Montalcino Previews 2024: Brunello 2020, Brunello Riserva 2019 and older vintages

By Michael Godel

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019, changes to Rosso di Montalcino DOC, 14 estate visits and 250 tasting notes from Montalcino, November 2024.

The most recent edition of Montalcino’s Benvenuto Brunello took place from November 14th-16th, 2024 in the Chiostro del Museo di Sant’Agostino. Home to Il Tempio du Brunello, the “Temple of Brunello,” offices of Il Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, Civic and Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art of Montalcino, all within the cloisters and edifices of the former 15th century convent of Sant’Agostino.

The focus of Benvenuto Brunello is of course, sangiovese and the questions have been asked so many times – “How do you taste more than 200 wines from one region, all made with the same grape and differentiate between them? How does your palate not suffer from fatigue and how are you able to write a unique tasting note for each wine?” The answers have never been simpler or more obvious – with the Montalcino producers to thank. Montalcino is ever evolving and from year to year the identity of its sangiovese diversify in ways to extrapolate from and improve on the last. Annual assessments consider and unearth more wines defined by their freshness. There are journalists who would have consumers believe that climate change was supposed to result in an ever rising trajectory of hotter, higher alcohol Brunello, but the Montalcinese are instead making better, more drinkable wines. The Brunello and the Rosso have increasingly become a pleasure to taste and write about. That is the story and the messenger is pleased.

During the days of Benvenuto Brunello a conference took place at Teatro degli Astrusi with the thematic for 2024 being “what will the future hold for wine Consortia,” hosted by Luciano Ferraro – Editor-in-Chief at Corriere della Sera. The discussion included special guests Giovanni Manetti (President of Il Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico), Albiera Antinori (President of the Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini DOC Bolgheri e DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia), Francesco Cambria (Consorzio di Tutela dei Vini Etna DOC), Sergio Germano (Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani) and Christian Marchesini (Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Valpolicella). In addition to the awarding of the prestigious Premio Leccio d’Oro (Villa Maiella – Guardiagrele; Tre Dita – Chicago; Garofalo Wine – Avellino; WineWatch – Ft. Lauderdale, Enoteca Piti Golla e Cantina – Firenze), annual Tile presentation and Artist speech (Ferzan Özpetek), there was the assessment of the latest viticultural year and “new method” for qualifying vintages, in this case an overview of 2020.

Changes to Rosso di Montalcino

In June of 2021 Godello attended the inaugural Rosso event in Montalcino, the first significant collective step towards establishing an identity independent from Brunello. Fast forward to July of 2022 when talks opened up to consider increasing Rosso di Montalcino’s limited number of 510 hectares in the Montalcino registry (as compared to Brunello’s 2,100), with the idea to raise the self-contained profile of the wines and further distance them from being mired in the concept known as “Baby Brunello.” While Rosso’s production numbers can at times be increased by de-classifying Brunello fruit, the idea of expansion has been a hot topic of discussion and a year later much had changed. The selling of some estate vineyards saw some producers choosing to declare these new blocks as Rosso, case in point a piece of Passo del Lume Spento passed from one set of hands to another in 2023. Rosso has continued to rise, both in quality and despite climate adversity, with new rules in place, also in quantity. In June of 2024 it was announced that the DOC had been authorized to increase by 364 hectares, although the expansion did not make concessions for the planting of new vineyards, only for sangiovese that is thus far free from quota registers. The declaration could eventually see to the potential of an added three million bottles in production.

On the surface the resolution sounds foolproof but the devil always plays the advocate position to wonder if everyone involved is happy, feels heard and included in the decision making. Land rights and the appellative rules of a consortium’s disciplinare will benefit some, but not everyone. Even more changes are afoot with the territory moving on from the official five-star vintage rating system and the creation of a new map to be published by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino in collaboration with prodigal son Gabriele Gorelli M.W.

Meanwhile the Rosso vintage continues to gain importance because of 2020’s joy and also grip. Many estates only produced 20-30 per cent as compared to 2019 but surely that number was partially a factor of average potential. Adversity and low yields aside the purity remains unrivalled for Rosso, the liveliness too. At its best it was and still is like discovering the first ever vintage of something profound. Tasting Rosso di Montalcino over the course of those two days that June proved with unequivocal doubt that quality across the board had never been greater or higher. Revisits and new opportunities to look at more Rosso 2020s this past November only serves to cement the notion.

Brunello di Montalcino Vintage 2020 – Much more than a pleasant surprise

Back in June of 2021 when that first Rosso di Montalcino solo event was introduced, the 2020 Rosso di Montalcino vintage was described as a child of a warm and dry season, dangerously low in quantity and one in Rosso terms to envision as lasting for a very long time. Great temperature fluctuations through harvest allowed the development of complex aromatics with increasing intensity. A season that gifted viscosity and the deepest of red cherry fruit. There was considerable mention of sluggish ferments which was especially challenging for malolactic to happen, but producers then, as now, were unconcerned. This is because pH was plenty high enough (nearing 3.4), there was no sinister force at work and this past November it was disclosed that the occurrence was far less of an issue for the Brunello. “Everything can change,” explained Giacomo Bartolommei of Caprili. “Things were going slow but (remember that) Rosso comes out one year after harvest – Brunello is five. We monitored along the way and by the time we needed to bottle all the malolactic was finished.” It helped to be patient and there can be no doubt how much complexity was gained through the unique and diverse aspects of a different vintage. When asked if there was anything truly challenging about 2020 Bartolommei answered “yes…Covid. But not in the vineyard.”

And what about the 2020 Brunello? Is it not amazing how a vintage can deliver so much pleasantry and fineness but in so many different ways? Many 2020s are understated and uncomplicated but the best simply take advantage of their sangiovese DNA. Intelligent sangiovese come from honest people making wines from great terroir. Red fruit purity from a transparency of vintage is reserved for those producers who abide by their climate, this to allow soils to transmit sangiovese into Brunello of finesse, which culminates in fineness. Still others come away layered and compact like compressed Galestro, held together by acidity and tannin. Francesco Ripaccioli found the word “pleasantness” as the most suitable, to describe a vintage “in a more immediate and ready, generous and vibrant way without neglecting those aspects of freshness and verticality which characterize the northern side of Montalcino.” Ripaccioli continued by describing the wines as “being more fleshy, of more pronounced roundness, tannic elegance, all found within a framework of minerality and freshness.” For Canalicchio di Sopra no Riserva will be produced, a decision echoed by many other Montalcino producers.

The summer was about as warm as they come but early September rains cooled the vineyards down and so a ripening delay created an allowance to harvest at “normal” times. The warmth of July and August beget proper temperature excursions in September to result in a perfectly direct, fruit cumulate, acid retentive, silky tannic style for Montalcino. On the north side of the Montalcino hill it was a regular season harvested on the early side, beginning on or around the last weekend of September. The vintage was a strong and focused one for northerly Montosoli, not because of hot versus cold or wet versus dry but because the oscillations of temperature, prevailing winds and shifts in the space time continuum put the northern hill ahead of many southerly parts. The “Fregoni Index,” indicator of temperature excursion, was 431.9 for the 30 day period between August 23rd and September 21st, in other words the average day for night fluctuation during the final ripening period was 14.4 degrees. A significant statistic to help explain and define a vintage.

In the south the small berries in this vintage made for concentrated and powerful Brunelli with a saltiness, sweet acidity and a note of blood orange. To the east picking was a week later than the south. The bouquet and tannins are like 2012 “but I believe 2020 is more elegant, with fresher tannins and more vibrant acidity” told Giacomo Neri. The frost zones where losses were common from 2017 through 2021 saw an average 20 percent reduction in 2020. The highest elevation beget the airiest sangiovese set to the highest tones because temperature swings and winds blowing in harder will make these things happen. At these elevations between 500 and 600-plus metres, the 2020 Annata are structured and gainfully austere, a compliment for the most part and a return to the kind of Brunello you might have been tasting more than ten years ago.

Many producers chose not to make Riserva from 2020 and so it was chance to really concentrate on the Brunello. Far from an indicator that the vintage was poor but more so a philosophy (and a brand of economics) that speaks to making high quality Brunello Annata. That said it was a vintage of 80 percent production (compared to 2019) and, despite no Riserva, this represents an average amount of Brunello.

Vintage 2019 – A top one for Riserva

Ah yes, the already famous vintage and for many reasons, 99 percent of them good. Comparable to 2016 in the sense that quality and quantity were both high. The oenologist Carlo Ferrini of Giodo described the weather as calda but not caldissima. A statement of the obvious to say that the key to a great wine in Montalcino is the relationship and balance between phenolic maturity and acidity. Achieving this kind of success was challenging in the two previous vintages. The problem with climate extremes is rising pH numbers, loss of acidity and when this happens you can’t make adjustments after harvest to correct deficiencies. This vintage was a literally a breeze. All the correct winds blew through and in 2019 there was 45-plus mm of rain on September 15th. A cleansing rain with no ill effect.

Yes, it was a warm vintage but with no heat spikes upwards of 40 degrees as there had been in 2015 and also 2016. That is why producers were happy with and also relieved by 2019. The oft repeated terms were quality and quantity, but also easy, uncomplicated, fresh and substantial. Even the usage of “The Goldilocks vintage,” not too hard or too soft. Not to dry and not too wet. It was just right. If 2018 was the vertical vintage then 2019 was one of breadth and depth. What a vintage like 2019 allowed a Montalcino winemaker was the choice and the chance to make individual wines, not just good wines. To celebrate the spirit living within each place. To find richness from an uncontaminated place, because climate did not get in the way. To make a style of sangiovese by leaning towards the oxidative and not the reductive because the fruit was so untainted. Brunello that carried the DNA of each farm and levels of acidity to see the prospect of the best examples aging for 30 years or more.

Higher temperatures but no major spikes and rainfall came at all the right times, first in the winter and then with that spike in mid-summer that cooled the vines but happened after the potential danger of funguses like Peronospera. Vegetative growth was slow and steady and harvest stretched over a few weeks of time. The end result was slow and even ripening which could not be said for either 2017 or 2018. There were a few handfuls of producers that made Riserva for ’17 and ’18 but for the bulk of the territory 2019 was the first since 2016 from which everyone who makes Riserva chose to do so.

With the AIS Siena Sommelliers in the Chiostro Museo Montalcino

Vigna vs Riserva

These are the sangiovese the agronomist and the oenologist spend their most time with, from vineyard work, by grape ferments and through botti epochs that receive the most nurturing and care. Montalcino’s Vigna and Riserva will change a winemaker, either for better or for worse and they are also the ones that will stand the test of time. The question worth posing to these Montalcinese makers is why? What makes that vineyard block so special and for wines already aged longer than most, why go even longer, sometimes five years further in wood? What is the impetus for it being better to be a thinking monk than a post-modern thinker? How do vintage, elévage and specific vineyard blocks intertwine to create Brunello’s most structured sangiovese?

Vigna or cru wines have increasingly become the most talked about sangiovese within the trilogy comprised of Brunello, Vigna and Riserva. They are the territory’s answer to any question that prods or provokes a discussion regarding sub-zones and menzione geografica, a.k.a. MGAs. Yet Montalcino is one entity and not all that large a zone as a whole. There are villages and hamlets scattered about and within but to say that all the vineyards in and around say Sant’Angelo in Colle produce Brunello with similar characteristics is just not possible. Montalcino is not in need of any new or imagined rankings. What would it offer the community as a whole that it does not already have?

The regulations set the date of Riserva being released onto the market as January 1st of the fifth year after harvesting. The words of Lorenzo Magnelli of Le Chiuse will always resonate. “We release our Riserva 60 months later than our regular Brunello because I believe it helps the wine to get a stronger identity from Brunello, showing a better balance and more complexity. Brunello Riserva, it’s not the wine that you want to drink young and in this way you really can’t.” The opposite comes from Riccardo Campinoti at Le Ragnaie: “I am not a big Riserva guy, I keep all my wines three years in barrel and I think it’s enough. I much rather prefer single vineyard expression, I keep my best sites for single vineyards. Lately I prefer colder vintages. Warm vintages are too extreme and the wines are not that interesting.”

L’Ispettore Ginko or l’Uomo Pipistrello?

Benvenuto Brunello 2024

The Consorzio’s members come together each November for Benvenuto Brunello at The Chiostro Museo Montalcino for a showcase of the most recent vintages of Brunello, Vigna, Etichetta, Riserva, Rosso, Sant’Antimo and Moscadello. At the 2023 edition there were 118 producers present and this time around that number increased to 126. There are always some notable attendees missing for various reasons and this year the absences also included some wineries who were present in 2023. Altesino, Baricci, Collosorbo, Conti Costanti, Corte dei Venti, Fattoria dei Barbi, Frescobaldi, Gaja, Il Marroneto, Le Gode, Pietra, Salicutti, San Filippo, Siro Pacenti and Valdicava were some of the more obvious non-attending producers. My colleague Michaela Morris and I did organize an assessment of some of these wines outside of the Sommelier-serviced Chiostro tasting. As always the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino events are made possible by the team of President Fabrizio Bindocci, Director Andrea Machetti, Vice-Presidents Giacomo Bartolommei, Riccardo Talenti and Carlotta Salvini who is responsible for Marketing & Communication. Her efforts are unequalled and evident in every aspect of Consorzio business. Collectively they and their staff make Benvenuto Brunello one of the most important wine events in the world.

The 2024 edition of Benvenuto Brunello was Godello’s eighth consecutive opportunity to gauge the current state of Montalcino’s sangiovese. He sat and tasted in the Chiostro for three days, assisted as always by the incredible Sommeliers of AIS Siena and Toscana. Visits to estates were also made, at Canalicchio di Sopra, Donatella Cinelli Colombini (at Fattoria del Colle), Il Poggione, Cerbaia, Terre Nere, Val di Suga, Biondi-Santi, San Polo, Corte Pavone, Le Potazzine, Casanova di Neri, Ridolfi, Sasseti-Livio Pertimali and Podere Sante Marie. If you would like to hop over to view the list in its entirety, starting with the highest rated wines, please click on this link. What follows below are all Godello’s tasting notes for 254 wines; Rosso di Montalcino DOC (29), Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020 (73), Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna + Etichetta + Altra Tipologia 2020 (50), Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019 (54), older vintages (29), Toscana IGT + other wines (19).