2012 Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany

Wine Access Client Favorite Brunello of Epic Vintage

In January of last year at the Consorzio Del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, we tasted a bevy of the heralded 2012s at Gotham Hall in NYC. Many of the top-rated wines carry price tags equivalent to the record-breaking 2010s. But not all of them. Unsurprisingly, one of the standouts at the tasting was Caparzo Brunello — one of our favorite, go-to, under-$30 Brunellos. This vintage and the last two have lit up the Wine Access scoreboard, with 261 total ratings including 142 4-star and 63 perfect 5-star reviews! James Suckling has hailed 2012 as a “rockstar vintage,” while Wine Enthusiast insists that there’s “more consistent quality across the denomination than even the highly acclaimed 2010s.” None more so than this 2012 Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino. At just $29.99 per bottle with 92 points from Wine Spectator, this is the Brunello bargain of the year. If you’ve missed out on our previous offers, today is redemption day.

It’s an exciting time to be a Brunello enthusiast or collector. From what we tasted in Gotham Hall in January of 2017 at the Consorzio Del Vino Brunello di Montalcino’s release party, that might be an understatement. In 2012, the entire growing season was hot and dry, but coming off a torrid 2011, producers were prepared. Growers practiced extreme canopy management, spending meticulous hours in the vineyards, hand-shaping each plant, and making sure to protect clusters from the scorching Tuscan sun. Caparzo was one of many estates to harvest earlier than usual, a decision that would pay enormous dividends in the form of preserved fresh acidity in the Sangiovese grapes.

Caparzo is in the diligent hands of the delightful Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini, who also owns the historic Altesino estate. In 2017, she snapped up about 5 acres of new Brunello vines for Altesino and 10 acres for Caparzo. If that means more like this 2012 Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino to come, we’re all in.

Jonathan Cristaldi
Editor-in-Chief, Wine Access

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.50%
• 30 mins
• Drink Up
• % Sangiovese
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork