2010 Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino

A Modernist Classic at Gotham Hall

We’ve written a number of stories about that cold January morning at 1356 Broadway. We waited two hours for the doors to open on Gotham Hall and the unveiling of the finest vintage in the history of Brunello di Montalcino.

Many of the buyers and sellers in attendance did what they tend to do at such venues: They caroused. But we had no time for small talk. Based on our barrel-tastings of the previous two summers, we had come to Gotham Hall with a checklist of 20 Brunello estates and a blank check earmarked for every one.

Why all the urgency? First, 2010 was a superb but low-yield harvest in Tuscany, in many cases down 30% from the norm. Second, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator had yet to publish their reviews and vintage reports. Third, we knew that absent the critics’ scores, retailers and distributors would be hesitant to make commitments.

For a very brief time, we reasoned, the Brunellos di Montalcino from the vintage of a lifetime were ours for the taking.

In just two hours, we completed an unprecedented buying spree, securing allocations from Poggio Antico, Paradisone, Talenti, Caparzo, Costanti, Fuligni, Molino Sant’Antimo, and Lisini. But as to what would turn out to be one of the highest-rated 2010 Brunellos — according to Parker’s Wine Advocate, James Suckling, AND Wine Spectator — we’d yet to lay our hands on the allocation we thought we’d secured at Gotham Hall last January.

If you haven’t yet read The Wine Advocate‘s’ vintage report, in which Robert Parker’s publication calls 2010 the best of the new millennium, a vintage where “you get it all,” it’s worth a read. Not only did the Advocate provide a detailed analysis of the growing season script, but it also divided Brunello stylistically into two camps: the Modernists and the Traditionalists.

Traditionalist Brunello di Montalcino is lighter in color, more angular, and aromatically driven, finishing with dusty tannins. The Modernists, on the other hand, craft Sangioveses of deeper color, darker, more supple concentration — wines that combine Old World minerality with New World plushness. Among the Modernists in 2010, according to our scorecards from the summers of 2011 and 2012, and then again at Gotham Hall, Castiglion del Bosco was one of the region’s most extraordinary standouts at any price.

The 2010 Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino is dark purple in hue. Broad and plump on the attack. Infused with a supple mix of crushed black and red fruits, black cherry, and cassis. Utterly silken in texture, finishing with sturdy, round tannins, arguing elegantly for a 10-year slumber in the coolest of cellars.

96 points from James Suckling. Double 94s from The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator, the 2010 Castiglion del Bosco is one of the wines of the year. The last 240 bottles of our allocation are now up for grabs.

• ABV 13.80%
• Enjoy right away
• % Sangiovese