The Wine Camp Blog

1999 Palazzo Brunello di Montalcino - Dec. 2003

Rising star with a famous name

I like tightrope walkers – especially wine tightrope walkers. The best Italian red wines are just that as they keep a tense balance between elegance and rusticity; acid and fruit; tannin and softness; the obvious and the subtle. Balance is everything.

Italy has two superstar tightrope walkers: nebbiolo and sangiovese. There are many clones of sangiovese, but no clone walks the rope as well as sangiovese grosso and nowhere is its balance more difficult than in Montalcino. The character of sangiovese is so unique here that it has its own name: Brunello.

The walled medieval village of Montalcino clings to the cliffs of a steep hill about 25 kilometers south of Siena. It is at this point that the climate changes from the cooler continental climate of northern Tuscany to a warmer, more Mediterranean climate. The warmer climate combined with cooler soil types and the sangiovese grosso clone produces the most concentrated of the Tuscan sangiovese based wines.

The affinity of sangiovese grosso for this region was discovered by the Biondi-Santi family who released the first Brunello di Montalcino in 1888. However, Montalcino stayed a pretty sleepy place with few growers joining Biondi-Santi until the arrival of the American Mariani family and their creation of the ultra-modern Castello Banfi estate in the late 1970’s.

The arrival of the Mariani marketing machine and their international winemaking concepts created another tightrope to walk in Montalcino -- do you make a modern or classic style wine? Needless to say, today there are a full range of styles to choose from between the modern wines of Castello Banfi and the classic Il Greppo wines of Biondi-Santi.

In 1983, just as the Banfi revolution was going into full swing, the Loia family bought a farm dating from the 18th century and planted their four hectares on the eastern slopes of Montalcino with Brunello. From three of those hectares the family has been producing an ever improving Brunello di Montalcino, while one hectare is dedicated to an excellent Rosso di Montalcino. Both wines are sold under the estate name of Palazzo. A Brunello Riserva is produced in top vintages and a barrique-aged super-Tuscan called Alcineo is also produced from 100% sangiovese grosso. All of their wines are of excellent quality and can be relative bargains because the estate is still not well known. Keep an eye out for their very good 1998 Brunello and the excellent 1997 Riserva which are on the market now.

The Palazzo Brunello di Montalcino is produced from a south-east facing vineyard in dry, rocky soils. Fermentation is in stainless steel and then the wine is aged for 36 months in barrel followed by another in bottle before release. Two thirds is aged in large oak barrels holding 20 to 25 hectoliters while the remaining third rests in 225 liters barrels of French oak.

The Loia family are excellent tightrope walkers.

Tasting notes: 1999 Palazzo Brunello di Montalcino
Bright scarlet with ruby and garnet hints. Just translucent. Deep spiced plums and tart raspberry aromas are mixed with bitter chocolate and black licorice and a touch of vanilla. Round and ripe plum and bitter cherry fruit expands into many layers of earthy, chocolate and dusty rose flavors. The finish is long with full bitter cherry and chocolate flavors mixed with touches of toasty oak and full tannins. The tannins are firm, but not at all green. The flavors grow warm as the tannins subside.

For more information on Brunello di Montalcino click here.

Imported by Bedford International: a Mario Belardino Selection