2019 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino
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Tasting notes
A ripe red color, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino is expressive of its place, with warming notes of licorice, black cherries, anise, cedar, and dark soil lifting from the glass. As it opens, it becomes purer in its fruit profile, shining through beautifully. Full-bodied, with ripe tannins and a savory slanting profile, notes of espresso and mocha float across the palate, filling it with purity of fruit and lovely concentration through its long finish. It’s a fantastic Brunello with a warming richness that can stand up to hearty winter foods and will be best enjoyed over the next 15 years. Drink 2026-2040. Located in Castelnuova dell’Abate, Uccelliera’s first vintage was in 1991. Andrea Cortonesi purchased the farmland in 1986, and he continues to operate the estate today. His philosophy is simply to respect the terroir and to hold a strong commitment to the sense of place. He believes in a homeopathic approach to viticulture, to observe, listen, and work together with nature. The property includes vineyard holdings in three areas that range from 150 to 350 meters in elevation. They utilize large Slavonian 40-hectoliter barrels as well as 225-liter French barrique.
Critic scores
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The Uccelliera 2019 Brunello di Montalcino offers ripe fruit, a note of cooked blackberry and pomegranate juice. Along with oak spice and dried bay leaf, there is a spot of creaminess on the mid-palate that recalls cheese rind or aged chèvre with a crust of black pepper and thyme. That note blows off, however, and the wine returns to dried cherry with a medicinal or herbal twist. There's a lot going on. The wine needs more time in bottle to address the fine, chalky tannins. It is elegant now but poised to improve. Production is 36,000 bottles plus larger formats.
Brooding yet intense, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino bursts from the glass with a wave of autumnal spices, crushed cherries, cedar shavings and steeped plums lifted by pine hints. This is deeply textural, elegant and refined, with a dense wave of ripe wild berry fruits, all guided by vibrant acidity, offset by oranges and balsam herbs. It finishes grippy and extended with a black hole of tension and a sweet and sour sensation that lingers on and on as crunchy tannins resonate throughout. The 2019 is youthfully backward today, yet there's a balance that can't be denied, especially as I watched it open up over twenty-four hours. This is a total pleasure to taste. Bury the 2019 deep in the cellar.
Maturing ruby with bricky rim. Quite developed, mature and brooding cherry-fruit nose with hints of tobacco. The palate is much more backward yet well stitched together with loads of chewy tannins that do not overpower the fruit. Old school and I would wait another two years before approaching this. Very long and gripping. (WS)