure. This is actually a little more tightly-wound and more introvert and closed aromatically than the Brunello 2020. The fruit is a shade darker – less pomegranate (though it’s still there), more raspberry and loganberry. There’s a little balsamic note that I often find in this wine and Kalamata tapenade. The herbal elements are a little more prominent too and this is earthier, a little more serious, even slightly austere. And it just builds and builds in the glass – as it would in the decanter it craves and warrants. Shimmering and incredibly intense and layered on the palate. The tannins, like glass beads, are ultra-fine grained and they almost titillate as they caress the tongue, imparting a very tactile sense of structure. This will continue to evolve for decades in a cool cellar, but it’s already wondrously expressive. 96.
Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Vigna I Poggi 2020 (Brunello di Montalcino DOC; 100% Sangiovese; 15% alcohol; certified organic). I loved the first vintage of this and I love this too. It’s very distinctive when tasted alongside these other superstars of the appellation. It takes a moment to gather itself and seems at first, but only at first, rather shy and introvert. Earthy notes are the first to appear, setting the undertones and then the senses are enveloped by a wonderfully florid flurry of floral and herbal elements as the wine, belatedly, gathers vertical momentum and soars from the glass. Marjoram, violet and lavender, black leaf tea and a little angelica. Assorted cherries, fresh and dried, goji berries too. There’s a little hint of saffron. On the palate, what density and structure! This is serious, even a little austere and it will need time to reveal all of its glories. The tannins are incredibly fine-grained, but they are considerable and they strap the fruit very tightly to a clearly-defined central column. But within that column there’s so much dynamism and energy that this almost seems to pulse on the palate. I love the salinity of the finish – Swedish liquorice and lavender. Wow! 98+.
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