2020 Brunello di Montalcino

Very much still a baby at the time of my tasting, the Poggio di Sotto 2020 Brunello di Montalcino shares many similarities with the epic 2016 vintage in terms of its pretty perfumes and polished length. However, this elegant wine does not have the same sheer inner power. This bottle ultimately offers a fresh and charming interpretation of Sangiovese. This is a delicate wine with floral aromas, wild rose, crushed stone and white cherry. Aged in large Slavonian oak casks, it requires more time to flesh out. Harvest started the last week of August and finished the first week of October, which represents a conscious decision to start picking earlier than most. The vineyards are planted on schistic galestro soils, and that territorial imprint comes through strongly in all of these wines. I love that refreshing hint of lemon rind or navel orange at the very end.

Winemaker Leonardo Berti is among those who compare 2020 to 2018. As such, he aerated gently with pump-overs and kept skin maceration to 35 days to avoid over extraction. Aromas are piercing and precise as this opens with orange and grapefruit rind, flint and freshly ground pepper. There is a gorgeous transparency of redcurrant and raspberry, while bergamot adds inner perfume. Although fuller than 2018, the 2020 is unequivocally elegantly weighted, with almost a delicateness to the structure, yet those fine-grained tannins persist. Appetising and buoyant, it trails off leisurely with lavender and thyme.

Fragrant and loaded with finesse, the 2020 Poggio di Sotto Brunello opens with heady scents of blue flower, camphor, hay and dark spice. It’s cool and classy, delivering succulent Morello cherry, cranberry, licorice and nutmeg set against a backbone of fine-grained tannins. Fresh acidity keeps it well balanced.