Brunello di Montalcino, Vecchie Vigne, 2012

Tight and crisp, this sort of freshness and linearity are so rare in the wines of Montalcino. This may not give a lot away initially but there is a clear sense of coiled energy. Gradually each taste reveals more of this wine’s great potential. Racy and intense flavours of small alpine strawberry and raspberry with a crunchy edge of Victoria plum as well as a background savoury element of oregano and mineral. A brilliant Brunello, one of the wines of the vintage, that will reward patience. From a single plot called Ragnaie, next to the estate, planted in the 60s, which at 550 metres above sea level, are among the very highest vines in Montalcino. The vines are southwest facing and planted on sandstone. The wine is aged in the same way as the estate’s regular Brunello in large 25hl Slavonian oak barrels for 36 months.