Brunello di Montalcino

The estate-blend Brunello, reintroduced with the 2019 vintage (none was made in 2020, per US merchant copy): 40% Sorgente, 30% Piaggione, 30% Teatro, pulling together the three crus at 420-500 m on Montalcino's southeastern shoulder - thin-layered, friable Santafiora marl of clay, sandstone and calcareous sand. Farming is biodynamic (conversion from 2018 with Adriano Zago, Demeter certified 2022).

Hand harvest into small cases, sorting table, destemming, spontaneous fermentation in cement at up to 30 C with a 35-day maceration, hydraulic basket press. Aged 40 months in 40 hl and 10 hl casks, unfined and unfiltered, then a year in bottle. 6,414 bottles plus 120 magnums per the importer sheet.

2021 in Montalcino, in the producer's own reading: spring frost cut yields, the summer was warm but not extreme, August rains supported ripening, and September's day-night swings built aromatics - a fragrant, precise vintage in an elegant-fresh register rather than a powerful one. 14%.