Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020 Red Wine

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Tuscany, Italy

750 ml

95 pts. Jeb Dunnuck:

"The 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino pours a deep ruby/magenta color. It reveals notes of licorice, Amarena cherries, toasted sage, and forest earth. Full-bodied, with great purity and ripe tannins, it has wonderful concentration and extract, with a long finish and delicate saltines to accent and frame the wine. It has wonderful length and starts to show lots of polished leather on the finish. Drink over the coming 15 years."

95 pts. James Suckling:

"Very pretty cherry and orange-peel aromas with fresh flowers, following through to a medium body with lovely depth of fruit and fine tannins that run long and true. Crisp at the end. New estate to watch. Drink in three or four years, but something already very enticing about it." - 9/2024

FROM THE WINERY 

In the 1970s, a man named Domenico Berni had a passion for the Sangiovese of his home village, and after much deliberation bought a hectare of land not far from Montalcino’s city walls. Local history books mention that back in the 1300s, this rocky slope was also planted to grape vines, and was called “contrada el petroso,” or the place of many stones. Three generations later, the descendants of “Delfo”—winemaker Gianni Pignattai, his wife Cecilia, son Andrea and daughter Gloria—are continuing their granduncle’s passion, crafting sublime wines from Montalcino’s most prized and highest-altitude vineyards.

Estate vineyards, reaching as high as 1,500 feet in altitude, with a range of expositions. Destemmed. Fermented in tank on indigenous yeasts; aged in 30HL Slavonian oak cask for three years, then six months in bottle. Unfined and unfiltered.

WINERY: Azienda Agricola Pietroso

WINEMAKER: Gianni Pignattai

ESTABLISHED: 1978

REGION: ITALY • Tuscany • Montalcino

APPELLATION: Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

BLEND: 100% Sangiovese

VINEYARDS: A selection of older-vine fruit from estate parcels: ‘Fornello’ faces east, at 1,200 feet in altitude; ‘Colombaiolo,’ (near Castelnuovo dell’Abate) faces south/southwest at 1,260 feet; ‘Pietroso’ faces west/northwest at 1,500 feet; and ‘Montosoli,’ at 960 feet, faces southeast. Soils are classic Montalcino, a combination of compacted clay (galestro), sand and decomposed, rocky limestone.

AGE OF VINES: 40 years, on average

WINEMAKING: Hand-harvested. Fermented on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks; each plot is vinified separately. Aged in 30HL Slavonian oak casks (“botti”) for three years; then six months in bottle. Unfined and unfiltered.

TASTING IMPRESSIONS: Aromas of autumn leaves, small red berries, light spice, hints of vanilla. Textured, smooth; fine-grained tannins, long finish.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS: Grilled steak; air-dried salami; wild mushroom risotto