2020 Rosso di Montalcino
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Tasting notes
Darkly floral and seductive, the 2020 Rosso di Montalcino from Franco Pacenti blends haunting violet and lavender tones with crushed blackberries and brown spice. It opens with a pretty inner sweetness balanced by crisp wild berry fruits and mineral tones as an orange hint punctuates the close. The 2020 finishes long and staining, yet only lightly structured, as a coating of primary concentration keeps the tension high. This is a more opulent yet wonderfully balanced interpretation of Pacenti's Rosso.
Critic scores
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Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
Eric Guido, Vinous
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Here's a wine I haven't tasted in a long while. The Franco Pacenti 2020 Rosso di Montalcino shows a medium-dark garnet color and follows through to the palate with fresh aromas of tart cherry, crisp plum, dried rose and earthy iris root. There are light background tones of rust or iron that give this lean-bodied red a mineral character. The effect is drying on the palate and ultimately makes the wine quite food-friendly. Some 8,000 bottles were released.
An airy mix of freshly shaved pine, white smoke, dried cherries and vanilla bean lifts from the youthfully inward 2020 Rosso di Montalcino. There's a pleasant inner sweetness up front that marries perfectly to the depths of mineral-tinged black cherry fruits within. Through it all, zesty acidity maintains fantastic balance, as the 2020 finishes grippy and long, leaving licorice and a balsamic herbal twang. All this needs is time to fully express itself.