Brunello di Montalcino

Score

99

"Earthy aromas of blue flower, rose, underbrush and leather mingle together on this gorgeous, fragrant red. All about finesse and flavor, the medium-bodied palate is absolutely delicious, featuring juicy morello cherry, crushed raspberry, baking spice, star anise and the barest hint of game. It's radiant and beautifully balanced thanks to taut, polished tannins and bright acidity. It's already showing incredibly well but hold for even more complexity. Drink 2022–2036."

Score

94

"This is a cooler style of Brunello with blueberries, black cherries, crushed stones and lavender. It’s full-bodied with firm, tight tannins. Yet, it opens at the end to pinpointed fruit and tannins. Give this time to soften. Try after 2024."

Score

96+

"Le Potazzine always delivers a smooth and silky style with extreme elegance and the lifted cool-climate fruit that you get from this high-altitude growing site. The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is taut and firm with cherry fruit, dried raspberry, tilled earth, spice and blue flower. The wine sees an extended fermentation of 40 days and ages in botte grande for 42 months. This is a well-balanced wine that is slightly thinner, with one notch lower intensity in this vintage compared to past editions. You get a light, sharp and streamlined style. I prefer the 2015 vintage slightly to this wine, but I'm suggesting a longer drinking window here. This is an 18,000-bottle release that hits the market in January 2021."

Score

95

"The remarkably pretty 2016 Brunello di Montalcino shows a pure bouquet full of wild strawberries, woodland berries and herbs with a hint of crushed stone. It’s soft and enveloping, displaying fleshy red fruits, savory spice and salty minerals, while vibrant acids maintain wonderful freshness. It’s only at the very end that its youthful structure comes forward, grippy and classically drying, yet under an air of red licorice and inner rose. There’s a beautiful harmony to this vintage of Le Potazzine, which should provide a long and wide drinking window."

Score

97

"Fragrant and elegantly structured, this opens with aromas of woodland berry, iris, new leather and wild aromatic herb. The taut, linear palate delivers juicy Morello cherry, ripe pomegranate, crushed mint and star anise framed in firm, polished tannins. Boasting some of the highest vineyards in the denomination, it retains great freshness and balance. Drink 2022–2030."

Score

93

"A refined and fruity red with plums, oyster shell and porcini mushrooms that follow through to a full body. Tight and powerful with gorgeous fruit and richness. Drink after 2022."

Score

17+

"Tasted blind. Mid ruby with orange tinges. Leafy cherry fruit that is still compact and a little closed. Generous sour-cherry fruit and the tannins are persistent but never dominate the fruit. Muscular structure reveals itself even more on the finish, but the whole strikes a near-perfect balance. (WS)"

Score

97

"The Le Potazzine 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is immediately bright and energized. The wine is sprightly and lively. This is an elegantly medium-weight wine, but everything is in exactly the right place. Fresh acidity and snappy fruit flavors are followed by lighter touches of rose petal, cardamon, camphor ash and powdered licorice. These aromas are stacked tall and proud. Of special interest is that point of zesty medicinal herb that reminds you of the relatively cool climate and high-altitude positioning of Le Potazzine's vineyards. These special conditions are exactly why this wine performs so nicely in a warm vintage like 2015. The coolness of the growing site offsets the temperatures of the growing season. Some 18,000 bottles will be released in February 2020."

Score

97

"Le Potazzine 's 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is fabulous. The bouquet is showing an earthy display, with smoky minerals and dark soil tones up front, evolving with time in the glass, as crushed black cherry mixes with wild, savory herbs and dried dusty florals. On the palate, gorgeously ripe red fruits are balanced by a mix of saline-minerals, savory spice and zesty acidity, as fine tannin slowly mounts beneath its pretty inner floral tones. The finish is long with a salty-savory twang of minerals and spice, as hints of hard red candies and a bit of citrus lingers over a core of tannic heft. There is so much to like about the 2015, from its classic and earthy bouquet to its fleshy yet balanced palate and totally classic finish. Simply stunning and so pleasurable."

Score

94

"Ethereally elegant and fragrant, this offers enticing scents of rose petal, wild strawberry, aromatic herb and a whiff of freshly tilled earth. The radiant palate boasts tension and finesse, offering red cherry, pomegranate, star anise and white pepper framed in taut polished tannins and vibrant acidity. It's linear and racy, but also balanced. Drink 2020–2029."

Score

92

"Last year, I had the good fortune to taste through a comprehensive retrospective of old vintages of Le Potazzine. One important lesson I learned from that experience is that this estate makes some of its best wines in the hot vintages. The vineyards are located in one of the coolest points of the appellation with south-facing rows planted 570 meters above sea level (which is much higher than its peers). However, the 2014 Brunello di Montalcino holds its own despite its cool vintage DNA. This edition is visibly thinner in appearance with bright ruby hues followed by crimson highlights. The results are extremely streamlined and tight. This wine plays its cards very close to the chest. With a little extra time in the glass, it opens slowly to reveal wild berry, blueberry, bitter almond, licorice and dried rose petal. There are mild highlights of smoke or ash. Fermented with indigenous yeast, the wine ages in large oak casks for three years. Some 10,000 bottles were made. This will will appeal to those who appreciate the fine and graceful side of Sangiovese, however this expression is also reasonably friendly and accessible for medium-term drinking."

Score

90

"Medium bright red. Sexy red berries, sweet herbs and spices on the almost Pinot Noir-like nose. Supple and quite dry, with lively if slightly metallic flavors of red berries, herbs and spices showing energy but only moderate carry-through on the back end. This politely styled Brunello is more about aromas and juiciness than fleshy texture. The clean, precise finish is mineral-accented and vibrant. Drink up sooner rather than later while your 2011 Riserva, 2012 and 2013 Le Potazzine Brunellos lie dormant in your cellars."