Brunello di Montalcino will steal your heart. Do you know why?
Dear explorers, you have just arrived at one of the most popular places in Italy. To the very heart of Italian wine country – Tuscany. Besides the breathtaking sights, it also offers enchanting wines. Would you like a glass of red?
The picturesque location called Montalcino is about 80 km from Florence, nestled in the valley known as Val di Clava. The hill town, whose center is fortified with medieval walls, doesn’t just offer you a great glass of wine. Here you can also see the many vineyards where the grapes for Brunello di Montalcino, or if you like, Bruno for short, are grown.
Brunello’s quality comes at a price
1980 Brunello di Montalcino and Barolo ranked among the first wines in the most prestigious Italian DOCG category. The price is logically related to its quality, and Brunello is often described as one of the most expensive and best red wines from Tuscany.
Something that makes this wine specific is it’s exclusively produced in the surrounding area around the town of Montalcino. And did you know that Tuscany is among the three most popular winemaking regions? Tuscany is simply a winner. It will steal your heart not only with the taste of its wine, but also with its surrounding scenery.
Sangiovese, the 100% basis of Brunello di Montalcino
The Tuscan village of Montalcino, which lies on a hill, is famous for the grape variety called Sangiovese (which translates to “the blood of Jupiter”). In Brunello wines only this variety, which is harvested by hand, is used – and its classification in the DOCG category guarantees that they make up one hundred percent of the product. The blue of the grapes, which encircles the vineyards stretching all the way up to the sky, has been famous since the Middle Ages. And the first modernizations only took place much later.
Brunello isn’t the only wine that can boast of containing Sangiovese grapes. Variants of this type of grape are used as the basis for other Italian red wines, for example, even one of the most famous jewels of Italy – Chianti wines.
Another interesting fact is that the grapes ripen a week earlier than, for example, Chianti, which is located nearby. This is because Montalcino has one of the warmest and driest climates in all of Tuscany.
Two names, one famous wine
Two names are associated with Brunello di Montalcino – Clemente Santi – a Tuscan farmer, and his grandson Ferruccio Biondi-Santi. The former was the first one to isolate the Sangiovese variety, and he grew the varietal grapes and shortened the period of their ripening. At first, the wine was put into oak containers to mature for ten years. For today’s parameters this is an unimaginable length of time. His grandson was then the first one who introduced the modern version of this wine to the market in 1888.
You can taste Brunello di Montalcino after 4–5 years at the earliest
Nowadays, the wine matures in large barrels made of Slavonic oak for a much shorter time. It is most frequently offered for sale within 5 years of the harvest.
These wines are an ideal complement to roasted or grilled red meat, and they create a luxurious gourmet romance. Brunello matures best in an archive, where it can rest for a further 5 to 10 years.
Our tip: Read our article about how to properly store vintage wine so that you don’t ruin it.
By comparison with Brunello, the younger, but also charismatic Rosso di Montalcino can be sold as early as 1 year after the harvest.
Whether you’re an expert or a beginning wine taster, we recommend getting to know the beauties of Tuscany first hand, and enjoying the local landscape and wine cellars. However, before you plan your trip, reach into our archive of Brunello di Montalcino wines.
Do you want to read more about wines? We wrote an article for you titled Barolo: The King of Wines and about the “Great Bitter” Amarone.
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