Score: 93/100
This Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG wine by Villa al Cortile is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes, that went through 36 months of ageing in oak, before a further 6 months ageing in bottle at the winery prior to release.
Tasting Notes
This Brunello Riserva comes in a dark and quite intense red color for a Sangiovese wine, filled with plenty of orange hues betraying this is a wine that stayed for a very long time in oak vats like a Brunello Riserva ought to (with 3 years minimum in oak and 6 months minimum in bottle).
This long ageing in the winery’s cellar, together with the natural concentration of the grapes, has also brought the wine a very generous and intense nose.
Powerful cherry liqueur aromas jump out of the glass with intensity and intent. Elegant leather notes are there as well. But the kind of leathery notes you actually want to smell, not the nasty animal ones you sometimes get. Here, they are like the luxurious interior of a Ferrari (or at least how I imagine it smells in a Ferrari, never been in one!), fine and refined, helped with salivating caramel and vanilla tones. Sweet spices, basil, chocolate and strawberry jam complement a complex and deep aromatic profile.
You could spend a long time sniffing in the scents, and analyzing this Brunello’s nose, and find new subtle characteristics you had not identified before. The mark of promising wines, at least on the nose.
When you first put the wine in your mouth, what strikes in its great smoothness at first. It’s velvety, almost silky, tasting like a cloud on your taste buds, light and soft, perfectly balanced.
That’s before a generous and lively acidity kicks in from the mid-palate on to sustain and provide fruity tension up to a very long finish.
There is a shift and transformation from the mid-palate on indeed. From a delightfully soft and silky wine at first, the Brunello turns into an explosive red, bursting with red berry liqueur-like flavors, a wealth of complex sweet spice flavors such as clove and nutmeg, and the constant underlying yummy caramel and vanilla, chocolate as well, notes.
After the wine has rested for a little while in a decanter, it reveals even further what makes it taste quite unique and different: a wealth of animal and leafy vegetable notes. Leather and sheep whool, and tomato paste. Some, those of you that like their wine to be very clean and clear of any of these ‘funky’ elements, might dislike this side of this Brunello. I personally found, because these notes are not too dominant here, and they are surrounded by an abundance of goodness, that they add complexity and interesting elements to the tasting.
A long and mineral, somewhat salty finish, delivering warm and generous layers filled with a myriad of notes exploding on your palate, ends like a finale a tasting experience that feels like a firework display.
Overall
A gorgeous, utter-generous Tuscan wine, round, soft, explosive, layered and complex Brunello you just want to keep exploring more and more at every sip. So much to enjoy, so much to explore.
Unique and fascinating sensation are delivered every second. No time to get bored, plenty of opportunities to get impressed, sometimes stunned, and always surprised by 2011 Villa al Cortile Brunello Riserva.
A wine to experience it surely is….
Enjoy 🙂
Learn more about the producing winery at Villa al Cortile producer profile or click on the image below:
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