2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva

For over a century, the Sassetti family has produced one of the region’s most traditional wines in the Northeast of Montalcino. It’s on the Montosoli hill that they tend their Sangiovese vines, employing both organic and biodynamic practices to assure that each harvest captures the signature of the vineyard and the vintage. This passion-driven approach continues in the winery, where respect for tradition is coupled with a hands-off mentality. The grapes are allowed to ferment spontaneously before being moved by gravity, during specific phases of the moon, into large oak botti for a long slumber. What emerges from this cellar is a traditionally-styled Brunello with an attractive rustic edginess, which speaks of the vintage first, and then the unique galestro soils and hillside exposures of Montosoli.

Eighteen hectares (of which eight are under vine) located in one of the absolute best Sangiovese crus of Montalcino is the treasure that the Livio Sassetti-Pertimali estate can laugh all the way to the bank with. In fact, the estate’s Sangiovese vineyards could all make Brunello, and so any Rosso made here is actually a declassified Brunello (not surprisingly, they try to make as little Rosso as possible). To differentiate the two wines, they age their Rosso in stainless steel only, while the Brunello is aged for a minimum of three years in large oak barrels (20-50 hectoliters in size). Furthermore, the grapes for the Rosso are picked a little earlier than they are for the Brunello (roughly one to two weeks, depending on the vintage) and are already selected as such in the vineyard. Lorenzo Sassetti is the winemaker, and he told me that the vines he chooses to make the Rosso from will vary from year to year based on the quality of the fruit. What all this means is that Pertimali’s Rosso di Montalcino really is a simpler, fresher wine and not the luscious baby-Brunello typical of many other wineries in the area. I actually quite enjoy this bright, crisp, flinty version of Rosso. The average age of the vines ranges from 15 to 30 years, though esca is rampant in Montalcino and so the average age of the vines is decreasing steadily throughout the denomination. By Montalcino standards, the estate is an old one: it was founded at the beginning of the 1960s, though the Sassetti family owned the Patrizo estate in Sant’Angelo in Colle in the 1800s. It was Livio Sassetti who decided to trade up and move to the current location as he thought, quite correctly, that it was better suited to making great Sangiovese wines. More recent news about this estate is that they have bought a new facility in Torrenieri where they plan to bottle as well as store bottles (the vinification of the wines will continue in the current winery close to the town of Montalcino). The estate has also recently bought another 2.5 hectares of vineyards from Angelo Sassetti (all Sangiovese for Brunello production). After a slightly difficult spell during which the wines were not of the quality level they had always been, Pertimali seems to be back on track with wines that can be some of the sleekest and purest of Montalcino. In my experience, it is the slightly warmer (but not hot) years that best showcase the area’s exceptional potential for Sangiovese.

This is a fabulous set of new releases from Sassetti that readers will absolutely not want to miss.

This wine was tasted over dinner at Ai Fiori, New York.

Livio Sassetti is without question one of Montalcino's most entertaining characters, seemingly able to converse freely in phrases that would put a professional poet to shame. The estate makes a variety of wines from Pertimali, its home estate located in the famous Montosoli cru, as well as the newly acquired La Querciolina property in nearby Montecucco. “The 2001 vintage was pretty unique,” says Sassetti. “We lost 40% of our fruit because of the April frost. From there things improved and we had great weather throughout the rest of the season. Climactic conditions remained quite stable throughout September and into October which allowed us to pick each parcel at its optimal level of ripeness rather than be forced to rush through the harvest.” Sassetti favors cask-aging for his Brunellos although the Riserva sees roughly 15% barrique.