2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Gli Angeli

La Gerla started production in the mid-seventies, when Sergio Rossi opened his winery with 6.5 hectares of vineyards purchased from the Biondi-Santi estate. At that time, they were one of only thirty-five bottlers of Brunello di Montalcino. Today La Gerla is managed by Alberto Passeri, who along with his enologist Vittorio Fiore, oversees three separate vineyards throughout Montalcino to create their portfolio of Brunello, Rosso and IGT Toscana classified wines. The modern-day Brunello takes advantage of their mix of vineyards from north to south, while the Riserva Vigna Gli Angeli is a cru bottling produced from a vineyard in the north which was originally planted by Biondi-Santi in 1968. We can also look forward to a new single-vineyard Brunello in the coming years, from Vigna La Pieve in Castelnuovo dell’Abate. The style of La Gerla has always been one of dark elegance and suave character, yet with an underlying structure that can carry the wines effortlessly in the cellar. That said, I can’t help but notice a steady uptick in quality and purity which started about a decade ago and continues to this day. In fact, the 2016 was the best young Brunello I’ve yet tasted from this estate.