2019 Brunello di Montalcino
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Tasting notes
The latest release, the youthful red/ruby 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino is expressive on opening, with lush aromas of wild blackberries, sweet tobacco, fresh sage, and lavender cascading from the glass. Medium-bodied, it’s light on its feet while having good concentration and purity of fruit, ripe tannins, and notes of dusty earth and tangerine on the finish. A very attractive wine, it will benefit from another 6 months to a year in a bottle and have an open window over the coming 12 to 15 years. Fabio Tassi very well may be the unofficial mayor of Montalcino. He has grown his family estate from what originated as a beekeeping business. In addition to the winery, he owns and operates two restaurants in the town of Montalcino, Drogheri Franci, and La Sosta, as well as the wine shop nestled inside the Fortezza. At each of these establishments, he champions the winemakers across the region and explores those that are not often found in the rural areas of Tuscany. The wines he is making are not to be scoffed at either and deserve recognition in their own right as he continues to evolve and push the bar higher. The wines display a great deal of clarity, and while are sometimes on the ripe side, find balance and refinement.
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The certified organic Tassi 2019 Brunello di Montalcino mirrors some of the qualities we saw in the new Rosso (Greppino 193) with a bright and lifted presentation. There is red cherry, pastry cream, plum and rose tea. The effect is delicate and elegant with fine, chalky tannins. These are the good kind of drying tannins that also remain silky. This wine is enjoyable on all fronts, but it won't be ready for prime-time drinking for another year or so.
Delicate yet impossible to ignore, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino lifts from the glass with a darkly alluring bouquet of dried flowers, Tuscan dust and black cherries. This is silky-smooth yet racy in style, with cooling acidity and depths of tart wild berry fruits that slowly saturate toward the close. While tannins stain through the finish, the 2019 maintains a lovely freshness, leaving inner roses and licorice to taper off gradually.
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino F.25 entices from the first whiff. It's dark, brooding, yet exotic, with hints of foreign spice, blood orange and balsam herbs complicating dried roses, black cherries and clove. It's seductively round with vividly ripe red berry fruits that saturate as tactile mineral tones and fine-grained tannins slowly mount toward the close. The 2019 finishes structured and long, resonating with youthful tension as a tinge of tart cranberry keeps the mouth salivating for more. This is a wonderfully balanced 2019 that is already showing some early accessibility yet will reward patience. The F.25 is a barrel selection from the Vigna Franci vineyard. It's fermented in oak and matured in a 10-hectoliter barrel for 18 months.