Brooding and herbal, the 2012 Brunello Di Montalcino has a dark red color and aromas of toasted anise, black cherry liqueur, sage, pine sap, and tobacco. It fills the palate with a refined and elegant but ripe feel, with silky tannins, generous fruit, and a hint of dark mineral undercurrents. Savory and long on the palate, it still offers a good deal of longevity. Drink 2025-2035.

Cerbaiona's 2012 Brunello di Montalcino is a nuanced and delicate wine that offers ample power, intensity and length. What the wine does best is paint a portrait of the grape in its most pure and naked state. It offers crisp outlines with loads of wild berry, blue flower and moist earth on the inside. That balanced ensemble of flavors adds to the long and polished persistence you feel in the mouth. Give this wine another 10 years of aging to best appreciate its slow evolution and budding complexity.

Only a slight fading at the rim reveals the 10 years of maturity that the 2012 Brunello di Montalcino has undergone, yet from its bouquet—a brilliant mix of dusty rose, dried strawberries, plum skins, lavender and a hint of tobacco—you’d never know. “Ethereal” is the word, as silken textures wash across the palate weightlessly, yet unleash an array of wild berry fruits, cloves, allspice and dried citrus that totally captivates. Still lightly tannic yet amazingly energetic, the 2012 tapers off potent and long, leaving nuances of licorice and a hint of balsamic spice that lingers on and on. There is no fear of decline here; in fact, it’s still on the steady path of evolution, and collectors who have the 2012 Cerbaiona should consider themselves very lucky. It’s a total charmer.

Dark ruby-red. Deep, complex aromas of dark red cherry, violet, flint, licorice and underbrush. Rich dense and juicy, with multilayered flavors of dark red cherry, tar and licorice. Smooth yet vibrant, this is much more austere and almost brooding in nature than the more open-knit 2011.

Cask sample 1: Deep ruby with a narrow orange rim. Cool fruit and herbs on the nose. Remarkable sweet and ripe fruit on the attack with firm, bitter tannins. A successful balancing act, showing great concentration while keeping perfect focus and poise. Cask sample 2: Lustrous ruby with a narrow orange rim. More ethereal but at the same time bags of concentration and raspberry on the nose. Perhaps just a tiny hint of undergrowth. Firm powdery tannins, which are less bitter. Really complementary to sample 1. (WS)