Castiglion del Bosco’s 2020 Brunello di Montalcino normale is an outstanding young wine. The wine comes in at 14.5 percent octane in this vintage and was raised in its customary twenty percent new oak. It offers up a deep and beautifully sappy bouquet of plums, black cherries, cigar wrapper, a lovely foundation of soil tones, gentle Tuscan herb tones, woodsmoke and a deft framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a fine core of fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, ripe, buried tannins and excellent balance on the long and complex finish. This is excellent young Brunello! 2035-2075+.

The Castiglion del Bosco 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Campo del Drago (with 10,000 bottles made) comes from a panoramic plateau of vineyards. The rich bouquet is shaped by dark fruit, tobacco, sauna cedar and campfire ember. The oak imparts spice, but it also lends a soft and fleshy quality to the wine. Despite the aromatic intensity on hand, the wine is leaner than expected in terms of mouthfeel. This is a trait I find across many of these new releases from 2020, although I expect we can count on these wines to put on more volume with bottle age.

The Castiglion del Bosco 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is a softly enriched and contemporary interpretation of Sangiovese in which ripeness and oak aging play big roles in shaping the final product. The wine is plush and soft and definitely feels like it is geared to an international palate that is less interested in the acidic sharpness and rigidity of traditional Brunello. Blackberry and dried cherry cede to cured tobacco and barbecue ash. The finish is on the dry side. This is an ample 100,000-bottle release.

In a heavy glass bottle, the Castiglion del Bosco 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Millecento 1100 is a bold, determined and richly concentrated expression, as you might expect judging a book by its cover. I always find that the 2019 vintage delivers heavier fruit weight, and that definitely seems to be the case here. Blackberry fruit is surrounded by sweet tobacco, brandied plum and barbecue pit. If you go bold, go bold with this wine. 20,000 bottles were released.

The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Campo del Drago is dusty and darkly floral. Stone dust and rose petals give way to dried strawberries and a beguiling hint of black olives. This is ethereal, lifted and graceful, hovering across the palate as mineral-infused red fruits and perfumed inner florals swirl throughout. The 2020 clamps down hard through the tannic and long finish, yet it maintains a balanced primary concentration. Bury this sleeping giant in the cellar.