1997 Fattoria La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino Riserva

($85) Dark red-ruby. Expressive aromas of raspberry and sweet oak. Big, rich, dense and broad, but with highly concentrated red fruit flavors supported by superb vinosity. A pliant, deep, traditionally made Brunello with fruit of steel. Very long, building finish features big, suave tannins and compelling sweetness of fruit. (Opici Import Company, Glen Rock, NJ)

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: September/October 2003

Dark ruby-garnet. Aromas of rose, plum and spices follow through to a full body, with silky tannins and a ripe fruit, plum and blackberry finish. Chewy and concentrated. This would still be better with age.

Drink Dates: 2009+

Author: James Suckling

The 1997 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, a solid garnet in color, is powerful but austere in its aromatic impact with much tar along with the plums. Intense, potent, but rather backward and unyielding in flavor, the wine's tannins are not abrasive but are not particularly round either; some doubts about their evolution seem in order. Try between 2006-2010. Owner Sergio Rossi, a cousin of Giulio Consollo, the founder of Altesino, arrived in Montalcino in 1972 and produces ' particularly since the mid-1980's ' pleasurable wine from his vineyards in Canalicchio. Vittorio Fiore has long looked after the winemaking, and there is a very capable cellar master (cellar mistress? ' we're talking about a lady) as well.

Drink Dates: 2006-2010

Author: Daniel Thomases