2010 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna del Piano Riserva

Vincenzo Abbruzzese makes some of the biggest, most dramatic wines in Montalcino, but his greatest passion is the vineyards that surround his small winery on the northern side of Montalcino, many of which his family once owned before selling them to neighbors during a time when growing grapes and making wine was a much less desirable endeavor than it is today. Abbruzzese calls 2014 the hardest vintage he has seen because the constantly changing conditions resulted in a high degree of uneven ripening within the bunches. For now, there is a small amount of 2014 Brunello that may be bottled, but most of the production will go into the Rosso, pretty much the exact same scenario that unfolded with the 2011 vintage. Speaking of 2011, Abbruzzese still has one cask of Brunello di Montalcino that may ultimately be bottled, although at press time a final decision had not been made. The Valdicava Brunellos are big, intense wines. Although the wines are aged in cask, the approach to low yields and overall extraction results in powerful, concentrated wines. In my experience, the Valdicava Brunellos need a lot of aeration, as they are often quite closed in their aromatics.

Proprietor Vincenzo Abbruzzese makes some of the richest Brunellos readers will come across. The straight Brunello is a blend of the estate's parcels, while the Madonna del Piano is a single-vineyard wine. Both Brunellos are aged in cask. In the cellar, the young wines always exude notable class and personality, but in some vintages, my feeling is that there is a loss of freshness during aging that is greater than what one might expect to see with the passage of time. The 2010s have turned out beautifully, while the 2009s, which I tasted again are inline with the overall quality of a challenging vintage. Readers who like big, powerful Brunellos will find plenty to admire here. My own personal preference is to drink these wines starting around age ten, which is when most of the top-flight vintages start to shine. Valdicava remains a small, family-owned property with deep roots tied to the land.