Brunello producer and Banfi CEO Cristina Mariani-May

Montalcino, February, 2011: The scene could have been symbolic. Outside, cold winds pushed intermittent spurts of rain against the ancient stone walls lining Montalcino’s narrow, steep streets. Inside the equally ancient cloister, converted into a lovely modern museum, and now further transformed into a tented-over tasting room for about 100 wine journalists, sunshine ruled — metaphoric sunshine, both the bottled kind, in the form of more than 150 Brunellos, and the emotional kind, in the looks on the faces of the tasters and the genial, animated buzz of their appreciative comments.

Current Affairs

Given the Brunello appellation’s recent storms, this February’s Benvenuto Brunello could have been an event as dismal as the weather. That it wasn’t can be credited to the quality of the 2006 vintage, this year’s new-release wine, and to the seriousness and tenacity of the producers, who confronted the blasts of bad publicity — taken much more seriously in Italy than they ever were here — and went steadily about their business of making world-class wine — bottled sunshine, as much for them as for consumers.

Despite their man-made problems, Brunello and its makers have ample reason for good cheer. Nature has so far been very kind to them in the new millennium. The 2006 joins a long list of fine vintages for this 100 percent Sangiovese appellation: 2001 was — and is — a brilliant, long-lived vintage, and while 2002 was too rainy and 2003 too hot for top-quality wines, 2004 snapped right back and almost matched ’01. The 2005 followed with charming, very accessible wines, and ’06 has now appeared with very structured, seemingly very long-lived wines, classic in their profiles. This is what Roberto Guerrini of the top-flight Fuligni estate says about ’06:

The vintage 2006 is really one of the best produced in Montalcino in recent times, and this has been rightly acknowledged by five stars [the Consorzio’s rating of the vintage]. The 2006 is the result of a great balance between rain and good sun, never too burning. June was rainy but July was beautiful; then came an alternation of a few rains in the right moments and sun again, especially during the harvest. The analytical data are all very high but absolutely balanced against each other. This creates the exceptional elegance and classicity of the 2006 in general as a vintage. To find a historical comparison for ’06 could be difficult. We should probably think of structured vintages that have been very elegant at the same time — maybe 1988.

Claudio Basla, winemaker and general manager of the important Altesino estate, compares ’06 in elegance to ’01. “It will be a vintage suitable for very long aging as well,” he says, “though at the moment the wines are still closed and need more time in the bottle.”

The ’07 Brunellos aren’t ready for release yet, but they’re looking a lot like 2005. Several producers I spoke to have gone over the moon about 2008, claiming it will be even better than the benchmark 2001s. I only hope they’re right and that we all live long enough to enjoy it at its peak. The 2009 seems to have produced charming, very drinkable wines — as the many samples of Rosso di Montalcino I tasted attest — though not as structured or long-lived as great vintages like 2006. As Guerrini says, “The ’09, with its intensive fruity taste, is perfect for a very good regular bottling, but not sufficiently structured for a riserva.” Basla thinks even better of the vintage: “Some vineyards,” he says, “were able to obtain grapes with balance acidity and important extracts. For me, 2009 has been one of the most boring vintages that I have experienced since 1972, because the grapes were so healthy there was almost no need to interfere: they were all of excellent quality!”

Recent History

Brunellopoli, as the now rapidly receding scandal was called in Italy, always looked from these shores very like a tempest in a teapot. It started with a series of charges that a number of Montalcino producers (as with the 1950’s Senator McCarthy’s list of communists in the U.S. government, the number varied widely from report to report) had been blending other grapes into Brunello’s sacrosanct Sangiovese. It never became clear who was being charged — that list changed all the time too — and in the upshot it appears that no one has actually been legally charged with anything. For a while several wineries had their 2003 vintage sequestered and perhaps — this too remains unclear — in part declassified. Given the quality of most ’03s, that may in fact have been doing them a favor. From these shores, the whole non-event looked more like political PR than a serious scandal.

Nobody yet really knows the extent of the wrongdoing, if any, and still less any firm details of the extent or exact nature of what was purportedly done. But certain consequences of the investigation do appear clear. An overwhelming vote of the Consorzio members — and this Consorzio represents all the Brunello growers — rejected any notion of blending any other grape variety into Brunello and enthusiastically supported continuing the requirement of 100 percent Sangiovese as the identity of Montalcino’s signature wine. Perhaps the simple fact of the investigation, however inconclusive it may have been, was enough to convince any waiverers that Sangiovese was their future. Certainly any growers who were contemplating discreetly softening some of their tougher Sangiovese with a little dollop of Colorino or Merlot were made very aware that Attention Was Being Paid.

That can only be for the good, because Sangiovese grown on the special soils of Montalcino is what Brunello is all about. The 2006s demonstrated that in two key respects. First, that Brunello is capable of longer life than almost any other Italian wine, and these 2006s are structured to be long-lived indeed. Second, that the flavor hallmark of Sangiovese is some variety of cherry: the 2006s are pervaded with it. My tasting notes ring all the changes on cherry — juicy, sour, black, wild, dry, light, dense — with modifications such as mineral or forest floor or toast as grace notes over that continue. The 2009 Rosso di Montalcino bottles, like their big brother also a 100 percent Sangiovese wine, showed similar focus on the core identity of the grape, albeit usually in a slightly lighter and more immediately accessible style, as is appropriate. In fact, the simple pleasures of these ’09 Rosso set up for me a keen anticipation of the release, a few years hence, of the ’09 Brunellos. Montalcino and its wines are indeed back in business.

What the Future Holds

But siamo in Italia: we are in Italy, and that means little is ever really simple. For the experienced Italian traveler or businessperson, the most frightening phrase to hear is Non c’è problema. No problem usually means big problem. Montalcino’s vineyards are dotted with pockets of Cabernet and Merlot and even some Syrah, grapes planted in the heyday of the Supertuscans — a class of wines that has become a rapidly fading star. As the market for them has dried up, growers are confronted with the problem of what to do with those now-unusable grapes. Anything short of the expensive process of ripping them out and replanting with something else can look very attractive. And what would you replant with anyhow? Most of these varieties were planted on soils not suited to Sangiovese in the first place. It’s a financial/oenological problem of a major order for the producers.

So there is an initiative afoot — the Consorzio members will vote on it soon, perhaps before this article sees print — to allow a percentage (15 percent is the number I heard often) of “other” grapes into Rosso di Montalcino. Some growers see it as the solution to a big financial problem. Some see it as a disaster for Montalcino. Nobody wants to speak yet for attribution. Siamo in Italia.

Personal opinion: I think the prophets of doom are correct, at least as far as the American market is concerned. As I understand things, American consumers buy Rosso di Montalcino as a bargain Brunello. To a large degree, such consumers are right: Sangiovese forms the core identity of Montalcino wines, and Sangiovese grown on Montalcino soils, and nothing else, makes Rosso di Montalcino just as surely as it makes Brunello di Montalcino. Turn monovarietal Rosso into a blended wine, and you destroy its kinship with Brunello. Blending moves it closer to being just another subset of Chianti — Chianti Colli Senesi, Chianti of the Sienese hills, in fact. Those pleasant but rather humble Chiantis sell for far less than the prices Rosso di Montalcino commands, and American consumers are not stupid — facts that ought to have some influence on even the most financial-minded of Montalcino’s growers.

But, as I said, we are in Italy, and winemaking is business as much as it is artistry. It remains to be seen whether the short-term fix or the more expensive long-term solution will carry the day. So, in both the sense that it is actively producing first-rate wine and the sense that it has real economic problems to solve, Brunello is back in business.

Brunello’s Best of The Best

These are the wines that impressed me most of the many fine bottles I tasted in Montalcino and also here in New York.

Five-Star Wines

• 2006 Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello, Vigna di Pianrosso: excellent wine — complex earth, underbrush, and sour cherry from nose to finish.
• 2006 Fuligni Brunello: wonderful fruit, wonderful finish: a very fine, elegant wine.
• 2006 Il Marroneto Brunello: black cherry and smoke in the nose, good fruit and mineral on the palate. Power and polish combined.
• 2006 Il Paradiso di Manfredi Brunello: fresh, fruity, brightly acid, with great finesse.
• 2009 Il Paradiso di Manfredi Rosso di Montalcino: cherry and Mediterranean underbrush aroma; excellent Sangiovese character.
• 2009 La Gerla Rosso di Montalcino: mineral and cherry all through, lovely Sangiovese finish.
• 2006 Poggio Antico Brunello, Altero: sour cherry and tea aroma, fine fruit throughout, a cloak of elegance over everything.

Four-Star Wines

• 2006 Altesino Brunello: mushrooms, cherries, toast in the nose, nuts and dry fruit in the finish.
• 2006 Altesino Brunello, Vigna Montosoli: lovely fruit, lively acid, long coffee/cherry finish.
• 2006 Banfi Brunello: lots of Sangiovese flavors, slightly drying finish.
• 2006 Banfi Brunello, Poggio alle Mura: a little too much wood over a very fine wine.
• 2009 Banfi Rosso di Montalcino: nice soft cherry, good acidity.
• 2006 Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello: still slightly closed, but complex; give it time.
• 2009 Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino: subdued cherries and toast.
• 2006 Casanuova delle Cerbaie Brunello: still coming together, but evidently excellent.
• 2009 Casanuova delle Cerbaie Ross di Montalcino: pleasant, fresh.
• 2006 Castello Romitorio Brunello: slightly barnyard nose, tight dry cherry fruit; needs to open some.
• 2006 Castello di Romitorio Brunello, XXV Vendemmia: cherries, earth, and walnuts throughout.
• 2006 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello: textbook Brunello flavors.
• 2009 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino: light cherry/vanilla; long finish.
• 2006 Gianni Brunelli Brunello — Le Chiuse di Sotto: forceful and vivid but a bit rustic.
• 2006 Il Colle Brunello: sour cherry and earth aromas and flavors, a touch of elegance.
• 2006 La Gerla Brunello: needs some time, but complex and intriguing.
• 2006 Le Potazzine Brunello: slightly closed and needing time, but should be fine.
• 2009 Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino: very cherry.
• 2006 Mastroianni Brunello: just accessible now, but will be really fine in some months.
• 2009 Mastroianni Rosso di Montalcino: slightly sugared cherries, fine finish.
• 2006 Pacenti Franco — Canalicchio Brunello: slightly mute sour cherry/toasted wood; needs time.
• 2009 Pacenti Franco — Canalicchio Rosso di Montalcino: dark-fruited and vibrant.
• 2006 Padelletti Brunello: big fruit, long finish, nice acid/tannin balance.
• 2009 Poggio Antico Rosso di Montalcino: nice acidity, long juicy finish.
• 2006 Salvioni Brunello: a little wood, a lot of cherry. Very pleasing.
• 2006 Livio Sassetti — Pertimali Brunello: coffee in the nose but all fruit on the palate. Very nice.
• 2009 Livio Sassetti — Pertimali Rosso di Montalcino: nice fruit, acid, body — right on target for a Rosso.
• 2009 Siro Pacenti Rosso di Montalcino: cherries with a little chocolate — nice.
• 2006 Talenti Brunello: classic flavors, slightly mute; needs time.
• 2006 Uccelliera Brunello: cherries and earth aromas and flavors; not yet fully integrated.
• 2009 Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino: cherry and a drop of vanilla.