No one really wins in showdowns between Italian and French wines (do what I do—drink them both!), but I am compelled once again to pit an Italian wine against a French one for the sake of context. I’ll keep it short, though: If this exceptional $29 Rosso di Montalcino was a Bourgogne Rouge, there’d be pandemonium in the SommSelect shopping cart.
Like Bourgogne Rouge, Rosso di Montalcino is the entry-level wine by design, and like our favorite Bourgogne reds, today’s 2016 proves that “entry-level” is not a synonym for “simple”—in the right hands, of course. In Montalcino, many producers choose the bigger-is-better approach when it comes to their Rosso di Montalcino, using richness and intensity to make their value play, but in the case of the historic Tornesi property, purity and place take precedence. This is just a spot-on expression of the Sangiovese grape as grown in Montalcino, just a touch burlier than is cousins from Chianti but still finessed and perfumed and full of the kind of woodland-berry piquancy that makes Sangiovese one of the world’s most evocative red grapes. Sourced from high-elevation vineyards just down the road from the legendary Biondi-Santi estate, this fresh and vibrant 2016 perfectly captures what Rosso di Montalcino is supposed to be—and at the right price, too. “Over-delivers” doesn’t begin to cover it!
Just outside Montalcino’s fortress-like walls, on steep slopes ranging from 400-500 meters’ elevation, is Tornesi. The Tornesis were founding members of the Brunello di Montalcino consorzio (producers’ association) when the appellation was created in 1967, although the family didn’t begin bottling wines under their own label until 1993, when Maurizio Tornesi took the reins from his father, Gino. They hand-farm a total of just five hectares of vineyards in four locations throughout Montalcino, including their original 1.2-hectare estate vineyard, “Benducce,” which sits at one of the highest elevations in the Montalcino DOCG.
The program is straightforward and resolutely traditional at Tornesi: They only grow Sangiovese grapes (and olives for oil) in the marl and sandstone soils typical of the zone, producing Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino, and an IGT-designated Sangiovese aged only in steel. Although not certified, their farming is organic in practice: they use only natural fertilizers and eschew chemical pesticides. In the cellar, they fall into the “traditionalist” camp, fermenting the wines using ambient yeasts and aging them in Slavonian oak casks of various sizes (7-30 hectoliters).
As with all Rosso di Montalcino wines, Tornesi’s ’16 is sourced from a selection of grapes from vineyards which also supply their more-expensive, longer-aged Brunello di Montalcino. Whereas the Brunello spends 30 months in those Slavonian oak barrels, this wine spends just six, giving the drinker a more unadorned, brightly fruited look at the Sangiovese grape. Compared to your typical Bourgogne Rouge, this is a “bigger,” more forceful red, but compared to its Brunello di Montalcino sibling (which we’ve also offered, to great response), it’s downright sprightly. In the glass, it’s a medium garnet-red moving to pink and orange at the rim, bursting with scents of red and black cherry, currants, blackberry, plum, anise, rose petals, bay leaf, underbrush, aromatic herbs, and baking spice. One of my favorite aspects of this wine is its precision balance of fruit, earth, acid, and tannin—everything is in its proper place, making it an absolute joy to drink now and over the next few years. I’m still going to have plenty of French red in my rotation, but this one has become the odds-on favorite for repeat performances. Decant it 15-30 minutes before serving at 60 degrees in Burgundy stems and pair it with whatever meats you’ve decided to cook on your just-uncovered grill. It’s time, and this is the wine. Cheers!
