Brunello di Montalcino: The 2012 Brunellos and 2011 Riservas
BY IAN D’AGATA |
Every
once in a while, when visiting a specific wine region, I taste so many good bottles that I find myself
thinking I might just turn in my author’s pen and start making wine (clearly,
such dangerous thoughts last only a second or two before I come back to my
senses). Most recently, this happened during my tastings of the 2012 Brunellos,
when I tried one delicious example after another. Even more impressive, the
2012 vintage for Brunello stands out for its consistently high quality. I found
more good to outstanding examples than in any past vintage and far fewer unfocused,
unbalanced and high-alcohol wines.
Giacomo Bartolommei of Caprili
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The superb 2012 Brunello vintage represents a conundrum: a hot, very dry year that produced a large number of wines in a cooler-climate style. Aromas and flavors are ripe in 2012, but the wines also have the acidity and steely tannic structure to evolve slowly and gracefully in bottle
