Despite the higher elevation of the vineyards used for the Castiglion del Bosco Brunellos, this wine comes in listed at a full fifteen percent octane in 2019. Readers may recall that this wine is fermented with native yeasts and raised in barriques, with twenty percent new oak used each vintage. The 2019 version offers up a deep and impressively pure bouquet, revealing scents of red and black cherries, red plums, cigar wrapper, a lovely base of soil, brown spices, woodsmoke and a gentle touch of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a beautiful core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip, firm tannins and a long, impressively well balanced and complex finish. This wine is impressively cool on the backend, with perhaps only a touch of heat on the finish. One feels the ripeness of 2019 most noticeably in the texture of the oak tannins on the finish, as the higher octane of the juice will leach out a bit more wood tannin from the new barrels, so this is a bit chewier out of the blocks than previous examples I have tasted. It should resolve nicely with extended cellaring, but will take a bit longer in this vintage. 2035- 2075+.

“Dark and savory in the glass, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Campo del Drago lifts up with a bouquet of grilled herbs, exotic spices, ashen stones and dried wild berries. It’s soft and enveloping, yet there's an energy within. Zesty acidity motivates its tart red fruits, all underscored by a salty core of minerality. This finishes long and staining with a coating of grippy tannins, yet is still remarkably fresh. Rosy inner florals linger. The textures here are stunning, as is the 2019's spry personality. This was fermented using 100% whole clusters.”

“The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino is a gorgeous interpretation of Northwest Montalcino terroir, with a darkly alluring bouquet of sage and rosemary giving way to crushed blackberries and stone dust. This opens with a lovely inner sweetness, perfectly balanced by crisp red fruits, mineral tones and a core of vibrant acidity. It finishes grippy and long yet surprisingly fresh, with a staining of primary concentration that lingers on and on. The 2019 was fermented using 70% whole cluster fruit.”

“Lustrous deep ruby. Rich raspberry. Intense nose with chalky, minerally hints and a smoky touch. Lots of sweet juicy raspberry fruit on the palate and coating tannins. Deserves more time.”

“Lustrous ruby with bricky rim. Deep, concentrated fruit nose with savoury oak and hints of liquorice. Lots of savoury-sweet tangy cherry fruit on the palate with just the right dose of chewy tannins. Quite a big finish and can be approached now.”