Among Italian
wine region, Tuscany surely deserves a special place, thanks to the several top
quality cellars producing long lasting, full-bodied, renowned red wines.
One of the
wines that made the myth of Tuscan wine is Brunello di Montalcino, which also
is, together with Barolo from Piedmont, the most long-living Italian wine, as
it can age for decades.
What is Brunello made of?
Until the XIX
century, Brunello di Montalcino was thought to be produced from an autochthonous,
unique, grape variety, but in 1879 a group of scientists found out that it was
a clone of Sangiovese.
The wrong
belief about the uniqueness of the variety from which Brunello is made from was
probably due to the particular expression Sangiovese has in the area. Local
special climate and soil, in other words, give the grapes a character they
don’t get elsewhere.
Brunello di
Montalcino, indeed, is made of 100% Sangiovese and no other grape variety is
allowed in its production, therefor its roundness, complexity and variety of
aromas all come from a fully developed single kind of grape.
Where is Brunello produced?
As its same
name says, Brunello comes from Montalcino, a medieval small town in the
province of Siena, by the border with the province of Grosseto. This means that
Montalcino lies in the southern part of Tuscany, only 200 kilometers to the
north of Rome and only 40 kilometers as the crow flies from the Mediterranean
Sea.
Which are the main Brunello di Montalcino production guidelines?
Brunello is a
DOCG wine, which is the highest level for an Italian wine. Yet, it is a
relatively recent DOGC wine, as the wine received the “denominations” in 1998.
According to
its production guidelines, grapes from which Brunello di Montalcino will be made
must come from vineyards growing on slopes only, and on soils that can be dated
back between Cretaceous and Pliocene ages.
The maximum
allowed altitude is 600 meters on sea level and any forcing is forbidden,
including rescue irrigation.
Brunello must
age for at least 24 months in oak barrels - no matter their size, there’s no
need for them to be actual barriques - and then at least four months in
bottle (that become six if it is Brunello “Riserva”) before being marketed.
Brunello di
Montalcino can only be marketed after January the 1st of the fifth
year after the harvest (the sixth when it’s about “Riserva”). This means that
wines from grapes harvested in Fall 2015 will be sold from January 1st
2020 on.
What is Brunello di Montalcino Riserva?
As it happens
with many DOCG wines, according to production guidelines, it is forbidden to
put on Brunello bottles misleading labels, for instance containing adjectives
that somehow suggest a special, superior quality, like, indeed, “superior”,
“selected”, “fine”, “aged”, “picked” and so on.
When we se
the word “Riserva” on a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino, it means that that
bottle comes from a special reserve, allowed and guaranteed by law, that aged
longer in bottle.
With which dishes should be paired Brunello di Montalcino?
Brunello has
a wide, composite and complex bouquet, as well as full and elegant body.
This makes of
it a perfect wine to be tasted alone, too, but it is traditionally paired with
intense-flavored meat dishes, even with those dressed with truffle, and with
tasty, aged cheeses, especially the pungent ones produced in Tuscany and
Umbria.
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