2011 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie

The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie is dark and moody in the glass, with a savory bouquet of medicinal cherries, cedar and dusty earth. This is like pure silk on the palate with an intense burst of sour red fruits and saturating spice that combines with grippy tannins toward the close, all elevated by brilliant acidity. It tapers off with a slightly bitter tinge, structured and long, leaving a dry, cheek-puckering sensation as hints of licorice fade. This is an excellent effort from a problematic vintage.

This Brunello comes from one of the finest single vineyards in the Montalcino appellation. Last year, I awarded this wine 100 points. This year, I encountered many similar characteristics to remind me of that unforgettable masterpiece. The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie is an excellent wine that offers enormous variety purity with bright berry aromas, pressed violets, wet earth, cola and powdered licorice. The wine is translucent, brilliant and luminous with bright ruby highlights. It's a medium-bodied expression with grace, buoyancy and enormous integrity. If you love Sangiovese, you will adore Madonna delle Grazie.

Tasted blind. Dark impenetrable ruby. Hints of spice and brooding fruit but otherwise firmly locked on the nose. Intense yet compact fruit and richly tannic. Almost Barolo-like in its structure. Real stuff for ageing, but at the moment a little brutal. (WS)