Altesino : Brunello di Montalcino 2018

With vineyards throughout Montalcino, Altesino started harvest at the beginning of September with its southernmost holdings. After rain mid-month, the estate continued with plots in the north. The resulting wine is light yet bright in colour with an immediately attractive nose of raspberry and tarragon. Linear and direct, the chiselled palate offers mineral intrigue with an expansive juiciness. Dainty tannins are almost an afterthought, but acidity will carry this midweight, balanced charmer.

The 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino is a medium ruby hue, with aromas of licorice, dried red flowers, red cherry, and dusty earth. Medium-bodied, with fine tannins, it is approachable with its more delicate nature and fresh acidity. It has no harsh edges and offers notes of ripe raspberry, blood orange, and tea leaf. This is a lovely wine to drink now or over the next 10 to 12 years.

This 2018 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino has an attractive, spicy nose of strawberry and black pepper, with a subtle hint of fresh earth and iron. These mineral notes are often a distinctive hallmark of Altesino as a producer, and of their more northerly terroir. What stands out about this wine is that it offers a much longer finish and greater depth and range of flavors than many other 2018s. The wine has a definite shape, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It concludes with a very long, lingering finish. A characterful and distinctive style of Brunello.

Rich and fruity, evoking plum, cherry, iron, tobacco and eucalyptus flavors. This has a bit more flesh to offset the dusty tannins, with a lingering, fresh finish. Best from 2025 through 2042. 11,000 cases made, 400 cases imported.

This has fantastic intensity with concentrated hazelnut, chocolate and dark berry aromas alongside dried flower and dried orange undertones. Firm and medium- to full-bodied, with powerful yet integrated tannins. Excellent structural integrity. Try in 2024.

Wild strawberries, roses, lavender and hints of flowery underbrush form a vividly fruity yet earthy bouquet as the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino opens in the glass. This is round, nearly juicy in character, with ripe red and black berries that cascade across a core of silty minerality. It leaves only a light coating of tannin while tapering off with a flourish of inner sweetness and floral tones, as nuances of licorice slowly fade. This may not be a classic Brunello from Altesino, but I can't argue with how incredibly delicious it is.

The Altesino 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is an especially graceful wine with tart fruit, clean mineral lines, and a mid-weight approach. Like other wines from this vintage, the 2018s are more accessible than, say, the 2016s or the 2013s. You can drink the wine soon or choose to cellar it a bit longer. The young tannins are nearly fully approachable, and the wine ends with dryness and ample freshness. This is a generous production of 120,000 bottles.