Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello is the prince of Montalcino wines, produced exclusively from Sangiovese grapes picked by hand from the oldest vines in the farm. After a careful fermentation at controlled temperature, Tenuta Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino is aged in French oak barrels. After being aged in wood, the wine is bottle aged: this is an essential process in guaranteeing the pleasantness and the complexity that have made the Brunello di Montalcino world-famous.

Winemaker notes

Ruby red in colour, with a very intense, persistent nose and with red fruit notes. Warm, balanced flavour with velvet-smooth tannins. Long-lasting aroma.

2017

Wine Advocate 94+: The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino opens to a saturated and shiny dark ruby color. This edition is loaded with black and purple fruits, such as blackberry preserves and plum. Those more robust tones are followed by spice, tar and campfire ash. The tannins are young (but not stemmy or bitter), and you'd be best served by letting this wine age and relax with more cellar aging. Il Poggione always makes some of the smoothest and most texturally enriched wines in the appellation, and this vintage is no exception.

James Suckling 91: Blackberry, blueberry, stone and floral aromas. Hints of cedar, too. Full-bodied and chewy with polish and focus. Dried berries and hints of meat. This shows the ripeness of the grapes. Chewy at the end. Needs time to soften. Better after 2023.

Vinous 93: Masses of ashen earth, smoke, dusty cherry and roses with nuances of clove lift up from the 2017 Brunello di Montalcino. This is silky and pliant upon entry, presenting a rich display of intense red and hints of black fruits laced with chalky minerals that drenches the palate. Penetrating acidity and grippy tannins create a burst of cheek-puckering tension, clenching down hard with youthful poise, as notes of licorice and hard red candies linger through the structured, medium-length finale. There are some moments where the 2017 reminds you that it comes from an incredibly hot and dry vintage, yet overall, it’s a huge success for the year. That said, it needs time to unwind from its youthful state. Production was down 15–20% at Il Poggione in 2017 due to severe selection of bunches, and all of the fruit that would have been reserved for the Riserva Vigna Paganelli was added to the Brunello instead.

Decanter 91: Il Poggione started harvesting Brunello grapes on 1 September based on desired sugar and acidity levels. To curtail unripe tannins, winemaker Fabrizio Bindocci removed a small percentage of seeds at the beginning of fermentation, particularly from the earliest picked plots. The resulting wine is a heady mix of allspice, leather and prune plums. There is ample concentration on the palate and a zesty citrus note lends freshness. It's grippy but overall balanced, with just a touch of astringency nudging through. I’d give this another year to come together. Drinking window: 2023-2028