The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino vintage has been rated five-stars (excellent quality) by the Consortium of Protection. The bottles of this vintage are currently on the market, and there is the embarrassment of choice: we are still drinking and appreciating the many, exciting chalices of the 2010 vintage – Brunello, is the best of the third millennium – that 2012 also reached levels of excellence thanks to wines that represent the perfect fusion of texture and balance to taste. Definately Brunello 2012, in general, can be described in two words: great quality.
During the “Benvenuto Brunello 2017” I had the opportunity to drink one of the best Brunello 2012 ever: Poggio di Sotto. It is one of the three cellars of the Colle Massari group owned by the siblings Maria Iris and Claudio Tipa. They crowned their dream of forming a French Domaine in Tuscany. Today the “galaxy” Colle Massari includes three halls: Castello di Colle Massari (The Colle Massari Castle) in Upper Maremma, the Podere Grattamacco in Bolgheri and the Fattoria Poggio di Sotto in Montalcino.
Colle Massari as Official Supplier, with the Swiss Alinghi team won the America’s Sailing Cup in the two editions of Auckland 2003 and Valencia 2007. Both promoted the Italian wine in the world through the products of their own Tuscan holdings. This is possible because the son of Maria Iris and her husband Fabio Bertarelli is Ernesto Bertarelli, the patron of Alinghi.
But let’s go back to the wine. Fattoria Poggio di Sotto was born in 1989. The estate stretches for 44 hectares (16 of them with vineyards) on the south-east slope of Montalcino hill, in the territory of Castelnuovo dell’Abate. The vineyards are located at altitudes ranging between 200 and 400 meters. The selection of grapes is very strict. During the ripening phase only the best bunches are left on the plant. Grains are picked several times in vineyard and a further selection takes place during harvest.
Tasting Notes about Brunello di Montalcino 2012 Poggio di Sotto.
In the glass wine shows a beautiful dark ruby red color that becomes almost garnet. It delivers fresh, fresh and young hints of red cherry, berries, licorice, incense, officinal herbs and fungus, as well as spicy. The sip is immediate, straight, vertical, very fresh, soft, with a nice closing of red fruit in the final. It’s a perfect sprinter with a midfielder. It’s great, but I’m sure she’ll give her the best of five to ten years and still over time. A modern and dynamic Brunello.
Some technical data: Sangiovese grosso grape. Wine vinification, spontaneous fermentations and very long macerations with air replenishment. Aging in oak barrels of 30 hectoliters for 48 months and in bottle for 8 months. Wine is not filtered before bottling.
Retail price: euro 135 – $ 160; My rating: 93/100