When we offered the 2012 vintage of this resolutely classic Brunello di Montalcino, I wrote a big mea culpa about not introducing Padelletti to our subscribers sooner. Padelletti is one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Montalcino wine, yet it managed to escape my notice until a visit to the area in 2017. I’m still beating myself up about it, especially after tasting today’s 2013, which not only re-confirms 2013’s superiority to ’12 but may be the best 2013 Brunello I’ve tasted to date.
Because Padelletti’s style is all about terroir-driven transparency, with no excessive extraction or oak clouding the picture, the subtle differences of vintage are self-evident: It’s not that ’12 was a “bad” year—far from it—but there’s an extra dimension to ’13 that this one really drives home. All the underbrush, smoke, and mineral depth that makes the Sangiovese grape so distinctive is on full display in Padelletti’s ’13, but it is complemented by a richer, riper fruit component that lends a sense of ‘completeness’ at this young stage in the wine’s life. Over the course of three days open, this wine just got better and better, which not only bodes well for the future but has me craving another bottle right now. I can’t think of another wine I’ve tried recently that so perfectly captures the true character of Montalcino Sangiovese. It’s beautiful without any ‘makeup’ whatsoever, and if you’ve got some room in your cellar, I’m guaranteeing positive dividends both now and over the next 15+ years!
It bears repeating, meanwhile, that Padelletti’s historical significance in Montalcino rivals that of the great Biondi-Santi: Historical documents show that the Padellettis were farming vineyards in Montalcino by the late 1500s, but wine wasn’t their principal occupation: generations of doctors, lawyers, diplomats, and university professors kept an eye on the family land, and in 1925 a Padelletti was instrumental in creating the first cantina sociale (winemaking cooperative) in Montalcino (which was run by Tancredi Biondi of Biondi-Santi), but production under the Padelletti label never really grew. The Padelletti cellars are still underneath a 16th-century family home along a narrow street in the town of Montalcino proper; their four hectares of organically farmed vineyards are on the northeast slope of the Montalcino hill, and even today, production hovers around 8,000 bottles per year (which is likely why they haven’t had a big presence in our market).
The Padellettis’ four hectares are all in a single contiguous plot situated at 430 meters elevation, with a mix of soils that includes marl, sandstone, and clay. The Brunello is fermented in old concrete tanks and aged in large, used Slavonian and French oak botti (vats) for 30 months before bottling. There’s then a minimum period of bottle aging, per Montalcino DOCG law, before the wine is released for sale.
The result is a wine of firm structure and an aromatic profile that takes you right to the thickly wooded hillsides of Montalcino. But, as I said repeatedly above, this ’13 has an extra gear in the form of deeper fruit concentration, which adds a layer of flesh onto a noble bone structure. In the glass, it’s a deep garnet-red moving to pink at the rim, with heady aromas of black cherry, black raspberry, cranberries, blood orange, leather, cedar, cigar box, and forest floor. It is full-bodied but well-framed by tannins and freshness, its structure and minerality reminiscent of a classically styled Left Bank Bordeaux. If you are enjoying a bottle now—which you most definitely should—decant it 30-60 minutes before serving at 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems with a wintry beef braise, leg of lamb, anything with some fat and a lot of aromatic herbs. And while it should age well over the next 20 years, I never advocate waiting that long; this wine should really be singing at the 10-year mark, so plan accordingly! Cheers!
