The event “Benvenuto Brunello 2022” gave us the chance to taste in preview the 2018 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino, which will be released on the market starting from January 2023. The Riserva 2017 was preseted too, even if few had produced it, considering the difficult climatic conditions and the low yields of that vintage.
The President of the Consortium, Fabrizio Bindocci (il Poggione winery) has not hidden the optimism of producers on several occasions and underlined Brunello’s success referring to the main growing performance indicators. The ceremony of the 2022 vintage ended with the presentation of the tile signed this year by Brunello Cucinelli.
The 2018 vintage was rated with only 4 stars, because of critical weather conditions in summer. Rain had repeatedly interrupted the regular cycle of grape ripening and occurred during harvest time too. The result is less concentration, less potency, less extraction. Tasting the wines – we tasted 146 of them, some even several times – you can certainly recognize a less powerful structure than average. Do not forget however that the last few years (2015, 2016, 2017) were all hot vintages. Yet the 2018 Brunello are surprisingly good and tasty.
Most of the tasted 2018 Brunellos have a marked floral aroma, which despite being a varietal trait of Sangiovese, is not always so clearly expressed (far from it because Sangiovese is floral only in cool areas or vintages). Furthermore, the wines are gentle, endowed with a pleasant freshness and fine, savory, well integrated tannins. Many wines reach an excellent quality level, some are truly outstanding. They are overall enjoyable wines, some are perfectly balanced and ready to drink now. Some have that combination of acidity and tannins, which project them towards a further aging in the bottle.
In conclusion, we consider 2018 to be an affable vintage, a return to the classic elegance of Sangiovese from Montalcino. Someone blames its thinness, but let’s not forget that the Brunello of the origins – as Kerin O Keefe recalls in her book on Montalcino wine – are by no means powerful wines. The 2018 Brunellos are extroverted, immediate and enjoyable.
The phenomenon of Brunellos from single vineyard is more and more important, which is very interesting, even if not very traditional in Montalcino. In some cases it may create a gap between the regular Brunello and the “vineyard selection”. Producers have to be careful not to select too much by subtracting the best grapes from the regular Brunello, which in the end is the best-selling and best-known. The most convincing example of vineyard selection on our opinion is Lisini’s Brunello di Montalcino Ugolaia 2017, marketed with the same aging as a Riserva.
And here is our selection of Brunello 2018.
Outstanding performances (in alphabetical order):
- Giodo – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Gorelli – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Pietroso – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Poggio di Sotto – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Salvioni La Cerbaiona – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
Excellent Brunellos (in alphabetical order, without scores)
- Agostina Pieri – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Altesino – Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Montosoli 2018
- Beatesca – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Camigliano – Brunello di Montalcino Paesaggio Inatteso 2018
- Cannolicchio di Sopra – Brunello di Montallcino Vigna La Casaccia 2018
- Capanna – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Caparro – Brunello di Montalcino Vigna La Casa 2018
- Castello Romitorio – Brunello di Montalcino Filo di Seta 2018
- Castello Tricerchi – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Castiglion del Bosco – Brunello di Montalcino Campo del Drago 2018
- Celestino Pecci – Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al Carro 2018
- Collosorbo – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Corte dei Venti – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Cortonesi – Brunello di Montalcino Poggiarelli 2018
- Fattoi – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Fattoria dei Barbi – Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Fiore 2018
- Franco Pacenti – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Gianni Brunelli-Le Chiuse di Sotto – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Il Poggione – Brunello di Montlacino 2018
- Innocenti – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- La Fiorita – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- La Gerla – Brunello di Montalcino La Pieve 2018
- La Palazzetta – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Lombardi – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Le Chiuse – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Lisini – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Patrizia Cencioni – Brunello di Montalcino Ofelio 2018
- Roberto Cipresso – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Sancarlo – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Sanlorenzo – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Talenti – Brunello di Montalcino Piero 2018
- Tenuta Buon Tempo – Brunello di Montalcino P.56 Oliveto 2018
- Tenuta Poggio il Castellare – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Tiezzi – Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Soccorso 2018
- Uccelliera – Brunello di Montalcino 2018
- Val di Suga – Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al Granchio 2018
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