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2018 Marchesi Antinori Brunello di Montalcino Pian delle Vigne

Removed from a professional wine storage facility

Ends Sunday, 7pm Pacific

RATINGS

95Wine Enthusiast

The nose is a jungle adventure, as sanguine notes of meat and leather intertwine with a thicket of wild herbs, brambles and leaves, and a last hint of wild cherry. The palate teleports to the ice cream parlor on Main Street, serving artisanal, hand-churned mint chip, with a Luxardo cherry on top.

94Wine Spectator

A generous red, where ripe cherry, raspberry, plum, iron and rose hip aromas and flavors abound. Juicy and balanced, with a solid base of tannins underneath. A fine expression, this is balanced and persistent on the finish.

93James Suckling

Intense chocolate, hazelnut, blackcurrants, cherries and spiced plums on the nose with hints of sage. It’s full-bodied and richly flavorful, accompanied by firm yet creamy tannins. Polished and well-balanced.

92+ Vinous / IWC

...dark and balsamic in the glass, grumbling up with rich notes of mocha, plum sauce, grilled herbs and crushed ashen stone...silky, almost creamy in feel, flooding the palate with mocha-tinged red fruits and rum-soaked raisins complemented by hints of tobacco toward the close.

15Jancis Robinson

Savoury-sweet nose with hints of dough and dried fruit. Supple on the palate, while the fruit-cake notes betray a very late harvest.

REGION

Italy, Tuscany, Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino is regarded as one of Italy’s best appellations. Located in south central Tuscany below Chianti, the wines of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG are made of a Sangiovese clone called “brunello,” which means “little dark one,” a reference to the brown tones in the skin of the grape. Unlike some Tuscan appellations that allow other grapes to be blended with Sangiovese, Brunello di Montalcino is entirely Sangiovese. Montalcino itself is a picturesque, hill-top town not especially well known for wine production until the mid-19th century, when a local vineyard owner isolated the brunello clone and planted it. Other growers followed suit. Nevertheless it wasn’t until 1970s that wine enthusiasts started paying attention to Brunello di Montalcino, which by then was becoming an outstanding wine. Today there are 120 estates in the DOCG, up from about 25 estates in 1975. Brunellos in general are bigger, darker, more tannic and more powerful wines than Chiantis or most other Sangioveses. By law they must be aged for four years, and two of those years must be in wooden barrels.