Brunello di Montalcino, Riserva, 2006
A complex nose of herb and dried fruit precedes a palate bursting with bright ripe plum, cherry and mulberry flavours as well as tarter touches of dried cranberry. Concentrated, layered and very refined and set in a wonderful velvety texture, as big complex and powerful as this wine is, it never at any stage seems to lose composure or vitality. Brilliant. From the estate's oldest (40 years old) and highest vineyard, planted 350 metres above sea level, the wine ages for a year in new French oak and for one year in large Slavonian cask.
critic reviews
The 2006 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is coy in the glass, slowly evolving with notes of cedar dust, ground cloves, citrusy spice and dried black cherries. It displays extraordinary elegance, still dense and compact, yet with a core of tantalizing acidity that maintains fantastic balance throughout. Masses of dark red berry fruit mingle with mentholated herbs and a bitter tinge of dark chocolate as edgy tannins still resonate through the incredibly long, tension-filled finale. The Riserva shows the importance of the category while maintaining a lively persona. It has outlived the Annata Brunello but has an entirely different, darker character.