2021 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino

The Altesino 2021 Brunello di Montalcino was a little shy when I tasted it, but knowing the track record of this estate, I have no doubt that the wine will flesh out with bottle age. Give it a year or two more. The bouquet offers blackcurrant and wild berry with a dark mineral note and grilled herb. Pressed violet also rises to the top of the wine, which is firmly structured and very lively in terms of mouthfeel. This popular release of 110,000 bottles ages in Slavonian oak casks only. (ML)

Altesino is without question one of the benchmark, historic estates of Montalcino, and their classic Brunello is a wine we look forward to every single year. Located in the cooler, northern sector of the appellation, Altesino's hallmark has always been sheer elegance, grace, and aristocratic balance—and in a blockbuster vintage like 2021, that style reaches absolute perfection. The 2021 vintage in Montalcino is already being hailed as a modern classic, delivering wines with incredible structure, soaring aromatics, and pristine fruit purity. This is a stunning expression of Sangiovese that leaps from the glass with beautifully lifted aromas of wild red cherry, crushed raspberry, dried rose petal, sweet tobacco, and a touch of savory cedar. On the palate, it is remarkably polished and seamless, with fine-grained, silky tannins wrapped around a core of bright, energetic red fruit. While it has the serious structure, tension, and pedigree to age beautifully in the cellar for the next decade or more, its impeccable balance makes it surprisingly approachable right now with a good decant. This is textbook, elegant Montalcino from one of the region's absolute masters, and an essential addition for any lover of great Tuscan wine.