Brunello di Montalcino 2021: Fragrant, Refined, and Not Quite Slender

By John Szabo MS

Montalcino is essentially a hill: a 17-by-18-kilometre block of southern Tuscany with a fortified village at 564 metres and vineyards spilling down all four flanks. As Michael Godel reminded a full room at the recent Brunello Forma masterclass in Toronto, the commune is defined as much by what isn’t vineyard as by what is. Some 44% of its 24,000 hectares is woodland, a cooling buffer that matters more every year.

Monte Amiata shelters the zone to the south and channels winds from the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 70 kilometres away, while the Orcia, Ombrone and Asso rivers frame the territory. Soils are mainly sandstone-derived, pure arenaria and the harder pietraforte conglomerate, with less limestone than Chianti Classico. Galestro, Godel rightly points out, is not a soil type at all but a structure: flaky surface outcrops of schist and sandstone.

The cooler north and northeast, Montosoli included, have traditionally produced the fresher wines, the south and southwest around Castelnuovo dell’Abate and Sant’Angelo in Colle the more powerful ones. Godel finds that distinction “less obvious than it used to be,” a polite way of saying it’s getting warmer everywhere. Every wine bottled under the Montalcino name is 100% Sangiovese.

The Consorzio has also retired star ratings in favour of Brunello Forma, three descriptors distilled from weather station data, lab analyses and a panel of Masters of Wine. For 2021, the words are fragrant, refined and slender. I’ll sign off on the first two.

Casanova di Neri, Montalcino – John Szabo

The season

On paper, 2021 should have been tough. It was the second-driest growing season of the past 30 years after 2003, with a hot, dry September and no rain to speak of between late August and early September. Frosts on April 6–8 hit low-lying vineyards hard. Yet the defining feature was the absence of severe heat stress. “It was one of the very few vintages of the last 10 years in which it was very easy to be a winemaker,” Alessandra Angelini of Altesino and Caparzo told me. “We had the rain when we needed the rain.”

Gabriele Casagrande of Capanna agreed: “We had almost everything at the right place at the right time.” Late pruning was the frost insurance for the patient. Capanna didn’t start until March, and Altesino also pruned late. “If you’re a risk taker and you prune early,” Casagrande warned, “… spring frost is waiting for you behind the corner.”

Losses were real but localized. Consorzio president Giacomo Bartolommei puts the appellation-wide reduction at 10–15%, roughly eight million bottles against a normal nine.

Where does 2021 sit? The consensus places it between 2016 and 2019. “21 is somewhere in between the two,” says Angelini. “You know it’s a big vintage. You know it will go on forever.” Bartolommei is more guarded, still ranking 2016 and 2019 higher and calling 2021 “just a step down,” though he credits the vintage with “a sort of readiness in a first approach” while remaining wines “for lasting.” Marco of Silvio Nardi offered the wisest perspective: “You see a good producer in a bad vintage, not in a good vintage.”

The wines

Across some 30 2021s, the common thread is perfume: pure cherry, wild Mediterranean scrub and resinous herbs, often with black tea and orange zest. Tannins are generally fine and sandy, polished rather than drying, and acids are succulent and sapid, keeping the wines fluid despite considerable extract. Most of the best are surprisingly open now yet clearly built for the long haul.

Slender, though, they are not. Most labels declare 14.5% to 15%, and a few reach 15.5%. “Here we are at 15, but you don’t feel it so much,” Fabien Schwartz of La Magia told me. “It’s more a problem to write it on the label.” In the best wines, that’s true. In the outliers, alcohol shows as warmth and the occasional raisined note, and a handful of producers made wines that look more like the hot 2015 vintage than like the house style of 2021.

The summit belongs to Giodo. The 2021 Brunello (98) is a wine of massive persistence and supreme finesse, with tannins like ribbons of silk and power that will hum quietly in the background into the early 2040s. Magnificent wine, full stop. The entry-level Prettò (95) is ethereal and lacy, perhaps the most pinot noir-like Sangiovese in Montalcino: the Chambolle of the appellation.

Close behind at 96 points: Altesino’s Vigna Montosoli, which escaped the frost and is supple and approachable yet dense and outstandingly long; Casanova di Neri’s Giovanni Neri, broad, fleshy and generous with acids that drive the finish; and Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Progetto Prime Donne, a powerful, refined wine with a strong mineral core. Capanna’s Nicco, Caparzo’s Vigna La Casa and Talenti’s Piero all rate 95, ranging from Capanna’s dense, complete structure to the plush modernity of La Casa and Talenti’s classic, fine-grained poise.

The vintage’s depth shows in the straight Brunellos too. Fattoria dei Barbi, Col d’Orcia, Il Poggione, Talenti, Capanna and Cinelli Colombini all score 94, and all are faithful to the classic regional style.

Bottom line

Fill the cellar. Most wines will be ready from 2027–28 and will hold well into the late 2030s, while the top tier will last into the 2040s. Casagrande suggests waiting 15 to 18 years for “outstanding, marvellous moments.” I wouldn’t argue, but you don’t have to wait that long to enjoy them.

Moonrise over Montalcino – John Szabo

A Half Dozen to Try

98 GIODO BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO GIODO 2021 Tuscany
$N/A Le Sommelier Inc.
Podere Giodo is the personal project of celebrated Italian consultant Carlo Ferrini, who in 2002, after years of searching, bought this property in southern Montalcino between Sant’Antimo and Sant’Angelo in Colle. Both the Giodo bottling and the entry-level Prètto Brunello share the same vineyards; the most harmonious, age-worthy lots, from large French tonneaux, are reserved for Giodo, first released with the 2009 vintage. Tannins are like ribbons of silk framing perfectly composed red fruit and herbal spice. Don’t be deceived by the delicacy: it packs considerable power, a background hum that will keep humming into the early 2040s. Magnificent wine, full stop. Tasted October 2026.

96 ALTESINO VIGNA MONTOSOLI 2021 Tuscany
$189.99 Rogers & Company
Altesino’s Montosoli vineyards budded late and escaped the April 2021 frost, so volumes were near normal. Alessandra Angelini places it between 2016 and 2019, with the approachability of the former and the depth and structure of the latter. Supple now yet dense and concentrated, with a wash of dark cherry and fine-grained tannins. Length is outstanding. Top-notch Brunello, best 2027–2040+. Tasted October 2026.

96 CASANOVA DI NERI GIOVANNI NERI DI CASANOVA DI NERI 2021
$509.95 Halpern Enterprises
A new vineyard for Casanova di Neri (first vintage 2019), with vines already a half-century old in the southeast of the appellation, named for the estate’s founder. Fermented with 20% whole clusters and native yeasts; 14.5% declared. Broad, full and generous, with fine polish, excellent depth and length, and succulent acids driving through the finish. Marvellous wine, best from 2028. Tasted October 2026.

96 DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI PROGETTO PRIME DONNE 2021
$N/A Le Sommelier Inc.
Chosen by a panel of four women, including Masters of Wine, Prime Donne is the flagship of Casato Prime Donne, where everyone from cellar crew to winemaker is female. The 2021 is riper and denser than the regular Brunello, with a strong mineral core, palate-warming alcohol and a very long finish: power with refinement, and a sapidity that compels another sip. Outstanding. Tasted October 2026.

95 CAPANNA RISERVA NICCO CAPANNA 2021
$N/A Con-Nois-Seur Wine Imports Inc.
A single-vineyard selection from old Sangiovese vines on Capanna’s Montosoli hillside, aged in large, old Slavonian oak casks and named for Angelo ‘Nicco’ Cencioni, father of founder Giuseppe. Intensely structured, dense and complete, with red and darker cherry fruit, savoury herbs and earth. Abundant tannins are coated in extract, and length is excellent. Give it another 3–4 years; it will hold into the 2040s. Tasted October 2026.

95 CAPARZO BRUNELLO LA CASA 2021
$147.95 The Case For Wine
La Casa is a five-hectare vineyard at 275 metres on the Montosoli hill, first bottled separately in 1977 as one of Montalcino’s first single-vineyard Brunellos. The 2021 is stylish, fluid, ripe and modern, with lovely aromatics and high concentration. Supple, plush tannins are framed by zesty Sangiovese acids, leading to a long finish. A polished, complete wine, drinking well already; hold into the late 2030s. Tasted October 2026.

That’s all for this special report, see you ’round the next bottle. 

 John Szabo, MS