2015 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna Grazie Riserva

The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie is showing a much darker and more backward bouquet, as earth tones and smoky minerals give way to woodland berries, white smoke, crushed fall leaves, worn leather, and a hint of licorice. On the palate, I’m finding soft textures with depths of dark red fruits and spice, as savory herbs and mineral tones come forward, overlaying fine tannins. The finish is long, showing its powerful structure, as dried black cherry and inner florals resonate over a core of grippy tannin. Hands off the 2015 Madonna delle Grazie for at least the next three to five years; it’s an epic wine in the making.

The Il Marroneto 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie creeps up on you slowly. Give this wine ample time to open and put on weight and volume. Or better yet, just stick the bottle in your cellar for a few more years. Fruit comes from a 1.6-hectare parcel at 420 meters above sea level. This site, located just below the Madonna delle Grazie chapel, has sandy mineral-rich soils. This wine is very different from the Alessandro Mori's classic Brunello. Here, you get that beautiful purity in the bouquet, but you also get a different mouthfeel that is characterized by more structure and a firmer set of tannins. However, the overall integration is superior here considering that this wine is richer and has more material and overall density. Cherry, grenadine and cassis are followed by jasmine and even a touch of exotic fruit. As the wine opens, you catch a hint of mesquite or hickory smoke. Some 7,040 bottles were made. This wine was bottled in June 2019, and it hit the market in January 2020.

Tasted blind. Just mid ruby. Beautiful, perfumed sour-cherry, nutmeg and cardamom-pod nose. Super-elegant and poised rather than concentrated, yet long and fine and with ripe, coating tannins. (WS)