Remember Casanuova delle Cerbaie’s 2011 from last year? This always traditional, always affordable Sangiovese stunner had everyone scrambling for the cart because the opportunity to secure a perfectly savory, decade-plus Brunello for $49 does not come often! Today, we’re offering that rare chance again, for the exact same price, except now from the 2009 vintage. 

What’s more, this nearly 15-year-old Brunello treasure has a hidden ace up its sleeve: Cerbaie didn’t produce their pricier, more coveted “Riserva” in ’09, so all of the raw material in today’s exceptional bottling came from the legendary “Montosoli” vineyard. Yes, that Montosoli vineyard, the one that Forbes Magazine has labeled Brunello’s “Grand Cru,” and the one that iconic Altesino utilizes for their triple-digit bottling. But let's get back to the wine of the moment…this beautiful, properly aged Sangiovese has now reached the point in its evolution where it has truly taken on new dimensions. The aromas have grown more complex, the textures more refined, and the flavors more rustic and earthy. So there you have it: rock-bottom pricing, legendary vineyard, sky-high quality, and a peak drinking window. This is among the best mature Brunello values out there!

For many Sangiovese connoisseurs, Casanuova delle Cerbaie has been followed with keen interest since American entrepreneur and avid Brunello enthusiast Roy Welland acquired the property in 2008. This is a well-situated estate on the ‘north slope’ of the Montalcino hill, a neighbor to the assorted Sassetti family properties and one of the owners of vines in the famed “Montosoli” vineyard, the source of today’s epic value. 

Working with about 5.5 hectares of vineyards registered as Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Welland’s sure-handed enologist, Paolo Vagaggini (a Montalcino fixture with previous tenures at Fuligni, Il Palazzone, and Biondi-Santi), favors a woodsy, savory style of Sangiovese aged in larger Slavonian oak barrels crafted by the Austrian cooperage Stockinger. Today’s wine spent 30 months in barrel and, per Montalcino law, four years aging in total before it was initially released at the beginning of 2014. 

Now equipped with EIGHT additional years of bottle age, it has entered a beguiling and deeply pleasurable point in its evolution—there’s lots of ripe black cherry fruit thanks to the generosity of ’09, but it’s woven through with loads of smoky, damp-forest savor. In the glass, it’s a dense garnet moving to crimson and orange at the rim, with heady aromas of dried plum, blood orange peel, dried rose, tomato leaf, vintage leather, varnish, and dried wild mushrooms. Nearly full-bodied with tannins nicely softened by age, it shows impressive freshness on the palate that further enhances the wonderfully savory components. Decant it 15 minutes (watching for sediment) before serving in Bordeaux stems at 60 degrees. It’s calling out for something gamey, something of the woods, to eat with it. The attached recipe should do the job nicely!