Every time we turn around lately, someone’s got a show-stopper Sangiovese for us to taste. Not that we’re complaining: This Brunello di Montalcino 2011 from Molino di Sant’Antimo is another example of a grape (and terroir) at its best.
It's a wine that transports you instantly to the cypress-studded hills of Tuscany, where everything from the wine to the olive oil to the food is imbued with a kind of rough-hewn elegance. This wine is for the tweedy nobleman who hunts and fishes and knows well how to prepare and serve his catch. It’s also for any shrewd collector, noble or not, who appreciates a wine of both power and grace – one capable of being enjoyed now or 10 years down the road. And it’s a great choice for the holiday table, the perfect combination of “special” and affordable.
Our recent tastings have convinced us of something: Brunello di Montalcino really can be the total package, especially when we reflect on our main mission at SommSelect, which is to deliver the maximum value-for-dollar possible. With Brunello di Montalcino you get an unmistakable wine of place that will age well. You get a powerful wine – and let’s face it, most people who spend $50 on a bottle of wine expect some power – that is not so fiercely tannic that you cannot consume it immediately. And you don’t just get a fruit/oak bomb (a fatal flaw of many modern wines in the same competitive set as Brunello). Montalcino Sangiovese offers the kind of multi-dimensional experience we expect from the great reds of the world: one in which sweet melds with savory; the texture is rich but not over-extracted, and the aromas are lifted and perfumed rather than flat. The wine isn’t looking to bowl you over with sheer power; it aims to intrigue and seduce you.
Molino di Sant’Antimo is an estate of fairly recent creation, and is emblematic of the extensive development of Montalcino over the last few decades. Back in the late-1960s, when the Italian government officially codified the country’s wine appellations (DOCs), Montalcino was home to a mere handful of commercial producers of Brunello. That number has ballooned to well over 200, and the amount of investment, innovation and passion that has poured into Montalcino has made its vineyard land some of the most coveted (and expensive) in the world. Molino di Sant’Antimo takes its name from a 13th-century water mill near the hamlet of Castelnuovo dell’Abate which owner Carlo Vittori first acquired in the 1980s. While lovingly restoring the mill (it is now a first-class inn) they developed their vineyards around Castelnuovo dell’Abate, on Montalcino’s south slope, not far from the famed Poggio di Sotto estate. Their first Brunello was released in 2001.
As Brunello lovers know well, the wines are not released for sale until January 1 of the year 5 years from the vintage year (i.e. this ’11 just came into the market). By law Brunello is aged a minimum of 2 years in oak; this one spent a total of 3, in larger French oak barrels of varying capacity, from 15 to 58 hectoliters. This is what I’d call a “modern” style of Brunello, which isn’t some kind of code for “oaky” or “overblown.” What struck me most about it was its balance, its well-integrated oak and tannin, and refreshing acidity. It’s a beautifully proportioned wine, everything in the right place.
In the glass, the 2011 Molino di Sant’Antimo is a classically Sangiovese ruby-red, with the slightest orange tint on the rim. The aromatics are expressive and perfumed, and again, classic: hints of wood smoke, forest floor, and leather complement a rich and luscious wave of black cherry, red currant, and plum, the fruit viscous but not syrupy. It doesn’t ‘coat’ the palate as much as grips it, the tannins firm but not astringent. It doesn’t weigh you down with extract but doesn’t let up, either, it’s woodsy aromatics lingering in the air like the smoke from a far-off pile of burning leaves. With a little time in a decanter, it is eminently drinkable now, preferably at a cooler temperature (say 65 degrees or less) in large Bordeaux stems. My first thought to pair with this wine is a ribeye steak, served alongside some Tuscan-style white beans, both drizzled with some pungent Tuscan olive oil. Would I rather be doing all of this in Tuscany itself? Of course. But this Brunello gets me just about all the way there. Grab some!
