Sangiovese

If you love Brunello di Montalcino, you probably already know the glory of 2015. Wine Advocate wrote, “Fruit has never been more beautiful than it was in the picture-perfect 2015 vintage…leaving no wine untouched by its magic.” La Serena’s 2015 Gemini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a tiny-production, organically farmed beauty that any Brunello lover…

Dubbed by legendary sommelier and author Rajat Parr as one of the top three Brunello di Montalcino producers, Le Ragnaie has shot to icon status for its elegant expression of Sangiovese. Their 96-point 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is a graceful and beautifully restrained classic from one of the best vintages of the decade. Wine Advocate…

San Lorenzo sits just a seven minute drive north of the legendary Soldera estate—the source of highly-allocated, $600 bottles of Brunello—and just another 400 yards from Gaja’s famed Pieve Santa Restituta property. It’s a top class neighborhood that yields wines like this 2015, which boasts a 94+ point score from Vinous’ notoriously tough Ian D’Agata,…

Whether it’s in a month or in a decade, we can guarantee one thing: When you pop the cork and indulge in the 98-point 2015 Livio Sassetti Pertimali, you’ll marvel at the fact that you procured this bottle—one of the top Brunellos from one of the greatest vintages ever—for just $65. Perfection-pushing Brunello for $65—that’s…

The name of this wine is a combination of everything that makes it a standout. Tenuta de Graciano means “Farm of Gracciano,” a reference to one of the most famous vineyards in Montepulciano resting at 900-1,250 feet of elevation. “Della Seta” means from the Seta Ferrari Corbelli Greco family—luckily they shortened it for the label—one…

In a 2015 Brunello vintage that Vinous called “easily one of the top eight or ten” of all time, many top producers put out best-ever bottles. Even among those, Tenuta di Sesta is an outlier.  That’s because this breathtaking Brunello has racked up the kind of critical consensus that is basically unheard of south of…

As soon as we tasted the 2016 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino, we cut a check for our entire allocation. And when you taste it, you’ll understand why we didn’t hesitate for a second.  Altesino’s 2016 Brunello is without a doubt one of the greatest bottles the legendary estate has ever produced. It’s the definition of…

Wine Access members made Andretta one of our very top Brunellos of the last year, showering it with five-star reviews. The bottle that earned those raves came from the exceptional 2015 vintage, which we thought was about as good as it gets—until the 2016s came along.  If you love lush, muscular expressions of Brunello, then…

We’re running out of superlatives for the 2016 vintage in Chianti. Vinous, for one, thinks the 98-point year rates as the greatest ever in the region, calling it “truly exceptional” and “simply extraordinary…a consistently brilliant vintage across the board.” Unfortunately, most 2016 Chiantis are long gone from the market. However, we nabbed an allocation of…

We taste hundreds of Chianti Classicos a year. Many are perfectly satisfactory pizza wines. A few epitomize what we love about the region, capturing the dusty tannins, floral delicacy, and fine imprint of terroir that elevate the Sangiovese grape. And a much smaller fraction of that number, just a handful of bottles per annum, manage…