2006 Tenuta di Sesta Brunello di Montalcino

Concentrate, deep ruby with signs of orange on the rim. Oak driven from the start, with vanilla and fruit steeped in alcohol. Touch of leather. Ever so slightly populist. Mellow sweet palate firmly in the candied-fruit spectrum. Quite stalky tannin, somewhat alcoholic on the finish, but length convinces. (WS)

Author: Walter Speller

Good bright medium red. Cherry, plum, licorice and a whiff of black pepper on the slightly medicinal nose. Suave and silky on entry, then not quite as sweet as the nose suggests. But this backward, slightly medicinal wine builds slowly on the back half and on the aftertaste and finishes with high-quality tannins and noteworthy persistence. Lacks only the clarity of fruit for an even higher score.

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: July/August 2011