Le Ragnaie, Brunello di Montalcino
Le Ragnaie, Brunello di Montalcino

Le Ragnaie, Brunello di Montalcino

Tuscany, Italy 2013 (750mL)
Regular price$94.00
/
Your cart is empty.
  • In stock, ready to ship
  • Inventory on the way
Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Le Ragnaie, Brunello di Montalcino

Every time I taste a wine from Le Ragnaie, I think: Well, some people just “get it.” Since purchasing their estate in Montalcino in 2000, Riccardo and Jennifer Campinoti have been fast-rising stars in this crowded—and star-crossed—region. Montalcino is the big leagues, and Le Ragnaie has become a marquee player in relatively short order.


Another distinguishing feature of this wine is that it is a single-vineyard bottling; as yet, this has not become a widespread practice in Montalcino, with a few notable exceptions (like Altesino’s “Montosoli”). The “Fornace” cited on the label is a vineyard site in the southeastern portion of Montalcino near Castelnuovo dell’Abate, neighboring the vineyards of the famed Poggio di Sotto estate. Interestingly, Fornace has an east-northeast orientation in an area where most of the vineyards face south, a feature Campinoti says plays a big role in preserving freshness in the wine. The soils are a mix of friable clay and sandstone with a high limestone content, and this limestone component is a key factor in preserving acidity in Montalcino wines (Montalcino vineyards at lower levels, particularly towards the outer boundaries of the appellation, are more clay-heavy and tend to produce rounder, richer styles of wine).



The Fornace vineyard is but one parcel in an assortment of Ragnaie holdings that fall in three distinct subzones of Montalcino: Le Ragnaie, the estate’s home base in the central part of the zone, where their vineyards are among the highest-elevation sites in the appellation; the “Petroso” vineyard, on the western slopes of the Montalcino village; and Castelnuovo dell’Abate to the southeast, where Fornace is located. Riccardo has been farming organically since 2005, and the wines are aged in traditional, 25- and 50-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks. “Fornace” spent 36 months in wood and another 6+ months in bottle before release. Just 200 cases of the 2013 were produced.



Based not just on this wine but a host of other 2013s I’ve tasted, this is shaping up to be a very ‘classic’—i.e. balanced, not overblown—vintage for Brunello di Montalcino wine (you’ll notice the stated ABV on the label here is 13.5%, which is quite moderate for the modern era in Montalcino). In the glass, it’s a luminous, deep, nearly opaque garnet red with slight orange reflections on the rim. The nose explodes with deeply complex aromatics driven by mature fruit and savory earth: red cherry, black plum, red currant, blood orange peel, wet roses and violets, dry autumn leaves, warm spices, leather, wild mushroom stock, and dried meat. The wine is medium-plus in body with a chiseled, energetic feel—exactly what I expect from top-tier Sangiovese (if I want more chunky, chocolate-rich extract, I drink something else). It’s a little too big to be tagged as ‘Burgundian,’ but the nerve and aromatic lift are there. Its impeccable balance lends it drinkability now, but it’s still a baby: Yes, you will want to try a bottle sooner than later, so decant it about an hour before serving at 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems. If I were in Montalcino I’d order some pappardelle with wild boar ragù to go with it, or maybe squab or one of the other game birds the Tuscans love so much; the attached recipe for duck in the style of porchetta would be unbelievably good. Whatever you do, though, please try to lay some of this wine down: Come 2025 (and well beyond), it’s going to really be singing—I hope I can hold off! Enjoy!

Le Ragnaie, Brunello di Montalcino
Country
Region
Sub-Region
Soil
Farming
Blend
Alcohol
OAK
TEMP.
Glassware
Drinking
Decanting

Italy

Northwestern Italy

Piedmont

Italy’s Piedmont region is really a wine “nation”unto itself, producing world-class renditions of every type of wine imaginable: red, white, sparkling, sweet...you name it! However, many wine lovers fixate on the region’s most famous appellations—Barolo and Barbaresco—and the inimitable native red that powers these wines:Nebbiolo.

Tuscany

Chianti

The area known as “Chianti” covers a major chunk of Central Tuscany, from Pisa to Florence to Siena to Arezzo—and beyond. Any wine with “Chianti” in its name is going to contain somewhere between 70% to 100% Sangiovese, and there are eight geographically specific sub-regions under the broader Chianti umbrella.

Others We Love