Acclaim

This is a relatively new single-vineyard wine from Boscarelli. The 2016 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Costa Grande opens to a beautifully dark color with saturated highlights of ruby and garnet gemstone. The bouquet is fine and bright, with vertical aromas of crème de cassis, dried cherry and wild rose. Sangiovese usually offers some earthy tones of forest floor or porcino mushroom, and you get those here too. These various fragrances are wrapped up neatly into the wine’s tight, mid-weight texture. Dusty or dry tannins give the wine a slender or streamlined finish. – Monica Larner, Dec. 2020

Luca de Ferrari’s 2015 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva Sotto Casa draws its fruit from a flat piece of land on the little road that leads to Boscarelli’s main residence. Sotto casa means “in front of the house” in Italian. Like many of these samples from Montepulciano, the 2015 vintage delivers more intensity and latitude compared to the 2016 vintage that generally appears more vertical and sharp. There is more meat on the bones in the sunny 2015 vintage, resulting in wines that are redolent of dark cherry, dried blackberry, spice and earth. However, the tannins are a bit dry and dusty. – Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 2020

Boscarelli’s Il Nocio vineyard is located on a little plateau just a short distance up the road from the estate’s bijou winery. The 2016 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Il Nocio displays a luminous, mid-weight appearance followed by bright and sharp berry aromas. Wild cherry and blueberry give the wine a lifted character, and there is mild spice, tilled earth and leather at the back. Most of all, this wine offers the precise linearity and sharpness (with extra acidity) that this vintage is known for. – Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 2020

The 2016 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva is based on Sangiovese but sees a tiny bit of Colorino added to the blend. Aged longer than a classic Vino Nobile, this Riserva is elegant and fine. The primary fruit is neatly folded into the wine’s savory aromas of spice, leather and toasted nut. The bouquet is on the neutral side, but the basics are all there. Ultimately, you get good balance here and a well-rounded Tuscan red that is well suited to roasted lamb or pork. – Monica Launer, Wine Advocate, Dec. 2020

The Conti Costanti 2016 Brunello di Montalcino shows warm fruit layering with cherry, wild raspberry and plum. You might also notice some touches of sweetness with candied orange skin and lavender honey. At the back of it all, you get tilled earth and a touch of black olive. This wine reveals good complexity to the bouquet and follows up with a streamlined, mid-weight mouthfeel. I found this vintage to be shorter compared to the 2015 edition tasted earlier in the year. Production is 35,000 bottles. – Monica Larner

Boasting dark fruit, scorched earth and savory spice, the Conti Costanti 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a wine of broad shoulders and a lasting aromatic imprint. It is fleshy and even a bit flashy, thanks to that abundant and generous aromatic display. To the palate, this Riserva is soft, thickly textured and enriched by the ripeness of its fruit fiber and the warmth of the Tuscan sun. This wine draws its fruit from a 10-hectare site with Galestro soils. Production is limited to 9,000 bottles. – Monica Larner

The Fuligni 2016 Brunello di Montalcino shows balance and symmetry with plenty of primary intensity to ensure a long cellar life. The bouquet opens to dark plum, dried raspberry, spice, aniseed and grilled herb. I get a lot of Mediterranean lavender and rosemary essence. This is a mid-weight Brunello with aromas that prove elegant and buoyant. If you have visited the Fuligni estate, you may agree that it occupies one of the best positions in the appellation with open views onto the enormous expanse of the Val d’Orcia that plays out until the horizon ends. This is one of Montalcino’s historic cellars with many stories to tell. Luckily for us, much of that narrative unfolds in the beauty and the elegance of a wine like this. – Monica Larner

Fuligni gives us a truly special expression from this sunny and warm vintage. What I notice first in the 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is the elegance of the aromas and those dusty, almost salty mineral notes of crushed limestone that frame the delicate fruit packed tight within. There are other distinctive aromas here, such as balsam herb, dried mint and powdered licorice root that add more layers to the bouquet. That layering continues to the palate where the wine excels on all fronts—balanced concentration, structure and freshness. This is a unique creation and a very precious wine. It is one of the stand outs of the year. – Monica Larner

The Castello Romitorio 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is a classic expression of the vintage, showing lots of ripe fruit, crushed mineral, herbal nuances and varietal-driven purity. This wine nails that sweet spot between elegance and power that is not easily achieved. It offers an expanded array of Sangiovese flavors with wild cherry, forest floor, crushed clove and medicinal herb, but it also shows plump density and a velvety texture. Filippo Chia and his team have created a sold wine for medium or long-term drinking. Production is exactly 58,874 bottles. – Monica Larner