100pt ITALIAN STALLIONS - 2015 Brunello di Montalcino
The 2015 vintage in Italy, in Brunello Di Montalcino in particular, is already renowned as a classic vintage, where everything fell into place perfectly. So many wine producers in Montalcino made excellent wines in 2015, and the JamesSuckling.com Wine of the Year 2019 was a Brunello from this vintage. The wines show impressive precision of vivid fruit, fine tannins and freshness in acidity despite their ripeness and richness which makes them some of the most exciting in years.
Winemakers in Montalcino were never better prepared to produce outstanding wines in a year like 2015 with their exactness in their vineyards and cellars from fine-tuned canopy management and crop thinning to optical sorting and soft fermentations. So many wine producers in Montalcino made excellent wines in 2015.
“The words for the 2015 vintage are density, tannins and freshness,” says Roberto Guerrini, whose family owns Eredi Fuligni. He made the wine of his lifetime in 2015. We rated it 100 points. “The wines are rich, yet they are fresh at the same time. It is a great year.”
We admit that it is tempting to say that 2015 is Brunello di Montalcino’s best vintage ever, and it may very well be! It certainly compares to other great years of the appellation including 1997, 2006, 2007, and 2010. Looking at the ratings, 2015 comes very close to the average of the great 2010 vintage with about half of the wines receiving ratings of 95 points or more. The big difference is that 2015 has more perfect rated wines than 2010 – 11 in total.
– James Suckling, CEO and editor
Update: within 3 hours of our offer the 2015 Fuligni Brunello and 2015 Il Poggione Brunello had sold out. We have since taken the opportunity to release our last remaining 2015 Brunello sensation in Uccelliera ($129 on special), also carrying 97 points from Wine Advocate. Monica Larner only scored four wines higher than Il Poggione and Uccelliera in the 2015 Brunello vintage and a quick look at the prices shows why Il Poggione and Uccelliera are impossible to look past... Casanova di Neri Tenuta Nuova (98+pts, $220+), Il Marreneto Madonna della Grazie (98+pts, $390+) Canalicchio di Sopra La Casaccia (98pts, $279+), Mastrojanni Vigna Schiena d'Asino (98pts, $320+).