2010 Brunello di Montalcino

The Poggio di Sotto 2010 Brunello di Montalcino shows beautiful freshness, power and silky tannins. That brightness is the defining characteristic of this vintage. You feel it with vivid electrical force. This is remembered as a warm vintage, but considering today's climate change challenges, it might be classified as a cooler year according to today's standards. The intensity of the wine builds in thick layers, and it shows balanced fruit, chalky mineral and lasting herbal sensations. The 2019 vintage could age with similar success as this 2010.

The 2010 Brunello Di Montalcino is starting to come around and is in a good place for drinking now, although it also feels like it’s still a bit clenched at this showing. Aromas of dried black cherries, tobacco leaf, leather, dried roses, and thyme are well layered and hold up in the glass. Potent on the palate, this medium to full-bodied Brunello is forward with salty earth, notes of dried orange peel that are long through the finish, and a mouthwatering and angular texture. A noble wine, it’s starting to show off its abundant tertiary profile, but again, it feels a touch clenched and I get the sense it may never quite lose that. It certainly has more to offer over the next 10 years.

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is drop-dead gorgeous, intensely fruit-focused yet finessed and complex, opening with masses of ripe black cherries, licorice and spice complicated by cedar shavings and a lifting hint of fresh mint. This sweeps across the palate with textures of pure silk, displaying a core of ripe raspberries guided by vibrant acidity as rosy inner florals form over a bed of sweet tannins. The 2010 finishes long, only gently tannic and potent, leaving earth tones and an air of worn leather to resonate as a tart blackberry note adds a pleasantly bitter crunch toward the close. Wow. This was the last vintage in which Piero Palmucci had complete control throughout the harvest and oversaw the first year of barrel aging.