2011 Podere Scopetone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

“Readers won’t run across too many 2011 Brunellos with this level of pure salivating energy” — Antonio Galloni

At our comprehensive tasting of 2011 Brunelli di Montalcino, we evaluated wines from nearly 50 estates. Nearly every wine we tasted was delicious on release. But a small handful of 2011 Brunelli are also notably age-worthy, marrying lavish red-fruit plushness with fine dusty-tannin backbone. Of those, according to our scorecards and the most respected Tuscan wine critic in the world, the tiny production of Podere Scopetone may well be the most extraordinary.

From December 2010-March 2011, temperatures were much higher than usual in Montalcino, with barely a drop of rain or flake of snow. Bud break and flowering came very early, and the beginning of summer signaled another departure from the norm. Typically warm and sunny in Montalcino, June was cool and cloudy. In a decision that would dictate the fate of estates in 2011, some growers panicked and began dropping leaves and opening up canopies in the hopes of spiking maturity. At the 6-acre Podere Scopetone, Loredana Tanganelli and Antonio Brandi opted for patience and left canopies intact, a decision that would pay enormous dividends.

Around August 10th, a blast of dry heat blew in from northern Africa. In just a few days, fully exposed clusters were scorched and, as nighttime highs hovered in the 80s, many vineyards suffered from dehydration. Podere Scoptetone’s Sangiovese, sheltered by canopies that had been left intact, shrugged off the hydric stress. While neighbors rushed to pick blistered clusters, the winemaking couple felt no such urgency, and delayed the call to harvest. When that call was finally made, clusters had reached perfect phenolic maturity, making for a 2011 vintage at Podere Scopetone that outpointed 2010!

If you’re enamored of top-notch red Burgundy from the villages of Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle-Musigny, and Nuits-Saint-Georges, the 13,800-BOTTLE production of the 2011 Podere Scopetone is right in your sweet spot. Vivid bright ruby. Ethereal floral aromas of cherry, raspberry, violets, and pomegranate, wonderfully mineral and complex. Rich and juicy on the attack, beautifully layered, filled with sweet crushed red fruits, finishing with terrific precision and exquisite purity. Drink now-2030.

94 points from Galloni. $65 on release. $49.99 this afternoon exclusively on WineAccess. Just 300 bottles are up for grabs — 23% of the entire stateside allocation.

• ABV 14.00%
• Enjoy right away
• % Sangiovese