Banfi farms a single hillside in the south of Montalcino for this one, and the wine is built to show the difference between that site and the rest of the estate. Sangiovese, nothing else, from a vintage that gave Tuscany a long, even ripening season.
- Sangiovese, the only grape permitted in Brunello.
- Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, central Italy.
- 2018, a cooler, slower-ripening vintage in the zone.
- Full body, high tannin, high acidity, bone dry.
- 14.5% alcohol, 750ml.
How it is made
Brunello di Montalcino has some of the strictest rules in Italy. It must be 100% Sangiovese, grown inside the commune of Montalcino, and it must spend at least two years in wood followed by four months in bottle before it can be sold. The result is a wine that takes years to come round, and that is the point of it.
How it tastes
Sour cherry first, then leather and pipe tobacco, with dried herbs underneath. The tannins are firm and the acidity is high, so the fruit stays lifted rather than heavy. It is a full-bodied wine with a long, dry finish.
Where it comes from
Montalcino sits south of Florence and Siena, on hills that catch more sun and less rain than most of Chianti. Poggio alle Mura is a single vineyard within the Banfi estate, and the wine is kept separate from the rest of the Brunello production.
Good to know
Brunello was invented in the 1860s by a local family who worked out that Sangiovese grown around Montalcino could stand alone, without the white grapes that were then blended in almost everywhere else in Tuscany. The zone became a DOC in 1966 and a DOCG in 1980, one of the first in Italy.
